Crash Landing On You
K-Drama Review
The hype train for this k-drama was at full speed for some time, but it still took a few long weeks and mental convincing before I decided to see what it was all about. Crash Landing on You is a Korean drama about this rich, self-made South Korean woman who falls in love with a stiff and serious soldier from North Korea. It’s very dramatic and based on false premises, but I would say the production quality is pretty high for a k-drama.
I found this drama incredibly slow and boring at times, intermixed with a few moments of excitement. First of all, each episode of this drama is around an hour and thirty minutes (and the last episode is almost 2 hours??!!), which is a bit ridiculous. How am I going to even sit through one episode without feeling antsy, let alone 16? Luckily, this show is on Netflix, so it’s easy to stop and rewatch whenever. I don’t think I sat down and finished any episode in one sitting. And then I also found the premise to be a bit too ridiculous and strange at times. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that this is a drama and that it’s obviously fake, but the fact that it is kind of based on the real tensions between North and South Korea make me a bit uncomfortable at how the writing is twisting the truth. If I were watching a fantasy drama like Goblin that is very clearly not based on anything real, I feel more comfortable going along with it. But since this drama creates settings in North Korea and almost tries to feel real, I just find it a bit ridiculous.
I also want to mention the chemistry between the two main leads. I think they were adorable and their acting was amazing, but I did not get really sucked in to their love story. I feel like there was no tension between them and it was a lot of them crying and saying goodbye because they think they’re never going to see each other again (when obviously they are going to end up together somehow in the next few minutes or the next episode). There was a poor attempt at introducing the second main leads and alternate love interests, but they weren’t that interesting to me either.
Overall, I did not feel that this show was outstanding in any way. I did not feel that urge to binge this show like how I sometimes do with other dramas. Maybe I’m outgrowing dramas in general…but it’s strange to me that so many people are head over heels in love and obsessed with this one. I’m happy that it brought joy to so many others, but this drama might just not have been in my taste.