I’ve been watching Secret Garden for the past 9 weeks. It’s been both the best of dramas, and now, the worst of dramas. It’s taken me this long to write about this drama again because it’s been that aggravating to watch. One minute I’m consumed by the raw emotion, the next minute I am underwhelmed by the verbal showmanship. I don’t care if Kim Eun Sook thinks SG is her piece de resistance, this drama was a giant step backward from her depth and range in City Hall.
How did a drama I anticipated to such a degree piss me off in the end? Let me count the ways. Perhaps my rant is motivated by Koalas living in forests with eucalyptus trees, and secret gardens aren’t our natural habitats. Or really it’s just because the drama tries so damn hard to be cool, and in the end forgot that a memorable drama needs to tell a heartfelt story.
To the screenwriter who wrote my favorite drama of all time, you confirmed for me why it’s okay for me to be bipolar about your dramas. While I love City Hall and like On Air, I absolutely hated all three Lovers dramas. SG will probably rank right in the middle, and that is fine with me. Unlike City Hall and On Air, I find that SG has no purpose or motivation. It’s an exercise in futility masked by dexterous verbal jousting and completely bolstered by Kim Eun Sook landing a sizzling cast of actors.
Unlike the Lovers dramas, this story isn’t so much about a pair of lovers as it’s about a highly choreographed mating dance that would never work if Hyun Bin and Ha Ji Won weren’t such natural stars and exhibited such potent chemistry. If I imagine any actor I didn’t much care for (and didn’t have the acting range and gravitas) in the roles of Joo Won and Ra Im, immediately all the cracks and flaws shine through. Let me put it this way, in City Hall and On Air, prior to watching those dramas, I didn’t love the actors in the former, and had merely liked some of the actors in the latter. After watching those dramas, I ended up loving and connecting with all the leads characters in those two drama, and all the actors concurrently therewith.
I think I am jumping ahead here, so let me take a step back and parse SG from the very beginning. From the outset, I accepted its fantasy premise and whimsical touches. I loved the first 4 episodes. Truly madly loved how it all started. I immediately felt the chemistry between Binnie and Ha Ji Won, and I found their characters quirkily amusing and fascinating. A Kim Eun Sook classic touch – she really does her preparation in constructing lead character prototypes.
I was smitten upon first watch, mainly due to my love for the three lead actors, and partially due to my residual affection for Kim Eun Sook after City Hall. Then the body-switch happened, and I found the shenanigans funny and the premise adroitly executed. I even loved all the magic veil unswitching that allowed us to see their original bodies reacting in a certain scene. Suffice to say, I really did genuine adore this drama and didn’t care much to parse too deeply into the things that certain of my drama friends found unsatisfactory with SG at that point. I enjoyed it, that was enough for me.
And then it crept up on me, like a rash that started off a tiny little bump and then gradually spreading until the itch became impossible to ignore. When SG hit episode 10, after the last scene rolled, I sat there thinking: this drama is halfway done, but what was the point of all that transpired up til now? I, with an infinite ability to justify shit that I love, couldn’t find a single purpose for this story. That is the moment where I couldn’t find my honest emotional connection with this drama anymore.
I took a break after that, jumping back into SG after a few weeks had passed, watching it with fresh eyes and an open mind. Perhaps Kim Eun Sook needed such a long step up period, and the latter half of the drama would show hand masterfully and everything would click into place. My optimism was misplaced. While Kim Eun Sook did lay all the clues from the first episode onward for the big-melodramatic-life-or-death-choice to come, she ultimately shot herself in the foot.
In electing to create such a fantasy premise, which I accepted without overanalyzing, she was unable to stay within even her own scattered mythology. While I loved that Joo Won made a selfish and selfless decision for the woman he loved, it was all negated not half an episode later by complete and utter WTF-kery that didn’t even make sense within the SG fantasy context. How the fuck did dead-daddy switch their souls in the dream world, when they’ve been switching based on drinking the flower wine and the rain in the real world. Where is the consistency, woman!
