my cousin told me about this series a long time ago but i didn't watch it right away. i was thinking... one of these days I'm gonna be so bored that i'd want to watch any series.

sure enough around September 2013... i wanted a distraction from work. so i chose to watch Secret Garden.

i wasn't expecting anything. however, when i got started, I was hooked.

Secret Garden is about a snobish rich guy who falls in love at first sight with a poor stunts woman.

he tries to stop his feelings but ends up stalking her. when he finds her house, he spends the whole night watching the apartment as if wondering how a person could fit in it. he walks out and tells her to forget about him when he sees her coming out of the house.

she was more than happy to disappear from his life. but some how they wind up in a secret garden where they get a magical potion. to their horror, they find their bodies got switched.

put a rich CEO in a poor stunts womans body and a poor woman in a rich man's body and imagine the chaos that will follow.

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i was laughing, sighing and crying throughout the whole series.
this series is so good that the lead actor and actress both won an award.
nough said. watch it for yourself and discover the magic of Secret Garden.

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I watched this movie twice or was it thrice? I've lost count already.

High School is that time when you haven't made up your mind on what you want to do for the rest of your life. It's that time when you don't know what you're good at. That time when you were unsure of everything... even yourself. That time when an upcoming test was like the end of the world. That time when friendships mattered a lot.

High School is that time when love is more pure and innocent.

Crazy Little Thing Called Love is about High School. Every time I watch it, it brings back so many memories that are both happy and sad. It made me remember the feeling I got when I first received a love letter from a boy who was from the top section in a differently school. The boy who patiently waited outside my school so that he could accompany me home. I didn't know whether I should hide or walk up to him and ask him what he was doing in our school. I always had butterflies in my stomach around him.

I was young and I didn't know what to do.

CLTCL will allow you to reminisce about that time when we were just dreamers. When it was easy to fall in love. When life was so full of possibilities. It was like waiting for an adventure to begin.

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Dokko jin is a top class a--hole... er... i meant actor. He lives in a bubble where he is the center of the world. He's sooo full of himself that he thinks everyone is a fan.

Nobody expects him to do anything for anyone. Because they know and he knows that he only loves himself. So when he finds himself in love with a no star artist, he goes to the hospital and asks his doctor what's wrong with him. he says something like this:

"my heart has been beating only for myself for several years. when it starts beating for some thing or someone other than myself then something is wrong!"

seriously. This drama is well-written in a way that the story is believable. It gives people somewhat an insight on what's it like to be in the entertainment industry; why reputation and publicity is very important.

The humor is maintained all throughout the series. There were times I had to pause an episode because I had to laugh my head off.

And the actors were able to portray their characters really well until the end.

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i watched this series because of the stolen kiss in episode 3. I was going through the top korean tv drama videos when i saw the mini clip.

they've been friends since they were children. she was there to cheer him up when he lost both his parents.

her parents took it upon themselves to take care of the two orphaned brothers indirectly. hence, the guy was a frequent 'visitor' in shiwoon's house.

when they reach high school, jae woon (the guy) starts to develop feelings for his best friend.

they couldn't be more opposite than night and day. shiwoon had a tomboyish attitude. the ultimate fan girl who didn't want to bother with school or do any studying. her dream was to become the wife of the lead guy of a boy band.

he was an honor student. the boy next door. the dependable best friend.

reply 1997 tells the story of how and why he fell in love with her.

it is a story about family, first love, friendships, heart break, finding love again and of courae life in 1997.

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I liked the story although the romance was a bit restrained. The leading lady is only 17 years old afterall.

I watched sungkyunkwan scandal and somehow I always refer to that for comparison. Nevertheless, We don't get a lot of gender bender series so each series should be appreciated for itself.l

It's a story about an 18 year old girl who has been dressing up as a man all her life. She gets sold to the royal palace to become a eunuch and somehow narrowly escapes detection during the selection process. She unknowingly became friends with the crown prince. She thought he was just another noble who grew up with a silver spoon. The crown prince doesn't know she's a woman but can't help getting attracted to her (dressed up as a man).

For several years, the kingdom was secretly being ruled by the prime minister. The king has been having anxiety attacks for almost 10 years which make him edgy and not sleep well. His officials take advantage and rule the kingdom in his behalf.

The crowned prince is left to determine who their enemies are and how to uncover the treachery within the palace.

My review:

The heroine wasn't really trying to be "manly" when disguised as a man. Dressing up is different from trying to blend in the crowd as a man. She could have been easily mistaken for a woman on several instances. She was too feminine so it wasn't really convincing for me. There was nothing tomboyish about her or anything that would indicate she was one of the boys.

For the prince, His acting was good. Although I wish there were more scenes that allowed him to show his acting skills.

I wish there were more flashbacks on the prince and his friends. That was sorely lacking. They were childhood friends and yet there were only a handful of flashbacks about their time together. What was it like when they were still boys up to growing up. They could have developed a better back story about the friendship. What strained their friendship. How the prince and his other friend parted before he went to Qin kingdom.

Then there's also the anxiety issue with the king. I was thinking they were putting something on his food but it was intrinsic in nature. Wouldn't his royal physicians be able to help him with it? What were they doing to alleviate the symptoms?

Then, whatever happened to Hong Ra On's parents? They simply disappeared and never came back. Did they just leave their daughter behind? What happened to hong raon's relationship with her father?

What happened to the white cloud society? Where did all the activists go?

Also, there wasn't any sense of danger around the palace at all really. They talked in their normal voices. Not worrying who would overhear. There wasn't a sense of secrecy going around. Even the villains were plotting their evil plans in broad daylight.

I'm starting to feel the story was not well developed.

There were great actors: The prince, the prince's friend, the child princess, the grandfather physician....

But without the storyline to support and promote their acting skills, it all feels a bit bland.

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As of writing, I'm watching the series for the second time. I just finished watching love in the moonlight and wrote a review about it. Somehow, I couldn't help comparing the two series. What makes them different? What did I love about SS that I measure all new gender benders to it?

So far I came up with these:

- the leading lady is smart. Now, I don't know about other women out there but I think we need more heroines we can admire for their wit and their talents. Not just their beauty.

"I could live in the house of the *minister of war* but in the end I would just be woman who was only worth 100 nyang."

- the series is believable. It handles issues like graft and corruption, factions within our society, the need for education and critical thinking, prostitution...

I still have 16 more episodes to go. will update and edit my review as I go. - 10/30/2016

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