The twenty-seventh drama is Secret Garden 시크릿 가든. Secret Garden was a highly popular drama in during the late 2010 and early 2011. This drama would bring together Hyun Bin who I watched in The Snow Queen and Kim Sa Rang who I saw in A Love to Kill. After hearing about this drama from friends, I read a synopsis and was very interested in this drama. However, I hesitated a little after finishing City Hunter, which I felt was too amazing. As a result, I was a little late with starting Secret Garden. Nevertheless, Secret Garden would also become one of my favorite dramas.
Kim Joowon (Hyun Bin) is the CEO of LOEL Department Store. Joowon is arrogant and seemingly nothing shy of perfection. After his Hallyu star cousin Oska (Yoon Sang Hyun) breaks up with an actress, Joowon looks for the actress on Oska's behalf in order to prevent a scandal from breaking out to the media. While searching on the movie set, Joowon mistakens the actress for Gil Raim (Ha Ji Won), her stuntwoman. After clearing up their misunderstanding, Joowon realizes he cannot stop thinking about Raim. His growing attraction to her confuses him greatly and spends a lot of time around her despite her constant objections. One day while biking in the mountains, Joowon and Raim stumble upon the Secret Garden. A mysterious lady gives them a mystical liquor that unbeknownst to them, caused Joowon and Raim to swap bodies overnight. With their souls in different bodies, Joowon and Raim have no choice but to cooperate and find a way to return themselves to their original bodies. As they rely on each and learn about each other, both of them slowly fall in love with one another.
When I watched Secret Garden, the body swapping occurred earlier than I expected. In fact, I was quite relieved that the body swapping happened later on. This meant that there was a sufficient amount of time provided for the audience to understand the characters, as well as the relationships between the characters themselves to develop. It would play an important role when showing the changes between Joowon and Raim as they get to know one one another better. Similar to dramas such as Boys Over Flowers and Devil Beside You, I was more interested in the actress who played the main lead's best friend. In Secret Garden, that actress is Yoo In Na. I really liked her character Im Ahyoung, who has a very cute and bubbly personality. However, that's not to say I didn't like Ha Ji Won either. I was completely blown away when I saw the scene in which she dresses up very elegantly for a party. Since she plays a tomboy-like stuntwoman, it's easy to miss the fact that Ha Ji Won is amazingly pretty when she wants to. Similarly, Kim Sa Rang's characters are pretty different between A Love to Kill's Han Dajung and Secret Garden's Yoon Seul. I was also surprised with Hyun Bin's acting as well too. I was used to his character Han Taewoong who was a mathematical genius turned boxer from The Snow Queen. In Secret Garden, he's suited up into a clean cut CEO, which is much different. Such differences in characters shows depth in the actors' abilities. The popularity of Secret Garden also led to numerous parodies referencing the drama. One example is the blue tracksuit that Joowon wears and frequently emphasizes that it's handmade by an Italian artisan. In fact, since Secret Garden became very popular, the blue tracksuit set is even available for purchasing online. It's hard to talk about Secret Garden without talking about the infamous 'sit-up kiss' scene. In this scene, Joowon is at the action school bothering Raim. Joowon joins the other action school members in doing situps, while requesting that Raim hold his legs. Raim calls him out for doing the sit-ups half-heartedly. Joowon tells her that she would regret it if he did the sit-ups correctly. He proceeds to do a full sit-up, bringing his face very close to her face, creating a very intimate scene. Along with the 'sit-up kiss' was the 'foam kiss' where Joowon kisses Raim to wipe off the cappuccino foam on her lips after Raim takes a drink. With so many dramas out, I felt the originality of the sit-up scene is very impressive.
The success of Secret Garden was fueled even further with the songs featured in the drama. The most popular tracks are the pair "That Man 그남자" and "That Woman 그여자" sung by Hyun Bin and Baek Ji Young, respectively. Both songs are essentially the same, but from two different points of view. Since Yoon Sang Hyun's character Oska is a Hallyu star, he also contributes to the official soundtrack with "Tear Stain 눈물자리" and "Gazing 바라본다". "Scar 상처만" sung by BOIS is a track that a lot of people recognize the first several seconds. It's featured a lot in variety shows, as well as Gag Concert. Another good song is "Appear" by Kim Bum Soo.
The unique idea behind Joowon and Raim changing bodies is perhaps what set this drama apart from any other drama. This concept ultimately proved how talented both Hyun Bin and Ha Ji Won are. After their characters change bodies, both Hyun Bin and Ha Ji Won need to be able to convey the change in personality. The fact they conveyed the change so accurately, as if they really did change bodies, is very impressive. I highly recommend watching Secret Garden. The storyline and concept is so unique, that it seems unreasonable to pass up watching this drama.
