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LilMeggs

San Jose, CA

LilMeggs

San Jose, CA
Her Private Life korean drama review
Completed
Her Private Life
2 people found this review helpful
by LilMeggs
Jan 6, 2020
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 8.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 7.5
Rewatch Value 7.0
This review may contain spoilers
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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