TV Series Review: Crash Landing on You (TV-2020) - South Korea

Crash Landing on You (TV-2020) - South Korea

Season 1 - 16 Episodes

Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critics Circle of Australia) 

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One of my favourite aspect of the latest all-star pairing of Hyun Bin and Son Ye-Jin’s Korean romantic drama “Crash Landing on You” is the realistic portrayal of North Korean lifestyle with just the right balance of the everyday lifestyle in the countryside and the contrast with the ultra rich and powerful living in Pyongyang. This is a beautifully paced drama from start to finish with rarely a dull moment in between. The casting is spot on as the two equally famous leads takes on the respective North and South Korean roles with ease and convincing appeal. It is almost undeniable that the drama have many high points throughout its 16 episodes and with high production values and a worldwide Netflix release, “Crash Landing on You” will likely keep you in tears, laughs with the ensemble casting and plenty of ups and downs along the way as the duo attempts to escape, protect and love within the dangerous borderline on both sides of Korea.

Son Ye-Jin is easily the queen of a generation, ever since her innocence look in “The Classic”, I have been an avid follower of her works. Son is at ease in a role that allows her to show all aspect of a heiress and CEO of a famous fashion brand as she adapts to life in North Korea, due to an unfortunately Typhoon accident. Alongside Hyun Bin, the duo oozes with chemistry that simply will break the audience down in tears with their self-less love for each other. Hyun Bin is equally excellent as the North Korean soldier and son of the high rank General. In fact Hyun made the almost unbelievable role of a superhuman into such believability and like-ability that makes the love between the two transcends boundaries of fate and love. Kim Jung-hyun manages to steal plenty of the scenes with his light hearted approach as the good hearted con-man who embezzles from Seo’s family and fled to North Korea and his moments with Seo Ji-hye (playing Hyun’s arranged marriage partner to be) reminds memorably fun and enjoyable. As the main villain of the series, Oh Man-seok is menacing, totally corruptible and absolutely evil in the role of North’s Security bureau looking to tear down Hyun’s family. Another delightful surprise tasting is the team of Hyun’s soldiers (played so memorably by Yang Kyung-won, Yoo Su-bin, Lee Shin-young,

Tang Joon-sang and Tang Joon-sang). The ensemble manages to bring plenty of laughters and touching moments of comradeship to boot. The series is seriously not the same without them.

All in all, “Crash Landing on You” is an excellent Korean romantic drama that manages to capture the honest emotions and love between the two durable and attractive leads. It also allows the audience to feel like being in North Korea, neither precisely glorifying it or totally providing a tangible distance. It’s a beautiful drama that encapsulate the deep love, trust, fate and how we all experience difficult times in life and beyond. I personally thoroughly enjoyed this Netflix original series and comes highly recommended in testing times ahead.

I rated it 9/10