Secret Garden

Secret Garden is a 2010 Kdrama that I've seen mentioned all over the place as "the best" and "a classic!" with lots of superlatives. So I thought I'd try it. Very very soon I won't be able to binge watch anything anymore (sigh. probably not until after July) so I might as well get some in while I can. I did go through all my book 2 notes today though. Feels pretty solid. You never know after letting them sit awhile, but I think it's good to go. Now I'm just anxious to have my first meeting with the editor. Need to get started! But it is mid-December so chances are pretty slim anything much will happen before January. Anyway.

This drama apparently includes a body swap, though there's no evidence of that so far in the first episode (other than some spooky lightning). It's got the jerky aloof chaebol thing in Joo-won's character (played by Hyun Bin) but we've already seen his softer side (he's got fear issues, for one, and can't even get in an elevator and is a whole cluster of crazy--I like him and the way Hyun Bin is playing him). And there's the poor, unlucky girl in Ra-Im (played by Ha Ji-Won)...who also happens to be a kick-ass stuntwoman (though strangely subservient when she's at work).

There are rich, snotty women as well -- both actresses and heiresses and I'm pretty sure I'll hate all of them. That's okay. I'm supposed to.

And there's a ballad-y singer guy by the name of Oska, played by Yoon Sang Hyun (sporting a much reduced version of that horrible moustache he had in Shopping King Louis and his hair is MUCH better in this one...thank you, O drama gods). He's Joo-won's cousin and Ra-Im is a fan. I'm sure there'll be some confusion and comedic drama there. The second lead girl heiress is after Joo-won but had previously had something going on with his cousin Oska. I imagine that will grow into some kind of weird love square.

And lastly, there's Ra-Im's boss, played by Philip Lee, who I haven't seen before, though I rather wish I had as just looking at him/his character makes me a bit sad that he's destined for Second Lead Syndrome. He obviously cares about her and seems like a good guy.

Wasn't really sure about the whole body swapping thing (I haven't really been in the mood for fantasy stuff lately...haha...you know, the stuff I write...sigh) but I have to say that so far I am liking the characters a lot. Can't say about the story as yet as not enough has happened to suggest anything much (why do so many chaebol's in these dramas own department stores?). Do like that Ra-Im kicks butt. There's 20 episodes, so I'll check in on this one again later. So far it is looking really promising.

Edit: (after episode 2) Ha, I am really enjoying Joo-won's crazy.

Edit: (after episode 8) Well, hmmm. There's been good bits and bad bits and so-so bits. Overall, I'd say I'm enjoying it but Joo-won (both before and after the switcheroo) really pushes things a bit too far into irredeemable territory with some of the things he says and does. Sure, some of it is because he doesn't expect Ra-im to react in the way she does but some of it is really just pretty unforgivable. I don't care how rich you are, you'd think he'd have at least an inkling of a clue. Maybe I'm sensitive to this because I grew up so poor? I don't know. But I do feel like he's hurt her FAR more than he's helped her or made her feel good.

At this point (end of episode 8), they've actually switched back (though I expect it may be temporary), which feels too soon because neither character has really appreciably changed or grown. Some of that is because it has just been played for laughs and ridiculousness rather than actually investing us in the story or going for actual character development. So, yeah, body swap funny business...but it really actually set back the character arcs in many ways. From a storytelling perspective, I'm not sure it really works that well. And considering that there are 20 total episodes, I'm not sure exactly how they're going to wrap this up or why I should root for Joo-won to win Ra-im's heart. He certainly doesn't seem to deserve it so far.

Edit (after episode 9): Yeah, Joo-won keeps doing shit that is just patently unacceptable. Like when he was still in Ra-im's body and his mom calls her/him over and passes over the envelope of money to bribe her to stop seeing Joo-won AND HE EFFING TAKES IT. And spends it on crap for her apartment...which I'm sure he thinks is a nice thing but is actually really inappropriate and un-livable as it's all too big for what space they have. In other words, like him. He might look nice but he's ultimately (at this point) useless and in the way in her life. Ra-im is understandably super upset when she learns he (as her) took the money from her mom. She has her pride. I was actually super glad when she told him she never wants to see him again and insinuates that their story is NOT the Little Mermaid story because she, unlike the little mermaid, does not love him.

Now I'm just kinda waiting around to see if the writer(s) can pull this one around so that I actually want them to wind up together. Oska, with all his issues, is actually the nicer guy in some ways. I am enjoying Yoon Sang Hyun in this part. It's got a lot more interesting emotions to play with than he did in Shopping King Louie. And all that said, I am liking Hyun Bin in his role. But I'm not much rooting for Joo-won.

