Thank you for flashing back to Secret Garden. Though not a perfect drama (by any means) it still has one of the best moments in kdramas- Joo won walking and conversing with an imaginary Ra im ......pure magic that haunts me to this day. Also, best OST!

This drama only worked because Hyun-Bin and Ha Ji-Won had a great chemistry (their BTS scenes were very funny). The other actors (Kim Sa-Rang and Phillip Lee for example) were pretty bad.

Ha Ji-Won's character was indeed unique for this period with her job and her short hair. The swapped bodies parts were pretty funny too.

I remember that I liked it for the couple when it aired but I never wanted to rewatch it since.

This was my first Hyun Bin drama and I could not get into it. I couldn't see what the fuss was about, but I fell in love with him in Crash Landing on You. 😍

Well, I do remember watching it. It can be considered essential in journey of k-drama land. It introduced me to cold, arrogant CEO trope , absolutely horrible money throwing mother in law and star power of HB and HJW. The thing I mostly remember it for is Hyun bin in his sparkly Italian hand made track suit...never seen once after in dramaland. Do I want to re-watch it , it's firm no.

I quite liked this drama when I first watched it. Their chemistry was palpable, the dialogues were memorable, the OST was great, and the humour and angst was nicely balanced. The location (reused in What's Wrong With Secretary Kim!) and cinematography was lovely too. But if someone were to watch it now, I'd recommend being generous with skipping and fast-forwarding and lingering only the scenes with the OTP...

This show made me laugh so hard multiple times. I loved Ra-im's fangirl love on Oska that turned into a true friendship.
Hyun Bin is gorgeous, but also really good in the comedic moments.
I watched it at the start of my Kdrama journey and remember inhaling it and JB & GF's recaps. Because of it being one of those dirt drastically it will always have a little nostalgia attached to it.
I'd honestly probably watch it again.
But to new viewers be aware of all the warnings before you go in and be sure it is something you would enjoy.

I was obsessed with this drama when it aired and when it was done, it was like the spell was broken. It was like I was ready to move on after weeks of playing each episode several times. Of course, when I caught a bit of it playing again about 6 years after airing, it captured my attention. When I had to stop and leave for work, it was like the spell was broken again. When I looked back, the individual interactions were interesting, but the whole story and romance was "so what's going on? why? huh?"

Like DaebakGrits put it so nicely regarding the romance - it's like he wore her down. It was cute when I was younger, but now that I'm older, it's uncomfortable

But still, it had a killer OST. And this was my introduction to the charming Yoo Inna and Kim Sung-oh. Also Lee Jong-seok though his role didn't add much to the story, but it was nice to see an LGBT character.

I enjoyed the body swap parts of this drama and that’s about it. From memory I finished it but it was a STRUGGLE.

Even back when I first watched it (c. 2013-ish, I think), Secret Garden was one of those dramas where I needed to pause quite a bit and remind myself that it came out a few years back and therefore, was a product of its time. That, and a liberal usage of the fast-forward button. I didn’t absolutely hate it or anything, it just wasn’t for me. As iconic as Hyun Bin’s sparkly tracksuits are (I want one! To this day!), his attitude certainly isn’t. The main reason I even pushed through the drama, in hindsight, was because of my massive crush for Ha Ji-won. God, I was so repressed and closeted back then. So yeah, that’s the most important role of Secret Garden for me. Ended up as one of the first onscreen representations of homosexuality in Korean dramas and ultimately helped this young girl in finding herself.

Over the years, I’ve also developed a general aversion towards Kim Eun-sook’s writing, so there’s no way in hell I’m revisiting this anytime soon. Even non-KES dramas from that era can barely stand the scrutiny of time, so I won’t subject Gil Ra-im to that.

So, uhh Secret Garden. Superficially progressive for 2010, hopelessly problematic in 2022. Nonetheless, it’s pivotal to my personal and kdrama journey. Just not in the way the writer likely intended lol.

I remember enjoying the romance but not enough for me to do a rewatch in the coming years after it aired.

Iirc, it wasn’t just the sparkly tracksuit that got parodied (?) in the years after. The sit-up kiss, the latte kiss and the OST continues to be played in variety shows as well.

I actually liked this in the past but reminiscing some of the scenes now, I think the main reasons I've liked this is because of the chemistry between Hyun Bin and Ha Jiwon and of course, the wonderful OSTs (I'm still listening to them a lot, my favorites are: Here I Am by 4men and Mi, You are my Spring by Sung Sikyung, and Reason by 4men). The hype was real back then, and some of the iconic scenes are still memorable for me: (1) sit ups scene; (2) foam kiss; (3) Joowon's Kim Soo Han Moo chant; (4) Raim's ringing tone - munja wa shong

But still, this is one of the two Kim Eunsook dramas I've managed to finish until the end (alongside Descendants of the Sun). Not really a fan of her dramas and the way she wrote the characters. But just like every popular drama, I really understand the hype tho I'm not part of the target audience for real.

