Secret Garden

No you did not just Boys Over Flowers me! I think that these guys handled that plot device in a better way, but it is something that can backfire on you. Overall I really liked this drama. I have been meaning to watch it for a while and I finally got around to it. There were a few things that made me go 'what the heck', but that is to be expected of about 99% of life.

I have never seen anything with Hyun Bin before, but I had heard that he was awesome and I have to say that I have bought my ticket for the Hyun Bin Express. He was amazing in this drama. The way he was able to act out Ra Im's spirit in his body was so funny. He picked up all of her mannerisms and was able to change the way that he carried himself.

I thought that Ha Ji Won did pretty good as well. I loved her acting when she was pretending to be Joo Won. She has the smirk down and also was able to put a little swagger into her walk. I do think that Hyun Bin was a better actor than she was, but she held her own next to him.

Seriously! Look at that picture! It is spot on and beautiful. I love the way that Joo Won is all curled up in himself and Ra Im is sitting like a boss. I do wish that they did a little more with the body swap though. It was a fun idea, but I don't think that the characters learned a lot from the experience. They were able to change every time that it rained which I'm not sure I liked. I think it is because I had more of a Freaky Friday concept in my head where they had to learn a lesson to change back. Not to say that these two didn't learn anything, but I though that it was very little and it could have been better.

One of my favorite outcomes of the body swap though was the consequence of 21 year old Joo Won. It was nice to see him as a lighter person, even if he was really horny as a 21 year old. He was trying so hard to get something going with Ra Im.

I kind of wanted him to be 21 forever

 Along with issues I had with the body swap I also thought that the way that he got his memories back was weird. It was very short lived amnesia and his 'past' self was the one to trigger his memory. Did past Joo Won somehow know that this was going to happen? At least with Boys Over Flowers Joon Pyo had to prove his love, but I didn't feel like Joo Won had to prove anything because his feelings were still pretty close to the surface. He was keeping Ra Im close because he couldn't figure out why he liked her.

One more thing that makes Joo Won wonderful, and this also goes along with his brother Oska; the two of them are some of the biggest man childs that I have ever seen in a drama. Seriously! They are always trying to one up each other and make the other jealous. They also don't know how to deal with women because they are too wrapped up in themselves to care. Oksa also has ahjumma hair and thinks that it is okay for a 35 year old man to rock it. It's not.

 

Oska was also half of a bromance that was in this drama. This bromance was a little different than most others because the other half of Oska's bromance was gay. That being said, Oska is one of the most clueless people on the planet. Especially by the end of the drama, it was obvious that Tae Sun liked Oska, but Oska was one part don't care and one part clueless so Tae Sun leaves and it is sad because they were cute.

 Speaking of people liking other people, I loved Ah Young and Secretary Kim

The actress who played Ah Young was gorgeous and she was super cute. I think that she got out cuted by Secretary Kim though, he was so funny. I think that he is my new favorite dramaland sidekick. Yes, I think that he surpassed Sang Jun from Personal Taste. 

Omo!

I know, I was also shocked, but he was just so funny with his constant omo-ing and his tantrums. If for nothing else, you should watch this drama just so you can watch him, he was brilliant. He was also a good paring next to Joo Won because Joo Won was so dark and serious and tormented. I think it should also be said that Joo Won is the person who hired Secretary Kim. I want to know how that happened because they could not be more different. I would like to dedicate the next part of this post to Secretary Kim.

I love him

 On the topic of loveable men, how gorgeous is Phillip Lee? Seriously, he has the most amazing eyes and he speaks English! I thought that is was hysterical when Phillip Lee spoke better English than the people that were from English speaking countries. I feel like Korean dramas don't even try when it comes to foreigners. It's like they see people and go "Hey! You're white! Do you want to be in my drama?" Come on Korea.

 Overall this was a good drama and I would recommend that people watch it if they haven't already. The chemistry between Hyun Bin and Ha Ji Won was almost tangible and they fed off each other very well. The cast was also great and there are also some pretty legit action scenes since Ra Im is a stunt woman. Hyun Bin also screams like a girl a few times and men screaming like girls is always funny. And with that I will leave you with this past picture of Joo Won and his tracksuits.

 
What am I watching?

Cruel Palace: War of the Flowers - I am going to be watching this forever

Nail Salon Paris - The writing is okay, it's mostly just flower boy fun 

Full House - There is a lot of man cleavage in this drama........  

~ Alora