Crash Landing on You

Episodes: 16

Synopsis: 

This drama follows the story of Yoon Seri, a South Korean Chaebol heiress, and Ri Jeong Hyuk, a North Korean soldier from an elite family. After a natural disaster and Yoon Se Ri disappears during a paragliding event, people did not expect her to have ended up in North Korea. Through using threats against Ri Jeong Hyuk and his soldiers of not protecting their area well and allowing her trespass into the country, Yoon Seri finds herself living at Ri Jeong Hyuk's home and well-protected while figuring out how to get back to South Korea. The two fall in love and go through many hurdles together both in North Korea and South Korea.

Review:

      I ugly-cried during this drama and went on an ultimate emotional rollercoaster. One minute I'll be laughing and another minute I'd be crying. It really hit me hard in the feelings in so many scenes, especially as things picked up from episode 10 onward. One thing I do want to mention is that this drama reminds me of Rooftop Prince. Instead of time travel separating the couple, we have a border separating Yoon Seri and Ri Jeong Hyuk. The three soldiers and the spy under Ri Jeong Hyuk's command also remind me of the little time travel squad in Rooftop Prince, especially in the scenes when they arrived in South Korea. This drama's army squad had more of a voice than the characters did in Rooftop Prince. I really liked that they all had their own strengths and flaws, and that the writers took the time out to strengthen the friendships between Seri/Jeong Hyeok and them on individual levels such as: letting the kdrama fanboy character meet his favorite actress Kwon Ji Won, having a big brother-little sister bullying relationship with one of the other characters, making clothes for them, and so forth. These characters also played to their own strengths as well, such as the spy utilizing his spy knowledge and skill to help out Seri and Jeong Hyuk. Another important thing I want to mention before diving into the details is that I'm really appreciative of many Korean dramas steering away from unhealthy love triangles and causing unnecessary tension between characters. For a period of time, Korean dramas used to use the love triangle trope in every drama and would portray one person as vulnerable and good, while the other as a homewrecker and a b*tch. It's not the most realistic trope and it is also quite frustrating to watch. Nowadays, a lot of dramas either have ditched the love triangle idea completely or have created love triangle dynamics where all three individuals involved are rational, empathetic, and willing to grow in other ways. 

      I want to start with the character of Seo Dan before I touch on the main leads. Seo Dan is a side character who is seemingly very cold and emotionless. As we get to know her and her pains of an unrequited love toward Ri Jeong Hyuk, we see that she has a soft side she hides behind a tough exterior. Her calmness despite feeling anxious and panicked makes viewers like her more in comparison to making her a character who is b*tchy and domineering toward Ri Jeong Hyuk. Her reasons for not wanting to let go and rationalizing why he didn't love her when she was in his life first was very understandable. It made viewers empathetic toward her, especially as she learned to let go and interact with the love interest meant for her. Now while, Seung Jun, the eventual love interest of Seo Dan, is a very complex character with a sad background--I found the ending so brutally harsh for Seo Dan. She has such bad luck with love, and the one time she felt appreciated and had her feelings reciprocated, it got taken away from her. Her internal strength really showed at the end as she remained on her own but it seemed really unfair for a girl like her. Likewise, I found Seung Jun's decisions to enter Seo Dan's life without realistic plans of actually being able to be with her a bit selfish. The more you watch, the more you realize that Seo Dan is pretty naive despite putting on a cold front. So if Seung Jun tells her that he loves her when she's interested, she would 100% put her all into the relationship up till the very end. Thus, I found Seung Jun selfish as he knew he wasn't safe to stay in North Korea or South Korea, and yet made so many promises of coming back for her one day and so forth. Seo Dan might have already been stuck on him by then but I feel like it'd be harder for her to move on when she knows that they had talked about this promise of him coming back one day for her. His last thoughts as a character involved with the idea of feeling sad and happy that someone would be crying for him and thinking of him. In my opinion, it's really not fair to Seo Dan and she really did deserve better--whether it's having her happily ever after with Seung Jun or moving on to find something better for herself. The girl just wanted to be loved!! But also our secondary relationship between Seo Dan and Seung Jun was very fun to watch as they shared a lot of chemistry in the bits and pieces of screentime that they got...which is very impressive since I was also very emotionally invested in their ending.

