(no subject)

[skygiants]

Last night tenillypo and I finished watching Crash Landing On You, a Netflix kdrama featuring a hard-boiled South Korean businesswoman who accidentally paraglides into the demilitarized zone while testing out a new line of designer sportswear and drops down in front of a dreamy North Korean military officer.



Obviously, they fall in love! Excitingly, Yoon Se-ri is an actually competent and adult kdrama heroine with confidence and resources, who navigates the extremely plausible premise with aplomb and has a great time once back in South Korea throwing her money around to get results. Meanwhile, Captain Ri Jyeong-heok is an unexpectedly top tier kdrama boyfriend with a truly astonishing dearth of asshole behavior. In one episode, he restocks her completely empty kitchen because he's very concerned that she only has water bottles in her fridge, and then he realizes -- by himself! without being told! -- that he's put everything on shelves convenient for his height and carefully rearranges everything to make sure the kitchen organization is useful for someone who's six inches shorter. Never was he more attractive to me than in that moment.

It's also the sort of romance where the protagonists have resolved all their interpersonal feelings by like halfway through the show, but the obstacles that keep them apart are extremely logistically legitimate ('I'll be killed if I stay in your country and your family will be killed if you stay in mine' is pretty difficult to get round) and both of them are constantly doing their level best to be responsible and kind to each other about it. Lots of flinging themselves in front of bullets for the other, both emotional and literal.

All that said, a lot of the charm of the show is also in the supporting cast.



Ri Jeong-hyeok's squad, ft. the rude one, the hot one, the baby one, and the one with the forbidden encyclopedic knowledge of twenty-year-old South Korean kdrama tropes who thus must function as Interpreter of Yoon Se-Ri's Strange South Korean Behavior



The B love interests: Gu Seung Jun, a South Korean con artist hiding out in North Korea who really just wants someone to neg him, and Seo Dan, Ri Jeong-hyeok's arranged North Korean fiancee, who is more than happy to oblige



The Rat, a meek and morally compromised North Korean wiretapper, who spends the first half of the series seriously fighting for his own soul; he ends the series with friends and a much more satisfying job that still makes use of his audio experience! We were so proud of him! Bonus points for every time he managed to use his wiretapping skills to solve an unexpected problem once he got redeployed into comedy hijinks in the back half of the show.



A clique of judgy ahjummas in Ri Jyeong-heok's North Korean village that Yoon Se-ri uses her networking skills to befriend, who subsequently get a few heroic moments of their own while navigating the ripple effects of Plot Shenanigans



Se-ri's adopted mom, who has spent the past twenty years coming to terms with the fact that her husband's illegitimate daughter is way more important to her than either of her useless and terrible biological sons but has not yet had any success at conveying that fact to Se-ri



Seo Dan's mom, who has absolutely no difficulty conveying her extreme supportiveness to Dan whether Dan wants to hear about it or not

And a special shout-out to the South Korean propagada's-eye view of the warm and cuddly National Security Service, who pop up in the last two episodes of the series to have a lot of feelings about forbidden romance.

Agent A: we've hired a psychologist to analyze CCTV footage of the North Korean infiltrator, and the expert says he's a very nice man who's really in love
Agent B, shedding a single tear: you fool! haven't you seen the way he LOOKS at her! OBVIOUSLY he's really in love!

A North Korean defector was apparently involved in the writer's room, and there have been several articles interviewing North Koreans living in South Korea to get their opinions on the show; the attitude as reported appears to be "the details about daily life: surprisingly well-depicted and nuanced! the dreamy and chivalrous North Korean military officer: haha not in a million years."

So, you know, there's that. Warnings also for mental health stuff (Se-ri has suicidal depression in her past, and is saved from jumping off a bridge by a chance encounter with her future soulmate; both her therapist and the show posit a trip to Switzerland as the cure to suicidal ideation, which really makes me wonder how much money the Swiss tourism bureau shelled out for this drama), at least one more major character death than we were strictly expecting from this work of gripping not-exactly-realism, and extremely long episodes.

