Sienna Bentley

One thing about me is that getting me to watch a show or a film that you’ve recommended is about equal to drawing blood from a proverbial stone. When it comes to watching a series, I either binge-watch the whole thing in two days or return to one of my classic favourites that I have already watched 16 times and have it playing in the background while I do something else.

So, it was a very rare occurrence that a family friend recommended a show to me and I started watching the next day. I then proceeded to binge-watch the entire series in two days – as is in my nature.

I had never watched a K-drama, nor had I really felt inclined to before now. However, when said family friend mentioned that the show was half set in North Korea, my interest was piqued. I wrote my undergraduate dissertation on depictions of North Korea in Western journalism and have been fascinated by the country since I read Escape From Camp 14 when I was 17.

Combine that interest with an enemies-to-lovers action/romance story, and we’re away.

The more I looked into the show I came to realise that it had everybody hooked over lockdown in 2020. I missed this bandwagon, somehow, but they say good things come to those who wait.

It is the South Korean show’s portrayal of North Korea that is what makes the show quite captivating. It is a first of its kind in that regard, and has been praised for humanising the people there. However, it has received some negative feedback, too, with some arguing that its romanticisation of the North glamourises the rough reality that its people really experiences.

The show’s premise

Crash Landing on You follows successful businesswoman Yoon Se-ri (Son Ye-jin), a South Korean chaebol (family conglomerate) heiress who one day, while paragliding in Seoul, is caught in a tornado and crash-lands into the North Korean side of the DMZ. Ri Jeong-hyeok (Hyun Bin), a North Korean captain in the Korean People’s Army, finds Se-ri and agrees, risking everything, to hide her and help her return to the South.

The show has 16 episodes, all of which are roughly 90 minutes. Set in both North and South Korea, it shines a light on the stark contrast between the two nations, but beautifully emphasises a sense of ‘Koreanness’ between them.

A South Korean depiction of the North: rejecting traditional narratives

Liberty in North Korea (LiNK) is a group that helps people fleeing from the North. In an interview with the Washington Post, LiNK’s Sokeel Park said that the show “crashed the South Korean zeitgeist on North Korea” by portraying the country as, arguably, more three-dimensional than any other media portrayal has dared. Indeed, while Stephen Epstein of Victoria University of Wellington and Christopher Green of Leiden University suggest that the show is formulaic, they also insist that it is “a crucial text for evaluating ongoing change in South Korean popular representations of its neighbour”.

“Given the concerted use of North Korean backdrops in Crash Landing on You and the size and global extent of its audiences, the show is likely the most noteworthy South Korean popular culture representation of North Korea yet produced,” they argue.

Sarah A Son, a lecturer of Korean studies at the University of Sheffield also agrees, noting that Crash Landing on You responds to the “socio-cultural divide” between the North and the South. She claims that “through the re-framing of stereotypes, albeit with some creative licence, Crash Landing on You arguably humanises the North for its audience in ways that inter-Korean dialogue has not in recent years”.

Crash Landing on You has dared to divert from the popular narrative of North Korea as an other, or an ‘axis of evil’. When we look at Bush’s 2002 State of the Union Address, where he describes the North as a “regime arming with missiles and weapons of mass destruction while starving its citizens” combined with the limited knowledge that we have of the nation itself, North Korea has made a name for itself as an impenetrable and dangerous other. However, Crash Landing on You takes a different approach. Rather than feeding into this notion of the country and by default, its people as other, they are human, loveable and, as associate professor of Korean studies at the University of Western Australia Joanna Elfving-Hwang puts it, “quite Korean”. Jo Walker of The Guardian describes the villagers as “apple-cheeked” and “bumpkin-ish”, but “hardly ignorant or brainwashed” – and there’s a real sense of community and loyalty among them that is truly admirable.

In the depiction of the country, writer Park Ji Eun addresses issues such as lack of electricity and mobile phones, but rather than offering a critique on this, he instead places a distinct focus on the people: their perseverance and strong sense of community.

Walker similarly insists that the show’s main and strongest emphasis is “on a shared humanity, a shared Koreanness, despite the divide. And that can be genuinely touching”.

My thoughts on the show itself

If it’s not obvious from the fact that I binged 16 feature film-length episodes in just over two days, I really enjoyed Crash Landing on You, and am wondering what a suitable amount of time to wait would be before a second watch. Aside from the fascinating portrayal of the North and thus the show’s approach to inter-Korean relationships, I found the plot to be well paced and there is not a dull moment, warranting the necessity of the seemingly absurdly long episodes. The attention to detail is similarly fantastic.

Because we live in a world where the answers to anything are but a mere few clicks away, the limited knowledge that we have of North Korea and its people almost makes the show’s love story border on fantasy. As Soundarya Venkataraman writes, “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?” I often found myself wondering how the characters would be able to find solutions to the dangerous problems they were facing.

The characters are all deeply complex and dealing with some difficult themes and internal conflicts, which are explored sensitively but not shallowly. The actors are all brilliant in this way, subtly revealing more of their true natures and respective evolutions as the show itself evolves. The North Korean soldier comrades were a particular highlight. Their characters inject lightheartedness and humour into a show surrounded by serious and tough themes.

The score is also definitely worth mentioning. I think it is beautiful, particularly “Time of JungHyuk for Seri”, which you can listen to here. In my view, it perfectly captures the essence of forbidden love and the urgency that they both feel to keep one another safe.

Crash Landing on You is available to watch on Netflix. I would definitely recommend (if you have the time).