Great Ost and Acting in my opinion.
I'm into Office romance when it comes to Kdrama and this has satisfied that soul.Although the story was stretched, it didn't disappoint much. The chemistry between the Main leads was really sweet. Also the mention of IN2IT song really matched that vibe and yeah it's worth a rewatch if you're a true office romance fan. I watched this drama 3 years ago and I'm rewatching it again. Even my friends loved it who I recommended it to.so it might be worth giving a try. You just need to be a die hard fan of bubbly romance and comedy.Was this review helpful to you?
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Sometimes KDrama Rom-Coms can be funny...
I don't need Oscar-worthy acting or groundbreaking plots for my rom-coms. Give me something I can melt into, giggle with, and dwell on as I fall asleep."Her Private Life" delivered that most of the time. It was so optimistic at the very beginning. Female gets to live the best life possible by being in a financially stable and posh occupation and has the spare time to exercise a hobby... that hobby being the obsessive but acceptable stocking of a Kpop idol. Should we, the audience, question this hobby?! No! And that's what I want in a rom-com. Blissful ignorance!
Of course, an attractive new boss comes her way, and they don't see eye to eye, until they have to see eye to eye, then they intimately see eye to eye, and love blooms.
I thoroughly enjoyed the beginning to middle of the show. There were plenty of 'will-they, won't-theys.' Some characters had strong comedic moments. Everything felt comfy, cozy, and warm. Some tender scenes between mom and son were refreshing (I think KDramas overdo it on the tender moments in rom-coms, so this was huge).
There was an energy that was strong and consistent from episodes 1-10. At the end of ep. 10, the show made its first mistake. I won't state that mistake here but, if you have seen the show, you might agree. The big revelation at the end of 10 could've been delayed. A lead character could've waited longer to play the ace up his sleeve; and if written right, it would've been funny.
The real problem comes at episode 13. The mood shifts. It feels gloomy, slow, and cumbersome. Its not the same show anymore. I wish I could advise everyone to pretend that the last 4 episodes do not exist but I'm a firm believer in watching from beginning to end.
If the writers had not felt obligated to manipulate the story for a dramatic plot twist (and why do they? why does every Korean rom-com have to have some trauma?), this show would be... maybe... my 2nd favorite show. But the writers did a real nosedive into sappy, depressing, and boring. It really is a shame.
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A good drama with spark! and a story that will change direction and surprise you!
Firstly i will say, i have out off watching this drama for over a year, because it didn't seem that interesting to me, and i am quite a "picky" gall when it comes to my dramas.When i started this drama, i thought it was not gonna get interesting, because of the little review i have seen, i honeslty dont think it does it jusice. I dont wanna make this review tooo long, but not too short.
When it comes to the drama, i will say its soooo good, and the story and plot, just gets better. The main leads, are soo good written and i will say with no spoilers, real adults, when a situration happens they are honest with eachother and take their faults and own them. Honestly perfect healthy people realtionship. I haven't seen this much of a healthy relationship with sooo good comunication ever really in a drama, some come close but not this close.
The drama is good overall, you get anwsers to pretty much everything but one thing, about the female lead and her fangirling, that just from my viewpoint could have been brought more into place in some movements with a special character, and it left me feeling unsatisfied, but everything else i love!
And the cemestiry from the main actors are amazing! honestly me and my husband make fun of some dramas, because of the romance scenes seem way to akward, but here it really felt natural, and really professionel of the actors.
My lowest score for this is for the story, some places it felt a bit empty, and the female lead's story i feel like gets a side line, way to much in the start of the story, but its really good! if you are thinking about if you should watch it? Just go start the first episode and dont stop, if it feels werid, just keep going for a bit, it gets a lot more interesting than it would seem.
