I really enjoyed watching this drama. No matter how many times I have re watched that drama, but the craze still in my mind.And I hope to watch Sung Hoon and Song Ji Eun together in many other shows.
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Fairly fun and promising, but I expected more...
This drama is a fairly fun watch and the story started on a very promising note, there are so many things that could have been explored in this drama from what is being told in the story and you do get answers to some of your questions along the way but I felt like many things went unanswered and/or passed on throughout the advancement of the episodes, there were things that were blatantly left hanging.There is a point where there were one too many flashbacks, in fact so much so that I started skipping said flashbacks because I grew tired of them. It's like where they didn't have something meaningful to go with they stuck a flashback to fill it out, so basically half-way through the story it becomes more 'filler' than story with the whole flashback from the past thing specially on the last 2 episodes.
I don't really have any complaint about the actors but the characters/roles they were given to play goodness, it felt like some had a backstory missing or something. Then there were the moments where things were just a little too much, I am all for romance and kissing but particularly on the last episode there was a kissing scene that became a little too much for what I am used to from k-dramas and not only that it felt a bit too forced in a manner...the scene wasn't planned well enough to make it feel more natural and less cringey. Yes, I did indeed actually cringed.
Overall this is a good drama to watch on the side, specially if you are looking for something short in between other dramas or while you find something new to watch then this is great. I don't regret watching it, but I didn't enjoy the ending very much because it left too much unsaid and it felt like more could have been said if they hadn't thrown in so many dang flashbacks into the story/episodes, I truly believe that many flashbacks was unnecessary.
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This review may contain spoilers
first of all (Song Ji Eun) the way she used to talk with is so provoking at the first episodes specially when she make her lips like the duck i want to slap her on the mouth to put her lips back in the right place really she is that first korean actress that provoked me that much although her face is so cute but i hate her for the way she is talking with uuuuugh >_<
& the hair cut for sung hoon when he made his hair falls on his eyes was extremely awful & made his head big like the aliens
really i am a big fan of rom.com dramas
but this drama disappointed me cause i had great expectations for it
it's that kind of dramas to watch it just once when u need to empty ur mind
but it's not strong story that can leave mark inside u or remarkable or to watch it another time easily
& too long with no need with repetitive scenes it'll be much better if they reduce it just 10 ep. no more
may be many 'll see my opinion so harsh
but really i saw the plot empty, normal, shallow
& so antagonistic in a bad way & so predictable
even the heart warming moments i didn't feel them except 3 or 4 times from the whole touchy moments cause i felt most of them were fabricated not smooth or normal & i found it illogical to love someone & to change ur self & ur life 180 degree like that just for one night relation
i think i am going to be the black sheep for those previous lines LOL
i found the episodes slowly with unnecessary details with lots of flash backs & focusing only at the 2 main leads
SPOILER
& i found the relation between (Jung Da Sol) & (Kim Jae Young ) was illogical at all
suddenly they fall for each other after loving the main leads for long years??
the writer didn't even give us an introduction for any relation signs between them
& there were many mistakes one of them like the child's age
sung hoon & song ji didn't see each other again after one night relation for 3 years so how could the baby age 3 years it should be only 2
they didn't even said why his mother left him & didn't try to see him once even if she left his father ??
& the end was provoking for me didn't get the reason for what (Song Ji Eun) did AGAIN cause sung hoon already new all her circumstances then why? except that they should turn it melodrama at first
& for me the last kissing scene when they decided to return to each other at the company was horrible
too long with no need so i saw it fabricated not superfine & normal as it should be
there were lots of missing elements in this drama that probably can make it stronger than that
i hope Sung Hoon 'll make a drama that really suits his talent with strong plot cause i really like his acting
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This review may contain spoilers
A Fairly Typical Romantic K-Drama
As far as romantic K-dramas are concerned, this one is pretty typical and predictable. Frankly, I prefer romantic K-dramas that think more outside of the box. Such series like "Lovestruck in the City," "Because This Is My First Life," to infinitely far superior series like "It's Okay to Not Be Okay" or "Crash Landing on You" are far more preferable.Still, the series works, for the most part, despite the significant drop-off in the last three or four episodes that had me waiting for the series to just finally end with the repetitive cliched formulas. I mean, how many times can a girl run away and have the guy chase after her? Once, okay. Twice, and you're pushing it. More than that, and it because tedious and completely overused. Such plot devices show a lack of creativity on the writers' part.
We also have the typical, "only a rich man can save a woman." It's sad that this is such a misused and overused plot device that must seriously mirror the cultural norms of Asian countries. How sad that nothing can be further from the truth.
So, we have the spoiled, rich son of corporate tycoon who is conceited and only interested in his own pleasures. However, Jin-Wook might be said to have grown and matured the most by the end of the series. He is also not afraid to step out of his father's shadow and go against the norm. He will also speak his own mind.