Edit: (beginning episode 11). Wow. I keep thinking that Joo-won can't possibly dig himself a deeper hole but he keeps digging. It's the freaking pit of despair at this point. How exactly can he ever redeem himself? I honestly don't know. I'm kinda sad that Jong-soo is so obviously playing the part of Never-gonna-get-it Second Lead man. Or Oska, though he's got so many unresolved issues with his ex that it isn't even funny.

Edit: (mid episode 17). Dammit. I call bullshit. On so many things. Agh. Am still enjoying the actors but FFS they had to go and do the whole twisted kismet/fate/past meeting connection thing where Ra-im's father died saving Joo-won in some accident 13 years previous. BAH. And Dear Old Evil Mom figures it out (Joo-won doesn't know yet...in fact, he conveniently ala standard Kdrama plot device doesn't even remember what happened in the accident other than that he's just realised that is where his claustrophobia/elevator problem is from.

And, seriously...I've seen Evil Mom Kdrama characters before but Joo-won's mom takes the cake, shoves it down her throat and goes back for another piece. Worst. Mom. Ever.

I'm going to finish this but...

• It is absolute bullshit (lookit this drama, making me swear and all) that Ra-im, stuntwoman extraordinaire, taker down of purse-snatchers, flying-through-the-air badass can't ever break free when Joo-won grabs her. As he does all the time, including one sort-of rape-y scene which was only saved from not being rape-y in that all he wanted was a hug but still. STILL. 
• The mythology as it stands so far in regards to why / how of the body switching doesn't really make any sense. Did Dear Old Deceased Dad possess the restaurant ahjumma? 
• The kismet/fate thing...Joo-won only ran into Ra-im because he was looking for an ex of Oska's and she was misidentified as the right person. 
• But the whole kismet connection thing in general...WHY. WHY.
• It makes no particular sense that he gets infatuated with her from the beginning nor that he sticks with it.
• It also doesn't make sense that she grows to like him. There's literally no reason for her to other than a) he's kinda pretty and b) maybe he's the only guy that has ever pursued her before but c) he makes her life more miserable than not and those VERY few moments of kindness/softness don't nearly make up for all the other stuff. That pit of despair I mentioned before? Dude. Even now that they are officially "together" he still says the most dumbass shit imaginable. 
• Continuity issues, like Ra-im not recognising the psychiatrist after meeting her, especially when she should remember the meeting as it is how Oska figured out that she was in Joo-won's body
• The psychiatrist...WTH kind of psychiatrist lies to her patient about their trauma in order to "help" them (she, along with the family, has been telling him for years that the accident was a car wreck). Also, it seems she might have dated him at one point, as she had experience with Dear Old Evil Mom paying her off. SO WHY IS SHE HIS PSYCHIATRIST??
• CHARACTER ARCS. As in, characters are supposed to GROW and CHANGE due to the things that happen in the story. Joo-won has barely budged. Ra-im has barely budged. They play to the laughs too many times and waste their opportunities to actually develop the characters.
• How does normal Fireman dad become witchy potion making dad once dead?

There's more, but those are the big things. I'm quite annoyed. 4 episodes to go. I've heard it finishes happy but MEH and BLEH on this crap. I wouldn't finish it if I didn't like the actors and the job they are doing. I'm just disappointed in the story.

Edit: (end of episode 17). FULL ON MAKJANG. Dammit.

And I don't care who you are or how rich you are, you can't just waltz into a hospital and princess carry a coma patient out.

Edit: (mid episode 18) WHAT THE EFFETY EFFING EFF$!£$!???. This took a sharp turn into absolute nonsense. It does not make sense. Dead Dad comes to them in their dreams with more magic flower wine, saying it will end the magic. They drink it. Why would Ra-im drink it? Wouldn't she think, hey, won't I be stuck in Joo-won's body and he'll be stuck in my comatose body? She'd already made the decision to find rain and switcheroo again. Then they both wake up and somehow Joo-won's body is magically back in his house, even though she/he'd fallen asleep at the hospital. They are now back in their own respective bodies. And Joo-won is back to the mental age of 21 and can't remember anything after the elevator/fire accident, including Ra-im, though her name was the first thing he thought of. Amnesia. DAMMIT. They went there.

THIS DOES NOT MAKE SENSE IN ANY WAY AT ALL.

If Magic Dead Dad could do all this weirdness that has no rhyme or reason to it, why wouldn't he have just stopped her from taking the job that would injure her (and how did he even know?? He was a firefighter!) or, I dunno, told her something instead of all this weird randomness? THERE ARE NO RULES. What was up with the whole weird forest restaurant thing? What was the point of all this??

