Some things in life leave a lasting impression on one, and this one is something I crash landed onto and how! Never one to watch tv series in a different language, solely riding on subtitles I finally took the leap. Like the film Parasite’s director Bong Joon-ho said during his Oscar acceptance speech, if one can climb over the one inch barrier of subtitles whole new worlds open up, and what a world it is now!

Now this is one show that is brilliant in every respect, story, characters, settings, cast, dialogues, wit and brevity. The lead characters are as flawless as their skin. The story is as flawless as it’s locations and even if the story is highly unrealistic it is very endearing. If I could have a writer to write out my life it would have to be Park Ji-eun, the writer of this one for sure. Would not mind mouthing the dialogues that she has written for sure. True love, true pining, true longing, heart-pumping humour and a huge dose of melodrama make up for this very addictive show. As a work of art, there ought to be several naysayers who may not agree or even like this one, but for me I cant stop recommending it to everyone I know. It has struck a chord with me and obviously the dream will always be to have someone look at you the way Captain Ri looks at Yoon Se-Ri!

Switzerland on its part does so well on many counts. The most picturesque part of the Alps lay in this beautiful country that supplies unlimited Bliss on all accounts. The evil characters are evil for no reason, like in life, and are eventually surmounted at all costs, in fact they drive the story forward and it’s thanks to them that the lead characters end up having to spend unaccounted time together and falling more deeply than ever in love. Upon looking up the names, Hyun Bin and Son Ye-Jin have the best of dialogues as do the other two leads too. There is comedy, there is North Korea and then there is South Korea, a country that has wowed the world on more than one account whether it is Samsung or it is Innisfree, the technological advancement and the fancy coloured life, it is all very well encapsulated in K-pop, K-drama and all the other entertainment styles that they have unfurled upon the world. I couldnt imagine the remake of the story in any other language, for the nuances of the setting could not be the same. A heroine falling, oops descending from the heavens above into the arms of a dashing hero is honestly all that dreams are made up of. But this one is one step over, its what life should be made up of.

In the last episodes, the small acts of thoughtfulness and kindness are very touching as Captain Ri schedules messages to Se-Ri about small insights into the day, the season and what it means. Unrealistic but heart tugging the simple acts of kindness are very pretty to feel, when further investigated the South Korean police finds CCTV footage of Captain Ri doing just random acts of kindness as he goes about it day. There is obviously nothing to frame him for. The show ends on a bittersweet note, and leaves the viewer wanting for more, the sweetest locales on Switzerland make it a tad more palatable. The piano music is brilliant, it makes for a wonderful background score. Infact everything about the show is praiseworthy, no wonder it is the highest rated tvN drama in Korea. Loving it so much I did embark to watch some more K-dramas but none touched a chord like this one. The strong, silent hero who doesnt speak much and the peppy, witty heroine who speaks very freely with a whole lot of history behind them with a divide in countries and people just make one want the reunification of North and South Korea to happen sooner. A trip to Korea will be on the list of every person who views this show.

For me it felt more than just a web-show. It made me want them to be real, and thats quite something! In other words, Korea, South Korea I crash landed on you! Needless to say after watching this show, I got so super conscious of my skin (that has definitely has gone through a rough patch, literally the last two years) and got myself a bunch of products from Innisfree. I looked up South Korea, then remembered a book I read by a Korean author that I would also recommend, the book is called Pachinko, (whiles here’s my review on the book Pachinko), played the OST of Crash Landing on you on loop, watched Hyun Bin and Ye-Jin’s videos on Swoon, read their interviews on zoom, they both seem to be so endearing just like in the show, then read up some more about Koreans in general, including the General (whom we will not talk about), heard interviews of defectors from the North, 18 hairstyles for women and 28 hairstyles for men (now who wouldnt want to flee that!), looked up information on the general populace, read how men and women love playing golf I surmised (another so relatable fact for I love golf), another fact- the US LGPA made knowledge of English mandatory in professional golf tournaments to keep up with the Korean domination (somebody please make it mandatory for their shows too!!), tried watching another K-drama ‘Its OK to not be OK’, her clothes make for another blog post for sure, brushed up my knowledge about the city called Seoul (pronounced Soul), danced to ‘Gangnam style’ for a bit, no a lot, got nostalgic about relishing Bibimbap on three different occasions, one in on Orchard Street in Singapore with Zen, one in Jaisalmer with Nishil and one in Boston with Kritika, Korea has obviously got into the nook and corner of the world(!), looked up for Korean bowls to recreate the Bibimbap experience (which is not my cup of tea), binged again on Bin-Jin, found myself brewing barley tea, got myself a jade derma-roller, ate more vegetables, researched Jeju island, prodded the husband about making a trip to Korea, spent days looking at a birds eye view of Korea, both North and South, and then drew up a 7-day itinerary to Korea!

Netflix has kept me busy all week.

Obviously its not Netflix and Chill for me. The word is Netflix and Thrill!

p.s. A word of Caution: Watch this K-drama at your own risk cause it is so so addictive and one may end up putting their life on hold. This is a no picture post. But here’s a link to the show’s trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXMjTXL2Vks

and then

Well, what can I say except you’re welcome!

 

This is my favourite soundtrack called ‘The Song for my Brother’. I love all the songs of the OST,  for whats not to love!