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I recommend it
Overally I liked the show. Good story that I enjoyed (it had some problems imo that I’ll explain later but in general I liked it). It have great soundtracks. I love when the bubbly like sound start playing. Give me the feeling that we are finding some hintsThe show is fun, have a good mystery emotional roller coaster between romance and drama; it also carry the story very well. My only personal problem is how the mystery goes on. In general it’s good but some aspects of the mystery feels like they were added without any plan. To be more accurate you see some flashbacks at start. The mystery related to those flashbacks are the main focus of the show and it carried out very well. But there is a small part of the story releated to that, that it came out of nowhere which I didn’t like at all. It was there to make things more understandable and acceptable but it felt to be added out of nowhere
Also imo they could add more fun scenes to the show using female lead being a fangirl but they decided to keep that just as some dialogues like there is a new event coming up and no more
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This review may contain spoilers
It is good if you can ignore the fangirling
The story is good if you can ignore the fangirling (which to be honest is a bit cringe to watch), as the series gets better with time. I found the first 3-4 episodes cringey because of all the fangirling, but after reading some reviews (was considering dropping), I learned that things improve later on. I'm glad I kept watching because it did indeed get better.Spoilers ahead: Good story, but the fangirling is cringe. I didn't like the Nam Eun Gi/brother subplot. They could have just skipped it or condensed it into 1-2 skippable episodes. The childhood connection trope felt a bit cliche, but they tied it to the ML's trauma, making it somewhat relevant. Overall, the story is good, but if I ever rewatch this, I'd skip the initial fangirling episodes and some of the Nam Eun Gi episodes later on.
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hard beginning but proves to be an excellent watch nonetheless
I wrote a comment after episode 4 that I was having a hard time connecting to the show and finding my footing but the acting and chemistry were so good that I continued. I am so glad I did!!! this is a really lovable show!! the acting is so good and not cringe, even with the topic matter.I saw the high reviews here and kept wondering what I was missing since I didn’t like the show at all in the beginning but wow 🤯
the only thing I would change here is the slow beginning, & Sian’s eyebrow and hair combo—just…ugly .
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This review may contain spoilers
Cute Little Drama
I usually take notes while I'm watching a drama so I can write a thorough review later on but this was the first drama in quite some time that I didn't watch over the course of months. I got into it pretty quickly and then forgot about notes.The cast is great. I love Park Min Young so I'm always happy to watch her in any role. I wasn't a big fan of Ryan Gold (Kim Jae Wook) at first, but I think that's the point. I was a big fan of the character Cha Shi An (One). He was super charming and charismatic from the jump.
Overall the story was super cute, although I did think it would go the route of ML vs 2nd ML with one of them being Cha Shi An, but the alternative story was sort of interesting. A little too intertwined if anything. I will say that FL and ML did eventually have some great chemistry.
I was NOT happy with the fact that they never revealed to Cha Shi An that Deok Mi was his number one fan, "Shi An Is My Road". Considering how much he adored that fan, and then how much he came to adore "Noona" that really bummed me out. I like a good old classic k-drama that ties up all the things and everyone gets there happy ending, but the fact that they didn't tell him was the worst.
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Cute & simple
This was a good, lighthearted drama (for the most part) with a happy ending. The darker moments didn’t really dampen the vibe of the show either even though they would be pretty sad irl. With that being said, all the “plot twists” were pretty predictable; I had it figured out from the first couple of episodes which wasn’t a bad thing in my opinion since it was still interesting to follow along.I enjoyed the chemistry between the main characters. Their relationship and interactions with each other seemed to flow naturally. I will say there were a few times where they would joke and laugh together but it felt really forced and it just felt off but that didn’t ruin the vibe either because they made up for it in other ways.
I will warn you though, Duk-mi was VERY cringe for the first half of the series. I know what it’s like to be a fangirl, but watching it was so funny but so so so cringe at the same time 😭 I’ve also read a few people feeling uncomfy with Eun-gi’s feelings but honestly I don’t think it was THAT horrible, yes it was weird I will admit, but I don’t feel like it was pushed onto me either. I did feel bad for him though and I’m SO GLAD he didn’t end up with Choi Da-in. I didnt like her at all and when they started being friends I got so scared they would fall for each other or something.
