Crash Landing on You

Crash Landing on You is a South Korean television series directed by Lee Jeong-hyo and featuring Hyun Bin, Son Ye-jin, Kim Jung-hyun, and Seo Ji-hye. It is about a South Korean chaebol heiress who, while paragliding in Seoul, South Korea, is swept up in a sudden storm and crash-lands in the North Korean portion of the DMZ.
It aired on tvN in South Korea and on Netflix worldwide from December 14, 2019, to February 16, 2020. It is the highest rated tvN drama and the third highest-rated South Korean TV drama in cable television history.

Story

Se-ri Yoon is a South Korean chaebol heiress to the Queen’s Group and the CEO of her own company: Se-ri’s Choice. She avoided the complications of her family's fortune by founding her own company. However, when Queen’s Group needed new leadership, Se-ri’s dad chose her over her incompetent half brothers. Before she could take the reins as CEO of Queen’s Group, she was promoting her new paragliding gear when a cyclone appeared. The storm sent her across the DMZ and she crash landed into North Korea.
Se-ri survived her crash and encountered NK Captain Jeong-hyeok Ri and his team. She tried to escape and make it back to SK on her own but failed. Captain Ri found her stumbling upon his village and reluctantly allowed her to stay at his place. She threatened to expose his team's incompetence in capturing her and risk military discipline. He agreed to help find a way to send her back to Seoul and later pretended to be a couple to the villagers to avoid suspicion, starting a budding romance.
On their first attempt, Captain Ri tried to smuggle Se-ri by boat but was thwarted by NK coastal patrol. Upon their second attempt, Captain Ri had Se-ri pretend to be a NK athlete while touring in Europe. She would leave the team and fly herself back home, but that backfired due to the interference of NK State Security Officer, Cheol-gang Cho. The intelligence officer was onto them and tried to kill them both but they survived. In between, Se-ri’s half-brother and sister-in-law, Se-hyung and Sang-A, found out about Se-ri in NK and tried to prevent her from coming back as they consolidate their power.
After Captain Ri nearly lost his life to save Se-ri on their second attempt, neither of the two could hold back their feelings for each other any longer. However, Jeong-hyeok is already engaged to another woman, Seo Dan, and Se-ri needed to go home. When Dan learned about Se-ri's origins, she reported it to the Director of the General Political Bureau, Captain Ri’s dad. Director Ri captured Se-ri to understand the situation better and was surprised to discover the two are in love; Se-ri's presence with Jeong-hyeok is a threat to everyone involved. Director Ri took advantage of a border patrol alert and had Jeong-hyeok escort Se-ri to an unsecured path to send her back to SK. The two said their goodbyes and Se-ri made it home.
During her month absence, Se-ri's family declared her dead. Se-hyung became CEO of Queen’s Group and Sang-A was about to merge Se-ri’s Choice into Queen’s Group when Se-ri made her dramatic return. Se-ri resumed her role as CEO of her company and ousted Sang-A. In a family reunion, Se-ri resumed the topic of chairmanship of Queen’s Group; Se-hyung refused to give up chairmanship and Sang-A plotted to keep Queen’s Group away from Se-ri.
In NK, Captain Ri had Cheol-gang arrested for illegal activities. He was running an illegal racket and killed several people to bury the evidence. Although found guilty, Cheol-gang’s men helped free him and he escaped to SK to get his revenge on Se-ri. When Captain Ri learned about this, he followed Cheol-gang to protect Se-ri. Fearing for his son’s life, Director Ri sent Jeong-hyeok’s team to SK to retrieve Jeong-hyeok.
Captain Ri would reunite with Se-ri and later his team. Se-ri arranged Jeong-hyeok as her personal bodyguard, allowing him to protect her and spend time together. As a reward for protecting her while in NK, Captain Ri's team was given unlimited funds to enjoy the city. Cheol-gang wanted to capture both Captain Ri and Se-ri back to NK to restore his position and destroy Jeong-hyeok. However, Cheol-gang failed to capture Se-ri on his first attempt and failed to kill Se-ri on his second. Se-hyung and Sang-A partnered with Cheol-gang to get rid of Se-ri. Sang-A provided information about Se-ri for Cheol-gang to capture her; Captain Ri's team protected her. When Cheol-gang tried to shoot Jeong-hyeok, Se-ri took the bullet for Jeong-hyeok. While Se-ri recovered in the hospital, Jeong-hyeok had a final showdown with Cheol-gang that resulted in Jeong-hyeok's arrest and Cheol-gang shot dead by the NIS.
Se-hyung’s and Sang-A’s misdeeds have been exposed and their father plans to remove them from the company. In a last attempt to save themselves, Sang-A tipped off NIS that Se-ri was secretly in NK and harbored spies in hopes it would get her arrested and prevent her chairmanship into Queen's Group. This lead to Jeong-hyeok and his team's arrest. Captain Ri protected his men and took all responsibility for their actions and lied about manipulating Se-ri to exonerate her from any crimes.
NIS found Jeong-hyeok and his team not guilty of any major crimes and their governments made an agreement for a quiet prisoner exchange. Se-ri rushed to the borderline to bid Jeong-hyeok goodbye one last time. NIS later arrested Se-hyung and Sang-A for aiding Cheol-gang against Se-ri. A year later, Jeong-hyeok's engagement with Seo Dan is called off and he is discharged from the military to resume his musical career. Se-ri is now CEO of Queen's Group and became a kinder leader to her subordinates. While paragliding in Switzerland, Se-ri and Jeong-hyeok would see each other again. The story ends with the two making annual trips to Switzerland to spend time together.

