SECRET GARDEN KOREAN DRAMA COMPLETE REVIEW!! ~All you need to know~

Hyun Bin’s arrival to Indonesia is definitely a perfect moment to review this drama which actually released several months ago. Here I have to apologize to my friend who owns this blog coz I’ve been promising her to review this drama since long time ago. (Gomenasai reny chan ˘-˘)

Actually I’m not so fond of Korean Drama, I’d prefer Japan Dorama. I just don’t like long and convoluted story as it would be a waste of time. Japan dorama usually gets straight to point.

But then my friend forced me to watch this drama and even tried to convince me that this drama is good and worth-watching.

Well, I thought I should give it a try.

And, here I am. Not only I watched it, but I also tried to write a review.

Secret Garden is a comedy romance drama which gained a lot of attention worldwide and also high ratings. It got 16% on the first episode and continued rising as the episodes went on. The average rating for this drama was 24.4% nationwide and 26.8% in Seoul. It also won several awards. Below are some of them:

2011 Korea Drama Festival Awards: Daesang

2010 SBS Drama Awards: Top Excellence Award, Actor – Drama Special (Hyun Bin)

2010 SBS Drama Awards: Top Excellence Award, Actress – Drama Special (Ha Ji Won)

2010 SBS Drama Awards: Netizen Popularity Award – Drama

2010 SBS Drama Awards: Netizen Popularity Award (Hyun Bin and Ha Ji Won)

2010 SBS Drama Awards: Best Couple Award (Hyun Bin and Ha Ji Won)

Check also: Daftar Pemenang Korean Drama Awards 2011 (SECRET GARDEN WON BEST DRAMA)

This drama tells the story about a young, rich, well-educated and seemingly perfect man, Kim Joo Won (Hyun Bin/Kim Tae Pyung -> My Name is Kim San Soon, A Millionaire’s First Love) who falls for a poor stuntwoman but has no intention of marrying her. He’s a third generation tycoon president of a high-end department store owned by his grandfather. He always does the best he could do in everything. And my fav lines from him are: “Is this the best you can do?” and “Are you certain?” By spilling these questions, he forced his men to revise their work and stay all night in the office.

By the first episode, we’ll be able to draw conclusion of his personality (I think the first episode is dedicated for us to know each character of people involved in this drama). For example, in the opening scene, there was a TV announcer mentioned Joo Won’s name when she foretold the weather. It told us that he might has strong influence on society. And actually, he always boasts about being a community leader. Also, there was scene when Kim Joo Won rode his sport car out of his house yard (which may be larger than Hollywood star’s yard). Then he bumped on his cousin, OSKA, a Hallyu singer who actually has no talent but somehow has so many fans adoring him. He stared at Oska, who was kissing a girl on the street outside his house, in disgust. Oska waved at him insensitively and still kissed the girl at the same time. Then he run his car fast until the wind raised the girl’s skirt. The girl yelled and asked Oska, “Who was that?” And here, Oska described his cousin’s personality very well, “If I buy a sport car, he has to buy a sport car store. If I buy yacht, he would buy the land around that dock. To summarize, in comparison to me, to whom you’ll be saying, ‘Hey, you horrible jerk!’ He’s a hundred times more evil.”

After these scenes, there was arranged marriage meeting scene which make us really sure who he is. Apparently he thinks that people who get married based on love are fool and naïve, especially for people with great inheritance like him. It’s a big no-no to marry someone from different levels. For him, marriage is a matter of business merger.

Frankly speaking, he’s just another spoiled, heartless and mean brat with overwhelming money, extravagant cars and luxurious properties whom we will easily hate in the real world.

In the real world, we can easily guess such man won’t (and never) fall for an ordinary and poor woman. But in drama, everything can happen. Still on the first episode, he met a stuntwoman, Gil Ra Im, whom he mistook for a lead actress. After such a destined meeting, they go back to filming site where he saw her filming fighting scene skillfully. Then, he’s freeze in his place. Not because he falls in love with her at the first sight, there’s no way he believes such kind of love. It’s just he’s too curious why in the world people do such a physical and dangerous job. He even asked her whether it’s because she’s not clever and bright. Surely, this guy is so damn irritating! LOL

Anyhow, this curiosity tends to grow bigger and bigger that he keeps on thinking about her, even imagining her whenever wherever. But of course, he never means to marry her. He just follows her everywhere to play with her, to find the reason why he’s so attracted with this stuntwoman girl. He even states to Gil Ra Im that she would never be his Cinderella. Instead she would be just like a Little Mermaid, eventually irrelevant and disappear like bubbles in the sea; a sentence that would make you being slapped in the face no matter where you are, in the real world or in the movie. Surely, this guy has to take “How to Speak with Women-101” course. LOL. Joo Won’s behavior would definitely make you laugh, while in the same time you’ll sympathize with Gil Ra Im.

One day, they got lost in the forest and accidentally entered a SECRET (or a sacred?) GARDEN. In this garden, they met an old woman who gave them flowery potions. That night, they drank the potions in the same time. And guess what happens next morning? They wake up with the switched souls. And the drama became even funnier.

