Her Private Life (2019)

A sweet, soft and easy drama

Diving straight in...

When the story focused on Duk-mi's fangirling I was a bit scared. I was thinking how some people are actually obsessed with idols to this extent. It may have looked sweet and innocent, but a girl disguising herself in black clothes and carrying a ginormous camera to take pictures of a young boy is a bit whack.

Shi-an was your typical boyband sweetheart - it's no surprise that the actor is actually in the music industry.

I liked Duk-mi's character and I think Park Min-Yung did a good job of acting her out.

Ryan's character was always amusing. The little faces he would pull I found cute and sweet.

When he passed the test and got accepted into Duk-mi's elite group, that was funny. When he walked into the room for the first time and had the scarf over his head, was in heels and pulled the sunglasses down over his nose - it is going to be an image saved in my brain for life.

I don't feel like there was an age gap or that Ryan was too old for Duk-mi. I definitely shipped their relationship right from the get-go. All of the build-up was well planned out and Ryan had just the right amount of stand-offishness which I liked. Like always it was worth the wait. Ugh the swoon!

I loved Duk-mi's friend Seon-ju. She seemed really cool and free spirited which I liked. When Ryan thought that she and Duk-mi where lovers, oh my god! That was hilarious.

In the beginning I was suss on Sindy but as the show progressed I found her character to be quite amusing. I also really liked all of her outfits- so stylish! Her mother on the other hand... she made me feel nauseous. It was so creepy; and the way she would say 'ohmygod' - it irritated me so much.

Geonu is the cutest little thing I have ever seen, and when all the children are in their judo gear it's so adorable!

The only real bone to pick is that the story started to drag by the last three episodes. In saying that, episode 15 was so deep and went to dark places I was not expecting and even made me shed a tear at one point. I couldn't believe that Duk-mi's Mum had been the one to abandon Ryan at the orphanage. The scene where she shoved him off and left him at the steps was so upsetting. I'm kind of surprised how quickly we all just had to move past this fact and accept her wrongdoings though. It was a bit far fetched when we discovered Duk-mi supposedly had a brother. I think for a lot of people watching that would have confused them. All of episode 15 was just...A lot.

The music was okay. The opening song wasn't a bop and got on my nerves. There was a simple piano tune that played from time to time which sounded sweet.

Overall the story was good. I liked that there was a lot of fluff and build up for the first 10 episodes. All of the characters were great. It was very easy and enjoyable to watch.

-E

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Plot is nonsense and full of illogical story lines

The best part of this drama is the main couple's relationship and I finished this drama because of that. I also like Seon Joo's kid. Plus points also on showing the importance of forgiveness between couples, family and friends. Everything else is just meh. This drama heavily relied on the main couple's sweet moments. It worked for me in some ways, but in general, the plot is nonsense and full of clichès. Enough of the childhood connections, altered memories, birth secret, nonsense love triangle, etc.

How this drama depicts fangirling was scary for me -- from stalking, to violence against the girl who was rumored to be dating their 'idol', to spending extravagantly for a hotel room as part of the 'pilgrimage', to giving up your entire savings just to buy a birthday gift for your idol, up to the brink of divorcing your spouse. This drama shows that it's okay and it's normal to be this kind of fangirl while it should not be. This kind of fangirling is totally not normal. It is just a fantasy of the writer.

I also found some similarities in PMY's character with WWWSK. As a curator, she usually acts as the dependable secretary.

I liked the OST. Actors were great.

I blame all the negatives on the writer.

Plot holes in other dramas are passable. But here, some points are illogical for me and yes, im complaining to the writer.

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THE ADVENTURES OF A FANGIRL

Came into this after watching Healer, fell in love with Park Min-Young and decided to watch some of her other work. Was also familiar with Kim Jae-wook from Coffee Prince and The Guest.

This is a really great romantic comedy. Honestly loved the whacky premise of following a fangirl and her adventures, hiding her silly secret as well as her blossoming romance with the ML. The romance was done really well… though there was the occasional annoying back and forth “I love you but I don’t but I do” type sht but, overall I loved it.

Two of the biggest gripes I have with this one…
a) Her fangirling adventures take a MAJOR backseat in the latter half of the drama.
- Man. This was one of my favorite aspects of the show and it suddenly shifted from being the main plot line to taking a backseat to another. As well as her internet identity not being revealed (I really thought her fangirl rival as well as the kpop singer would find out who she was). This plot line kind of fades into the background which was pretty disappointing.
b) *SPOILER* The mom of the FL abandoning the ML was so dumb and pointless.
- This honestly was only the focus of one of the sixteen episodes of the show, so honestly it’s not that big of a deal. But this was enough to pretty much take me out of the story… had to take a break for a sec before completing the drama. This reveal pretty much did nothing for the story or the characters… you could take it out and you wouldn’t even notice/care. Like, it wasn’t enough for the ML to be abandoned by his mom, he had to be abandoned by the FL’s mom too on a whole separate occasion LOL.
(Side note: this kdrama trope of the leads meeting when they’re young and not knowing about it on sum “were destined to be together” thing is so lame).