Cast

Main

Hyun Bin as Ri Jeong-hyeok
Son Ye-jin as Yoon Se-ri
Kim Jung-hyun as Gu Seung-joon / Alberto Gu
Seo Ji-hye as Seo Dan
Supporting

People around Yoon Se-ri

Nam Kyung-eup as Yoon Jeung-pyeong, Se-ri's father, South Korean Chaebol and chairman of Queen's Group. After serving time for financial malfeasance, he looks to name one of his children heir to his chairmanship.
Bang Eun-jin as Han Jeong-yeon, Se-ri's step-mother. She struggles to reconcile her resentment towards Se-ri as a product of her husband's infidelity with Se-ri's sincere love and affection towards her.
Choi Dae-hoon as Yoon Se-joon, Se-ri's immature and dimwitted eldest half-brother.
Hwang Woo-seul-hye as Do Hye-ji, Se-joon's materialistic but supportive wife.
Park Hyung-soo as Yoon Se-hyung, Se-ri's greedy elder half-brother, whose naiveté allowed Seung-joon to embezzle funds from the Queen's Group.
Yoon Ji-min as Go Sang-ah, Se-hyung's intelligent and ruthlessly ambitious wife.
Go Kyu-pil as Hong Chang-sik, Se-ri's over-stressed team manager.
Lim Chul-soo as Park Soo-chan, Se-ri's insurance agent, who becomes obsessed with proving that Se-ri survived the paragliding accident.
People around Ri Jeong-hyeok
Jun Gook-hwan as Ri Choong-ryeol, Jeong-hyeok's father, director of the General Political Bureau and vice-marshal of Korean People's Army.
Jung Ae-ri as Kim Yoon-hee, Jeong-hyeok's mother. Like her husband, she still grieves Moo-hyeok's death.
Ha Seok-jin as army captain Ri Moo-hyeok, Jeong-hyeok's deceased older brother, killed in a staged accident.
Oh Man-seok as Cho Cheol-gang, a corrupt member of the North Korean Armed Forces' Security Bureau who runs criminal operations, and is the principal villain of the story.
Yang Kyung-won as Pyo Chi-su, a master sergeant major in Jeong-hyeok's unit, who enjoys drinking and antagonizing Se-ri because of his paranoia against South Koreans.
Yoo Su-bin as Kim Ju-muk, a staff sergeant in Jeong-hyeok's unit, who uses his fascination with bootleg K-Dramas to explain South Korean culture to his team.
Lee Shin-young as Park Kwang-beom, a first lieutenant in Jeong-hyeok's unit, oblivious of his model good looks.
Tang Joon-sang as Geum Eun-dong, a lance-corporal in the Jeong-hyeok's unit, who is the sole provider of his family and youngest member of the unit.
Kim Young-min as Jeong Man-bok, a North Korean wiretapper coerced by Cheol-gang to facilitate criminal activities, which has made him feel guilt about his work. He knows the truth behind Ri Moo-hyeok's death and is ostracized as "The Rat" by members of the village due to his job.
People around Seo Dan
Jang Hye-jin as Go Myeong-eun, Dan's wealthy mother who owns Pyongyang's largest department store, and is eager to see Dan married.
Park Myung-hoon as Go Myeong-sok, Dan's uncle who is also a high-ranking officer in the State Security Department and supportive of both Jeong-hyeok and Dan.
Hong Woo-jin as Director Cheon, a corrupt North Korean government official who helps people illegally enter and stay in North Korea.
People in the North Korean village
Kim Sun-young as Na Wol-sook
Kim Jung-nan as Ma Yeong-ae
Jang So-yeon as Hyeon Myeong-soon, Jeong Man-bok's wife.
Cha Chung-hwa as Yang Ok-geum
Special appearances
Jung Kyung-ho as Cha Sang-woo, Se-ri's South Korean ex-boyfriend
Park Sung-woong as a North Korean taxi driver
Na Young-hee as a North Korean wedding dress boutique owner
Kim Soo Hyun as Bang Dong-gu, a North Korean Spy from Division 11, disguised as a village idiot
Kim Sook as a North Korean fortune teller
Choi Ji-woo as herself
Episodes

