REVIEW: Her Private Life
Rating: 3.999 out of 5 stars
Re-watch value: 3 out of 5 stars
SYNOPSIS
*taken from MyDramaList*
A dedicated professional, Sung Deok Mi lives for her work as an art gallery curator. Devoting herself to her work, she is exceptional in every way, save one. Beneath that cool, professional facade, Deok Mi carries a dark secret. A secret she desperately wants to keep from the world. A secret that has driven lovers away. A secret that rules every moment of her personal life...
Sung Deok Mi is the ultimate Cha Shi An fangirl. The devoted manager of a Shi An fansite, Deok Mi eats, breathes, and sleeps for Shi An. He is her sun, her moon. Her entire universe revolves around him. This is the secret Deok Mi must hide from the world. And hide it she does. At least until Ryan Gold, the art gallery’s new director, saunters into her life. A once famous painter, the former artist turned director considers himself an indifferent being, unconcerned with the lives of others. But when he uncovers Deok Mi’s secret, everything changes.
RAMBLING
*Beware of spoilers*
This show might have sunk with a different couple, but thankfully, it was anchored by spectacular leads in Park Min-young and Kim Jae Wook. <3
The trope of the show? A fake relationship. Love this trope! After rabid high schoolers violently attack closet fangirl Deok Mi outside the art museum in protest for her possibly being idol Shi An’s secret girlfriend, Ryan Gold volunteers as tribute to masquerade as Deok Mi’s boyfriend.
The fake couple paparazzi photos were too steamy.
The writers seemed to know an awful lot about fan culture, and that was part of what made Deok Mi so believable. Her apartment was a neat shrine to her favorite idol Shi An; her free time was booked up following him around town and on promotional activities, posting her high-res paparazzi shots of him, mobilizing her own army of loyal users who frequent her fan site. I found it equally alarming and intriguing.
I honestly thought Ryan would be as alarmed as me with Deok Mi’s antics and obsession, but when he seemed genuinely curious and accepting, I became super impressed with his characterization. He loved her being a fangirl and in fact felt she was super cute. Um, is there hope for us?
Can I list out the steamiest, swoon-worthy moments?
SEXUAL TENSION
Ryan comes over to her house, but Deok Mi accidentally gets paint all over his hand, so he asks to use her bathroom. Terrified of what he’ll think of the state of her apartment, she blindfolds him and leads him in hilariously. He tries to remove the blindfold, but she stops him and ends up leaning on top of him, real close. Deok Mi proceeds to give into her feelings and kiss him. Ryan takes off the blindfold, asking her if she ~wants~ him, and she nods yes—so cute since it’s a callback to when they first met on the auction floor. They continue their make-out session with him really going for it… BUT IT WAS ALL IN HER HEAD! Ryan later leaves and nearly collapses saying to himself that he held it in well. SEXUAL TENSION IS REAL
Ryan and Deok Mi get caught in the rain visiting a secluded artist, and he helps her untangle a buttoned scarf from her hair. It was really tense and sweet between them as he gingerly worked on her hair dangerously close to her.
The make-out session at the woodworking shop was so steamy omg. When the wood delivery arrives, they get interrupted, but he pulls her to the side to hide from the dude and continue the make-out sesh. YES
He kisses her hand when she reaches up to pick an eyelash from his face.
He teases her about what he found out while undercover as Latte on her fan site (e.g., how she feels about Shi An’s thighs and smile). He tells her he wants to be her fanboy, but she says it involves no touching, looking from afar is enough. So he looks at her seductively… unbuttons his shirt a bit… removes his watch—then she can’t take it anymore, so she comes close and kisses him. He quotes her rules for being a fanboy back to her, but she says she’ll take care of the rest. BYE SEX YES
Episode 15: The morning of her birthday is so sweet. They brush their teeth together, and she gives him a shave. She teases him, playfully asking “Why are you shaking?” as she holds the blade. He cooks her seaweed soup, and she coaches him through what not to include and how much seaweed to use. She chooses his suit for the day, and he suggests she can just change into his clothes to go to work, offering a white button down for her. She says she’ll just change at her house, so next they show Ryan sitting on her bed as she applies makeup at her vanity. He drags her stool over to him, and he applies her pink lipstick. She says she’ll apply some to him as well and instead passionately kisses him. Such good kissing, such a believable couple.
Re: misunderstandings and competing second leads, they actually have a conversation about their respective love rivals and how they might have a skewed view of them since they can’t properly see their true feelings. You love to see it. Give me more communication and healthy conflict resolution.
I loved the concept of adoptees trying to find their roots with Ryan being adopted to the states and growing up away from Korean culture. The show is mostly romance, but takes more than a few moments to express Ryan’s conflicted feelings about coming to Korea. It’s a nice moment when Deok Mi shares her hometown with him as she takes him on a night bus tour of the city or the comedic way she teaches him to play Go-Stop.
Here’s where the show loses its footing: there is a persistent fragmented memory of abandonment that haunts Ryan even in his dreams. It turns out that Shi An’s mom is also Ryan’s mom, making Shi An and Ryan half-brothers. Because of Ryan’s hazy memory, he thinks his mom is the one who coldly abandoned him as a child. SIKE! His mom got into an accident, and when she regained consciousness, Ryan was already in the system and adopted, so she couldn’t find him—so she never really abandoned him. (Was she in a coma? How long was she laid up and recovering?) As a random, homeless child, Ryan stayed with Deok Mi’s family for about a month. But Deok Mi’s little brother died tragically amidst a financial windfall for the family, so since it became near impossible to care for this stranger’s child anymore, her mom dropped Ryan off at the orphanage brutally, and she’s the one who traumatized him by saying, “I’m not your mom!”
I hated how, of course, Deok Mi has amnesia over her little bro’s existence. You’d think every child who had a traumatic experience forgets it with all the amnesia in K-drama. I found that these “coincidences” and twists in the third act of the show totally cheapened the fun, sexy, mature romance and the overall vibe of the show.
In a nice turn, Deok Mi gives Ryan space to sort out his feelings and even asks her bro Eun-gi (played by Ahn Bo-Hyun!) about his own feelings toward his biological dad, if he was curious about him. He gives a very grounded, articulate answer: “It’s natural to be curious about him, but why isn’t he curious about me? I’d be upset if he wasn’t doing well, and I’d be upset if he was doing fine. I can’t predict how I’d feel.”
On the other hand, Deok Mi takes basically a night to process everything (she forgot an entire person, you know). She faces Ryan bravely the next day saying, “I thought if we shared the pain, it would be easier.” At first she admits that she wanted to hide, but he vehemently tells her not to do that. Such a mature relationship. Share the load.
I liked how Deok Mi’s dad seemed kind of lost and slightly despondent, obsessed with his rock collection instead of more interested in living life. The show gives him a beautiful arc. They visit the memorial in a Buddhist temple for the baby bro that died (in a car crash), and the dad gives his stirring reason for starting his obsession with collecting rocks. He recounts that he walked outside the temple after placing his child there and saw a smooth rock that just called to him. When he picked it up, it felt warm to the touch, reminding him of his son’s warm little hands.
In the universe of K-drama shows where Park Min-young falls in love with her boss, I recommend this show over What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim any day of the week. Give it a watch if you’re a fan of great chemistry, but beware of third act plot nonsense!
Did you see Her Private Life? Tell me your thoughts in the comments below!
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