‘Crash Landing On You’…A dynamic cross-border romance that is well worth its hype.
Some ramblings before starting Crash Landing on You…
Every year, a few dramas rightly earn their accolades through their innovative plotline, excellent screenplay, and incredible acting, but there are also dramas that become extremely popular, not exactly for their writing or technical prowesses, but more as the result of a combination of star power, stylish costumes, quippy dialogues, memorable scenes, and gorgeous locations. Both can garner high ratings (on television) in South Korea and both can also incite mixed reviews in the international fan community. But, when there is already hype surrounding a drama before its release, which then continues to grow further, resulting in multiple must-watch blog posts, and youtube fan videos, it can become hard to watch the show objectively. I, of course, had my own reason to be excited for Crash Landing On You as Son Ye Jin and Hyun Bin are two of my favourite actors from two of my all-time favourite dramas (Something in the Rain, Memories of Alhambra), and when it was announced that they would be starring in a drama together, I was ecstatic, to say the least. That’s the reason, I put this show on the backburner all this while, hoping for the hype to cool down so that I could enjoy the show without putting a burden on it to please me. Well, here it goes…
Lots of Spoilers Ahead! Proceed with Caution!
When I completed watching Crash Landing on You, I felt a large swell in my chest. Fear not, it was nothing medical, but a wonderful, wholesome feeling of satisfaction, glee, and happiness, mixed with a twinge of melancholy, all attributing to the dreamy ending of this marvellous show.
If the opening shots of a drama are the key to convincing you that this show is worth your time, then endings are what you carry with you, and an inadequate or vague ending can end up ruining the whole viewing experience (remember Game of Thrones?). But, Crash Landing on You achieves a fulfilling finale thanks to a solid two-hour episode, dedicated to giving proper resolutions to all the characters, without the need to rush through and leaves you to bask in the warmth of this epic romance.
I, call this drama epic, not in the sense of scale, like say, a Mr. Sunshine, which was a political period piece spanning multiple years. Crash Landing on You even with its fantastical premise is quite down to earth, (the initial portions set in a North Korean military outpost village was very reminiscent to the day to day happenings in the village of Ongsan from When the Cameilla Blooms) focusing instead on the innate power of love bringing two people from two warring nations together. Look at how Yoon Se Ri (as usual, a commendable Son Ye Jin) and Ri Jeong Hyeok (Hyun Bin, looking fineee) meet. The first occurs in the present day when while paragliding, when due to a sudden tornado, Se Ri crashes into the North Korean territory and is then found by Jeong Hyeok. This brings to mind the tornado in The Wizard of Oz, which whisked Dorthy away to the magical country of Oz. While North Korea is nowhere near magical, but just like the movie, the rest of the story has Se Ri charting her way back home. Then, take the second instance, which occurs in flashbacks, when Se Ri and Jeong Hyeok briefly interact (ten years prior to the present day) in Switzerland, the neutral ground between the capitalistic west and communist east, or here, the south and the north. Though I am exceedingly exhausted by the trope of lovers having met as children or young adults, it makes sense here, given the conflict between the two countries, and elevates the gravitas of their love, of their destiny of ‘meant to be’. As, even having briefly met, they don’t pine for the next ten years on a tune she heard or a girl he saw on the bridge. They embrace the mystery, even draw strength from it, and move on. So, when they do meet again and realise through fragmented pieces of information that they have met before, it makes their destined affair, (which so far had been termed as coincidences), far more impactful.
North Korea is an intriguing country. It’s not a place that you would want to visit, but I myself am guilty of indulging in innumerable YouTube videos about life in the hermit kingdom. In a world, where everything is accessible, it naturally becomes fascinating that we know next to nothing about the people of North Korea. So, Crash Landing on You’s love story between a South Korean heiress and a North Korean soldier, almost falls in the realm of fantasy. And just like most fantasy dramas, there is always an undercurrent of unease running throughout the story. The suspense of will they, won’t they, can they? Though the drama mostly operates in the mode of an ethereal romantic comedy, it doesn’t let us forget that Se Ri is a South Korean trapped in North Korea. Like her Seoul accent which is a dead giveaway to where she is from, or the moral police reprimanding her and Gu Seung Jung (Kim Jung Hyun), (during what would have been a romantic walk), for not wearing the North Korean leader’s badges, or Jeong Hyeok removing bugs, planted in their hotel room.
