Meow: The Secret Boy; Welcome - ★

MEOW... THE SECRET BOY..... OMG
This drama is super super cute and a nice and lightly refreshing way to cope with 2020.

First things first, we need to talk about the elephant in the room. Or the cat in the room, whichever you prefer. Yes, this is a story about a girl who falls in love with her cat. Deal with it. Don't make it weird.

****** Spoilers*******
This is the story of graphic designer Kim Sol-A (played by the adorable Shin Ye-Eun). She's not a cat person. Not in the least. Despite this, she always seems to find herself surrounded by "cats", including the boy she's been crushing on for a decade. Lee Jae-Sun (played by the sweet and shy-seeming Seo Ji-Hoon) holds all his cards close to his chest (and he also just happens to be allergic to cats). He seems to reciprocate the feelings that the innocently sincere Sol-A has for him, but you can tell he has a hard time expressing himself. One day they plan to meet and it seems like they maybe will progress past a kiss they shared, but he never shows. She waits, and when she sees him again, he acts coldly towards her. We find out later that he found a kitten wrapped in Sol-A's scarf and assumed that she abandoned it. A year later, when he breaks up with whatever girlfriend he sort of somehow had, he ends up with this cat again. Due to his allergy, he needs to find a home for it.
Sol-A offers to take the cat in, but Jae-Sun is against it. She wins in the end and renames the cat "Hong-Jo", which basically means blush. Hong-Jo is such a cute cat. Too much to handle.
Even better, for some magical reason, Hong-Jo can become human around Sol-A. The RIDICULOUSLY cute Kim Myung-Soo (L from Infinite) plays the man-cat (cat-man?). In my opinion, he pulls off the expressions and general attitude that cats are famous for just wonderfully. There were so many times in this drama that he absolutely cracked me up with just a look in his eyes. Just. Perfect. (I am not going to stoop so low as to make a purrfect comment. Okay I will).
Sol-A's dad is remarrying, and she moves in to a house that she will be sometimes sharing with her new brother-to-be, Bang Guk-Bong. Of course, she mistakes Hong-Jo (man) for this guy.
Sol-A still pines for Jae-Sun, who is incredibly emotionally distant. You find out that this is due to the fact that he was orphaned (several times) so he has a hard time getting close to anyone because he assumes that they will just abandon him as well. The fake Bang Guk-Bong and Jae-Sun have some pretty amazing moments together, as Jae-Sun realizes he might have a competitor for Sol-A's affections. Hong-Jo (man and cat) is always there for her. He decides at some point that she is his person, and he wants to keep her. As they say, the cat chooses the owner.
Sol-A finally comes to the conclusion that she needs to stop waiting around for Jae-Sun and she needs to find her own happiness. She finds herself more and more drawn to who she assumes is her new step-brother, which complicates all kinds of things.
Jae-Sun doesn't trust this man at all, of course, so he keeps such a good eye on him that he eventually learns the secret. Tension rises (but not too high), and Hong-Jo (after many failed but well-meant attempts) finally get it across to Sol-A that the boy she has been sweetly kissing on the rooftop - the boy who likes to eat fish and sit in boxes - is her adorable fluffy cat. She doesn't really want to believe him at first, but eventually she is all in. Complications arise when a Granny Cat tells Hong-Jo that all the coffee that he has been chugging to stay awake and stay human is not going to work but only so long. A year previous, Hong-Jo turned into a little boy who Sol-A gave her scarf to, but when he got tired and fell asleep he became a kitten. Now he's already in his 20s. His heart beats much faster than a human's because his life span is ultimately shorter. He doesn't want to tell Sol-A, but he only has a limited amount of time before he can't be a human anymore. Viewers sit through a few painful episodes where she neglects him due to her job and the webcomic she is making on the side while he just waits for her patiently. Eventually she realizes that she doesn't have much time with him, so she quits her job so she can spend every moment with him.
They finally share a (not quite) goodbye scene, where he kisses her one last time and she tells him that she will be with him forever until the end of his cat life.
Throughout all this time, Jae-Sun has been going through some wonderful character development as well, as he learns to lean on his latest adopted father, who just wants him to feel comfortable and like a real son. They have a wonderful moment of connection where Jae-Sun finally accepts the love he never felt he had before. Sadly his father passes away not too long after, but he realizes that you shouldn't avoid love just because you might get hurt. A few years has passed since Hong-Jo returned to being strictly a cat, but of course, one day she looks and there he is! So cute.
Yeah, it's a little strange. But his face totally explains it. No one would be able to resist Kim Myung-Soo's charms.

Another great charm of this drama is the side characters. Ko Doo-Sik (played by the super charming Kang Hoon) and Eun Ji-Eun (played by the adorable Yoon Ye-Joo) play two people that work with Sol-A. Doo-Sik is her and Jae-Sun's friend from high school, and Ji-Eun is the girl Sol-A and Doo-Sik forgot was also in their art club. Those two are fairly oblivious and simple-minded, and it doesn't help that Ji-Eun is painfully shy. Throughout the series, you get to see Ji-Eun's super secret 10-year crush on Doo-Sik grow fruit in many awkward and hilarious scenes. Yoon Ye-Joo absolutely plays the humor perfectly and Kang Hoon captures the stumbling of the thick-headed cuteness of Doo-Sik.

Another side mention that I cannot neglect is Sol-A's father, played by the amazing Ahn Nae-Sang. This man. I have seen him in several dramas at this point, usually as the father, and he always does a great job. In this drama he was definitely the source of the most laughs. His low-key humor just killed me and I was so grateful for the moments of screen-time that he had. They were all well worth it.

This drama was fairly light and very cute. The OST has a lovely song sung by Kihyun of Monsta X, and he is always a treat. There is another song that has a sort of Violent Femmes ballad sort of feel, and it's catchy. The only issue with having short episodes like this is you are going to hear the same 2-3 songs 50 times, and that can grow old really fast if you binge this series.

Overall it was super cute and well worth a watch!