Secret Garden Episode 9

The perfect blend of laughter and angst

I have skipped the last two episode reviews because there isn't much to say in between a LOL and a LMAO. Even after having watched it half a dozen times, Joo Won/Im spying on Ra Im/Won with a wig cracks me up.

So here I jump to them going back into their rightful bodies.
My mom is an inexhaustible source of surprise for me. Even after deciding to show her this drama, I feared she wouldn't like it - not the way I do, at least. I thought the fantasy aspect would throw her off, and that she would find the whole story too weird for her taste.
I was wrong. She doesn't like this, she loves it. Every time JW and RI have a sweet moment together, she sighs. "How beautiful they are!", she declared at them hugging for the first time, or when they sit by the open air bbq and he tells her he would have paid more, had he known his money would help raising Ra Im.
She skips a lot of details of the script, whether because it's at times too fast or because she's focusing on the actor's expressions, but she is very attentive to the development of their love story. "This is the first time they hug, isn't it? I find it wonderful that Asians still put so much meaning into a hug. It can be more intimate than any kiss."

A hugs-lover myself, I could only agree.

The second surprise came after they quarrel. One of my favourite scenes is Ra Im telling him "the mermaid loved that man" and walking off. My mom's comment was: "wow, that was really mean." While I've always thought it was a well delivered blow, I never once thought RaIm was mean. Clearly my mom has fallen for Binnie's charm, it must be in our DNA. Or she is right, and I was too preoccupied identifying with RaIm to actually consider Joo Won's feelings.
Watching with someone else is like having the privilege of a wider view.

She declared Tae Sung very cute. I stared at her with my mouth open. Where have all the mothers gone who say: "he's too skinny and pale, let him eat something!"? But no, she wouldn't mind at all if Oska decided he's gay after all, left Seul be and run away with Tae Sung to set up an emo music band.

Ah, the tracksuits! After finding out that the shiny blue one is fit for a paradise night club, one would imagine Joo Won giving up on Italian and French artisans who sew every spangle by hand. But no! The time is ripe for a violet roses pattern.
Priceless.

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