I enjoyed this one, it's very well written, it has no uncessarry angst or comedy, it's just right.

The story is good, of course this is a remake of a Taiwanese drama which also has a Korean remake. In my opinion this version has the most concise story and picks the best aspects of the previous two dramas. For example I found the Taiwanese version too long winded with a tad too much slapstick comedy, it also has low production value. The Korean version has two amazing leads, the most wonderful OST ( which I still listen to to this day) and is a real tear jerker.

However, I found the Thai one avoids most of the negative aspects of the other two and is tightly scripted and acted, the two leads are amazing together and I enjoyed their interactions, their relationship comes across as very true to life and is not stylised ( something I struggle with in many Kdramas)

Production value is high and I really appreciate the way the lead actress is not dowdily styled, she is very chic and still manages to portray her character well both before and after the break up.

The music is a bit of a let down, but in my opinion it doesn't take anything away from the story.

I marathoned this drama and enjoyed it immensely.
Overall 9.

Read More

Ok, so I went into this drama with quite low expectations, why? you might ask; because even though it has an overall rating of 8, I had read some reviews and comments beforehand and they kind of put me off. Moral of the story: try not to read reviews before watching a show because it will definitely colour your experience.

I'm so glad I went ahead and watched this anyway. This drama's plot has the potential to be a complete disaster, what with the fantasy and supernatural elements, the arranged marriage, a family curse, a ghost, reincarnation, people literally losing their mind, attempted murder, attempted suicide, secrets, you name the trope, it is probably there.
This drama does something unique with this mixed bag of themes, it weaves them into this wonderful story about finding love, fated love, good overcoming evil, good being rewarded and evil being punished, past mistakes and sins being addressed in the present day, and true, genuine love being the overriding key to peace and real happiness.
The story also has a strong female perspective as all the plot drivers good or evil are female.

I have a small criticism about the ending of the drama, I don't like the way they handled the baby issue; while Doo Rim is away, it is implied that she and Kang Ju are still 'together' spiritually and emotionally if not physically, so why then would she not tell him that she's having his baby? ( this is a game and life changing event for goodness sake!!!) and then for him to have no visible reaction to the discovery that he has a baby? this was weird and unrealistic.

The cast is very good and well placed, special mention must go to Yang Jin Sung who plays the roles of Na Doo Rim and Jang Yi Kyung to perfection, she is super believable as both characters.
Lee Hong Ki also does a most credible job, at first I thought his baby face wouldn't work with the character but he managed to pull it off very well. The two of them make a cute and very grounded OTP, I was very impressed.
The supporting cast is excellent, the two scheming mothers were initially teeth grindingly annoying, but later on there is sufficient character evolution characterised by remorse and mental anguish.
The second male lead is a bit meh, but is necessary to the plot.
Ghost lady is very entertaining and serves a narrative and guiding purpose in the whole story.
I must also mention that this is the first time I've seen such a good relationship between a chaebol prince and his father, Kang Ju's dad is simply adorable.

The music is good, there are some catchy songs, which do a great job of setting the right mood.

I'm not one for rewatching dramas like this one simply because it was rather suspenseful, so once I know the answers to the mystery I don't really need to watch again.

Overall score is 8.5
It is a good, solid and unique drama which is skilfully directed.

Read More

This drama is in a genre that I haven't watched much of, I tend to watch rom coms but I now have an interest in watching Melo/suspense/romance dramas.

The story is well set up, the initial episodes are gripping and made me want to keep watching, the story is very dramatic, it has most of the elements of a melodrama, doppelgänger's, birth secrets, switched identities, revenge, murder, blackmail, corporate greed, secret affairs the works. For the most part the story handled these themes well, my only problem is that some of the plot lines that were established earlier in the story were not resolved at the end, the most annoying one being "were Seo Un Ha and Byun Ji Sook biological sisters?"
The love story between Un Ha and Min Woo is very charming and sweet although I wasn't crazy about the lacklustre chemistry between the leads;

Soo Ae's portrayal of Eun Ha and Ji Sook was spot on, she managed to give each character its individual identity so that the two were very distinct. Her steely determination and quiet strength were very well executed.