Comments

[shadaras]

This show sounds delightful! I appreciate when romance storylines are blocked by Actual Problems and not just bickering contrivance. :)

Interestingly, it seems that every other photo you put in this post isn't displaying. (Trying to open in a new tab tells me that I don't have permission to access the resource, which is odd considering that I assume you uploaded all the photos with the same process.)

[skygiants]

Yes, it's so pleasant! Minimal bickering, maximal "let me show you that I care in the very brief time that we have while doing everything that I can to assist you in getting back to your life and future!"

Oh, weird -- is it working now?

[lirazel]

I feel like this show was just a perfect example of the things that kdramas do that you can't really find in other kinds of TV. Was it wildly unrealistic and often overwrought? Well, yeah, but it was also funny and romantic and just plain enjoyable. I found almost every minute of it delightful and satisfying.

I really love reading your thoughts! And yes, as much as I love the leads (and I love them a lot), the supporting cast absolutely makes this show. Honestly, those fifteen seconds of Manbok and his sound engineer job was literally my favorite part of the show. I cried like a baby. So earned.

I'm interested in what you thought about what happened to Seung Jun. It felt completely unnecessary to me, but it is a kdrama, so you've kind of got to have the Unnecessary Angst.

[skygiants]

I'M SO HAPPY FOR MANBOK, his new job is incredibly important to me! Honestly, I really appreciated the space that they gave everybody's professional fulfillment in the last twenty minutes or so -- like it's great that our leads were happy together but also everyone had jobs that they genuinely liked doing and were really happy in their lives! (Also, Se-ri's ahjumma cosmetics brand was the CUTEST thing. That and Manbok as a film sound engineer were maybe my favorite things in the last episode.)

I also super didn't feel like the ending with Seung Jun was necessary, we definitely spent the last 45 minutes wondering if they were going to pull out a surprise twist on that. Like I'm glad Dan learned to love herself and find fulfillment, but also! it would not have been very hard to have him forced to leave and the ambiguity be about whether he would be able to come back, or even in a coma or something.

[jesse_the_k]

This write up is very funny and enticing. I’ve seen a lot of K dramas squee but I’ve never tried them out. Do you think this would be good as baby’s first K drama?

[lirazel]

Can I butt in? I feel like this would be a very good intro to kdramas, because it does a lot of the things that most kdramas do, and it does them well. Though I do feel like it's so much more rewarding when you know some things about South Korean culture, which I picked up over years of watching kdramas. So maybe watching it now might be good, and then if you want the full experience, you can watch it again in the future.

Can I give you some recommendations of others it might be good to start with?

+ City Hunter and Healer are both thriller types, but well-plotted, with good characters, and good ships (Healer, in particular has one of my all-time favorite ships from anything). I feel like they're both super accessible to people who aren't familiar with kdramas and their tropes. (I describe CH as "Batman without superpowers and set in ROK" and Healer as "Superman without superpowers set in ROK" and my friend who is obsessed with every version of Lois Lane says that Young Shin is one of her favorite versions of Lois, if that makes any difference to you.)
+ Queen In-Hyun's Man is maybe my favorite romance ever on TV? A time travel story about a Josen-era scholar who falls in love with the contemporary actress playing the queen he serves back in Joseon. Super satisfying and delightful.
+ Coffee Prince is a classic romcom that's low stakes but engaging. I recommend this one because I think every single person who's ever gotten into kdramas has watched it and is fond of it. (Though I haven't seen it in years, so it may not hold up as well as I hope it does.)
+ Age of Youth (which is Hello, My Twenties on Netflix, I believe) is not at all a typical kdrama, but it's wonderful--a slice-of-life story about five wonderful young women, any of whom I would die for.
+ Reply 1997 is another modern classic about a group of friends coming of age in the late 90s.
+ Dal Ja's Spring is a bit older and low key, but it's about a woman in her 30s who falls in love with her job and with a younger guy. I love Dal Ja so much.
+ Flower Boy Next Door is a romcom but a bit more wistful because it's about a young woman with severe social anxiety learning to live again.