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A superb romcom without the stupid typical romcom storyline

I just got around to watch this and it’s one of my favorite romcoms.

Park Min-young is the queen of these kind of romcoms. But this was outstanding.
The chemistry between the ML and FL felt genuine and real. From the facial expressions to small body gestures. It was just so good.
And the best part, there is no typical annoying “something happens so they break up for 3 episodes and then get back together”. I was so happy to not have to watch that annoying part that’s in most Korean romcoms.

It also has plenty of good humor and storyline is exciting without going overboard.

This romcom just gets to your heart and stays there. It’s simply outstanding in every way.

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Really made me feel some type of way.

I mainly watch romance dramas and let me say, the chemistry b/w the FL (Sung Deok Mi) and ML (Ryan Gold) was the best I've seen of any drama I've watched. Their passion was so palpable that you'd almost think they were a couple in real life. The communication between them felt very believable and it felt like it just made sense. Sometimes in romance dramas I feel like the main couple are forced together and it doesn't always feel like them being together is worth all the strife - but these two really felt magnetic and I loved them together. During their scenes it seemed so natural that it almost felt like I was watching an actual couple just go about their daily lives. Even their disagreements were handled so well - they communicated effectively which was so refreshing - honestly that's kind of rare in other romance dramas. Personally, I wasnt too interested in Deok Mi's "secret life" as a fangirl. It wasnt that it was boring or not fun to watch her fangirling, but it didnt reel me in as much as her curator life. However, I do like the comedy that the fangirling brought to the drama (especially Latte).

Honestly wish they did more w/ Cindy - I was actually intrigued by her and then her character kind of went nowhere for me. It wasnt drastic enough for me to be disappointed but more like "what happened to her?".

Music wise, it didnt blow me away?! Not bad but just not...iconic?

I agree with other reviewers here that the last two episodes kind of fell off - I wasn't really interested in them (it was pretty tropey) as you could pretty much figure out how it was going to end.

Overall, very light + fluffy and a fun romance drama that I'm happy I watched :) The chemistry of the main leads is more than enough reason to watch this one.

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When this drama first started releasing episodes, I was excited, but also a little scared. Excited because I loved
Park Min Young in What's Wrong with Secretary Kim. One of my favorite all time drams. Also, I loved the idea of her being an aspiring art museum director by day, but super kpop fan at night - it was something completely new to me and was excited what she did with the role. PLUS; I did see a few clips on instagram and they looked super romantic and cozy. Which plays into why I was scared. I loved her role as Kim Mi So in Sec Kim so much that I had a hard time seeing her play the love interest of someone who wasn't Park Seo Joon.

My final thoughts? I thought that this drama was VERY cookie-cutter. Even though the idea of Sung Duk Mi being this mature curator by day, but super fan by night, was a completely new idea for me, the plot was very obvious and followed a typical korean drama outline. It was safe. It's the same how I felt about Touch My Heart. It was boring. It was cute and good, but boring. I think the only thing that did catch me off guard was that their relationship started off fake as a way for Ryan Gold to protect Duk Mi from the cruel world that keeps punching her in the face...literally. That most of those cute romantic scenes I watched on instagram weren't even "real."

I think this drama had a lot of different drama tropes that made it extremely obvious. It had the random "small world" trope where they had met each other before as kids, but don't remember (and the audience doesn't truly realize until the last few eps of the drama, unless you watch the flashbacks closely). This drama also reminded me of Weightlifting Fairy (Ryan as Kim Bok Joo and Duk Mi as Jung Joon Hyeong). We have Joon Hyeong's character helping Bok Joo's character throughout the drama helping them learn to love themselves as well as find their true self, and then in the last few eps, we get a whole new plot (My Mr Mermaid was also like this - random) with no background information from the previous eps to lead into it, where Joon Hyeong finds out something that literally tears their world apart. I think that is why I liked Duk Mi. Her character was very positive, that it came out a little ditsy, but it was almost like her superpower. She didn't need to do extravagant things to help Ryan with his identity crisis, just being around one another seemed to brighten up their days.