I found Joo Ji Hoon's acting to be quite wooden, he doesn't seem to have many facial expressions; he had an excellent script and role to work with though and I think that was his saving grace. I will admit to him being charming though.

Yeon Jung Hoon's portrayal of Min Seok Hoon was great, he gave the character sufficient menace without being inelegant, He was cooly focused on his revenge mission and used every weapon and opportunity at his disposal to achieve his goal. I will say though that the story set him up for big things which I feel he ultimately didn't live up to.

The character I enjoyed the most in the drama is that of Choi Mi Yeon played by Yoo In Yung. For the majority of the drama I found her irritating so I shouldn't say I enjoyed this character, it's more accurate to say that when I finished the drama hers was the most complex, subtle, and many layered character in the show. Mi Yeon is not simply good or bad, she has so many layers in between and varying shades of grey that she was often frustrating to watch. Mi Yeon's inward struggle was always on show, her constant battle to do the right thing while trying to hold onto a husband she clearly knew cared nothing for her was heartbreaking to watch, her moral compass was so shaky that half the time she didn't want to know what was truth or lies, preferring to make up her own reality. Ultimately she realises that she cannot live a lie or bury her head in the sad any longer. this is a sterling performance from Yoo In Yung.

The music is good background, and suitable for the action on screen.

I don't usually rewatch shows that have a suspense premise, because I already know what's going to happen.

Overall I give this show a 7.5

Read More

I watched this show because I'd heard such wonderful things about it, I'm going to talk about what I liked and what I didn't like in each category.

The story for me started out very well, episodes 1 to 6 were excellent, well executed and snappy. The premise is your standard rich man poor woman push and pull courtship. The male lead was suitably arrogant, pushy, selfish and self important (a very special mention to Hyun Bin for his excellent acting and portrayal of this character ) and the female lead was super indifferent, as you do. After episode 6 the drama dragged a bit and went around in circles, the story was established but there was no forward movement in terms of plot, and I must admit I lost interest and watched a few episodes of another drama.
Show picked up again at episode 13 where the female lead Gil Ra Im had a breakthrough and I finally got a dose of good acting from her, It felt as though she had slowly been warming up to her role and was finally comfortable with it. Her confession in episode 14 was amazingly done but to me it felt as though it came from nowhere, in the sense that her acting up to this point was not nuanced enough to convey a reluctant attraction for Joo Won, because I just got reluctance period.
The soul swapping premise was comedic for the most part, but I found the character consistency went out the window, especially the first time they swapped.
Thereafter the story suddenly took a sharp turn into melodramaland with a lot of crying, tragic overtones and fantasy magic tropes. This actually ruined the show for me as I think it would have been better if they'd actually kept it a fantasy romance, one scene was particularly depressing for me and that's the scene where Kim Joo Won with Gil Ra Im in his lap, drives off into a dark and stormy horizon framed by a barren landscape; this took the show into makjang territory.
I don't normally like my romances and love stories to go so dark unless that is the clear premise at the beginning of the story, and in Secret Garden I got the definite sense that Kim Joo Won entered this dark and gloomy place when he fell in love with Gil Ra Im, isn't love supposed to be joyful and light? there was something heavy about this one.
In contrast I found the relationship between Oska and Seul more compelling than the main couple's, in the sense that It felt more real.

The casting was good for the most part. Hyun Bin is a good actor but I didn't enjoy him in this role. Ha Ji Won in my opinion was all wrong for this role, she was wooden and lacked nuance. the chemistry between the two leads was sadly lacking as well.
I loved the rest of the cast especially Yoon Sang Hyun as Oska and Kim Sa Rang as Yoon Seul, these two were great especially Oska, I loved everything about him.

The music was emotive, I liked it.

Rewatch value for me is very low, I've put it at 4; the show lacked special moments that I would go back and rewatch.

I've given it a 6.5 overall, In my opinion this show is over hyped and overrated, but still watchable for the posterity factor.