And then when you get further into kdramas, I have to recommend White Christmas, which is dark and atypical and I have never found another kdrama like it, but I love it madly (and it's from the same writer as Age of Youth!). I probably wouldn't start with that one though! (Also I love Shut Up Flower Boy Band to the depths of my soul, but it's about a high school band, so if you don't like high school stories, it's probably not for you.)

The thing to remember is that you kind of have to ease yourself in and learn the language of kdramas? Things are going to seem weird and possibly off-putting at first, but I think if you stick with it, after a few episodes you'll find you understand the rhythm of it.

[vonniek]

I have a million things to watch and not enough time, but this sounds delightful.

Are those the Kim matriarch and the bunker dude from Parasite in that last photo? *goes off the check* They are! Another reason to check this out.

[skygiants]

omg I didn't even realize -- this is extra funny because of all the time that the North Korean kids spend wandering around Seoul marveling at its prosperity while attempting to hold onto their scorn at capitalism with both hands, at which point I remarked to my watch buddy, "somebody should really show them Parasite."

[newredshoes]

Netflix keeps recommending this show to me, so I am delighted to hear how extremely worth it it sounds!!

[skygiants]

Extremely enjoyable! Chock-full of very good humans!

[osprey_archer]

I've been thinking about watching this show and TBH this just makes it sound even more super amazing. I am HERE for love stories where the obstacles to their love are enormous and totally outside the lovers' control!

[skygiants]

it's so good! so much deliciously tropey romantic self-sacrifice! so many instances of 'it would be better for them if I take the escape and stop putting them at risk, but how can I leave when they're so injured and in so much danger?" GOOD TIMES.

[sixbeforelunch]

Huh. Netflex keeps sending me emails begging me to resubscribe. This is the first thing that's exclusively on Netflex that has made me consider it.

[skygiants]

dsfkldsI mean ... don't necessarily give another corporate giant your cash for this, but ... if you are considering it, it's a good reason! You could probably watch it in just a month and then cancel gain!

[brownbetty]

Hmm! Your write up makes me more interested in it that what I have heard previously because you are a menace! like that.

Where would you place it on the kdrama camp scale? I dunno if camp? is the right word, but the sort of shenanigans v. broadly conveyed? Because that is my biggest obstacle in kdrama.

[skygiants]

Hmm, there's definitely some shenanigans but it's not, like, Hong Sisters levels of shenanigans, if that means anything to you? The broad slapstick is pretty minimal, it's more, like, "person who only understands South Korean culture through kdramas attempts to explain South Korean culture and it's funny because we all know the tropes."

(Now I'm curious what you had heard previously!)

[issenllo]

then he realizes -- by himself! without being told! -- that he's put everything on shelves convenient for his height and carefully rearranges everything to make sure the kitchen organization is useful for someone who's six inches shorter. Never was he more attractive to me than in that moment.

I concur so much. That and the coffee-making. (Although did the fresh food last long enough whilst she was recovering in hospital?)

[skygiants]

The coffee-making!!! God, what a dream. (We also wondered that! Those tomatoes looked great for having been sitting in the fridge for a week.)

[schneefink]

It's also the sort of romance where the protagonists have resolved all their interpersonal feelings by like halfway through the show, but the obstacles that keep them apart are extremely logistically legitimate ('I'll be killed if I stay in your country and your family will be killed if you stay in mine' is pretty difficult to get round) and both of them are constantly doing their level best to be responsible and kind to each other about it. Lots of flinging themselves in front of bullets for the other, both emotional and literal.
My favorite kind of romance :)

[skygiants]

By far the best kind! Love a well-drawn romance that's really genuinely star-crossed!

