Refreshing take on a well-known story

This adaptation has everything that one would expect a HYD adaptation to be: on one hand it's naive, exaggerated, melodramatic and silly, on the other hand it's highly entertaining, fluffy and extremely addictive. Watching this was like turning back time to 2008 when I fell in love with the Japanese version Hana Yori Dango 1+2.

Is Meteor Garden 2018 for you?
Honestly, if you enjoyed the original Taiwanese Meteor Garden (2001–2002) or Hana Yori Dango (2005–2008), you will likely enjoy the Meteor Garden 2018's new (extremely cute) take on the well-known story and occassional references to the older adaptations. I know I did!
However, if you are not familiar with the story, be forewarned that the story is based on a 20–30 years old manga, so there are still many outdated tropes and clichés even in this modern take; not to mention that Meteor Garden 2018 is way longer than it needs to be (and the last ten or so episodes suck, just saying), so prepare for a long ride if you attempt this.

THE GOOD
- First and foremost: the ML, Dao Ming Si, is much less violent and agressive person than in the previous adaptations. I do believe that the writers of Meteor Garden 2018 gave him more depth by emphasizing his unusual upbringing (he was more or less brought up by his sister who had no idea what she was doing and blames herself for how he turned up), lack of love and care from his mother and zero social skills he's trying to compensate for with aggressiveness and childish pranks. He is not a flawless, he is not completely unproblematic character (some possessiveness is still present), but he never seriously bullies the FL. That's a big plus and an improvement from the previous adaptations.

- Shan Cai is as loveable FL as ever. Shen Yue is joy to watch and actually reminded me of Inoue Mao in HYD at times. It was a great move to make Shan Cai into an exceptionally good cook who studies nutrition in order to help with her parents' food delivery business. In previous versions, her ambitions got mostly sidelined, here her cooking plays more prominent role. And while we're at it, Shan Cai's parents are actually cool and loving here, nowhere near as insensitive and embarassing as their counterparts from earlier versions.

- I know that Shan Cai was criticized for being supposedly "indecisive", but I think it's portrayed very realistically and goes hand in hand with her being self-reliant and concerned for others. She makes her feelings clear from the beginning, never leads DMS on, when she believes he cares about her more than she about him, she tells him so. It takes a long time for her to proclaim her love for him but I didn't mind it; not everyone knows their own heart after one meeting like our ML :).

- This might sound weird, but I appreciated that the writers made Shan Cai more pursued by the opposite sex than Dao Ming Si. Like, I never understood why he was so wanted by every single random girl in HYD, even though he was terrible to everyone except the FL. I was like: girls, your school is full of rich guys who are actually NICE, why don't you choose someone else than this psycho? On the other hand, it's perfectly logical that pretty and friendly Shan Cai has many admirers to pick from throughout the show.

- Setting the story in university campus was actually a good move, even if the childish behaviour of the main characters is still of high-school (sometimes elementary school :P) variety. The writers also highlighted that the F4 are first and foremost exceptional students, not just rich eye-candies. The "worship" by other students is still present, but it is toned down a lot.

- The chemistry between the main couple is very nice and they have plenty of cute, fluffy moments in the series. It is not exactly a steamy show though, so don't expect excessive snog fests.

- The secondary couple, the ML's friend Mei Zuo and the FL's friend Xiao You had a nice storyline, I am pretty content with how the writers handled this potentially unhealthy relationship. The actors though...I felt no chemistry there, sorry.

- The writers said a big "fuck you" to the infamous amnesia storyline. I respect that.

- The music is nice and the songs are actually memorable! How many dramas can say the same?
(no, not the River song, I want to erase that one from my mind)

THE WEIRD
- The product placement was so blatant that I laughed out loud every time a new product was "introduced". The scene in which the ML's sister notices her bodyguard's bad hair and hands him a shampoo to "represent well" was comedic gold.

THE BAD
- The show is simply too long. Around 30 episodes would be sufficient.

- In the middle of the series, while the main leads are separated, there are several filler episodes in which we mostly follow the ML's friend Mei Zuo's crush on Cai Na, a girl who previously competed with the FL in a cooking show. Cai Na's romantic entanglements, and the love triangle with her old love and Mei Zuo, are extremely boring, the storyline is badly written and it doesn't even help Mei Zuo's character development. You will want to kill them, I know I wanted to.

- The last ten or so episodes are really bad. The main couple tries to convince the ML's mother to accept them by going on a hunger strike? What?! How did the screenwriters think this was a good idea and good image of a healthy relationship? And the ending is terrible. Oh, don't worry, it's a HEA but the writing is nightmarish. Read about it in the comments or in other reviews, I don't have the heart to recount that.

- I think that the main actors, Shen Yue and Dylan Wang did a pretty good job. That can't be said of the other members of F4 or plenty of side characters. There are many newcomers in this drama and it shows. The dubbing of the ML is not ideal either.

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I know what you're thinking. How could I give only 7.5 stars to Her Private life when I gave 8.5 stars to What's Wrong with Secretary Kim, which is usually considered inferior to HPL?

THE GOOD: MATURE ROMANCE
Park Min Young and Kim Jae Wook play two grown-up adults who are very work-oriented and possibly didn't have many previous relationships. Yet, they are believable. They are real. They communicate. They support each other but also give each other space. And they have this amazing chemistry. They hug, they touch and their make-out scenes are to die for. And when the FL spends a night at the ML's place, it feels like the most natural thing in the world.

I believe that it's mostly due to this reason that this drama has such a high rating. We are so desperate for a more mature approach to romance in the rom-com genre, that when it appears, we fall for it, hook and sinker while ignoring the more mediocre aspects of the show.