Production

Development

The premise of Crash Landing on You was inspired by a real event involving South Korean actress, Jung Yang. In September 2008, Yang and three others had to be rescued after bad fog had caused their leisure boat to drift "into the maritime boundary between North and South Korea." Park Ji-eun, the drama's screenwriter, was introduced to North Korean defector turned film adviser and writer Kwak Moon-wan, who became part of the drama's writing team. Kwak, who studied film directing in Pyongyang and had also been a member of an elite security force protecting the Kims, helped in crafting the drama's plot and in conceptualizing the setting and scenes in the drama portraying North Korean life.

Filming

The production process proved to be "painstakingly meticulous", owing to South Korea's relationship with North Korea where most of the story's plot ensues. The use of the honorific Chairman to refer to North Korea's leaders was avoided, and the North Korean lapel pins used by the cast members taking North Korean roles were one third smaller than their actual size. Props manager Joo Dong-man said the crew did not have a "guidebook on multiple hurdles he had to hop over — skillfully and delicately – to accurately depict the country while dodging criticism" and, thus, had to be careful "not to misrepresent the state". They worked with guidance from North Koreans living in South Korea and research.
The first script reading took place on July 31, 2019 in Sangam-dong, Seoul, and filming overseas started at the end of August 2019. North Korean scenes were shot in South Korea and Mongolia. Scenes that took place in Switzerland were shot on location.

General reception

Crash Landing on You is the third-highest-rated cable drama in Korean television history. It was popular in Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines. It was also highly ranked on Netflix in Japan and the United States.

Critical response

named Crash Landing on You one of "The Best International Shows on Netflix," and Time Magazine also ranked it as one of the best Korean dramas on Netflix.
Jo Walker of The Guardian's "Stream Team" called it "addictively off-the-wall, heartbreaking and hilarious,"
while Aljazeera stated that it is a hallyu success. Adella Suliman and Stella Kim of NBC News also suggested that the drama "features all the ingredients a viewer could wish for" and has "drawn a global audience of millions, many no doubt searching for entertainment as they while away their time in coronavirus-related lockdowns."

South Korean audience response

Early in its run, Crash Landing on You was the fourth highest rated Korean cable drama. The final episode's ratings made it the third highest rated Korean drama in cable television history, surpassing fellow tvN dramas Reply 1988 and . With 1.75 billion online views, Crash Landing on You outperformed the prior leader, Mr. Sunshine, for most viewed drama clips by 200 million views as of February 17, 2020.

International audience response

It was an immense success in China. The hashtag for the drama's final episode has received over 460 million views on China's Twitter-like Weibo. The streaming website for the South Korean drama, which holds the copyright in China with Chinese subtitles, crashed on the night it aired the final episode due to the enormous number of users. It was also very popular in Japan during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic via Netflix. While the Korean Wave is a historically prominent component of media within Japan, Crash Landing on You has been uniquely influential there, in part due to its portrayal of daily life in North Korea.

Commercial impact

The success of the drama helped to boost brand items due to product placement. The lead characters portrayed by Hyun Bin and Son Ye-jin ate Gold Olive Chicken, a product which had a 100% sales improvement due to the show. There was also an increase in sales of the Swarovski earrings worn by Son Ye-jin.

South and North Korea Reception

Many commentators focused on the representation of both North Korea, and its relationship with South Korea, in the series.

