"Secret Garden" had pretty high ratings back when it was airing, and even by episode two, you can sort of see why. It has it all; slick directing, witty dialogue and A-list actors- not to mention an intriguing premise and complex characters, but that doesn't mean "Secret Garden" was perfect. Story: I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with this drama. When it's good, I wanted to clap and jump around with joy, when it's bad, well... I kind of wanted to throw my tablet out of the nearest window. The story goes from interesting and funny to frustrating and sloooowwww. And when I say slow, I mean *slow*. The story gets repetitive in the last quarter and we're stuck with the same mama-drama that any other makjang drama can offer. If I wanted to watch nearly four hours of the rich upper class mom looking down up the dirt-poor main lead girl with a heart of gold, I would have watched "Boys Over Flowers". Yes, we realize your son deserves the best or whatever, but don't you have any other reasons? Actually, there was a reason that actually made sense, but that was said in episode 20, and by that time I just wanted this drama to be over. Another issue I had with the story were the characters. I understand that dramas have to be funny and they will all inevitably have scenes where the characters act like kids, but here is was a bit excessive. They started out normal enough, but the characters slowly became more and more childish. In the beginning, I loved them all. Joo Won a pretty awesome character, because just when you start to think he's your typical drama chaebol, the writer completely turns that around and makes him awesome. Not to mention how diverse the main characters were. You have a stuntwoman, a chaebol, a singer and a sort-of director all together. Their interactions were interesting, because they sometimes had to work together with their jobs. On a side note, I liked how well the body-swap was used. In the beginning, Ra-im and Joo-won had a push and pull relationship. They would argue, get back together, argue and go forth in that continuous cycle. The body-swap sort of helped them understand each other and was essential for their relationship to work. Acting: Hyun Bin was awesome. He pulled everything off perfectly, and I can't imagine any other actor in his place. Ha Ji-won has been in one of my favorite dramas (King2Hearts), so I already knew what her acting was like. To be honest, I never had much love for her, and I still don't, but you can't deny she's good at what she does. Music: Meh. Nothing special in my opinion. Rewatch Value: Maybe for the funnier scenes. I'm not particularly interested. Overall: Equal parts frustrating and entertaining, "Secret Garden" is one of those must-watch dramas that you grow to be annoyed with after it keeps popping up, but it was fun when it was new.