Furthermore, where are the STAKES in this damn drama? I wondered what the point of SG was, and I’m still looking for that. But adding fuel to the fire is that I am now looking for stakes, and find none. Joo Won’s big grand sacrifice was reversed by magic hoodoo that doesn’t even make sense within the magic jibber-jabber of SG. All the tears and amazing acting of Hyun Bin was just to emotionally pillage my sympathy for his character, only to turn around and mock me for falling for such superficial plot progress that is immediately reversed.
I don’t want SG to have a sad ending, so it’s not the happy resolution of the big life-and-death choice that pisses me off. It’s how easy and meaningless it all becomes only you wave the wand of dead-daddy’s all-powerful magic shower of roses over the OTP. It’s the very definition of deux et machina if ever there was a plot device constructed as such. Who cares how they got switched back (AND Ra Im woke up from her coma, natch!), it’s magic, yo! *excuse me while I headdesk over here for a few minutes*
I find SG very shallow because of its very elaborately constructed pretentions of grandeur. It ambitiously tries so hard to be clever, to be edgy, to be subversive, and fails at all of that because Kim Eun Sook simply didn’t have the solid story construct down to accomplish all. For example, in episode 13-14, Ra Im suddenly went from her usual no-no-I-don’t-want-to-be-with-you to an about face and runs off to be with Joo Won at the party. I would have done a facepalm if I weren’t so enamored by the subsequent sexiness at the party and the woo-hoo kissing that happened thereafter.
Which gets me to the crux of my quibbles with SG – ultimately I find the drama a pointless showcase for Kim Eun Sook’s penchant for quippy dialogue and flashy constructs. An empty piece of entertainment, made fascinating to the viewers (myself initially included) because of a great cast, good execution, and a fresh new hook with the body-swap premise. If I take Kim Eun Sook’s dialogue out of context, it’s gibberish. If I take the characters out of the drama, they are two-dimensional and frankly quite unpalatable.
This is not to say that SG is not heads and tails a better drama than most of the romantic comedies and melodramas out there. The last two cute little dramas I enjoyed, Playful Kiss and Mary Stayed Out All Night, are comparatively written by grade schoolers if I were to stack them against SG (and the M3 script was written by a pair of grade schoolers who take the short bus, if I may be so blunt). The problem is that SG is written by a self-aware high school student who thinks her screenplay stacks up against NYU theater department graduate dissertations. It doesn’t, because the depth is missing, and that is where the disconnect occurs for me.
PK and M3 may objectively suck, but at least it doesn’t try to parade itself around like the Emperor’s new clothing. This is the first time I really felt that Kim Eun Sook wasn’t trying to tell a story that she connected with and believed in, but was instead presenting some sort of look-how-witty-I-am drama production. Unlike in City Hall (and to a lesser extent, On Air), I didn’t feel her genuine heart was in this drama, leaving the end result a soulless experience for me to watch.
I don’t fall into the I-hate-everything-Kim-Eun-Sook writes category of drama watchers, and SG is hardly going to tip me into that side either. She was always hit or miss with me, and SG is neither a grand failure on par with the Lovers trilogy for me, nor did it evince her maturity with City Hall and On Air. I did enjoy so many moments in SG, and even with the paucity of heart in the writing, the actors sold me on their parts.
None more so than Yoon Sang Hyun as Oska, our resident dim but warm-hearted little over-the-hill Hallyu star. I’ve been a Yoon Sang Hyun fan since he stole the drama in Queen of Housewives (literally, the man stole an entire drama from the rest of the cast, and thank goodness he did), and his performance in SG makes me thankful that he got such a plum role to showcase his comedic timing and thrumming emotional depth.
Kim Sa Rang was also another shining star for me. This is the first time I’ve ever seen her act, and not only is the woman unbelievably statuesque and gorgeous, she really dug into her role as scorned haughty princess with a broken heart Yoon Seul. I adored her bitchiness, and I melted for her sadness. She made a great secondary OTP with Oska, and sometimes was just so much more fun to watch onscreen when she sparred and parried with Yoon Sang Hyun.