Fortunately, except for the aforementioned instances, we aren’t exposed to the authoritarian regime or the brainwashing propaganda, as the drama leans to a humanistic approach to portray the North Koreans. They are people who just happen to be born into this unfortunate country but make the most of their situation. Writer Park Ji Eun and director Lee Jung Hyo, don’t paint the North Koreans in any one specific colour but showcase them in various tints and shades. Whether it’s the ladies of the village going about their daily routines, like washing clothes, preparing kimchi, conducting random house inspections, celebrating birthdays, worrying about their children’s grades, or gossiping about the new girl in town, they are no different than the ajummas down in the South. Soldiers go about their duties, guard the border, drink together, and some even sneakily watch K-dramas. Even a party worker like Jung Man Bok (a fantastic Kim Young Min), whose job is to wiretap people the state finds suspicious, gets a touching moment where he questions the nature of his job and tries to reason why the state would assign a job that asks him to betray his own countrymen.
This is why — in the first episode when running across the DMZ — it is understandable that it took Se Ri some time to figure out whether she was in the North or South. The landscape, the language, and the people are so similar that you really have to look for the flag, or hoarding to figure out which side of the border you are. A village from afar looks like any Korean village, but once Se Ri notices the hoardings, the propaganda posters, coal briquets being sold, and the complete absence of cellphones, the dread sets in, but it is already too late.
Writer Park Ji Eun normalizes issues that plague the nation, like lack of electricity, proper tar roads, cellphones, in that, instead of critiquing the root of the problems or presenting it as a wasteland, the writer chooses instead to focus on the perseverance of the people, who are making do without complaining. This is their normal, and while there are moments that are funny — especially one involving an elevator stopping midway — it comes through the eye of another North Korean, a rich elite, but still one of their own. In most instances, you marvel at their innovative approaches to solve their problems (we Indians even have a word for it — jugaad), like having an underground kimchi cellar (instead of a kimchi refrigerator) or using a plastic bag to keep the steam in during a hot bath, or living in a flat on a lower floor, so that in case of a blackout, you don’t need to climb up too many stairs.
One running motif that seems to unite both countries is how the powerful and the monied can easily slip away from their crimes, or find loopholes in the law to benefit them. Both our leads belong to powerful families on both sides of the border, which does make the proceedings a tad too convenient at times, but it parallelly also stresses the fact that if either didn’t have the power or the resources, the story would have never taken flight. (Also, if you going into this show expecting realism, then the drama would have ended in the first episode itself after Se Ri having been shot for trespassing into the North Korean territory.)
Besides, Se Ri and Jeong Hyeok’s relationship is the anchor of this drama, and even the fairly interesting parallel plot involving Cho Cheol Gang (Oh Man Seok) felt abruptly injected at some points, lest we forget that these characters exist too. But, I’m not complaining. In a lesser actor hands, the high stakes, the emotionally charged moments could have easily turned too dramatic or worse, comical, but the sincerity in the story being told and in the actors, really pulls you in, to care and cherish these moments.
I can always rely on Son Ye Jin to portray a whole rounded female character and not a checklist of tropes. Son Ye Jin demonstrates the various shifts in Se Ri’s personality, as we see her being equally fascinated by life in North Korea as well as one who just wants to urgently get back home. We see her flabbergasted by how her wealth and her status is of no use across the border, while she is also proud as a mother, when she finds her company’s cosmetic products being sold in the black markets.
Hyun Bin’s Jeong Hyeok is the quiet, strong, reliable other half. He loves and trusts Se Ri, but that doesn’t mean he would betray his country. That’s why the multiple ‘almost home’ moments are as nail-biting as they are dreadful, as Se Ri and Jeong Hyeok can truly never meet again. So, the resolution at the end — though many found it to be harsh — I saw it as an effort on Se Ri’s part, to try and reunite with Jeong Hyeok, as so far, the universe has been bringing them together, but now, it’s their turn to keep meeting and keep loving.