General

Although the series is a work of fiction, it has received some positive reviews from North Korean defectors for its depiction of everyday life in North Korea. At the same time, some details, such as the availability of food, relatively warm behavior of the army and the ease with which the characters cross the border have been criticized. One of the extras is a writer and actress from North Korea who states that she felt "like was actually back in a North Korean village." Kwak Moon-wan, a North Korean defector, who had served with the Supreme Guard Command worked as an adviser for the series, providing the writers with details about life in North Korea as well as North Korean governmental agencies that added credibility to the show. He acknowledged some of the criticism, admitting that he has taken liberties with the depiction of North Korea, but rejected the claim that he was glamorizing the regime or drawing a false equivalence, saying that the show also depicted some of the darker aspect of life under the regime, such as the issue of kotjebi and the frequent power cuts. Some North Korean refugees, such as Chun Hyo-jin, who defected from the border village of Hyesan at the age of nineteen, tend to agree: "Even if what they say, that it glamorizes North Korea, is true, would they choose to live there? I don't think so". Even though the drama leaves political matters aside, which are essential to the North Korea issue as she sees it, she says it still is of great significance: "Its depiction of North Korea is a bit far from reality but it has made the people interested in North Korea". The drama's producer Lee Jung-hyo said during a press conference in Seoul in December: "I know some people are uncomfortable about our subject, North Korea, but we don't portray a wholly authentic North Korea in our drama. Most settings are closer to a fantasy, although some aspects do reflect real North Korean life".
Kang Nara, a North Korean defector who advised the show's production team, stated that about 60% of North Korea's depiction in the show is accurate: "The richer families in North Korea like to show off their wealth by adding lace curtains to their windows. So that was pretty well portrayed". She also appreciated the detail about kimchi caves: "Since rural North Korea doesn't get electricity, they don't have refrigerators. They have kimchi caves where they store kimchi, and that was also recreated well". House checks are also a regular affair. She revealed that she once had to hide inside a furnace at the house of the broker who helped her to escape to avoid detection. In the drama, the heiress had to hide in the kimchi storage area when security forces came knocking one night. As depicted in the drama, North Koreans are allowed to choose only from a fixed list of hair styles - 18 for women and 28 for men. "There's a punishment for you if you don't comply" Kang said in an interview with YouTube channel DKDKTV. On the other hand, as she explained in a YouTube video, the characters were able to slip across the border much more easily than in real life: "I had to pay a broker 10 million won to swim across the Yalu river while being shot at from behind by soldiers ". Cartoonist Choi Seong-guk, who defected to the South in 2011, also said the drama set is 60% accurate. The portrayal of jangmadang, or local markets where all kinds of goods, including imports from South Korea, are sold is especially real, he told The Sunday Times. However, he felt that the drama "glamorized the soldiers too much, almost to an uncomfortable extent". He said North Korean men enter the military when they are 17 and serve for 10 to 13 years. "During this time, they are... ruthless and harsh, robbing homes and raping women at night". Still, he hopes the drama will make its way to North Korea and go viral: "I hope the North Koreans who see this drama will realize how positively the South Koreans think of them and learn to change".
There were also critical responses to the themes of the drama in both regions. In January 2020, The Christian Liberal Party filed a complaint in South Korea against tvN at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, accusing the network of glamorizing North Korea through this series, in violation of the National Security Law. Then, in March 2020, a few North Korean media outlets criticized unnamed South Korean programs and films that explored relations between North and South Korea. While Crash Landing on You was not directly mentioned by the media outlets, it was perceived to be among the referenced works. Another is the 2019 film, Ashfall, although that film was also not directly cited in the articles.

Scholarship

Stephen Epstein and Christopher Green suggest that while Crash Landing on You is formulaic, it also "is a crucial text for evaluating ongoing change in South Korean popular representations of its neighbour. Indeed, 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.”
Yun Suk-jin, a professor at Chungnam National University concurs, noting that the series "changed the stereotypes on North Korea and candidly showed that it too is a place where people live." Sarah A. Son, Lecturer in 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, which academic scholarship cites as one of the biggest obstacles to future unification. Son argues 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. Despite its soft-focus romanticisation of the political situation, Crash Landing on You brings the pain of the division to a personal level for a generation of Koreans who, unlike their grandparents, have no memory of what it was like to be a single nation."
Joanna Elfving-Hwang, associate professor of Korean studies at the University of Western Australia notes that “North Korea tends to appear in our imagination as the ‘axis of evil’, we think of nuclear weapons and human rights abuses…this drama has dared to think about North Korean people differently and represented them as quite human and quite Korean.” Steve Hung Lok-wai, a Korean affairs expert from Chinese University of Hong Kong states that the drama sidestepped larger political issues through a narrative that did not end with the male lead's defection: "Lots of people questioned whether the male lead, the North Korean soldier, would end up defecting to the South for love, but they were able to sidestep that scenario and gave it a plausible ending where the two would meet in Switzerland". Thus, he argues, it's "quite smart because they avoided all the real taboos but made it believable enough where it would make people think about these political problems." John Delury, a professor at Yonsei University, praised the series for its decision to draw parallels between powerful families in both the South and the North, and to humanize North Koreans beyond generic stereotypes.

Original soundtrack