This is the moment where they first realized their souls were switched.

Hyun Bin really did great job in acting as Gil Ra Im in Kim Joo Won’s body, so did Ha Ji Won. I laughed very hard when Hyun Bin (Gil Ra Im in Kim Joo Won’s body) taught Kim Joo Won how to wear bra.

Through this soul switching, Kim Joo Won started to grow sympathy and fall in love with her. In the end, he even sacrificed his live for Gil Ra Im; this was the most heart-wrenching moment for me to see Kim Joo Won’s selfish decision to take over Gil Ra Im’s position and abandon his family and company future. Something that Kim Joo Won’s would never do before he fell in love with Gil Ra Im. Throughout the episodes, he changes bit by bit into a completely different person.

What would happen next? Would Kim Joo Won die after switching his soul with Gil Ra Im who was experiencing brain-death state?

Also in this drama, Kim Joo Won has a mean mother who always tries to build a wall between his son and the stuntwoman. She’s a kind of Momzilla who often appears in a love story between the rich and the poor (or the ordinary), like in Hana Yori Dango, Majo no Jouken (Forbidden Love), etc. But unlike HYD and Majo no Jouken, in this drama his mother is the real witch who against their relationship from the beginning till the very end.

Then, would they overcome all the obstacles and unify their love? Would they live together in the end? You gotta watch it for yourself pals.

The drama offers a mystery that needs to be solved; a mystery behind Kim Joo Won’s claustrophobia and his partial lost memory. Later u’ll find out that his past actually has connection with Gil Ra Im’s, and that Gil Ra Im is might be a destined lover for him.

There are a lot of unforgettable scenes that would make you scream, “I want more”, such as SIT-UP SCENE where they stare at each other closely and CAPPUCCINO KISS SCENE which sends you the message “DO TRY THIS AT HOME!”.

SIT-UP SCENE

CAPUCCINO FOAM KISS SCENE

U’ll meet a lot of skinship scenes here, as Joo Won insists that skinship is very important in a relationship. LOL. This guy is totally a pervert. 😀

Hyun Bin and Ha Ji Won built a very good chemistry between them. They’re really great actor and actress. Both of them played very well. I watched Hyun Bin for the first time in this drama, and I fall in love with him easily.

As for Ha Ji Won, don’t ever doubt her. She has drawn many awards to her. I think she has a required body to play stuntwoman character. Seems it’s well-exercised, especially her arms.

Yet, I prefer to see her with long hair.

On the first episode, I tried to find the reason why I should continue watching this drama (which is silly because sometime we can only find it after 2 or 3 episodes).

And, there came a scene that made me hook up till the last episode.

I love all fighting and action scenes inserted in here. They really made a great effort in making this drama. So I thought this is might not be an ordinary romance drama. And that’s how I stuck with it till the last episode.

There are also some unique lines that I remember till now, such as:

“Is this the best you can do? Are you sure?”

“This clothes was hand-sewn by master craftsman in Italy one by one”

And so on.. and so on…

Anyway, this is the famous tracksuit proudly wore by Joo Won, hand-stitched one by one by Italian craftsman, LOL:

Daaamn! He really looks good in it. I think I’m gonna faint….

In this movie, people always look down on his tracksuit. Even Gil Ra Im calls him “Kim Ddol Chu” (Kim the crazy tracksuit guy or Kim the bling-bling training). Then he always defends himself by saying the lines above.

Besides Kim Joo Won and Gil Ra Im love story, u can also see love story between Oska and Yoon Seul (Kim Sa Rang). This girl had some arranged marriage meetings with Joo Won before, but Joo Won never put any attention to her. Actually she also never really loves him; she’s just interested in his status and family background. She still has love for Oska deep in her heart. At first I really dislike this girl as she tends to act like Blair Waldorf from Gossip Girl series and use her power to get rid of anyone whom she doesn’t like. But as the episodes go on, I begin to sympathize with her for she was always hurt by Oska, the man that she loves. Will she end up with Joo Won in an arranged marriage or revive her love with Oska?

Kim Sa Rang, who plays Yoon Seul, really has beautiful face and body. She’s often chosen for having lovelier body than Hollywood stars and voted for the best bikini body. No wonder that she’s Miss Korea in 2000 and represented Korea in Miss Universe contest in 2001. But she still looks hot till now, I can’t believe that she’s actually at the age of 30’s.

Look at her! If the flowery magical potion from secret garden really exists, I would definitely switch my soul with hers. LOL. 😀 :D.

There are other fascinating stories in this drama. I don’t think I can write all of them. So I kindly recommend you to watch and enjoy this drama. Laugh with it, cry with it. Prepare yourself for its magic. Happy watching, everyone!

REVIEWED BY: HOTARU ^^

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See also another review by HOTARU at SEIGI NO MIKATA DORAMA REVIEW (YU YAMADA, SHIDA MIRAI, KANATA HONGO AND MUKAI OSAMU)