One of the best Kdramas all time
This is one of the best K dramas I ever watched. It flows with a great storyline and the cast has done an amazing job. There were many occasions that made me cry. This is one of the emotional K dramas I watched after a long time.I fell in love with the series and finished the series within 2 days. Usually, I dropped watching a drama when the first 2 episodes fail to get my attention. But Secret grabs my attention since the start and I couldn't resist stopping watching the drama continuously. Main lead couple has done a great job and supporting cast also contribute to the story at their best. Also, the series has such nice OSTs which created much attachment to the scenes emotionally while watching the drama
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the best melodrama i have watched to-date, hands down
finished, yasss!honestly this drama was brilliant in every sense of the word. particularly for the lead couple, they are the perfect cast for this drama. can't praise them enough!
i am however slightly dissatisfied with the business aspects of the story. Attorney Ahn kept repeating that he worked very hard to climb to the top, but it seemed like things got easy for him because of So Yeon, LOL. also the last plan of them when him and So Yeon teamed up to make sure Min Hyeok agrees to the marriage if he doesn't want to destroy both him and So Yeon together. they literally glossed things over and didn't elaborate properly about what exactly they threatened him with, and how those dealings came to be. they have also never bothered to show Se Yeon's politician father not even once, LMAO. would have been so nice if that part was included properly into the story. mostly we got Min Hyeok who was seen always busily chasing around Yoo Jeong for his revenge LOL, but it's a missed opportunity that they didn't show exactly what type of a businessman he is.
i feel like ep. 15 of this drama could have been ep. 19 instead, with those bits filled in that would make the story a lot more complete. i came away feeling mainly dissatisfied with how weak Attorney Ahn tried to topple him, and how rushed everything felt at the end LOL. the story would have gotten more dynamic and stronger if they made him a smarter, more ruthless/wicked villain who is willing to do just anything and more evil things to avoid the fall.
i kept comparing this drama in my head with The Innocent Man, which the latter could be said more complete (3 main characters, able to be stretched out to 20 episodes). they fleshed out the power struggle story really well there, whilst here it's the main love story and the melodramatic life of the FL that they did extremely well.
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UNDERRATED GEM
Sometimes it pays to scroll through the list of Kdramas, where I’m sure are many gems. Attracting and mesmerizing me was “Secret Love.” A side note: You have to be careful here, there are several “Secret Love” shows, so it becomes confusing. Therefore, it’s important to know the main leads. For this review, it’s a Korean version, 2013, starring Ji Sung, whose wife is Lee Bo Young-love everything she does-marvelous actress, Hwang Jung Eum, Bae Soo Bin, and Lee Da Hee. Like a lot of shows, it’s about class, power, and business marriages. Each actor displayed believable characters and developed them in each episode. Outstanding though, was Ji Sung’s role as Jo Min Hyuk. I’ve seen a lot of K-dramas and other movies. By far, watching Jo Min evidence the transition from lauding his power to having fallen for Yoo-Jung, is the greatest I’ve ever seen. His body language and facial expressions gave recognition that their relationship had changed. Culminating with him kneeling, as if to say, I see you, we are equals-realizing that his focus on her was twofold. It is definitely one for rewatching!Was this review helpful to you?
I wasn't going to watch this...but I'm so glad I did
I've heard about this drama for years now, and I thought that I had no interest in it at all. I don't always love melodramas, even though I've seen quite a lot of them, and I don't always like revenge dramas...and this one was both. So I had this drama under "Not Interested" for a long time and I thought that was that. But I recently read an article about hate-to-love dramas and there were so many comments recommending this, that I reluctantly said that I would try it. And MAN. I am so glad the drama fairies made this happen. WOW. I knew that all of the actors involved were top-notch but I had no idea that this drama would bring as many feels as this one has. This was a roller coaster ride and one that I'm thrilled to have finally decided to jump on.Was this review helpful to you?
top 5 all time... bestest!
not many dramas i've watched more than once, but i lost count how many times i came back to re-watch this (at least some episodes). Ji Sung is genius for sure, and FL also exceptional in her character. is it realistic? sure not on the whole, but some scenes are sooo believable. it does rely on clichés, and we expect them to be there, but they are on a new level, burning with fire.a lot of tension, a lot of chemistry, but not in a superficial way. support cast does the job to perfection! a lot of handsome faces, but again - there's more than just good looks to each and every one.................................................................................................
dont let the word melodrama put you off ! it's not just melodrama to this, it's really an all-rounder. cathartic!..................................
i watch this and i dont want to even blink for fear i might miss something. ☜♡☞
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The story was well written and the actors were compelling in their roles plus the main characters chemistry is outstanding.
I found the story to be an amazing portrayal of what people do for love. To see the entanglement of the characters story and watch as they slowly "untangle" it was thrilling. It really made me feel for the characters and got me invested in their story. Seeing what they go through and seeing them get their revenge ( and they do get it ) made it all the more amazing.
Hwang Jang Eum and Ji Sung have amazing chemistry. No matter what drama they act in with or without one another, they still give an amazing performance. ( I suggest watching Kill me, Heal me to get more of the two actors )
%100 would re-watch! Always think of going back after watching some MV on youtube for this drama!
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If you want something slightly different from a regular drama, take this for a spin you won't regret it!
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The storyline is truly intriguing, and that's why I kept coming back. I'm not afraid to drop dramas even if I invested halfway through.
I would've dropped this drama, but I was still pulled in because I wanted to see where the characters would end up.
I hated all the characters. Especially the leads. I was excited to watch the KMHM leads together again...oh god. This was a horrible mess. Don't waste your time with this frustrating drama.
The characters are pathetic and twisted. Pure toxicity.
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It didn't.
It so thoroughly disappointed me but I should have known when I saw the actors and the performance in the first episode.
And I even watched 13 out of the 16, all I can say is...
Don't waste your time on this one.
I truly believe that this COULD have been an epic, timeless drama. If the plot only had been (which I thought it was about when I read the plot) a love story of a woman who killed another man's lover and they fall in love. If the writers had explored that complicated, unspeakable love. How a woman could ever allow herself to love the man of the woman she killed and the man's guilt of falling in love with the woman who murdered his girlfriend. Wow. It would've had so much potential of exploring that stort of guilt, forbidden love and the complexity of human emotions. It would have been uncharted water and it also would have been more credible, that people just can't choose who they love.
BUT IT DOESN'T.
Instead this series turned out the be something written by middle schoolers where there are conspiracys that aren't even credible for the audience. The over-acting, so many just full-blown overreactions to certain events and UNDERreaction to others just made this feel like I was watching some sort of drama a middle schooler would have thought up. And oh lord, are there some plain friggin' cringy-ass-moments. Doesn't help with the fact that all the characters are stereotypes with no depth (although some scenes painfully try to give depth and all they do is try and dig a hole in a frying pan). The actors does not help at all, they do not stand out, non of the characters are even memorable since after watching 13 episodes - I can't even remember the characters names so yeah.
And the main female lead- The girl is innocent! Shocking, can't have a girl who is human and not perfect or dressed to be some sort of Jesus-figure. So many bad things happen to her, so unfair! No, she's just naive and pure stupid at times and the acting nor the script made any of her choice believeable. You'll have tot try hard to find a more 2D character out there.
Not even gonna write about the other characters or the rest of the drama. Hope this will save you 13 hours of your life better spent elsewhere.
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