But I can’t say enough accolades for Hyun Bin’s performance as Kim Joo Won, stunted little man-boy with neuroses and a reality-disconnect greater than the Grand Canyon. It’s not Binnie’s best performance, but he was always spot-on, even when his character was written more for show than depth. He made Joo Won more complex and three-dimensional than on paper, and that is solely attributed to his acting prowess. I literally could not breathe during the elevator claustrophobia scene, and his final drive into the storm had me sobbing even while I raged at Kim Eun Sook’s contrivance.
Ha Ji Won’s Gil Ra Im was the sole weak link for me in this drama. Her character was the least fleshed out, and she was so reactive most of the time that it became a cake-walk for Ha Ji Won to play her. I felt like half the time Ha Ji Won was mailing in her performance (the crying, the angry, the distressed – she’s done it elsewhere and done it so much better than in SG), or she was trying something new that didn’t quite work (her performance as Joo Won was unconvincing to say the least). Not to say Ha Ji Won’s performance wasn’t good, but when I know she’s capable of great, I’m just sad the drama didn’t stretch her talents more.
I don’t think SG was a waste of time to watch, because when it was entertaining and riveting, it kept me glued to the screen and clapping my hands like a trained seal. It was only when the cracks were impossible to ignore, and I took a hard honest look at the entire production, did the enjoyment become clouded by an overarching sense of disappointment.
Kim Eun Sook is capable of telling a tightly plotted story, and grounding in a meaningful purpose, whether to talk about the state of K-drama production or a look at municipal Korean politics. In SG, she neither created a love story so wholly about love itself that a plot-driven background is not needed, nor did she construct a story solidly that it can balance a gimmicky Cinderella story with a greater narrative.
I don’t need a magic eight ball to tell you that SG will have a magically happy ending. Maybe some more tears first, but ultimately it’ll all be set right, and maybe a few more coincidences and happenstance moments will be unearthed to make us believe that Fate always intended for Joo Won and Ra Im to be together. I’m fine with that, and will happily watch the last two episodes this weekend.
I wished my feelings going into the finale were akin to that of Joo Won as he drove into that storm, unconscious Ra Im by his side, his heart on his sleeve. That type of raw feelings with respect to a drama should have been here (I watched the last two episodes of City Hall with my gut in my throat), but Kim Eun Sook went for easy solutions to complicated actions that appear to have no consequences, so how can I genuinely care about what happens to Ra In and Joo Won?
In the end, I am happy that all the lead actors chose to do SG. Binnie needs a huge hit before he leaves for MS, and I’m not such a project snob that I need my fave actors to eschew mainstream fare for indie credibility. Ha Ji Won proves once again that she is a ratings queen, and has a very savvy eye to selecting projects. I think SG will be the biggest boon to Yoon Sang Hyun’s career, with his endearingly adorable character and pitch-perfect performance a solid stepping stone in taking his name-recognition to another level.
While I don’t regret watching SG, that doesn’t negate my critique that the drama had ambition and drive, but no heart and soul. It’s akin to watching a race car doing stunts on a track, and discovering that it was robot controlled, as opposed to a real driver inside using his talents and putting his life on the line for that daredevil performance. The former leaves me appreciating an empty show of skill, the latter leaves me breathless with awe and emotionally engaged in the spectacle, because there is a beating heart behind the wheel, and he’s going for broke right before my eyes. SG had moments of emotional clarity, but as a whole never achieved raw story-propelled honesty for me.
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I agree with everything you've said in this discussion. There's no doubt that the actors are what are elevating this drama beyond mediocrity. I feel a little twinge of sadness for the potential this plot had, though. With the premiss and the actors, SG could have been truly great.
Very thoughtful review.
I don't actually disagree with anything you say. SG is very flashy, and hides it's antarctic sized plot holes behind awesome acting, witty dialogue, and incredible cast chemistry. However, as much as I wished that the plot made more sense (or any sense), I'm still enjoying SG because of the characters and the actors behind them.