My rewatch value is a little low just because I’m not someone who rewatches shows a lot, so I probably won’t with this one but it was still a fun and enjoyable drama!
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ITS GOOD BUT KIND OF BAD
This will only be brief:First of all everything started great, it kept you attached, not till the 11th ep (well for me I guess), it's quite a good drama yet it just lost its spark, it kinda became boring. But other than that, the casting, acting are good— and the plot was alright. I can recommend this to those who like kind of cliche types and kinda slow dramas.
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This review may contain spoilers
I know what you're thinking. How could I give only 7.5 stars to Her Private life when I gave 8.5 stars to What's Wrong with Secretary Kim, which is usually considered inferior to HPL?THE GOOD: MATURE ROMANCE
Park Min Young and Kim Jae Wook play two grown-up adults who are very work-oriented and possibly didn't have many previous relationships. Yet, they are believable. They are real. They communicate. They support each other but also give each other space. And they have this amazing chemistry. They hug, they touch and their make-out scenes are to die for. And when the FL spends a night at the ML's place, it feels like the most natural thing in the world.
I believe that it's mostly due to this reason that this drama has such a high rating. We are so desperate for a more mature approach to romance in the rom-com genre, that when it appears, we fall for it, hook and sinker while ignoring the more mediocre aspects of the show.
THE BAD: IT'S A SNOOZEFEST
I was so bored. I started this drama in April 2019 I think and I finished it in May 2020. I totally might be an exception in this but (despite the OTP's chemistry) I often had to force myself to press the "Next episode" button on Viki.
The plot was practically non-existent. The fangirling aspect which drove the first couple of episodes just slowly disappeared into the background and by the last episode, it became completely irrelevant.
The second male lead (Ahn Bo Hyun) was super problematic and the show failed to make him into an interesting and sympathetic character. The epilogue suggests he gets together with Kim Bo Ra's character – why the show didn't make them into a fun beta couple during the course of the story?
Park Jin Joo plays the FL's best friend, who had a subplot going on involving her not-so-perfect marriage. But the writers only scratched the surface of the conflict and resolved it before it had a chance to become deep enough for us to care.
The side characters were extremely generic and they lacked depth. FL's colleagues, her quirky family, K-pop star Cha Shi Ahn (played by ONE), even potentially antagonistic fellow fan "Cindy" (Kim Bo Ra) – all ended up being bland and forgettable.
The search for the artworks that eventually reconnected one family was not a bad idea, but it could have been executed in a much more thoughtful and meaningful manner. And then it went to hell when the writers decided to add the most idiotic "we met as kids" storyline to the last two episodes. (don't get me started on how nonsensical the whole childhood story was, the less we say about it, the better)
ACTING/CAST
Fantastic leads. The rest was ok, honestly, considering the weak writing, they just did the best they could under the circumstances. Park Jin Joo as FL's best friend was super cute.
It was also nice to see Kim Mi Kyung and Park Min Young starring as a mother and daughter again and they were the saving grace of the idiotic melodrama in the episodes 15–16.
MUSIC
Unusually for me, I didn't even download any of the songs from this drama: they were just...there...nothing special. And I admit I get bad vibes when a girl refers to herself as "precious little girl", as in the opening lyrics; I just cringed every time I heard it.
REWATCH VALUE
I think that the first couple of episodes with the fangirling and fake dating shenanigans are very rewatchable. The rest of the show...kissing scenes only :).
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This review may contain spoilers
Relaxing Drama
It’s a very easygoing drama with no second lead trying all sort of evil to exaggerated plans to separate the couple.One thing that I really like about it is how everyone behave like adults!!! Adults actually acting like adults and not being overly childish or trying hard to be cute.
I feel like this is a story fangirls of KPop would really enjoy. The way the male lead supports the female lead will certainly make fangirls dream of getting such a supportive life partner!!
It was very relaxing and dreamy for me.
No big catastrophic twist, if that’s what you are looking for.
Though of course, as so many Kdramas, we have the not so shocking news that they grow up together or met in childhood.
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