[annotated_em]

Meanwhile, Captain Ri Jyeong-heok is an unexpectedly top tier kdrama boyfriend with a truly astonishing dearth of asshole behavior. In one episode, he restocks her completely empty kitchen because he's very concerned that she only has water bottles in her fridge, and then he realizes -- by himself! without being told! -- that he's put everything on shelves convenient for his height and carefully rearranges everything to make sure the kitchen organization is useful for someone who's six inches shorter. Never was he more attractive to me than in that moment.

Sold! That is so unbelievably sexy that I am temporarily straight for this character.

[skygiants]

IT'S INCREDIBLE. I had him on a short-list of three absolute best kdrama love interest and that scene launched him almost directly to the top.

[chestnut_pod]

Okay, you've convinced me! My first kdrama, coming right up :)

[skygiants]

A new experience!! I'm excited to see what you make of it. :D

[sovay]

but the obstacles that keep them apart are extremely logistically legitimate ('I'll be killed if I stay in your country and your family will be killed if you stay in mine' is pretty difficult to get round) and both of them are constantly doing their level best to be responsible and kind to each other about it.

I can't promise to watch this show because I really never have acclimated to TV in the same way as movies (and I haven't even watched a movie that wasn't semi-wallpaper with spatch since May, which is its own kind of problem), but the fact that all the people in this story sound real even if the premise isn't batting for even the realism levels of Ninotchka (1939) appeals to me very much. Also I already wish the wiretapper well.

[skygiants]

I mean, the episodes are a full ninety minutes long each, so you could really think of it as an ... unexpectedly long movie series ... with sixteen installments? >.>

Anyway the wiretapper is absolutely a character that has your name written all over him; you will be happy to know that his job at the end of the series is harvesting ambient sound, for sound effects, for the film industry.

[etirabys]

Okay, I was sold pretty early on, but...

> Se-ri's adopted mom, who has spent the past twenty years coming to terms with the fact that her husband's illegitimate daughter is way more important to her than either of her useless and terrible biological sons but has not yet had any success at conveying that fact to Se-ri

At that paragraph I became SUPER SOLD.

[skygiants]

I was FASCINATED by this dynamic, it was so unexpected! Neither the usual evil-stepmother hatred nor "I have always selflessly loved this child who came very inconveniently into my life" but something much messier and more interesting.

[thawrecka]

How long are the episodes? I've had the issue with kdramas before where I got into the first few episodes that were only 45 minutes long but gave up when the middle episodes ballooned to an hour and a half.

[skygiants]

SO long! Ninety minutes on average, I think the last episode was almost a full two hours. I swear the shows are getting longer every year.

[bemused_writer]

That sounds like a really interesting show; sounds like they did a good job keeping certain things realistic. I'll have to take a look!

[skygiants]

Definitely certain things and not others, lol (the friendly intelligence service agent, shedding another single tear: let me hold up the prisoner exchange just long enough that you can have your final embrace! I know it's very important to you!) but it's fascinating the ones that they did!

[china_shop]

and the one with the forbidden encyclopedic knowledge of twenty-year-old South Korean kdrama tropes who thus must function as Interpreter of Yoon Se-Ri's Strange South Korean Behavior

LOL! I loved that! (Lots of your other character descriptions made me laugh, too -- all so true! :-D)

And that's fascinating about the North Korean in the writers' room, and what the interviewees said about the show. Cool!

Warnings also for mental health stuff

Didn't her mother also make a reference to having left her on the beach because she was suicidal? That was the point where I went, "Wow, this show really needs warnings!"

[skygiants]

My minor character ship that never happened was Secret Kdrama Fan North Korean Soldier/Secret BTS Fan North Korean Hospital Patient. He should have gotten her number! They were meant to be!

Yeah, I was pretty sure that's what her mom meant by that, though it went real fast and was not well-explained. (I was interested by everything we got about the relationship with her mom but I definitely wanted more!)

[merit]

I am very slowly watching this (some episodes are almost movie length! and it is such a delight. I just want to smoosh them together.

