I have finished a number of dramas lately but am still gathering all my thoughts. i promised a review of Melody of Secrets, though, so here it is. It may seem like I’ve included spoilers but I really didn’t reveal much, so if you’re trying to decide whether or not to watch this, my review might help.
Melody of Secrets (2025-2026)
For those who haven’t been paying attention, this was a ForceBook mystery/thriller. It starts with Book having lost his memory, and then receiving his old journal detailing his first love. Force shows up and claims to be that first love. From the title and the thriller genre tag, I expected the drama would revolve around them playing each other and unraveling the mystery, with secrets being revealed along the way.
It starts as a power play between them, with an accompanying series of murders to solve. While I liked the setup of secrets and lies, the murder mystery was somewhat confusing, as it was hard to see how it related to these characters. Also, the power play didn’t last very long. After a few episodes it was already clear that Force and Book liked each other. They became an established if not official couple, and admitted their initial lies to each other.
The rest of the story involves secrets neither know slowly coming out, with some rather surprising and exciting twists and turns. I was actually impressed with the mystery story by the end. Unraveling the mystery also involves Book’s character learning about his past and why he ended up losing his memories to begin with. Force and Book love and support each other throughout, despite challenges to their relationship.
I actually like romances where the couple is established early on, as long as there is an interesting story to keep the plot moving forward. Force and Book have an easy comfort with each other, and are believable as a couple trying to make their relationship work. I enjoyed watching them together, and really love seeing a show with lots of physical affection throughout. They definitely leveled up their acting as well, just not as much as I would have liked to portray portray these complex and interesting characters.
When the show finished I thought, “oh, that was better than i expected!” Especially since it wasn’t clear in the beginning what kind of show it would be or where it was headed. And the story had some great reveals as the mystery unfolded.
The reveals mostly have to do with Book’s character history, which is complex. I don’t know if it was the decision of the director or Book’s acting ability or inability, but the biggest flaw in my opinion was that the show was not emotionally intense enough relative to the story it told. Here’s a character with memory loss: traumatic. His father died in mysterious circumstances: traumatic. His grandmother hates him and he doesn’t know why: traumatic. His mother is in a coma: traumatic. And it just goes on from there. If this had been a Korean drama, practically every episode would have been heart-wrenching and involved a lot of crying. Instead Book’s character asks for time and help from a doctor to deal with the secrets that come to light, but he is outwardly pretty calm about the whole thing and still stays by Force’s side, more or less. Kdramas may go overboard with the emotions, but I think this went the opposite and didn’t show enough. Except for Jan, who was great.
If you like mysteries, like ForceBook, and are a little patient, this drama is quite enjoyable. But I still would love to see what the Koreans (or better actors) would do with it. Despite this criticism I liked it anyway. I gave it an 8.0.
(not meant to scary you XD)
Indie Art Girl:
LueurArcane:
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