Objectively, I know SG is probably not as good as City Hall, but the former entertains me while the latter I found to have some delusions of grandeur that turned me off. At the end of the day, SG is about a boy who loves a girl, and a girl who loves him back. I don't think KES was going for anything other than her brand of dark humor on the tried and true cinderella story. Is SG an amazing piece of art? No, but it's entertaining as hell, and that's good enough for me.
OMG, bb! I thought we were going to clash on this, but we really, really don't. I agree with pretty much everything I read (I didn't read the whole thing cos I'm still behind -I'm waiting WITHS2's subs).
hen SG hit episode 10, after the last scene rolled, I sat there thinking: this drama is halfway done, but what was the point of all that transpired up til now?
THIS. SO MUCH! SO SO SO MUCH!
I can't write anymore about this because 1)it's late, 2)it's freezing cold and I'm about to hit the bed and 3)I really don't have the energy to talk about SG. I thought I wanted to talk about it and IIRC I even asked you to talk about it, but now that you did, I feel drained because seriously? I'm sooo disappointed and I feel silly because I sort of want to drop it, but I can't bring myself because this is most likely Binnie's last project before he starts his military service and I'll most likely go into withdrawal sooner if I skip SG.
OTOH, the other day I had to marathon ep 10-16 of MNIKSS because after watching the latest SG, I was like, OMG what's the point? I need something with a little substance. I'm saving CH for later for I'm dead certain that when I'm done with SG and Athena with villain!CSW, I'll need to rewatch CH from the very first ep.
And another thing. See, while M3 was messier in term of story-telling, plot-development and, well, everything if you compare it to SG, I enjoyed M3 a loooooot more and yes, I can see that Binnie and HJW have great chemistry and I dont' want to say that SG is as bad as Pasta was (that is, the only thing that still keeps me watching is the chemistry between the leads) because that would be a little unfairl, but man, maaaaan, it's soooo difficult to feel this disappointed and still keep on watching.
Okay, I'm fairly sure the last paragraph doesn't even mean anything. *tries to send you the whole message through her mind*
*Giggles maniacally* For some kismet of a feeling I got, I knew deep down you were as disappointed with SG as I was, and that my little diatribe to SG would actually echo your thoughts. *HUGS* I feel the need to rewatch MNIKSS as well. Go get some sleep, sweetie, and chat more when you catch up. Don't drop SG, because Binnie does some stellar acting in the recent episodes. Worth watching just for that. Honest.
Babe,
I'm the project snob, but I don't have this intense a hate on KES before SG, I've tasted every single one of her stuff but the signs, irking this IS trainwreck a coming miles away is all there, esp when KES has the expense of a great and popular cast. I'm totally giving up my watch of CH as personal vendetta (CH ep1-4 sucks, I'll keep saying it! nananananaana). Thank you for being sweet and encouraging before this airs. I was a mess. I'm fine with binnie doing a mass hit, romcom, even an mnikss2, but we know this is so not, and that, I'm still pissy (at binnie)
I only liked ep1, 2 without buts, fr then on I had to delusion myself giving drama hope and be lenient. I too am tired and have nth much to contribute in any discussion. But coming full circle, this is quite close to what I expect of SG all along. KES, I will hate and wanna BIHF, binnie will again prove himself he can act to the newbs (but really arent we past this point already binnieboy?!) YSH, like and please pick a decent drama ahjusshi! HJW, I'm soo soo disappointed, may not be entirely her fault since her character is so poorly constructed. SIGH.
I hoped we'd agree, but there was this nagging feeling of, "what if she loves it and I'm, like, 'but it's meh *pouts*'" especially considering my LJ flist seems to love it and the ratings are what they are? I was baffled, to say the least.
I won't drop it. The acting is really top-notch, but I wish I'd FEEL something for the characters because at this point, I'm usually at least fond of them or, more often than not, completely head-over-in-heels-in-love with them and I cry and laugh for and with them, but so far? With SG? That hasn't happened yet. I'm...mildy interested, true, and I'm afraid what little I DO feel for them, it's going to be pointless because the story is what it is. You know?