Then, we have the relatively shy, immature, and very insecure Yumi who sees herself as a victim of what everything thinks about her and her mother (who happens to be a former adult film actress). Yumi has no idea how to take life by the reins and not care about what everyone thinks. She blames everyone else for her problems, which also tends to make her quite the coward. She fabricates stories and excuses to hide her insecurity as well as the shame she feels regarding her mother. And when things blow up (as you know they will in K-dramas like this one!), she again blames everyone else for the messes that she, herself, creates. In short, she is incapable of taking any kind of responsibility for herself and her actions. And somehow, she no longer needs glasses after the second or third episode!
Of course, we also have the friends (one man and one woman) who each also have feelings for our two protaganists. After all, it wouldn't be a standard K-drama without at least one. One is a spoiled newscaster who thinks the world revolves around her. The other is a quiet, shy young man, who is much like Yumi herself. He failed to help her as a classmate, and now he sits in the shadows with anger and jealousy for his own ineptitude.
Despite all of these things, the show still works. Perhaps it's because of the obvious chemistry between the two leads. For the first nine or ten episodes, I was also hopeful that this wouldn't end up being a typical K-drama, as I found himself quite vested in the story, which started to crumble in the last few episodes and became very typical.
Frankly, I'll keep seeking out series like the ones I mentioned above; those writers who are capable of writing something new, different, and something that pushes the envelope. I find those types of show far more enjoyable!
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DECENT SHOW BUT I DEMISE MALE LEAD
Honestly I saw a comment saying only watch this if you're into rom dramas and they're 100% right. Dont even give it a chance if you're not into romantic drams because you'll find it boring. Personally I feel like they could have done more, I honestly expected more from this drama but it gave me enough to recommend it to another personNow let me address my hatred for the male lead, this is definitely a bias that comes from having watched LOVE, MARRIAGE, and DIVORCE, but I like actually hate his face. Every time I watched this show I just imagined the character he plays in that drama and it made so irritated. That must mean his acting is pretty good if I felt such strong emotions towards him.
Anyway I recommend watching if you're a romance junky :)
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Story: Disappointing! From the first epsiode to the last was too fast paced. There was some back story to the characters but it is not something that reeled me in. I felt like this could have been a better drama if the director would have included more of a twist but literally all this drama did was go in a straight line, no suspense or anything. There was some fuuny scenes that made me laugh.
Acting: The only good thing about this drama was the acting. I felt that Sung Hoon was putting in his all (not trying to be bias) but the girl protagonist was too awkward in her role. The acting to Sung Hoon's secretary and his love interest was funny to watch (in a good way) as well as the the girl protagonist younger sibling.
Overall I would not rewatch this drama, seeing it the first time was enough for me.
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Shouldn't be underrated drama
During this quarantine time, I have just finished watching the drama, and surprisingly I feel empty after that, I laughed and cried a lot, and I need a re-watch again. I didn't find any boring parts in the whole drama. The story is simple, but fun and cute. If you are looking for a love comedy, one single theme drama, it is highly recommend to watch. Most of the Kdramas can be classified as romance, but usually come with others, such as political (especially in historical drama), or business, or the society problem etc. However, this one mainly focus on the main lead's love story.The main leads couples bring great chemistry, it is real. They are so natural and their kiss scenes makes you feel heart pumping. When I watch other Kdramas, even for extremely good storyline, if there are no chemistry between them, I didn't enjoy the drama at all.
Moreover and amazingly, the two main leads can sing well, and when listened to their songs OST, I will remember all the romantic parts on them. I have watched the whole drama for two times, and I will rewatch again for sure.
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Want RomCom
This is a conflict driven romance/drama. Both leads have issues with betrayal. So the series start with the plot pretty much laid out . What makes this so delectable are your main characters. Sung Hoon a true alpha male & Song Ji Eun the cute girl, who needs her big strong man. Sung Hoon can make any heart flutter, he is handsome, his voice is strong & he brings a sensitivity to this character. I love how they brought in the swimming since he came from a professional swimming background. Song Ji Eun played that girl, you know the adorable , the beautiful, but cute, but strong, but needs her man & has so much angst from her upbringing. All in all it is a series I could watch over and over. Whenever a person needs that feel good hit this is a must have. Not to mention the supporting cast was stellar, there wasn't any bad acting that I could see .Was this review helpful to you?
The first 10 episodes were worth it
This was a cute story and I'm not mad that I took the time to watch it. The chemistry between the two leads was (IMO) amazing. The male lead almost set my laptop on fire. The first 10 episodes are definitely worth watching if you like Kdrama rom-coms.Unfortunately it falls apart halfway through episode 11 and never recovers what was lost. I don't know what happened. Halfway through episode 11 the story ran out of steam or something and the writers seemed to stop caring at all. The last 4 episodes are really disappointing and made me think that if lead characters probably shouldn't be in a relationship. If not for the last 4 episodes this would've been an 8 out of 10, but now it's more like a 6.5/10.