OMG those expressions on Hyun Bin's face. He gets cooler as he gets older. He should play more wacky character to stretch his acting muscles ha ha
Glad, I watched this when I was younger, my threshold of ass**** / tsundere /prickly/ you named it character, much much lower these days. 😅

As someone who has rewatched Secret Garden in the past year or two, I must say I did enjoy the rewatch. Although there was less time spent on the body swap than I had remembered.

Secret Garden's existence is necessary to remind me of how 'the day of becoming you' is a much superior drama to this in every-respect (if body-switch hijinks are what one is looking for!) :P I mean, it even had the sparkly-tracksuit moment! xD

This was actually my introduction to Kdramas! So as such it definitely holds a special place in my heart. Looking back on it, I still enjoy it, despite it’s obvious downsides. As mentioned if it wasn’t Hyun Bin doing the things he’s doing…it’d be hard to justify. He definitely bulldozes his way into our FL’s heart.

The chemistry between the leads is still off the charts and despite the tropey elements I’ve definitely rewatched this one a few times over the years. It’s got the overbearing villain who’s evil for the sake of being evil, but the other side characters are great. Fun dynamics abound.

Do I recommend it to newer kdrama watchers? Definitely. You’ll have to put up with some older quirks, but it’s still a charming watch.

Among my first K-dramas were Ruler of Your Own World, Kim Sam-soon and Lovers in Prague, with strong, independent female protagonists played by Lee Na-young, Gong Hyo-jin, Kim Sun-ah and Jeon Do-yeon. If Joo-won had pulled any of his crap on them, they would have eaten him alive, or (in the case of the Lee Na-young character) politely given him the cold shoulder. Compared to them, Ha Ji-won's Ra-im seemed only superficially kick-ass, with the stuntwoman stuff as mere window-dressing.

It's already 12 years since this drama aired?!! I feel SO OLD atm...

I adored this drama. The chemistry between HB and HJW, the "Is this the best you can do dialogue" and the tsundere Male lead and ofcourse the only main object of affection Mr. Hyun Bin...

Again... I still cant believe this drama is 12 years old bcoz I feel like it was just like yesterday waiting for subs and watching it online... good ole days!! ♥️

"Joo-won’s grandfather’s fourth wife’s brother — yeah, take your time reading that" I almost laughed at this line, then suddenly recalled a time I nearly got set up with my dad's former client's son's girlfriend's older brother... :')

(And no, I did not request for any blind dates. I can't promise I won't pull a Ha-ri x Young-seo-style date-wrecking if I were forced to go to one.)

Secret Garden defined the word “fizzy” for me, which I use to describe kdramas that you just can’t get enough of. Gimme, gimme, gimme more was how most viewers felt at the time, like candy on Halloween. Again, it was the very definition of having the “it” factor, between the stars, the ost, the nutty setup, the track suits and scenes that were parodied far and wide in SK. (Why do we see The Foam Kiss in kdramas? This is where it started.) Why we ate up that crazy, stalkerish behavior from a male lead was, for me, another Cinderella story and definitely that it was Hyun Bin. At the time there was a huge outcry at the scene where he forces her to lie in bed with him - that he was despicable, but also whether she, the powerful stunt woman, couldn’t have gotten away if she wanted to?
I have rewatched it and so much remains funny and delightful for me. It will always be near the top of my list because it gave me that feeling that I get from my favorite kdramas, and that I search for in every new show. Fizzy! 🍾

I'm pretty new to kdramas and watched Secret Garden just a couple of months ago, mostly because I kept reading about how there are so many references to or parodies of it in later dramas and I wanted to be able to spot those. It was all for research! (And Hyun Bin.) I knew going in that it would be dated and have some crappy elements, especially the bullying, arrogant ML, so I was able to just endure those and write them off as part of my kdrama education. I loathe body-swapping and was thankful that there was less of it than expected.

Was it worth watching (for research! 😉)? Yes. There were definitely lots of funny and iconic moments and both leads were terrific. Worth watching again? Nah, once was enough - although I would watch the imaginary-conversation scene again if I could remember which episode that was.

I know a lot of people loved this drama but I could never get into it. I loved the actors but not their characters if that makes sense.

This is the drama that got me into kdramas so because of that I'll always view it kindly. It does have flaws but there is chemistry between the leads and I remember the first part of the drama being hilarious, there's a reason why it has been parodied so many times. Also features one of the best OST.

Oskaaaaaaa

I absolutely loved Secret Garden. It was my gateway drama and I dare not come ten feet close to it for fear of destroying its magic, that's how dated I know it is.

At the time, all the wrist grabs and him acting all entitled didn't bother me. I've read a lot of historic novels where the male leads were as brutish and entitled as Joo-won is and the added element of comedy in form of him acting like a spoiled kid endeared him enough to me.

Then of course, there was the tension between them. I haven't seen many dramas since Secret Garden where there was such sexual tension between the OTP ever since the beginning and this shaped a lot of the scenes as well as the feel of the drama. I didn't quite get when Ra-im fell in love, I interpreted it more like she surrendered to him and the power of their attraction and then love simply happened upon her. All very harlequin-esque, pre millennial.