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This show is a solid 5.5 on a good day or else it should definitely be less. I’m not with people that say she was too old to be a fan girl. It’s not the fangirling that makes this show a fail. I found myself fast forwarding through most of the episodes because the content was just dull.Two attractive leads does not make a rom-com. CONTENT matters. I was able to quickly guess who was who and what the relationship was from the get go so the mystery was out. The love triangles were unimaginative. I couldn’t find anything exciting to look forward to from episode to episode.
Music was unmemorable. You know how you hear a song and it reminds you about a certain sweet or sad or tragic or some sort of moment? You are instantly transported to that scene and you can picture it and remember the dialogue very well? Well none of that here. I can’t tell you whether it’s because the music wasn’t that impressive or the drama was just not memorable, that you’ll have to decide on your own.
Now I’ll say the show has it’s funny, cute, a handful of decent lines moments. There was no toxic relationship so that was a plus. The acting is good as well, but none of this was able to save this show.
After What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim, I expected more from Park Min Young. This bland, sporadically cute/funny project was not what I expect her to land on.
It would have been tolerable if it had ended on episode 14 but the additional unnecessary plot to stretch it to episode 16 left me even more dejected. Is there some unwritten rule that says there has to be some childhood connection for couple to be faithed that this has to be a throp in every other drama? (you’ll understand what I’m saying when you reach episode 14/15)
Personally, l’d say an overall 4.5 rating but I tend to be generous so i’m upping it to 5.
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Probably my favorite drama of all time
If I watch more than 10 episodes of a drama, that means it's a good drama. If I watch all the drama, that means it's a really great drama. If I'm willing to watch a drama a second time, it's one of my favorite dramas. But when I watch a drama for the second time, I can never finish it. Let alone watch it a third time like I did for Her Private Life. It's just that legendary for me. I think it's the combination of good plot, good chemistry, good acting, good comedy, good OSTs, + that I'm also a hardcore kpop stan (so this drama is quite relateable to me) that made me like this drama so much. I'll never get tired of this.Was this review helpful to you?
A fun series to watch!
A fun series to watch! One of the most balanced endings with the most constant plot I've ever seen in dramas!!! Congratulations to those involved!! Seeing my Coffee Prince oppa having his first romantic comedy was wonderful. Who says it was the first?... At first I thought he was a bit tough acting, I confess hahaha But throughout the plot he started to loosen up, just like the character (was that intentional?)... And the references aaahhhh outbreak.... I only say one thing: DO YOU WANT ME? oooowww Collective outbreak hahaha I highly recommend it, as I said, it's all well balanced. Don't expect peaks of euphoria in the itinerary, because there won't be any. But also, on the positive side, there were no slopes in the script.... Well balanced. I loved!!!Was this review helpful to you?
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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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Art Fangiring and the greenest flag in kdrama history
Enemies-to-lovers? Check. Boss-employee tension? Double check. Fake dating, healing arcs, and one of the healthiest, swooniest romances in K-Drama land? Absolutely. Her Private Life had me laughing almost nonstop every episode — the humor, chemistry, and charm are all top-tier.Kim Jae-wook plays possibly the greenest of green flags ever written. That man’s patience and emotional intelligence deserve a national award (and yes, the jawline deserves its own spin-off). Park Min-young absolutely shines, and Park Jin-joo once again proves she’s the ultimate best-friend MVP — hilarious here and just as lovable as in Our Beloved Summer.
This drama is pure serotonin — mature, romantic, and genuinely healing.
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From Why Secretary Kim to My Stranger Hero and now Her Private Life it seems like my kdrama rom-com slump is finally over. I say slump since for few years I didn’t really enjoy those rom-coms like I used to, and I didn’t really write any reviews for those dramas.Her Private Life went in a bit of a circle for me. I wasn’t too keen on it at first. I wasn’t a fan of the humor and the whole fangirl aspect of it wasn’t really doing it for me, even if I consider myself a fangirl myself (just not that much like Deok Mi).