Read More

Ok, so my experience with this drama was interesting; I watched the first 19 episodes which were quite good but I got annoyed with the OTT antics of the antagonists: the crazy, shrill mother in law, the psycho, hysterical 2nd female lead/love rival, the slimy, greedy and very many business rivals and finally the cowardly, pseudo-cool big brother. So at that point I decided to give it a rest, but I wasn't willing to drop it because I could see that there was something there, I just had to refresh myself and come back to it later ( the large episode count was also very off putting )
I took a break, watched Goblin and Marriage Not Dating ( I watched both within the space of a week!) and then I picked The Wife's Secret up again.

I started off watching on fast forward from episode 20 to episode 30, then gradually without even realising it I stopped fast forwarding and was fully engaged. I do admit that you have to suspend logic sometimes in this drama, the melodrama and illogical decision making of the characters was not realistic and was frustrating in a lot of instances.

However, this drama has a solid story, it explores family relationships juxtaposed with romantic relationships, it explores blood ties juxtaposed with ties that a person chooses themselves, it explores the relationship between parents and their children, mothers in law and daughers in law, it explores the dynamics that play out when a child discovers that they are adopted and most importantly it explores the meaning of true happiness, is it money? business success? or having family and people around you who love, accept and value you for who you are not what you have or can do for them?
This drama explored all these issues and answered them.

The drama has overall, one of if not the best character development I have seen in any drama, the character arc for most of the cast is very satisfying and logical; even those characters I disliked so much in the beginning are fully realised by the end of the drama, there is a strong sense of most characters coming full circle and applying their experience to improve themselves or to come to terms with issues that they struggled with in the beginning of the story.

I've read some reviews where the two leads are criticised for not having much chemistry; I fully agree that the OTP had very little on screen chemistry, but I think that's because it's not that kind of drama, although the love story is at the centre of the drama, the surrounding family circumstances are integral to the progression of this love story and vice versa. So overall I would say that this is a story about family, the family you are born to and the family you choose along your life journey.

Read More

I loved the high quality of this drama, it is extremely well made.
The story is certainly intriguing in that it keeps you wondering how all the conundrums could ever be rectified; the story portrays a veritable railing agains the Gods if you will. The characters are in a perpetual dance of push and pull with fate and destiny, while watching I always got the mental image of puppets dangling on strings pulled by a kind of sadistic puppet master; what makes the drama interesting is the gradual growth and self awareness of the characters which allows each one to make some decisions which do not appear to be orchestrated by the 'puppet master'.
There is a strong sense of doing good deeds and being kind, especially with regard to goblin, and also with goblin's bride when she makes the ultimate sacrifice. I got the sense that this 'goodness' eventually positively impacted their destiny.

I love the casting, especially with regard to the goblin, the grim reaper and Sunny. Whenever these three were on screen, together or individually, it was absolute magic!
I'm sure I don't need to expound on the genius that is Gong Yoo, he has an uncanny ability to portray his characters so sympathetically, realistically and humanly; he imbued goblin with such pathos, simultaneously making goblin vulnerable, eternally sad yet strong and hopeful all at the same time, he is truly gifted as an actor.

The grim reaper is an absolute revelation, Lee Dong Wook took this character to levels that I feel only he could take it, he seemed made for this role. His sadness is less hopeful than goblin's, he is always resigned to his unhappy fate, while being oblivious at the same time because of his lack of memories. He is the character that shows the most emotional growth in the drama.

Sunny has the appearance of someone without much depth, and yet she turns out to be very perceptive and emotionally intelligent. She seems to already have some knowledge deep down in her psyche even though she's not aware of it in the beginning. she is complex and many layered.

Eun Tak portrays her youth in a cute, bubbly manner and she is a ray of light for the other characters. she does portray some maturity at the end of the drama but I'm never really convinced as I keep seeing the school girl in her.

The story of the goblin and the goblin's bride is a beautiful concept, Gong Yoo plays his role to perfection but in my opinion the writing of the goblin's bride as a young girl really threw me off and I was never able to see the two of them as a convincing romantic pairing. I kept wondering why the goblin's bride couldn't be the same age group as Sunny, writing her as a young girl didn't serve any dramatic purpose and actually took away from the feeling of intense fated love that they were supposed to portray.