I think my favorite part of this whole drama was the romance between Ryan and Duk Mi. Even though it was a little tiresome in the beginning, and I was totally team Nam Eun Gi, once they got together it was super sweet. It reminded me of my all time favorite cdrama, Love O2O. - once they were together, they refused to get one another go. Given they didn't really have major issues that affected their relationship, but it reminded me of Nai and Wei Wei's relationship where they had complete faith in one another and tag teamed each other's problems. My favorite thing was the little journey they both had when they were falling in love with one another. I think my absolute favorite part (besides Ryan going to a fan event to see Duk Mi's alter ego and falling in love with this side of her) was when they went on a overnight business trip and Ryan got to know Duk Mi, the photographer. He realizes that she isn't this helpless curator who takes the bullet for everything, but a strong artist who knows who she is as a person and no one can take that away from her. Ryan's character was irritating at first - just because you have an identity crisis 3 year prior doesn't give you the right to treat people poorly. Typical trope. But I guess he isn't as bad as some other characters. What confused me was when him and Duk Mi started officially dating, his character COMPLETELY changed where I thought I was watching a different drama. Like even when him and Duk Mi were fake dating, but falling for one another, they didn't act like when they started to officially date. I guess once you have a confession, you start to act differently? You cold and serious demeanor turns to one of a high school boy experiencing first love for the first time?

BUT! I will say, I actually loved Ryan Gold's character more than I liked Duk Mi. I think it might have come from watching her in Sec Kim, but I didn't believe her feelings for Ryan one but. I think Ryan loved her more than she liked him. Maybe it is because I have nothing to compare him with, with his other works, but I don't think it would have mattered. I think this drama was so PG cookie cutter that it shouldn't be compared to the passion in Sec Kim.

Overall, I am happy I finally got to see this drama, but I think I over-hyped it for myself. I loved Ryan Gold, loved Nam Eun Gi as well as felt extremely bad for him for realizing his feelings late, and was shook by Cha Shi An. Which was another decent surprise from this drama. I thought Cha Shi An was super cute (like a kid brother) and wanted to see if he was an idol in real life....to find out that Shi An is played by ONE...one of my favorite artists back in November.

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SO GOOD.

AHHHH omg i loved this watch it kept watchers hooked without having to use stupid plotlines or meaningless drama. I'll say my favorite part of this drama was the fact that the guy was emotionally available and put his problems on the table for the female lead and she was there as a great support
Many times it is the opposite and the female is expected to support him through everything no matter how annoying he really is
0///0 10/10 watch loved the art elements in this drama as well im so glad i gave it a chance i couldn't stop watching also this drama featured a lot of English words and sayings it interesting to see the linguistic change in Korean language and media

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Likes: Kim Jae Wook!! The OTP’s off the charts chemistry. Those kisses! PMY & PJJ’s BFF fangirling moments. The natural progression of the romance between KJW & PMY.

Dislikes: Some of the unnecessary storylines (hello dad’s obsession with rocks). The toe curling cheesy parts. The end reveal that was unnecessary.

Overall this was a very easy breezy watch. I completely fell for Kim Jae Wook who exudes this natural sexiness that I haven’t really felt in any Korean actor so far. So many men come to mind when I think of good looking, hot, or even cute…but sexy? KJW wins the title for that in my book. Always cast as a second lead, KJW finally gets to show everyone what a leading man he can be.

Park Min Young is always this bright shining star who is adorkable as a curator with a “secret” life as a fangirl. As a fellow fangirl, there were definite moments that I could relate to, but there were also moments where I cringed at the almost stalker-ish behavior being portrayed. Just because it’s wrapped up in a cute way, doesn’t make it any less stalker-ish.

However, I’m a sucker for chemistry and man, did these two have it! Because the chemi was so hot (I mean, those kiss scenes, come on!), I was able to overlook some of the eye rolling flaws in the drama (read above dislikes).

I would recommend checking out the Behind the Scenes Videos as well!

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Fun show with one major gripe

Would have rated this higher, if it wasnt for the second to last episode.

At first it seemed like a typical boss + subordinate who gets charmed story. Which honestly it still is, but it adds a few things on top. Overall a fun story, wouldnt say it was amazing, but pretty good for the theme. Acting was pretty nice, nothing extraordinary, but it fit the story.

There were some fun dynamics and misunderstandings from the male lead. Didnt really like how easily female lead sorta got over the hump of liking the male lead and then she immediately forgave him when she found out he knew her secret and was messing with her, but those are relatively small things. All the side characters are fun and entertaining.
Though the female wasnt necessarily portrayed as meek pushover and doing everything the male lead wanted, she was actually acting relatively mature for the theme of the show, she could have been imo given some more to do carreer wise. She pretty much gave in on that part. But that doesnt really take away too much and is a personal gripe with kdramas overall.

