Secret Garden (K-drama)
I started watching the Korean drama series Secret Garden this weekend. It was recommended to me by a class mate in my Korean course last year. I bought the DVD box in Korea, but I didn’t watch it until now. So far the drama seems pretty good.
It’s about a rich young man, Joo-won (Hyun Bin), who is kind of a jerk and always gets everything his way. One day he runs into Ra-im (Ha Ji-won), who works as a stunt woman. She doesn’t know who Joo-won is and doesn’t tread lightly around him, like everyone else does. After their encounter Joo-won can’t stop thinking about Ra-im. By his logic she is not his type — mostly because she’s poor and doesn’t come from an upper class family — but he can’t get her out of his mind.
I’ve now passed episode 5, where there’s a twist in the story. Joo-won now has more to worry about than getting Ra-im out of his mind (hope I didn’t spoil too much). I thought the drama seemed interesting even before this turn of events, but I look forward to seeing where this is going.
I’ve only seen Ha Ji-won in two movies before (Haenundae & 100 days with Mr. Arrogant), but I like her.
The DVD box I bought is really nice. It comes with some nice DVD packaging, a photo book and photo cards that fold out into long strips that you can hang on the wall.
2012-03-12 (Mon) 01:17
When you are done you should watch Coffee Prince its really good , if you haven’t seen it yet (it was my first one.)
Any recommendations for other ones to watch, besides this one.
2012-03-12 (Mon) 01:35
The ones that come to mind are Mary stayed out all night (romance), Dream High (music, romance, “you can do it”) and Iris (action). Those are the most recent ones I’ve watched and liked (that I still remember, lol).
I haven’t watched Coffee Prince, but I’ve heard good things about it. I think the next drama I’ll watch will be Dream High 2.
2012-03-12 (Mon) 02:13
Ahh, ok I’ll try out Dream High.
I’ve heard about it just never watched it.
Plus I hear Suzy from Miss A is in it!
2012-03-12 (Mon) 04:37
Secret Garden is a nice series. I even liked the way it ended. It has a nice message. Usually if I don’t like the way a series ends, sometimes it ruins the show for me. Iris was like that. There were a few unanswered questions that were never solved that kinda bugged me. It was still good enough to recommend though. Kim So Yeon is one of my favorite actors.
By the way, after watching Secret Garden, I just HAD to watch Sector 7. lol. It made Secret Garden feel complete. but you’ll know what I mean by the end of the series. I hope you like it. I did and I’m an extremely picky person.
2012-03-12 (Mon) 10:29
Another good one (that is: if you watched Coffee Prince and liked it!) is a very recent drama called “Flower Boy Ramyun Shop”.
It’s different from Coffee Prince, of course, and in my opinion not as good (actually I don’t think ANY drama will ever be as good as Coffee Prince haha) but it has a few similiar themes and is pretty cute and easy-going
2012-03-12 (Mon) 10:53
Thanks for the tips! Coffee Prince seems like it’ll be a safe bet
. I’ll probably check out all the suggestions here. I guess there won’t be any lack of dramas/movies this spring 
2012-03-13 (Tue) 05:23
I haven’t seen Coffee Prince either. I’ve heard good things about it though. I might look into it next. Thanks, Laura, for recomending it.
I’m currently at episope 12 of Dream High 2 at the moment.
2012-03-13 (Tue) 09:24
Is Dream High 2 as good as the first one?
2012-03-13 (Tue) 18:25
Hmmm… How do I want to answer that? I suppose I could say that the thing that I like the most in the second season is that they focused a little more on character development. there was only a couple of characters in the first that actually grew in the courst of the series. That being Suzy’s character for one. Her character being somewhat selfish and arrogant finds herself laughing and loving at the end. The female teacher has a similar conclusion. Sam has an interesting journey from shy guy to hardass. But those were the only characters that really stood out to me as far as character growth is concerned. Maybe I’m just being too picky.
There’s nothing I love more then watching characters grow. In the second season, it seems like every character has a problem to deal with and a lesson to learn. and they do it so well that it never seems boring or out of place. Park Jin Young also comes back to claim his role as the english teacher.
By the way, I had no idea until just recently that he is actually the CEO and founder of JYP entertainment. I read it somewhere and was like, “WHAT?? That silly bastard is the CEO!?” That’s so cool. What a talented guy.
To answer your question in a more practical way, So far, I like it a lot. I refuse to pass jugdement on the series until it’s conclusion so I can’t say which one I like more. But for what it is, I’m enjoying Dream High 2 with a passion.
2012-03-13 (Tue) 18:58
Sounds promising. Honestly, I don’t think anything less than “I really liked the first one, but the second season is horse manure” would’ve kept me from watching it
.
The first time I saw JYP was in Wonder Girls’ Nobody music video. He sang the same song in Dream High 1 as he did in that video, btw. He sure doesn’t look very CEO:ish
2012-03-29 (Thu) 09:35
I finished the drama last night. I was going to watch one episode before going to bed, but it turned into two. Then it said “Final Episode”, so I couldn’t stop there XD.
I enjoyed the drama. I’m not sure what I expected, but it was nothing like that
. Now I have to watch Sector 7, like Spider said 
.
2012-04-05 (Thu) 08:23
By the way, Ha Ji Won has a new series called “The King 2 Hearts (Am I saying that right?)
you probebly knew that already though. It started in March and is still airing.
Man she’s a busy woman! From one project to another! I love her! She’s so cool.
2012-04-05 (Thu) 22:59
Yeah, I read about that drama. It’s on my “to watch” list. It seems like it could be good. I also like Ha Ji-won, and Tae-yeon singing on the OST also helped putting it on my radar
.
2012-04-07 (Sat) 06:24
wait…I didn’t know Tae Yeon sang the OST!! that’s awsome! I haven’t seen this drama either. I actually just found out about it recently. It’ll probably be the next one I watch.