The story has the usual plot holes and loose ends, but I can live with that. This is a basic Kdrama rom-com that doesn't reinvent the wheel or try to make any statements. It's pure fluffy enjoyment - it's really just a shame about the last episodes.
Will I re-watch it? Yes, the first 11.5 episodes were cute and if nothing else it's worth watching just to see Sung Hoon with a kid in his arms. Someone should do womenkind a favour make a gif of him playing with kids.
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Detailed:
I honestly struggled to finish this one, what kept me going was the music, the actors that I was enjoying watching, and a desire to see the relationship find its feet. But it was a struggle.
This was the version on Netflix, called My Secret Romance, 14 episodes around 45 minutes each - just to be clear.
Ok so...
Production issues - the audio is a mess. Some times you've got studio clean audio and clear actors voices. Moments later, possibly even in he same room, you've got raw echoey audio like they had to use it straight from the mics on-set. Another time you've got background music playing that's quite "busy" - but they've set the volume around the same as the actors so they're virtually drowned out. In another scene I noticed the waves were rolling backwards into the sea, clearly a bit of reversed footage, it looked really unnatural. Noneof this happens a a *lot* but it happens enough to keep it in your mind throughout.
Predictable story - I mean just about every cliche romance comedy trope is in here, and the timing of them is almost like this drama is a parody of romcom's. It's just *too* predictable :) One that comes up over, and over, and over (multiple times in one episode in at least one case!) is that deer-in-the-eyes look when she stumbles and he catches her, or she's knocked and ... he catches her, and... you get it. That doesn't make them all bad, but I just felt there were too many. Let' not forget the obligatory double love-triangle too of course!
Abusive Relationship - bit controversial perhaps, and maybe i'm just a bit oversensitive but... you know how when young lads like a girl one of their outlets is to pull their hair - which makes the girl miserable and hate the boy, that kinda thing. Well, now do that with a grown up guy who can't express himself in a sensible way, likes the girl a lot, so orders her around, is generally rude and abrupt to her, makes her feel bad a lot of the time, keeps her late at work, forces her to go out to places with him, fakes a seizure to get attention.... i mean in drama world that's one thing but let's not kid ourselves, in the real world that's a problem... and before you say "well, she could just leave" you have to remember he's her boss, and jobs are not the easiest thing to come by, and that's the rub. If this was brief, i'd have glossed over it, but it was 10 out of 14 episodes. This is not acceptable behaviour! Once he gets past it, it's all fine, but... isn't that how it is in real life too, until things go bad again? Let's just not make this acceptable. Maybe i'm just oversensitive, but I found this difficult.
Dragging on - the last 2 or 3 episodes, the last one or two in particular, really lay the flashbacks on thick.
So what did I *like*, why did I not make this my first drop?
I liked the music. I liked the actors, I thought they both worked well together and wanted to see their relationship to its pinnacle moment. I thought the relationship between the secondary leads Hyeon-Tae and Hye-Ri was nice and warm and was happy with how this progressed. I thought that the reconnection of Jin-Wook with his mother was by far the most tender and emotional moment of the story. The funny relationship between somewhat extreme characters of Assistant Kim and Je-Ni were amusing and well played.
There were good moments, the story DOES get somewhere, but it's built on a framework of flaws and issues. That said, it's also quite short - so if you're looking for that romcom fix and you've haven't seen it yet, well, if I haven't put you off so far then why not give it a shot and then please do come back and tell me if my review is unfair or wrong!
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This review may contain spoilers
First of all, this drama hits differently than others. I finished this 2 days ago, and still, this is so powerful. The story is very nice, but I also had problems with the last 3 episodes. I mean, I can't understand why the story was so dramatic and everything changed. Anyways, the female leader wasn't my favorite one. I had so many problems understanding her reasons for doing something. But still. the show was saved by our favorite man. I recommend this for those who need a nice story, but the kinda weird and crazy ending(still sad about it). The drama was refreshing, I enjoyed but I wanted more than that. Was this review helpful to you?
Great, but has a couple slow episodes.
Overall I think this is almost the perfect RomCom. Unfortunately from maybe the end of Ep.11 until the ending things started to drag. All of the other issues that the characters encountered were resolved relatively quickly and the flow was "just right" through the majority of the show.The characters are wonderful. They all have personality and depth. Hyeon-Tae is such a wonderful friend. We all need a friend like that.
If you're in the mood for something sweet, fluffy and cute that will make you hate the "conniving" ones but adore the love story -- then this is probably for you.
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