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Secret Garden korean drama review
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Secret Garden
1 mensen vonden deze beoordeling nuttig
by yviitree
apr 17, 2023
20 van 20
Voltooid
Geheel 8.5
Verhaal 8.0
Acting/Cast 9.5
Muziek 9.0
Rewatch Waarde 7.0
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Not Sure...

Rating this drama is really hard and my rating before ep15, when I almost dropped this drama, and after would definitely have been very different.

At first, I didn't care much for any of the main leads and didn't see any romance at all between them. The ML just acted like some obsessed, entitled rich guy who doesn't have any respect for personal boundaries. He also constantly berated the FL, groundlessly blamed her (amongst other things for not returning his feelings/ not taking him into consideration --- why would she when she simply does not feel that way and barely knows this dude who's suddenly obsessed with her?!) and was just an overall jerk to absolutely everyone.

I was really annoyed that they tried to sell this horrible behavior as him being smart or in "love". Honestly, even up to this point I haven't figured out when, how or why the FL actually started to return those feelings.
BUT, when the whole coma thing happened, his true and deeper feelings suddenly seemed more tangible and believable. He matured so much in those episodes so that he even realized his "solution" was probably the most selfish thing he's ever done. Another great moment was, when he actually gave up a lot of what he had before because his mother wouldn't give in.

Still, their love story is messy and even after finishing the drama it fails to make sense to me. Is the connection through his accident and her father enough to justify their relationship and make it "love"? I might have to re-watch it someday, maybe I'll see the development of both their emotions clearly then. As for now, it pretty much feels like the FL just gave in to a rich kid's temper tantrum.

I also never really came to understand the whole reason behind the body swap. Did I just not pay enough attention? Like, who was that person who gave them the drinks? Was that her father? What did he have to "save" her from? And how was the body swap supposed to help? Also, what was the point of this composer guy side character that Oska was chasing after? So confusing! I honestly think I will actually have to re-watch some day to answer my many questions, lol.

The ending was satisfying though. I must say that I really cared about the side characters as well and was happy that their relationships got just the right amount of screen time! Oska in particular was such a great and loveable character who showed the most steady growth throughout the series. And his and Gil Ra Im's relationship seemed the most natural and believable. I also liked the whole realistic portrayal of his and Seul's relationship and esp. how she went through stages of regret, rage, forgiveness etc. I didn't like how it ended for those two, though, because obviously she still didn't trust him in the end and them having to keep living in such a way doesn't scream "happy" ending to me, but I guess it sadly was very realistic... However, the development of Seul and Gil Ra Im's relationship was nice and I loved how Oska and Seul rooted for her and Joo Won and tried to help them out.

I also liked that Gil Ra Im kept working after they got married and had kids and I enjoyed seeing her and Joo Won as parents, just living a "normal" life and being happy (and angry lol) together. Are they my favorite couple ever? Not really, because I'm not that into the whole cat and mouse relationship type...
What really got me was Hyun Bin's acting and, of course, OSKA and his growth and relationship with Gil Ra Im! There were so many funny moments that I enjoyed. Overall, I also like that Gil Ra Im generally wasn't a pushover and made Joo Won work hard in order to get and keep her. She wasn't the typical overall perfect FL who's kind and gentle and just an addition to the ML etc but someone who also got upset, rough and feisty and kept working hard for herself and her dreams no matter what. She wasn't overly nice but treated others with respect and knew how to pick her battles.

As for cliches, there were plenty but it kind of just fit into this drama. Although I'm really not a fan of the "letting you go for your own sake" moment...
However, something I absolutely hated was how it seemed totally okay and natural for rich people to look down on and mistreat everyone else. Is that a reality? Maybe. But that doesn't mean a drama should condone it. I felt like Joo Won's disgust towards poor people never really changed. Yes, he "accepted" Gil Ra Im and fell in love with her "despite" her being poor, but he gave her lots of sh** for it and in the end took her into his world with him and that was that. Maybe some people would find it too cliche or overdone but I really wanted a resolution for this (like the department store doing some charity events (even "just" for families of firefighters who died) or something like that) because it just annoyed me so much!

In the end, would I recommend this drama? Yes, but prepare to be confused and at times infuriated, haha.

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