Edit: (end episode 18) The only thing that saved that episode from being a total waste is that 21 year old Joo-won is kinda hilarious and Ra-im finally grew a backbone. But. Still. None of it makes any sense at all. Did they just throw a bunch of possible plot points up in the air and see which ones landed on the table? If you're gonna create a mythological framework for the story, then effing stick to it!!!!! And make it make sense!!!!!

Edit: (end episode 19) I feel like the dramabeans people summed up my thoughts pretty well in their comments at the end of the recap for this episode.

"I sort of think this drama has a Monet-like effect — from a distance it’s pretty and seems to have all the elements of an engaging, addicting drama, like the beautiful scenery, wonderful acting, engaging music, pretty color palette, and so on. It’s up close that things start to fall apart a bit..."

That says it right there. I mean, there are things that I do really like about this drama but, similar to Strong Woman Do Bong Soon, there are also things I totally want to burn with fire and rain down hellstone upon. Maybe it's because I know how much time I spend on research and building up the rules of any particular book's universe....gah, the amount of stuff I read for my fourth book alone...so...this kind of writing feels lazy. I am affronted. I mean, I'm not perfect by any means and while I've made it on some lists and have received good reviews, I'm not a NYT bestseller or anything. But it kinda bugs me that this is considered such a classic "amazing" drama when it has so many issues with plot and pacing and consistency. If the actors had been any less engaging, I feel like I would have stopped watching it from sheer frustration fairly early on.

It probably should have been more like 15 episodes rather than 20 so the Evil Mom angst could have been cut down. There was just so much of her shrill shouting that it lost it's impact and was wearying rather than shocking. I'm sure it was supposed to be a WHOA moment when she's threatening to remove him as CEO but  my reaction at that point was oh, who cares, no one cares, let's move on, please ... even Joo-won's response was a resigned oh, well, it was bound to happen. Seriously...I don't ever even want to see that actress again in ANYTHING because I'm practically having a physical response of utter revulsion whenever she comes on screen at this point......I'm not kidding...I just looked her up to see what else she's in and am sad to see Descendants of the Sun on her list of credits, as I've been wanting to watch that one....and dude sounds like she's even kinda bitchy in real life. I suppose you could say she's good at her roles to provoke that reaction but stick a fork in me, I'm done.

And, while I love comedy, some of that should have been dialed back so the character development could have been more organic and believable. There's been too much of the same going on -- Evil Mom did basically the same thing through the entire show and she was the big bad (partly because all of the fantasy/magic stuff was so poorly handled and the whole deus ex machina resolution of it all).

Meh. Anyway, one more episode. Will watch it and then wrap this up.

Edit (finished it). Okay. I don't have much to say as the dramabeans people actually said exactly what I was thinking in their final commentary after the recap. All the things. Are we twinsies? Maybe. Triplets? Whatever.

You, Evil Mom. That's who.

While the final episode wrapped things up, mom never relents. They get married anyway but never have a wedding. How they get married is as Joo-won as you get -- he doesn't even tell her that's what they're doing until they are at the courthouse.

Yes, Hyun Bin. I'm pretty sure this is why I finished watching.

We get some voiceovers and a montage of omo! we're happily married now even though mom's an evil bitch! our kids are kinda brats but we're so in love! we even wear matching sparkly tracksuits even though no one else on the planet thinks it looks good! 

Really wish the 5 years in the future Ra-im had at least changed her hairstyle. Anyway. Am I glad I watched it? Erm...75%? 60%? I enjoyed the actors. I will definitely watch Hyun Bin in something again. Yoon Sang Hyun was great as Oska and I appreciate him much more in this than in the other things I've seen with him so far. Kim Sung Oh as Secretary Kim was adorable. I loved all of the Action School Oppa actors, especially Jang Seo Won. Ha Ji Won...she definitely can kick ass.

Did I love the main characters? Well.........honestly, no. I can't say that I completely connected with them and I very much agree with javabeans and girlfriday in that recap that Ra-im's character wasn't developed enough for me to do so. They definitely spent more effort and energy on Joo-won...but they also made him so cluelessly abrasive through so much of the show that he was a hard character to love. Though, to be fair, given the mom he had, it's a wonder he was even remotely a decent human being at all.

I'm kinda annoyed. There was a lot of potential here and so much of the dressing (and the actors) were so good, so I can completely see why people would love this show, but I feel like it was pissed down the drain with what happened with the plot and the poor use of the fantasy elements. It's like a pig with lipstick.