Perfect cast and a good story

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

Every time I watch a show from Korea, I am never disappointed. This one is no different. An emotional roller coaster show with fantastic characters, beautiful cinematography and amazing soundtrack. You will fall in love with the show and its characters. The script is well written and the actors and actresses have such chemistry.You will find yourself laughing, crying, smiling and being angry right along with them.A word of caution though. You will find yourself wanting to start the next episode once you reach the end of the one you are watching because it is that good and addicting. I was sad that I got to the last episode and it ended. So, I started watching from the first episode again. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

I much enjoy a romantic melodrama in the min-series format that develops a main single story from beginning to end, though with some related parallel sub-plots along the way. The basic melodrama is the oft repeated formula: Boy meets Girl, Boy loses Girl, Boy gets Girl Back. This may recur in the same story.Human relations can be complex even if only the boy and girl are involved, but this complexity increases as more people are involved.If personality dynamics are properly depicted in a valid manner, and if the production is skillful, powerful emotions can be evoked in the viewer. In this way we can live many lifetimes through movies, in our one lifetime - greatly enriching our incarnate experience.These South Korean productions (seen on Netflix streaming) are first class with excellent production and direction, some terrific casting and acting (particularly from some of the females who give some matchless world class performances), brilliant musical accompaniment, and staging. What makes these so good is the way they skillfully evoke deep emotion in the viewer. South Korean movie making is superb - world class.However, the following caveats must be considered by the USA viewer: They are subtitled and some people hate this. The South Korean cultural norms, values and sanctions may sometimes seems silly or old fashioned to the USA viewer. The families are close knit and decisions by an individual may be subject to family approval. Social distance is maintained where formal speech is used, and personal speech forms are reserved for close friends or family. There is a strong work ethic and community cooperation/unity - sometimes reminiscence of a old Frank Capra film.Most importantly, in order for the sometimes complicated sub-plots to work, people fail to communicate with each other as might be expected, keeping many in the dark as to what others are doing, and this leads to misunderstandings and error judgments of some people, that sometimes seem to be unlikely by USA cultural standards. The viewer may wonder at times why good but trusting people are so easily manipulated and deceived by bad and selfish people, but con artists do often succeed (just look at politicians for example). However this poetic license of improbability is needed to develop the story - just accept it as occurring even though unlikely at times. Taking these factors into account will help you become involved and emotionally engrossed. It was hard for me to quit watching at times so I often binged watched more than one episode at a time.I would rank these as follows but tastes differ and your rankings might not agree: 1 - 4 (hard to say which is best)Shining InheritanceWhen a Man LovesThat Winter, The Wind BlowsSecret garden5. Five Fingers6. The Scent of a Woman7. The Great Queen Seondeok8. A Hundred Years Inheritance9. Lie To me10. Roof Top Prince11. Dr. Jin12. The Great DoctorSecret Garden is a romantic comedy as well as melodrama, and interplays the two quite well. We see a transformation in the male lead from a rich, self-centered upper-class snob, unable to love others, into a regular guy ('human' as the South Koreans label it) able to relate emphatically and love. The female lead puts the snob down, even beating him up when he deserves it, which makes for great fun. This theme is also featured in "Protect the Boss", another South Korean TV mini-series that is not reviewed by me.

SPOILERS !!! 1- It's not funny, I hardly ever laughed. Part of it could be poor subtitles, but you don't need those for physical comedy, and there's precious little of that.2- The main premise of the body swap, which offered unlimited possibilities, is terribly underutilized.3- Characters do not behave in a realistic way, for example we are asked to believe that while swapped they aren't curious about their new bodies. Also why pretend they don't feel any kind of sexual impulse? If the creators didn't want them to have sex before marriage they could have found some perfectly good excuse.4- How and why the female lead, from the original distaste for him, comes to love the male lead, is poorly explained, we are left to assume she gets tired of him insisting so much and gives in.5- The story arc of the sidekick couple, even in its simplicity, is a lot more interesting than the protagonists' one.6- While the bodies are swapped they are sometimes showed as un-swapped (for the viewer benefit I guess?) but this only causes confusion and negates the premise.7- The main actress shows good acting skills when she does a man in a woman's body, but below average ones otherwise.8- The two most important conflicts (the difficult love stories of the two couples) are resolved too soon, so the final episode lacks any punch and is reduced to some 50 minutes of happy ending, which is way too many.9- The evil mother thing is overdone.10- The sister of the main character is first introduced and then completely forgotten about.11- Other characters which either had the potential for an interesting sub-plot (the gay musician) or were genuinely funny (the assistant of the department store director Park) were underdeveloped/underutilized.12- To an extent this is to be expected in most TV shows, but when it comes to Secret Garden there are way too many plot holes and inconsistencies.13- For a series produced in 2010, there are too many K-drama stereotypes: rich boy/poor girl, evil mother, sidekick couple, hospital… we've seen this for a decade now. Still it would be OK if at least it was well done, but it isn't.The series by which I jusge all others is "Kim Sam-soon" which, with all the limitations inherent to a family TV program / k drama, is funny, realistic enough, not too syrupy, and sports the best female lead character in the history of television.That show set the standard for rom-coms, and therefore we can expect it to be copied a lot, but Secret Garden went to far: - same actor in the male lead role - in both shows there's a trip to Jeju island - in both shows the male lead had a life threatening accident when younger - said accident left the male lead unable to ride a transport (car/elevator)

I really didn't think I would like this drama. I watched Boys Over Flowers and ended up really disliking the whole series because I couldn't get over how unlikeable some of the characters were. When I started Secret Garden, I thought "Oh great another story about a bratty rich guy who traumatizes his girlfriend into liking him... I bet the female lead looks like she's strong and then becomes a blubbering wimp or insensitive ice queen." I could have not been MORE WRONG. OK some may watch episode one and say...well sure looks like it to me! ...but it's not. This is how BoF should have tackled the rich boy/poor girl love story.OK to be fair I was not a big Joo Won fan for most of the series (His character alone made me question the series as a whole). Surprisingly the one who enchanted me was Gil Ra Im, and the adorable Oska! <3 I stuck with the series because it was refreshing to see the leading lady bite back when Joo Won was being a jerk. When he hurt her she would tell him, and she never gave in to his sharp remarks, and eventually Joo Won realized the power of his own words and slowly opened himself to loving her. When you fall in love and root for a character you once disliked, that's the power of great story telling. What is more amazing about this drama, even though it followed some typical Kdrama conventions it did so in a way that you were surprised and shocked that they worked in some big revelations. It brought out the true meaning of 'destiny' and it made the series as a whole more heartfelt and touching.The switching bodies theme...I thought "eeeeeeh this will be needless and over the top" but it was really well done! At first it took some getting used to, but it actually made for some of the more touching moments in the story, and the funniest. Joo Won swooning over Oska made me laugh to tears. Lastly, I find one of the biggest faults with many dramas is the story always feels like it tapered off without thought at the very end. I loved that Secret Garden tied up all the loose ends in the most touching of ways. It felt complete to me, and it made me feel like the love experienced in the stories was true and sincere.Overall, those of you who watch the first couple of episodes and are not impressed, I say stick with it! You'll be glad you did. All the characters are wonderful to watch and develop into three-dimensional people that you'll root for and cheer on! It's a fantastic love story that makes you want to find your soulmate. :D