If You Loved ‘Secret Love Affair,’ Don’t Miss This New Drama!

Kim Hee Ae and Yoo Ah In heated up the screen with their illicit romance in ‘Secret Love Affair’

As awkward as it was for a happily married woman to tell her husband that she is watching a drama called “Secret Love Affair,” it’s no secret that this drama was one of my favorites from 2014 and possibly all-time. The story follows Oh Hye Won (played by Kim Hee Ae), a woman in her 40s, who falls in love with Lee Seon Jae (played by Yoo Ah In), a piano prodigy in his 20s who is being mentored by her husband. But the fact that the screenwriter and director (Jung Sung Joo and Ahn Pan Seok), as well as Kim Hee Ae, won big at the 50th Baeksang Arts Awards and the 3rd APAN Star Awards proves that I wasn’t the only one to think that this was one of the best nuanced, incredibly well-written and well-acted dramas.

If you’re like me and have felt that nothing else quite like it has been as worthy of watching lately, we’re in luck! The same writer-director team from “Secret Love Affair” has just come out with a new drama, “Heard It Through the Grapevine,” which just launched on February 23!

The posters for ‘Heard It Through the Grapevine’ (like above) have the same style/feel to ‘Secret Love Affair’

If the first two episodes of “Heard It Through the Grapevine” is a good indicator of the mood for this new drama, we are in for a treat! The drama is about a high school boy, Han In Sang (played by Lee Joon), who is under tremendous pressure from his politically connected, affluent parents to do well in school and succeed. But after making a “mistake” with his girlfriend, Seo Bom (played by Go Ah Sung), In Sang’s parents must try to figure out how to keep his bright future intact while trying to keep the family secret from getting out!

But unlike “Secret Love Affair,” where much of the intimacy between the older Kim Hee Ae and younger Yoo Ah In was off-camera, the hot make-out scenes between Lee Joon and Go Ah Sung in “Heard It Through the Grapevine” are very much on-screen and could teach a thing or two to other dramas of the “shocked, open-eyed, closed-mouthed kiss” variety. The young actors have great chemistry and aren’t afraid to show it — making their story line of getting carried away much more believable.

The hot make-out scene that went too far in ‘Heard It Through the Grapevine’

 Like “Secret Love Affair,” the cast of “Heard It Through the Grapevine” is top-notch. Although the drama deals with serious topics, the writing and acting are so good that you can’t help laugh or smile at unexpected moments as humor is expertly infused in the storyline. When In Sang first learns that Bom is pregnant with his baby the week before her due date, he swears to her parents that he will take responsibility and immediately takes her to meet his parents. That first-meeting scene at the beginning of Episode 2 is one of the most jaw-dropping, unexpectedly funny scenes you will ever see!

The parents (played by Yoo Ho Jung and Yoo Jun Sang) can’t believe what they are about to witness!

Be sure to favorite this great new drama and watch what is already looking like one of the best new dramas of the year! Let us know what you think of it after you see the first two episodes!