One big gripe i have is !SPOILERS AHEAD! that in second to last episode it is revealed that the male lead and female lead knew each other as kids and the male lead lived with them when they were young, after his mom "abandoned" him (yes that is also part of the plot), which even though was heavily hinted at through some flashbacks, was IMO completely unnecessary part of the story and just felt like a filler episode. And on top of that they added another unnecessary thing that changed nothing, the female lead had a younger brother, but he died. This didnt cause any sadness or similar feelings in me, we had no prior hint to this one and no attachment, the female lead also was relatively ok after learning it.
The actual ending to the show was meh, the male lead went to new york for a bit to work on his art and the female lead didnt even get his job, she got a vicedirector position pressumably working under her original annoying boss.

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The Struggle of Balancing Work Romance and being a KPOP FAN

I was curious to watch this drama because first of all im a kpop fanboy im a blink (Blackpink fandom) so i want to know how this drama will go. So after watching this i was amazed about the plot because Sung Dukmi (Park min young) is struggling to balance her being a curator and fangirling (kpop fan rather heheheh) as well her lovelife with Ryan Gold (Kim Jae wook). She wants her pivate life which is being a fangirl from a kpop boy group being hidden to everybody so that no one can humiliate her or say gossip about her so i can relate to that, becuase i as a fanboy gives wrong impressions to kpop fans like the media said that we are always obsessed to our idols also stalking them so much that can destroy the reputations of ther idols but not all people are like that, just some of them. I was amazed about the acting of all the actors its really SUPERB hands down, especially i have a crush on Ahn Bo Hyun even though his still a second lead syndrome i still like his acting and also hes so cute i want to have him lmao. I like the chemistry of the two leads very natural and have perfect execution. I like also the comedy side its really funny not gonna lie, the production its ok and the OST and BGM is really great i love it. Very highly recommended whos a kpop fan like me hehehehe…

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cropn's review - SPOILERS AHEAD -

Currently I am rewatching this drama, which says a lot!

This drama I was very interested in considering the title and bio it gave off Netflix, and I decided to watch it. Not only did this drama gave me a great show that I have watched, but also new music! Snapshot by IN2IT has become one of my favorite songs and I wouldn't of found it if it haven't been for this drama.

The characters convey emotions so beautifully that I enjoy watching it without getting cringed or second-hand embarrassment... which says a lot. Their chemistry with each other and how well kept the storyline is, 10/10.

Having that scandal of being the girlfriend of an idol but in reality it was nothing near it, was heart throbbing to watch. I could tell jealousy was being a lingering factor around Ryan and how Deok-mi wasn't actually dating her best friend was shocking but relieving in some sort of way to Ryan.

Deok-mi's character was the perfect role for Min-young. She plays this role so beautifully and very smoothly, unlike other dramas I have watched. It's not forced nor is it unnatural. Ryan's character was also played very well by Jae-wook. He has the mannerisms, looks, and overall attitude for Ryan in a very comforting way.

This drama was amazing to watch and I cannot wait to finish it for the second or third time again. :)

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wow! what a stupendous extraordinary fabolous chemistry!!! if you're looking for a lovely romcom with lots of cute moments between the leads, that's for you!!
i personally haven't watched park minyoung's previous dramas, but based on what i've heard, she has great chemistry with every male lead. definitely, ''her private life'' is an ABSOLUTELY AMAZING demonstration of that. after watching this drama you will probably stop wishing for her to marry park seojoon. hello???? KIM JAE WOOK!!!! i'm completely in love with him, and as someone who wants him to be happy, i have to say that miss park is just perfect for him.

now speaking seriously, both actings were just incredible, i'm truly happy kim jaewook will get more recognition after this drama. and you know, park minyoung is already... well PARK MINYOUNG! <3
the support cast was great for me, specially seon joo (i loved the way they showed her relationship with her husband and their kid was SOOOOO cute). i would describe eun gi as support as well, even tough he is casted as second lead.

one thing i can't complain about this drama is the marvelous soundtrack: smile again, help me, floating, maybe... i just love it

BUT. the end (it wasn't bad, but it could've been MUCH better). and all that unnecessary dramatic plot. jesus what was that? i mean, it's like the writers were kind of ashemed of a writing a chessy cute love story and then they thought ''hmmm, i need to add some drama here so it won't look so silly''. well i'm not aggainst that, i personally love to cry over a love story, but no one will cry over that LOL. i wouldn't complain if there were no drama at all (and that would've been better), because after all it's a ROMANTIC COMEDY. if i want some dramatic plot i can watch a drama like mother or my ahjussi. goblin will do too.
after a while the show also stop focusing on her being a fangirl, and well, wasn't that the whole deal?

anyway, as i said, the superb chemistry between park minyoung and kim jaewook saved the whole thing. i would rewatch this drama only for that. but, i would rather look for a good chemistry in a drama i haven't already watched.

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