Another show finally coming to a close. Secret Garden, to me, was a show that I mainly watched just due to its popularity. It's another one of those works that are mentioned a lot to new drama watchers as a good show to start/go off of with. And after completing it, I can see why. Maybe not with the most favorable view, but I can see where people are coming from.

Story 〆(・∀・＠): The story in itself sounds extremely simple. A rich man and poor woman switch bodies and experience how different their lives are. The problem is that even though this show is being marketed as a big body-switching adventure full of misunderstandings and shenanigans, body-switching seems like a secondary problem. They do switch bodies a few times (don't get me wrong), but it's not nearly enough times as I would have liked. The writers focused so much on family drama and other meaningless plot points that it made the story feel dragged out. Common tropes were constantly repeated even if they didn't fit within the story. It's as if the writers had some trope checklist and were knocking things off as they go. So instead of going in-depth with body-switching and making conflicts that have much higher stakes, they spent too much time just trying to come up with situations where familiar tropes would fit in. So when watching, just know that the body-switching is gonna take time to start and won't last incredibly long, which is a shame for a show so dedicated to it. Another point in the writing that nagged at me was the character themselves. The actors did terrific with what they were given, so my qualm rests with how the characters were written. You have your average cold rich guy and a tough, independent poor girl. Yet, coming out of the show, I can't say I connected with them. As a matter of fact, I am leaning closer to disliking them and their relationship.
Were there cute moments? Yes.
Did they make me laugh at times? Yes.
Did they have interesting aspects? Yes.
Did they do questionable things that make me doubt their relationship? Yes.
This whole show possessed a lot of rinse and repeat type events. The two main characters are prime victims of it; they had so many moments between them that got used over and over again. Eventually, I just wanted them to get together, not for the romance, but so that we can move past their weird and unnecessary arguments.

Acting ｡゜(｀Д')゜｡: Similar to the last show I watched, the acting in the Secret Garden was one of its strongest and leading points. I can honestly go as far as to say that it was the saving grace of this show. With body-switching, actors have to act like two different people. Everything from the way of speaking to posture has to be noted in order for it to be believable. And after watching Hyun Bin and Ha Ji-Won act like each other, all I can say is I wish we got more of it! Hyun Bin especially was absolutely hilarious when acting as Gil Ra-Im. Vice versa for Ji-Won when acting like Kim Joo-Won. Even when they weren't in each other's characters, they still provided comedic, heartfelt, and enjoyable moments. Despite my not loving the characters, it's because of the actors I was able to enjoy something. The side characters were also delightful. Yoon Sang-Hyun as a playboy singer was one of my favorite parts. In the end, I found myself rooting for him more than anyone. So thank you, Sang-Hyun, for your priceless reactions and odd actions!!!

Music ヾ(⌐■_■)ノ♪: Again, I'm not able to say much about it. There was one song that caught my attention for a moment, but other than that, it was all average to me—sad songs for sad moments, upbeat songs for pleasant ones. And although one of the main characters was a singer, I wasn't necessarily in love with any of those songs either. It's not that big of a problem considering the show isn't focused on just the music industry. But in short, the music wasn't anything end-game.

Other (ง°ل͜°)ง: For those of you who are watching this show for the body-switching, I just want to mention a few other things. When talking about the story, I commented on how it was weirdly neglected even though it was a show advertised for that very plot point. I'm not going to go on about that disappointment, but I am going to mention how the rules themselves never made any sense to me. I'm incredibly focused on rules in regards to fantasy-related dramas. I like knowing the logic and meaning behind things. This show left me with a lot of questions about the swap and the actual reason for it. They make some rules about the switch happening when it rains, but that's as far as they go to actually set up anything. The exact reason behind it and how it was solved precisely didn't make much sense to me. If I try hard, I might be able to puzzle something together, but that would just be me coming to a conclusion rather than the show wrapping up what they started properly—another reason on why this show was a bit of a hit on me.

Ending of this review, I'm glad I'm done and will probably never rewatch it. If you're into the rich man / poor woman trope with a bunch of family drama, then you'll love this. And if you're new to Asian dramas (like me) than this is a good introduction to things that you'll see in the future. But if you're watching this solely for the body-swapping aspect, then you might be disappointed. You'll have to wait a bit, and you might get bored in between, but it's not something you'll want to drop right away. With that being said...
Happy Watching <3