Haha. Rest? Clearly you do not know me too well... yet. It's almost 5 am and guess what I did from 2am until, well, 5 minutes ago? I worked. Because I'm an idiot who works when should be resting and sleeps when everybody else is up. And then I get scolded because, "it's 9AM why aren't you up yet?" And I'm like, "but i went to bed 2 hours ago? WTF?" /rant. Sorry, when I'm tired, I rant. A lot. Ahem.
Re: MNIKSS. I think I'm going to rewatch it from the beginning. Either that or CP. I'm saving CH for later, when Athena ends, but I did say that already, didn't I? *facepalm x infinity* Also? I SO love my dvds. I need to buy the ones for CH because I haven't done that yet and I feel stupid. Seriously, how can I not have them yet? Why didn't I buy the director's cut? Oh yeah, no money. Fuu. Ah well, I'll def get the regular version soon. o/ I NEED IT, BB!
*re-reads comment* OMG I sound drunk! :////
WORD. and rest up Sere!
WORD? I write 2000 plus words and you write ONE? Twinnie, help me out here. I can use your knives on KES for posterity.
I can debate CH-is-awesome with you for all eternity (if you even finished it, LOL), but damn is SG pushing all my dislike buttons.
Edit: hahahaha, twin power activate! You posted your long comment as I posted my comment asking for a longer comment. Sigh, SG has made me daft.
And no, the first 1-4 eps of CH were brilliant, in hindsight. I've rewatched it after finishing the entire drama, and works even better in context. Neener neener. But still love you lots! :-D
Thank you, mookie!
Re: CH. Can I say something? When I watched CH the first time around, you know what didn't work for me in ep 1-4? All the fat jokes or, well, all the jokes (ie the smelly hair?) at expenses of Mi-rae, who, sure, wasn't exactly the brightest tool in the box, but was it really necessary the treatment she got? I thought the writer really did push too hard on those topics. I almost, almost dropped CH because of that. It was too much, imho, and it wasn't even sutble or, you know, funny. When I did rewatch the series, although I could appreciate the overall storyline in hindsight, I still found the jokes atrocious. Say, if she had written half of the jokes that eventually made it on air, I would have looooved every single thing of CH.
Still, CH is #1, along with CP, in my list of favorite kdramas. HA! SG doesn't even compare, sorry!
i dont know why but i just love it, although they are too much cliches , i really love them they make me laugh they made me cry and dream :P , sorry to desagree this time
I'm happy that you like SG. Honestly, dramas are for each person's enjoyment. If you liked it, that is the most important thing.
Sorry my sweet sweet Twinnie! MUAKMUAKMUAKMUAK I'm TYPING!! haha
* and I have stupid coworkers being stupid!*
lolz it gives me a big fat smile you know I'll bring CH in. *HUG MY TWINNIE*
Your twinnie has to get up at 3 a.m. tomorrow to catch a 6 a.m. flight to Philly. Is. Not. Pleased. Perhaps I was overly harsh to SG and KES? Nah, she deserved it, especially for emaciating and overworking Binnie. For that she deserves some public flogging.
O CRAP!! and Philly of all places?! (no offense to Philly lovers out there... ;P)
Thing is I cant even rem what transpires in 8, 9, 10, 12 of SG, but it's also around 8 or 10 for me that I gave up hoping this wont be shiteous?!
TC, safe flight, and back home in no time!
Nah, she deserved it, especially for emaciating and overworking Binnie. For that she deserves some public flogging.
SHE TOTALLY DOES! I'm STILL worried he'll keel over. Whenever he's on screen, I keep thinking, "okay, this is it. He's gonna faint. Wait for it, wait for it. It's gonna happen in 5...4...3..."etc. If I could send him cookies, brownies and an IV drip, I'd do that. Also? OMGGGG, he'll need rest before the service but what if he goes right into it after finishing SG? Seriously, SO WORRIED HERE.
And chingoo, get some rest and have a nice flight, okay?
