My secret romance is like those old mansions you see deep within cities in Europe that date back to the medieval times etc. Sure there are people who love these things, but I belong to those who are all for demolishing these old villas in favour of new exotic buildings. That being said, sometimes you enter these mansions and you are so shocked and surprised by the unique wonderfulness of the interior design that you end up questioning your personal beliefs (personal experience!).

I am happy to admit that my secret romance is exactly like that. Starting it I had no expectations and I had braced myself for the impending, inevitable hard-drop! Even though, I can easily name this the cliché-est kdrama I’ve ever watched; the cheesiest, corniest, fluffiest shit I’ve ever put myself through, yet against all odds, I deeply loved it and honestly I stand here in awe of it. As a rom-com hater, how is that even possible? Well, looking back, I can name a few things.

Secret Romance, despite its heavy cliché-ridden self, had this exclusive, borderline inexplicable dosage of fresh air in it. Kinda contradicting isn’t it? Well, that is the main reason it was so good!

Starting off, the drama is characterized by its archetype characters. Cute female lead in need, shy, naive, with sad mommy issues in her backstory striving to survive and make a living y’know, usual stuff; paired with the uber classic chaebol hawt arrogant womanizer. Been there, done that. What secret romance did differently, ultimately breaking the mould of rom-coms in the best way possible is the realistic and natural expression of young adult sexuality. HELL TO THE YES PEOPLE! No more over-romantic, fake and unrealistic holding hands as the expression of ultimate love. It was ‘bout time drama gods!

More specifically, sexual jokes, innuendos and gestures, taboo job occupations, actual kissing, underwear clothing products and finally the acquittal of sex as a despicable act in kdramaland! There is nothing wrong with expressing sexuality people and it was about time we saw that in kdramas.

In all honesty, I have never witnessed a better romance development in a kdrama. The flirting felt real, the chemistry was exquisite and I enjoyed every moment they had building up their relationship. Nothing about it was really new, but it was the way that it happened that not only felt right but left extremely close to me as a person. The archetype characters strayed only a little bit away from their lanes just to make the drama that much more addicting.

Moreover, nothing about the romance was idealized here (finally); but rather, it was so fucked up that it ended up being relatable – expressing how we can hurt but also heal through an unexpected relationship, how easy it is to misunderstand and how easy it is to misinterpret. So relatable it felt too real! All in all, the best part of the drama for me, besides the lovely chemistry, was the natural expression of sexuality in its complete spectrum, while always keeping it real, cute and never filthy or awkward. I salute the writers for taking a chance here and actually making it work.

Having said all that, I cannot argue that secret romance was perfect. Critically assessing the drama, I have to admit that there were no substantial side characters or stories, most of them misused and underdeveloped. Simultaneously, while there was some basic effort to make the characters feel real giving them stories of their own to grow on, these backstories were barely ever elaborated on and were resolved abruptly at the end out of the blue.

I can safely say, the drama is not perfect and the more you think about it the more problems could be found. This is a drama to just smile and spend 13 fun hours doing nothing but letting your heart flutter. However, the fact that the drama did romance so well and touched upon -otherwise normal- stuff that are for some reason unheard of in kdramaland easily make me give this a well-deserved 8.5 just for that.

As far as the acting is concerned, no awards will be given here, but I don’t think anything was problematic.

I should mention at this point that Song Jieun is my 2nd ultimate bias in kpop (and my list is big, so I do love her) so I might be lenient and biased when I say that I absolutely loved her as Yoomi, she felt thoroughly real and behaved very accordingly to her role. She definitely had this role down and was a perfect match. Since her last project that I couldn’t help but drop, she was overwhelmingly improved and I can’t wait for her next drama.

I will not stay and talk about trite things like how unrealistically handsome Sung Hoon is, like everybody with a pair of eyes can see that. I will talk about how good he is, considering he’s a former athlete though. I am not entirely sure how flexible he is as an actor, and for a moment there I did believe that he won’t be able to act in any role other than the arrogant womanizer chaebol, but let’s not be quick to judge. I’d love to see him again, preferably in a different role next time.

Concluding, my secret romance is like a good pasta dish in a lovely restaurant. You know what it is, you’ve had it a thousand times but each time it is as good; and to top all that off, this plate of pasta has a very unique ingredient inside it to spice things up and leave a unique experience. Therefore, I would wholeheartedly recommend this drama to every rom com lover and honestly pretty much everyone who is looking for an easy watch.