Snowdrop

The finale was almost quite traumatizing, but Snowdrop is the most complete kdrama I’ve watched in a WHILE.

The major selling points for me were the stellar cast (apart from Jisoo and Haein who were amazing, Yoo In Na and Kim Hye Yoon had really interesting characters too), the setting (mostly boarding school), the politics and story (the plot twists!).

The OST was top-notch, magical at times, and cinematography was beautiful too.

I'm obsessed.

my god this is the best Korean drama I've ever seen, at first I only watched it because it would be starring Jisoo but by the end the plot grabbed me, the characters are amazing and for Jisoo's acting debut he did fantastic, the ending destroyed me.

im never getting over this one :c
im not big fan of action , but this could be a 10/10 if were not for ms ho in the last ep

I have not watched a lot of kdramas, but I will say this one kept me engaged throughout. While I feel it did drag at certain times, more dangers were added throughout to keep the story interesting, and the ending is so emotional that you really feel for all the characters you've been watching.

> A sadistic ending to an otherwise unpredictable yet very entertaining drama

Snowdrop” is actually predominantly a politically charged spy thriller with splashes of satirical black humor, that masquerades itself as an epic tale of romance. Because in truth, the lovey-dovey scenes between our main couple would probably amount to a paltry <5% out of the ~20 hour total viewing time as it focuses rather heavily on political machinations and its resulting consequences instead, so do take this into consideration if you’re solely looking for a story about star-crossed lovers.

> Would you sacrifice others for survival, or would you be selfless enough to sacrifice yourself for others to live?
Many characters have different answers to this question on this show and you will hate some and love some for their choice.


Characters
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Jung Hae-in is a veteran in slow-romance and it surprised me to see him beefup to be a spy and still deliver the slow dialogues.

Ji Soo also has done a good job for her debut ; she easily expressed the emotions of teen in love , in anger , in sadness and confusion. [spoiler] I only wish she had an happy ending ; the korean writers are sadistic [/spoiler]

Kin Hae Yoon plays Kye Boon Ok, she for me is the most hated character as her answers were always wrong and selfish to the end. she did a great job of making me both hate Gye Bun-ok and pitying her

Jang Seung-jo as Kang-moo is amazing. He’s desperate and calculating, passionate, pragmatic, and vengeful. You look at him and you know he’s a ticking time bomb, but you never know when he’s going to go off. Jung Yoo-jin was less than stellar, but she does portray Han-na as being exactly the opposite to Kang-moo: she’s a bomb whose fuse goes off time and time again. I did get annoyed with her multiple times throughout the show but I can’t say I hate her.

Yoon In-na, unfortunately, did not stand out to me but I suppose it’s just because of how her character is written: cold and detached, pragmatic beyond belief and cold. There is one instance that I did love was her seeing the broken minded Ms. Oh and you can see it in her eyes that she finally realises the future that awaits her: abandoned by the country she served and left to suffer the memories of all the atrocities she committed until it breaks her.

There aren’t many other characters that stood out to me but I will say this: I HAAATTTEEEDDD the storyline of the three wives, like I mean HATED. I started skipping some scenes in the end as it brings illtimed comedy and dragging story unnecessarily.

Music & Cinematography
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The OST used also helped to immerse the viewer in the storyline and fit each moment beautifully. FRIEND is a wonder piece.
Cinematography was good mostly ; except when they did a botched-up job on cars , road and tanks 😆LMOA

Overall
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In General despite binge watching i rate each episode a minimum 8 and most of the time 9 ; that how good the show and pacing has been ; despite the watch time being 1hr20min per episode. But the worst was that the ending was really quite unsatisfactory considering how rushed it was, with barely any closure, and revealed how much of a kind of tragedy porn it was for one of the main characters in particular. Tragic endings can be employed very effectively and heartbreakingly, but it sort of fell too flat for me here.

What would otherwise would have been a masterpiece fell flat because the writers didn't emphasize much on the initial connection & affection between the star-crossed lover went straight care-hate package. They also gave too much focus to some unnecessary characters and ending was rushed [spoiler] What happened to the students that escaped ? How come the dorm open again ? Did they make a deal with government to shut-up ? Why couldn't they do it before Soo-Hoo died.[/spoiler]

Controversy
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We have to talk about the elephant in the room . The initial controversy surrounded by student hiding N.Korean spy mistaking for a protestor has drawn flak and criticism and as an Non-Korean who was waiting for this show since its announced I waited for the controversy to die down and seen the appreciation in SNS over last 7 weeks and then binged it on the last weekend.

To me it felt they have really explained the circumstances well regarding the controversy and if you are withheld from watching due to said controversy please watch first 5 episodes and then decide. the story complete changes from 5th episode and goes in a satisfying direction.

P.S : A note for Kim Mi Soo ( the roomate unni who protests) who passed away while the show was airing R.I.P

Don't be fooled by the high ratings, it seems some Blackpink fans couldn't resist to consider this something great because of Jinsoo.

Theoretically, the setting in the late 80s with political conspiracies could have been interesting.

But all that this series achieves is a constantly repeating display of clowns and amateurs who got into positions of power thanks to their ruthless characters.

On the other side, we have a few characters with some level of integrity who stumble from one silly decision to another, in an endless loop. Worst of all is how they grant shady characters the option to betray them again and again and again. With little to no effort to prevent that from happening again.

In combination it's simply a hilariously absurd string of events, that's becoming more painful with every step.

If you enjoy drama for drama's sake, have fun. If you can handle drama only within realistic limits, you'll suffer and wonder after every episode why you are causing so much harm to yourself. There is nothing clever or inspiring you might experience in this series.

this show was mind numbingly boring. 20 episodes where barely anything happens, and a zero chemistry forced romance that ends in the most obvious way it could end. none of the characters are likeable especially the lead. maybe I'm not the target audience but people really need better standards