While I love all shades gathered under the speculative fiction genre, fantasy is the one I find most troublesome; it can easily turn futile or cringeworthy. Watching Secret Garden I feel as though it's the work of a contemporary fiction writer who decided to shake things up with a trendy bit of supernatural, after all how hard could that be? Eeesh.
Yoon Sang Hyun's Oska is my favorite character. SG hasn't become a total cringefest for me but on the whole I gotta agree with the koala.
Yep... I've said some of what I'm about to type in soompi and I'll say it again. The thing with SG, is that behind all the quirky set-ups is still your forever-old rich guy poor gal plot. It took me a while to pick this up (shame, I know) and I was a tiny bit disappointed. But I chose to let it go because I was still thoroughly entertained. And then it went makjang on me. WTF! I'm not asking for laughs all the time, but makjang is clearly misused in this drama. I was totally on board with the subtle melancholy in previous episodes. Like the way JW takes solitary walks on his vast property, or even the drug talk he had with his mom that shows how emotionally abandoned he is. But what? They threw parental-forced-separation at me. Then a car accident. Then a coma. Then selective amnesia round 2. Makjang is a genre of its own. Few has been able to use it sparingly in a non-makjang without leaving a bad taste in my mouth. You really have to commit to this stuff to make it work. For example, RI's father's death over JW's life could've been a major conflict but they arrived at the knowledge so late in the plot. Real makjang would've dwelled on the guilt oh so bad but this is makjang fluff therefore writer had not the backbone to pull that crap. So then all the angst arose only from Wicked Mother of the East + RI's coma death pending, which is oh so lame on the makjang meter.
So, I agree with you. SG is mostly fluff with little substance. At the core is still the courtship between a chaebol and a poor woman, with no real conflict. I still love JW but I wish I can say the same about the entire drama.
P.S. when kdramas want to drive their point home, they DRIVE their point home. The ineo gongju reference could've been toned down. If i hear bubbles one more time... f%#@$.
Consider all these came from the person that thought m3 &pf kiss was decent .... Ill think about this as a joke ,ok? M3 was a train wrack and such a boring drama arguing the Most boring k drama I ever watched... Well I wll think of these as your personal bad taste..
I'm sorry I'm disagree with you. Eventhough some part will be very strange and weird, but I think, we already know that it is 'fantasy drama'. So we can't protest and compare with real condition. I just enjoy how Ra im and Jo woon built their relationship. This drama is better than M3.
I don't disagree with you at all. SG is a much better drama than M3, objectively in every which way. And SG is indeed a fantasy melodrama that I never asked to be grounded in reality. Heck, dragons can show up and JW and RI can suddenly develop the ability to teleport and I wouldn't have a problem with it as long as Kim Eun Sook created a believable basis for her concept.
I merely asked for the story to remain consistent within its own constructed fantasy mythology, and ground the relationship between the OTP in sincerity rather than flashy and oft-used Cinderalla tropes masked with a bang-us-over-the-head symbolism of Mermaid princesses and bubbles. When you create a fantasy trope, but then rewrite the rules (or worse yet, make up new rules along the way), then as a writer you've completely been consumed by the beast you have created.
It's like the Lion Tamer getting eaten by the supposed Tamed Lion.
Butting in because it's late and I can't be held responsible for my actions and Koala, who's a friend, is not going to hate me for spamming her journal. I hope. *bites nails*
The problem I have with SG is not the fantasy element though it wasn't used to its full potential imho. It was, well, almost everything else except the acting and the cinematography.
Now you want a cute fantasy romcom which not only is, as Koala beautifully put it, consistent within its own constructed fantasy mythology, but it's also witty and which ALSO takes kdramas' overused cliches and reverts them, reinventing a Korean myth in the process all the while making it all believable? Watch My girlfriend is a gumiho and then compare it with SG. There's an abyss between the two. Mind you, I'm not saying MGIAG is flawless, far from it (omg, the Hong sisters and their love for fart jokes, jfc!), but as far as the fantasy element goes and all the other things Koala said? Yes, there is an abyss between the two imho.