Sunny and the grim reaper on the other hand were very well matched, their trajectory was realistic, mature and deeply felt. The fact that their story was so slow in progressing actually added to the depth of their storyline and I found myself wishing they had more screen time.

The goblin and the grim reaper had one of the best bromances I've seen in a long time, their interactions were entertaining, usually goofy and yet still managed to convey their growing strong bond of friendship in a very believable way. I really enjoyed seeing them together, especially when they teamed up to achieve a common goal.
Special mention to Deok Hwa for his perfect comedic timing and refreshing 'irritating little brother vibe'

So overall, I highly recommend this drama, it might seem to drag and go around in circles in some places, but it is definitely well worth the watch.

PS: all the cast have a prodigious amount of beautiful coats!

Read More

A cynical, satirical, burlesque portrayal of glaring disparities between poor and wealthy in society

This is quite the interesting drama, I was prompted to watch it by the extreme publicity and international hype that it's received since it won the coveted Palme D'Or.

Storywise I'd say there's nothing out of the ordinary about this story ( I mean the implied and overt conflict between the rich and poor) the ingenuity comes in with the way the simple subject matter of socio economic disparity between societal strata is tackled. The way a straightforward tutoring job of one family member morphs into the entire poor family of mother, father, son and daughter being employed by the same wealthy family. What struck me the most was the entitled mindset of the poor family, their apparent lack of remorse or shame for their dishonest actions; my attention was drawn to the unusual portrayal of poor people as unscrupulous and dishonourable, this was particularly evident in the behaviour of Kim Ji Sung (the daughter) After watching many a KDrama where poor people are portrayed as principled, hard working and honourable, this aspect of the story was jarring. In this case poverty was debilitating to the extent that they were prepared to do anything to overcome it.

The portrayal of the wealthy family in my opinion was nothing out of the ordinary, just your average rich people living in their comfortable and nice smelling bubble, a bubble where poor people are there as a mod con to make their lives even more luxurious and fuss free. This was excellently portrayed in the scene where Madame calls from the car on their way from the aborted camping trip and instructs the maid that she should start preparing "ram-don" so that as they literally walk into the house, the ram-don will be just ready to eat.

The collision of these two worlds is what makes this movie fascinating; three separate groups of people each with their own set of expectations on what they were hoping to get from their interaction with each other. The fact that the reality falls short of the expectation is what creates the slow motion train wreck that is this movie.

The cast and acting are superb. special mention goes to Cho Yeo Jung who plays the wealthy and luxuriously oblivious wife, mother and madame of the house. Song Kang Ho is brilliant in his role of the poor husband and father who is so inured to poverty, he has developed a sense of helplessness and resentment which culminates in his crass over-reaction to events at the end of the movie, over-reaction in the sense that had he not already reached boiling point, things may not have gotten so out of hand, the same applies to Moon Gwang's husband Oh Geun Sae.

I didn't pay too much attention to the music.

Rewatch value is quite high 9/10 as I would like to see what other observations I can make on a second viewing.

Overall I give it a 9.

Read More

Let's be each other's glory.

I read the book so here I am, I had to watch it to see what they made of it. I've enjoyed this very much, it's a multi faceted story that encompasses gaming, romance, aerospace engineering and the world of celebrity quite coherently. The close lens into the Chinese aerospace industry ended up being very interesting even though I wasn't too keen to see it initially, ditto with the gaming.

Apart from reading the book, I'm here for Dilraba because I find her acting so charming; coming into this Yang Yang was not a favourite of mine because I didn't enjoy his robotic performance in Love O2O, but I was pleasantly surprised here. I think a lot can be said for acting opposite a co-star who ups your acting game and Dilraba certainly appears to have done that here for Mr. Yang - he's actually very charming and endearing in this.

I like how they emphasised the concept of excellence in your career and doing what you love to the best of your ability over making tons of money. Jing Jing and Yu Tu are a very well matched couple who understand and support each other very well. There'a an abundance of cute couple moments and the grown up, responsible and drama free dynamic of their relationship is what kept me watching.

If you've read the book you'll enjoy seeing it brought to life so accurately, If you haven't read it you should watch this anyway, it's quite enjoyable.

Read More