6th Completed Drama: Secret Garden

Secret Garden

Episodes: 20

Country: South Korea

Aired: Nov. 13, 2010 - Jan. 16, 2011

Network: SBS

Duration: 1 hr. 5 mins.

Genres: Comedy, Romance, Drama, Fantasy

Viewers Rating: 8.6/10

My Rating: 9.5/10

MyDramaList Link

Synopsis: The drama tells the story of Kim Joo Won, an arrogant and eccentric CEO who maintains the image of seeming perfection, and Gil Ra Im, a poor and humble stunt woman whose beauty and body are the object of envy amongst top actresses. Their accidental meeting, when Joo Won mistakes Ra Im for actress Park Chae Rin, marks the beginning of a tense, bickering relationship, through which Joo Won tries to hide a growing attraction to Ra Im that both confuses and disturbs him. To complicate matters further, a strange sequence of events results in them swapping bodies.

Cast: Hyun Bin - Kim Joo Won

Ha Ji Won - Gil Ra Im

Yoon Sang Hyun - Oska/Choi Woo Young

Review

Contains a lot of spoilers!

Story: 9.0/10

Secret Garden is a drama about a wealthy democrat falling in love with a poor but happy stunt woman. There are many difficulties throughout the drama, like Joo Won's mother refusing to accept their relationship (once they got together); Ra Im falling into a coma for a whole month; being unable to have a wedding because his mother refused to come; etc. But despite all of this, it was amazing and I loved every minute of it. Of course I was disappointed when we didn't get a wedding, and the fact that right at the end of the drama were the two of them got a marriage license. They jumped five years ahead to when they had triplets, them still being adorable dorks and his mother still not accepting the two of them (she loves her grandchildren to bits though).

Characters: 8.5/10

They had a great choice of characters. Joo Won always wanted to be with Ra Im despite everything she or someone else had said or done; Ra Im was relatable and a realistic character, especially when it came to her being upset about her dead father; Oska was always amusing when he was pissed off and he cared for Yoon Seul dearly; Yoon Seul was slightly annoying at the beginning but I grew to love her as well. And of course, I can't forget about Lee Jong Suk's character - Han Tae Sun. He was so cute, and hilarious. And whenever he showed a face of hurt because Oska 1) didn't realize he had feeling for him and 2) was always flaunting his love for Yoon Seul, I wanted to hug him so much.

I marked this down because I felt like the main villain - Joo Won's mother - was extremely repetitive and annoying. She always told Ra Im to stay away from her son, when at first, that wasn't her fault, and kept telling Joo Won to come to his senses and find someone of equal quality (aka someone who was wealthy).

Visuals: 9.0/10

Again, like most dramas, Secret Garden didn't have many visuals. The only moments were when Ra Im and Joo Won were swapping bodies, and when they used the mirror effect to show who was in which body. They were done very well, and I can't really complain.

Music: 10/10

I loved the music sooo much. It was awesome as hell, and I always found myself singing along to songs when no communication was being spoken (I shut up when someone spoke). I especially loved Joo Won's theme song, it was great to listen to.

Final Verdict: 9.5/10
At the moment, this is now my second favourite drama (nothing can beat Pinocchio), causing Kill Me, Heal Me, Hyde, Jekyll, Me and I Hear Your Voice to drop into third, fourth and fifth favourites (dramas are not in the correct order). I would definitely recommend this to anyone who wants a good fantasy-romance to watch.

From Left to Right: Jong Soo, Seul, Oska, Ra Im + Joo Won

+ Excellent Story

+ Amazing Characters

+ Lovely Visuals

+ Awesome Music

- Lack of Visuals