           As for our main leads, the chemistry was pretty good. I think there was a healthy balance of comedy, drama, and emotional scenes (especially since the little army squad was so funny). I really enjoyed the relationship dynamic between Jeong Hyuk and Seri but I got to say Jeong Hyuk really be risking it all for Seri. He puts his life on the line again and again. Maybe that's why I like their relationship dynamic so much because it gives me unrealistic expectations of men and of love. But honestly, that's what makes life fun---the unrealistic expectations (haha). I did find some scenes toward the end unrealistic. I genuinely don't think that they would've ever met again. I can also understand why they had to go back to North Korea because they have responsibilities toward their own families and so forth. But I feel like once they are back, Seri would not be reunited with Jeong Hyuk. Likewise, the last few interactions via Jeong Hyuk's pre-written texts for Seri made me very grateful that long-distance relationships will never be as bad as a North Korea-South Korea LDR (LOL). It was also great casting for this drama, especially since they have these big-shot actors playing in the main leads. They also have an impressive cast in this drama that has previously featured in dramas and films such as When the Camellia Blooms, Romance is a Bonus Book, Parasite, and so forth. There was also quite a few cameos from big names as well -- Kwon Ji Won appeared as one of the NK soldier's favorite Korean drama actress and even performed a hilarious and nostalgic scene tying to Stairway to Heaven (a really old drama lol). Kim Soo Hyun also cameoed as North Korean defector, and I think he did a great job in highlighting the struggles of being North Korean in South Korea. His scraggly appearance also reminded me of his character from Dream High (haha).

        I also liked the separate clips at the end of each episode that provided more depth to the story. I feel like character development is insane for all the characters. None of them are truly unlikable except for maybe the main antagonist that was obsessed with tearing down Ri Jeong Hyuk. I really enjoyed this drama, I wouldn't go into this expecting a very realistic drama. That's because the entire set-up is like a classic kdrama setup to allow you to have unrealistic expectations. First of all, it is based in North Korea which in general we all know little about. It involves an unlikely romance that crosses borders and even has a hint of fate being involved. The girl survives a typhoon and winds up alive in North Korea (how?) There's a lot of action scenes where the main characters just do not die. There are unlikely reunions throughout the drama, and unwavering loyalty to one another despite not knowing each other for long. We got a chaebol-heiress/entrepreneur as one of the characters and the Captain of the guard from an elite North Korean family on the other end. It's not meant to be a realistic drama but it is extremely entertaining and satisfying to watch. I felt like the first half was about world setting and getting us invested in the relationship, and the second half was when everything was truly kicking off. Toward the second half, I missed the first half. But when I was first watching the beginning few episodes I found it slow at times. But when I finished the drama, I found myself watching those beginning episodes again. 

Also, important to know is that North Korean defectors in real life helped give advice for this drama. In many ways, this drama was highlighting North Korean societies in ways we haven't had a chance to see before. They also didn't make North Korea seem evil but rather portrayed them in a more positive light despite being extremely behind in cultural and technological advancements & despite the political environment.

Overall, highly recommend. I really enjoyed it. Here's some scenes and episodes that I liked the most: 

Ep 10 - Man Bok's apology about being part of the brother's death - his guilt made me cry 

Ep 12- The village ladies helping each other out, reunion with the North Korean army in South Korea, watching them be shook at the world of South Korea, the birthday scene

Ep 13-By far the best episode, a lot to unpack-- North Korean kids buying things with her black card -- so cute and funny such as the jeans scene; Hyeok getting jealous of Seri dating guys before; Kwon Ji Won scene; epic fight scene and the scene of them running up to Seri bleeding makes me so sad
The frenemy character makes me so happy b/c he's such a big brother character -- always bullying her but with a soft heart too 

Ep 14- the intimacy of the hug when she wakes up and the way the guy friends rushed to see her

the spy putting spy devices to check on her while she was at the hospital -- everyone playing to their own strengths, distinct characters