It wasn’t until the romance really kicked in, with all the fake dating shenanigans - one of my fav rom-com tropes ever - that I almost sold my soul to this drama for a few weeks.
The drama toned down the humor and sort of became sweeter and light, which I enjoyed. I really liked all the pining in the beginng and the start of the relationship. It was very predictable at times, but I could not get enough.
I would personally have wanted more depth into the whole fangirl business and the whole culture of that. More focus on Deok Mi and Cindy - which was one of the more interesting side characters in the drama - and them finding a balance in their fangirl activities. Not just the worry about how Ryan would react to Deok Mi being a fangirl.
For a drama about the private life of a fansite manager and all of that, I expected more of the plot to revolve around that and not about the family drama of Ryan Gold.
The success with this drama, with me and other, is kinda thanks to the actors and how well they played these characters. They had very nice chemistry together. Deok Mi and Ryan was the sweetest couple and treated each other with such a respect and tenderness. It was wonderful.
There was not a whole lot of conflict in this drama, even if it used some very well known tropes in it story lines that usually really amps up the conflict. The characters sat down and talk things through, which I really liked. I thought that was sweet and I like how things didn’t drag too much.
But that also left the story kinda conflict-less and therefore not a whole lot happened toward the end. It slowly ran out of story to tell. If you are going to have such a non-conflict like story then you kinda have to fill it with side characters and plots that make the story a bit more exciting.
The romance, as sweet as it was, wasn’t always enough. Especially when some of the side characters and their stories were really not fun at all. The ending suffered a bit from this, in my opinion. The story was over before the drama was over and I was starting to fast-forward through certain scenes.
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A mature relationship = communication ❤️
First of all, the chemistry between the ML and FL is off the charts !!! It’s really heart fluttering and gives you a very honest reminder that you’re single 😂.But that’s not the best part of the drama. I think you really cannot overlook how much mature their relationship was in the sense that they were able to share each other’s pain and help each other heal. One of my favourite moments in the drama is when Ryan starts to paint again with Deokmi’s encouragement. She is was really a safe space for him to process his childhood trauma and come out on the other side as someone who has processed the pain of the past and had something else to live for. Similarly with Deokmi’s past hurt. I think he open up a side of her beyond what we see as Deokmi the fan girl ; and adds more colour to her life.
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Shocked by how much I liked it
There were times during this drama that I was bored and annoyed with the otaku/obsessive fan theme and some of the irritating tropes used, but I stuck with it for the gorgeous leads/great chemistry, excellent casting, good writing, etc. and I was really rewarded! The character growth was great; even the villains were tolerable, actually they're very entertaining! And I personally enjoy villain redemptions. I also don't mind the childhood connection trope because it helps supercede any claim the second leads might feel they have on them. The childhood connection in this made it more poignant, and that's not always the case in other dramas. It's often done really sloppily and feels disconnected and unconvincing, so this was nice for a change.Despite a few annoyances, the end result was extremely satisfying and in hindsight it made me feel like it was really well executed overall. I saw that some others felt the last few episodes dragged, but I actually really appreciated the time spent galvanizing the relationship of the main couple. I think a lot of other dramas make the mistake of blowing past that and force us to just pretend that they have had sufficient time and experience to bond on a deep level.
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a masterpiece and a must watch
How can all the characters of a single drama be so cute it is amazing Sian then Huijin and even FL are so cute I just am squeeeling every time I see them.I loved the ost it is the 2nd soundtrack with every song on my playlist which is amazing.
