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First Impressions: Secret Garden (2010)
Secret Garden
SBS
20 Episodes
Nov 2010 - Jan 2011
Plot
We are introduced to Hyun Bin first, and he’s a bit of a head case. Literally. He’s working through some issues in his personal life, one of which is some kind of certifiable disorder that probably ends with an “—ia” at the end of the medical diagnosis. He also has quite the imagination and it often runs away from him. But he’s carefully keeping that under wraps. Being perceived as a lazy rich kid riding his family’s wealth does bother him some (the fam owns a luxury department store – I’m gonna associate Loel to Nordy in my head), but that false perception is considerably less worrisome than the thought of his real secret being found out by the ambitious underlings eager to oust him. Like in Frances Hodgson Burnett’s famed book, The Secret Garden, we have a protag who has some serious problems and the tendency to escape them through the power of his own mind, which allows for a blending of fantasy and reality. There are also lots of pretty garden scenery, too, as he lives in the most gorgeous house ever (although with all that water, I’d worry about the bazillions of mosquitoes that must populate there during the summers).
Hyun Bin’s character is the kind of overly smart guy that baits people into word traps and then insults them very cleverly (“Do you keep that head stuck there just to add extra height?); he’s a dutiful heir and goes on blind dates set by his mother diligently if somewhat robotically; he is also typical of the entitled in that he carries a bloated opinion of himself which he knows is protected by the thickness of his wallet. Despite all of the above, he is not dislikable. His honesty is refreshing—off-putting, but still refreshing. He isn’t, however, unaware of etiquette or proper social behavior, he simply believes he is too important for such rules to apply.
When he clashes with Ha JiWon’s stuntwoman character, who has an abrasively charming personality equal to his own (she’s the kind of gal who uses another woman’s purse as a trashcan), he’s immediately smitten by her and he doesn’t spend very much time in denial about it either. As Ha JiWon’s action school boss describes perfectly of Hyun Bin’s interest in her, “He’s not strange at all. He’s a man.” That’s right, Ha JiWon is heading-turningly beautiful. Fact.
Speaking of Phillip Lee, who is Ha’s boss and second love interest, he is the typical second lead, handsome and nice and secretly in love with his employee.
There’s a third guy, too, a singer/actor played by Yoon SangHyun, who also happens to be Hyun Bin’s cousin and life rival, and being rude is clearly a family trait. By the by, Ha JiWon harbors a major crush on this playboy celebrity.
Last, we have Kim SaRang, a woman who has some gold-digging tendencies. She has romantic history with Yoon SangHyun, but sees Hyun Bin as the way into a better, more financially secure future.
There’s some body-switching that will also happen, or so it’s rumored. This is a romantic comedy with extra emphasis on the comedy.
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