I wasn’t initially
interested in a soul-swapping drama set in modern times. I thought the drama could contain plenty of
lame what-am-I-doing-in-a-male/female-body gags, but the very swoon-worthy Hyun
Bin and interesting Ha Ji-won (of Hwang Jini fame) convinced me to invest time
in this. And the now popular Lee Jong
Suk (acted in a bit part in Princess Prosecutor) took on the role of a talented
singer who secretly loved Hyun Bin’s character’s cousin in the show. Yoo Inna, who took on the lead role in Queen
In-hyun’s Man, was oozing goofy cuteness as Ha Ji-won’s character’s roommate. It’s like Secret Garden gave these bit-part
acters/actresses the platform to shine by virtue of appearing in the same drama
of established stars. Quite a hoot huh? The theme song “That Man” performed by Hyun
Bin brought a certain sadness to the drama when it came on incessantly. (A
Taiwanese singer covered it in Chinese, which I thought was pretty good too.)
Secret Garden, in
addition to being a soul-swapping drama, is essentially a Cinderella story
which took like 10 years to play out.
Hyun Bin’s character was saved from a lift accident by a fireman (who
died in the accident) who asked Hyun Bin to convey his love to his daughter. Dressed in his hospital pyjamas, Hyun Bin straggled
to the ritual halls but could not bring himself in front of the dead fireman’s
daughter due to his guilt. Somehow, Hyun
Bin suppressed his memory of this incident and grew up to inherit his
grandfather’s conglomerate. One day, he
met Ha Ji-won and was smitten by her. To
milk 20 episodes of tears and love from Hyun Bin’s fans, Secret Garden threw in
a dead father’s magic to swap the souls of his daughter with the teenager he
saved, a snobbish mother who did not want a stunt-woman as a daughter-in-law, a
pop-singer cousin adding complications to being in love in a woman who was on
way her to becoming Hyun Bin’s wife (with great approval of the mother-in-law
to be), a talented singer in love with the pop-singer cousin, the boss of Ha
Ji-won who was secretly in love with his employee. Phew, just recounting the characters made me
wonder how I survived the 20 episodes of complications.
To cut the 20 episodes
short, Hyun Bin finally regained his memory, and the dead fireman, satisfied
with what Hyun Bin had done for his daughter, finally stopped the soul-swapping
with another spell. Hyun Bin and Ha
Ji-won had three children, who were enormously fawned over by their grandmother
who continued in her rejection of her son and his choice of wife. And so the prince and Cinderella continued to
live happily ever after.
Hyun Bin is indeed
swoon-worthy, even in that hideous sparkly blue tracksuit. But why is it that the female leads almost
always seem to be older or look older than the male leads? Is it to make up for the fact that the female
leads are often more accomplished in their craft compared to the pretty boys
acting opposite them? It’s not
devilishly difficult to act as a spoilt, rich and handsome young man with
well-tailored wardrobe, is it?
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