The bond between the leads amazing
The story unique
The background wow
The characters Beautiful and cute
I am in love with this story and tbh I am watching it a second time and decided to write a review for this masterpiece
End review- Must Watch
I am deducting that 1 mark cause tbh the past trauma thing with the dead brother is unnecessary and quite sudden I got all the painting connecting but that memory loss was unnecessary
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Enjoyable but a little too contrived and drawn out
My feelings on this show are overall positive, but I still think that there are elements that feel too artificial and the length is a tad too long. I was only able to complete this drama the second time I attempted to watch it. The first time, I dropped it after the first episode because I couldn't handle how outrageous Duk Mi's fangirling was. After a second watch, I still feel it is a little too over-the-top and contributes to an inconsistent feeling. To me, the idea of the story was intriguing, but unfortunately, I don't feel it was executed to a satisfying level.The show starts by establishing the essential plot element that Duk Mi is a hardcore kpop fangirl - not just a fan, a hardddddddcore fan girl. She's the webmaster of a fan site, has a ridiculous camera/ladder/privacy outfit, and her self-proclaimed, only hobby is following Si An of the fictional White Ocean. It's definitely an intriguing premise, but I personally found it extremely cringeworthy, even beyond just the feeling of secondhand embarrassment. Furthermore, the amount of effort she would have to expend to keep up her activities and fan knowledge in real life, far exceed the time required to form a real, adult career and maintain real, adult responsibilities, so I found it a little too unrealistic. My biggest complaint was how her fangirling personality was shoved to the side once she started a real relationship with Ryan Gold/started to explore their relationship. She suddenly shifted from a "giddy fangirl" personality to just a "reasonable Kpop fan who has a real boyfriend in real life". I couldn't buy this character change either, as up to that point, she had proven herself to be so immersed that she lacked self-restraint in certain situations.
Furthermore, I found some story beats too convenient such that they ended up just feeling super contrived. Eun Gi is Duk Mi's brother, but wait, actually he's not, he was adopted. He loves Duk Mi for real, as in he wants her to be his girlfriend, but wait she doesn't feel the same back, so he's just going to ignore it and go back to being besties-only. Ryan Gold is a foreigner who looks like a Korean and speaks Korean really well. But wait, actually he's secretly childhood friends with Duk Mi and lived with her family for a month when his mom accidentally abandoned him because she got into a serious car accident but ended up recovering. And also, Duk Mi doesn't remember anything because of trauma (and by the way she has a younger brother who died), but wait she suddenly remembers after a short conversation with her father. And Ryan Gold remembers everything too after easily piecing together dreams that he had. Oh and did I mention that Ryan Gold is secretly the brother of Si An?
I could go on, but suffice it to say, I think the artificial-feel of the story is the weakest point of the show. It gets particularly weak near the end, when the main leads have already gotten together already and it's clear the show is just looking for more ways to fabricate more watch time.
In contrast, the production of everything else is what makes me elevate this to a net-positive score. As is usual in a lot of Korean shows, I found the acting to be excellent. The OST was not my cup of tea, but I could definitely sense its high production value. The visuals are gorgeous and speaking towards the actors, as a male viewer, I saw Park Min Young as beautiful as usual, having that stereotypical girly, girl allure. I could tell Kim Jae Wook has that confident, sexy allure as well, for our female fans. Some of the comedy is well done, having that "funny because it's cringy" feel to it. You also grow to enjoy the side characters, even the sort-of-villain-turned ally of Cindy, who even has her own character arc.
Of special note, even though I couldn't totally buy Duk Mi's transformation from only-fan girl to someone else's girlfriend, her relationship with Ryan Gold was surprisingly refreshing in that it had very limited K-melodrama tropes. They respected each other throughout their relationship. Even when they were fighting about things, they sat down and talked about it. There were no ridiculous misunderstandings. The only thing that was contrived was the "amnesia-childhood-friends-relationship". But other than that, it seemed by all accounts a healthy, mature, adult relationship.
Overall, for me, this show was kind of an "OK way to pass the time". I don't hate nor regret that I watched it, but I don't see any elements of this that will make me want to go back and rewatch it.
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Disappointed.
Potential to be a lot more fun and also could have developed on her talented photography skills, since though not necessarily an 'artist' of the painting sort, her composition skills as a photographer were noted by both a renowned artist, Ryan Gold and renowned musician Shi An who would have been used to getting professional level photography done of him so her work was in that level.
Potentials of the starting story never realised. Strikes me direction/production team took safe route to end of story and ended up with one of his condensed milk coffee-less lattes, not even a hint of peppermint anywhere.
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