THE BAD: IT'S A SNOOZEFEST
I was so bored. I started this drama in April 2019 I think and I finished it in May 2020. I totally might be an exception in this but (despite the OTP's chemistry) I often had to force myself to press the "Next episode" button on Viki.

The plot was practically non-existent. The fangirling aspect which drove the first couple of episodes just slowly disappeared into the background and by the last episode, it became completely irrelevant.

The second male lead (Ahn Bo Hyun) was super problematic and the show failed to make him into an interesting and sympathetic character. The epilogue suggests he gets together with Kim Bo Ra's character – why the show didn't make them into a fun beta couple during the course of the story?

Park Jin Joo plays the FL's best friend, who had a subplot going on involving her not-so-perfect marriage. But the writers only scratched the surface of the conflict and resolved it before it had a chance to become deep enough for us to care.

The side characters were extremely generic and they lacked depth. FL's colleagues, her quirky family, K-pop star Cha Shi Ahn (played by ONE), even potentially antagonistic fellow fan "Cindy" (Kim Bo Ra) – all ended up being bland and forgettable.

The search for the artworks that eventually reconnected one family was not a bad idea, but it could have been executed in a much more thoughtful and meaningful manner. And then it went to hell when the writers decided to add the most idiotic "we met as kids" storyline to the last two episodes. (don't get me started on how nonsensical the whole childhood story was, the less we say about it, the better)

ACTING/CAST
Fantastic leads. The rest was ok, honestly, considering the weak writing, they just did the best they could under the circumstances. Park Jin Joo as FL's best friend was super cute.
It was also nice to see Kim Mi Kyung and Park Min Young starring as a mother and daughter again and they were the saving grace of the idiotic melodrama in the episodes 15–16.

MUSIC
Unusually for me, I didn't even download any of the songs from this drama: they were just...there...nothing special. And I admit I get bad vibes when a girl refers to herself as "precious little girl", as in the opening lyrics; I just cringed every time I heard it.

REWATCH VALUE
I think that the first couple of episodes with the fangirling and fake dating shenanigans are very rewatchable. The rest of the show...kissing scenes only :).

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Drama that cleverly subverts some tropes...but never goes deep enough

Is The Secret Life of My Secretary for you?
If you are in need of something lighthearted with attractive cast and a truly iconic second female lead, sure, go for it! Just don't expect anything too deep or memorable. Also, the FL lies to the ML (he becomes faceblind and she pretends she is someone she is not while also maintaining her "secretary" persona) and the lies become tedious and take way too long to resolve. Consider this a fair warning if you are sensitive about that.

THE GOOD: SUBVERSION OF SOME TROPES & VERONICA PARK
– The first two episodes make very clear (at least for me) that the seeds of romance between the two leads have already been there for some time. Especially from the ML's side. They are both just too dumb to realize it. The FL's elaborate (and stupid) lie just allowed them to explore the off-work side of their relationship and get closer.

– The drama is not at all about an arrogant, abusive boss who spends his days bullying his poor secretary as you might think from a synopsis. No, it STARTS with your average perfectionist boss and his overworked, pushover secretary AND THEN the field is somewhat evened when he fires her, then begs her to come back and they team up to help him overcome his disease and get him the chairman's post. It's made very clear that he only made things harder for her because he intended to fire her after one year (it's still wrong) and didn't want them to form an attachment (they still did). And during the course of the series they mostly support and help each other, which is refreshing in this genre.

- The heroine's "frumpy" self is not called "ugly" by the other characters and they have no trouble recognizing her when she's "dolled up".

- The ML's abusive adoptive mother never interferes significantly with the plot, which I am profoundly grateful for. His family doesn't even try to ruin his relationship with the FL....simply because they never learn about it during the course of the show :P.

- The second female lead, the one and only Veronica Park, easily became a scene-stealer and one of the greatest, most memorable characters in the whole dramaland. On the outside, she presents herself as a loud, dramatic and self-confident person, but occasionally she also shows her vulnerable and mature side. She actually surprised me by her serious approach to the FL's dilemma – she didn't excuse the FL's questionable behaviour or made it easy for her (FL pretended to be Veronica in front of her face-blind boss) but she nevertheless supported the FL and spoke up for her when the truth was revealed. Veronica's romance with the ML's friend is sweet and believable and their storyline is one of the highlights of the show (personally, I liked them better than the main couple, which rarely happens).

THE BAD: THEY SHOULD HAVE DIG A LITTLE DEEPER
- The show fortunately never gets too boring, but there ARE slower parts. The big lie shenanigans drag for way too long. And the "crime subplot" surrounding the ML's accident, a mysterious USB and a secretary team is rather stupid.

- However, my main problem is that the first two thirds of the show (until the big lie reveal in EP 24) hyped us a lot about the main couple's relationship. They had sizzling chemistry, sparks flew everytime they were on screen together and their kiss was super hot.

- But once they started to date in the last episodes, they somehow became more awkward around each other? Seriously, they were like two inexperienced teenagers, instead of two adults around 30! I didn't really feel the intimacy between them, and I don't just mean the physical kind. They seemed unsure of each other and never talked deeply about anything. She never even told him she loved him. I was waiting for it, but it never happened. And they still called each other "Director" and "Secretary Jeong" respectively, never even discussed calling each other by first names!

- I also find deeply troubling that they stayed in their employer-employee relationship. There MIGHT be couples that could make it work, but I am not certain if these two dummies can always separate professional and private lives. (Not to mention that her financial situation is dependent on him and that her professional life revolves around his...)

If The Secret Life of My Secretary went deeper in the final episodes, I might consider rating it 8 or more. As it is, I will probably rewatch some parts with Veronica Park but likely not the entire drama.

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