Yes, during the Switzerland scene, I was thinking, huh they actually went there!

[skygiants]

I mean, it's beautiful! It's scenic! I don't know if it's quite as therapeutic as advertised, but the show did very effectively make me want to go take a visit!

[gramarye1971]

I keep thinking about this show and wondering whether I would be able to suspend my disbelief enough to enjoy it. Compared with something like The King 2 Hearts, which adds an extra layer of unrealism (South Korean monarchy!) that makes my brain go "yeah, sure, I'll roll with it" -- it's odd/interesting that a more realistic show is making me balk a bit.

[skygiants]

I think that make a lot of sense! I also sometimes have a much harder time swallowing a little bit of unrealism than a HUGE amount where I can just let all attempts to make the world make sense fly cheerfully away. I'll be really interested to see what you think of it if you try it, though; you certainly know more about North Korea than me!

[happydork]

I am 11:30 into ep 1 and I would die for Se-ri without a second thought.

[skygiants]

This is the most correct reaction I've ever seen.

[pengwern]

So I knew of this show from my mom who was on the last episode when I went to visit her (and tried to get me to watch with her but alas I'm not capable of watching shows) BUT I also....vaguely...assumed this was the same as the Hotel del Luna, so I spent a good five minutes trying to fit the fabulous outfits into the plot of /this/ show instead.......
(They both sounds like delightful shows and I would read the yuletide fic!)

[skygiants]

HA! That's because I still haven't gotten around to actually writing up the plot of Hotel del Luna and at this point I feel like I need to wait until I've finished the costume polls ...

(There are also a number of great outfits in this show but nobody has quite Jang Man Wohl's dedication!)

[trent_goulding]

I really really enjoyed this production, for pretty much all the reasons you articulate here, and reading through this gave me a chance to smile again in fond reminiscence even though it's only been a couple weeks since I finished it, so thank you!

[skygiants]

I'm really glad you enjoyed it -- it's such a fun show! :D

[meganbmoore]

I really need to finally watch the last episode. (It's so long! And I know my boy dies after the actor's sabatical where he literally almost overworked himself to death!)

[skygiants]

oh no POOR GUY. D: I was so impressed with him in this, especially the total contrast from his role in Rebel!

[qian]

So this is somewhat belated, but a combination of a friend's enthusiastic recs and a reread of your post got me to start watching this and it is the first kdrama I have ever finished! :D So thank you for the post. As always your review was very accurate as well as enjoyable, and I LOVED the show for all the reasons you mentioned. (And if you have any recs for kdramas that I might like if I liked this, I am all ears!)

[skygiants]

I am SO stoked you liked Crash Landing on You, it is such a delight! :DDD

My kdrama recommendations for you in particular:

- I know I have said this before but I truly do think you would love Hotel del Luna, featuring an amoral immortal ghost hotelier and the bright-eyed young Harvard graduate who comes to work as her new hotel manager; my friend and I watched it back-to-back with Crash Landing and had constant debates about which pair of leads was a more ideal romantic dynamic because both were better than almost any we'd ever encountered in kdrama previously, also it has a fantastic side cast and a WONDERFUL set of divine aunties. On the flip side, the ending is definitely more bittersweet than Crash Landing
- I also truly love Healer, about a plucky tabloid reporter, the antisocial criminal who has to go undercover as her intern, and the secret pirate radio backstory that links them together; it also has a lot of of the really interesting and varied birth/adoptive/mentor parental dynamics that make Crash Landing so good and a really good mix of hijinks and drama
- but in terms of actually 'similar to Crash Landing in terms of energy,' probably the thing that comes closest is Descendants of the Sun, in which romance blossoms when a team of long-suffering doctors and a chivalrous military unit are stationed together on a relief effort in a fake country suffering under an incredibly sequential variety of dramatic ills including earthquakes, amoral American mercenaries, lead poisoning, diamond smuggling, and ebola! (apologies for the fact that half the screencaps in these latter two posts have disappeared off the internet since I made them)