Crash Landing on You (2020)

I am not a big fan of telenovelas because I never had the time to watch them before. But thanks to the shelter-in-place order not being lifted yet and because I am taking care of my son, I ended up watching this series... upon strong recommendation from Ate Grace and Kuya Nat.

Crash Landing on You is basically a story of a man from North Korea and a woman from South Korea who met accidentally in North Korea (she got sucked into a freak tornado while paragliding and she landed in North Korea... the title is all about her crash landing on him when he ordered her to go down from the tree where her paraglider got entangled). He helped her try to return to South Korea without being detected by the higher ranking authorities. The soldiers under his command helped him with this task, befriending the woman in the process. She finally was able to return home and continue with her family struggles (she was in a power struggle against her elder brother for control over their father's company). He, on the other hand, went to South Korea as well; in a typical telenovela, the main purpose is to follow the heroine, the love of his life. But in his case, he was chasing after a corrupt military official who vowed to punish him by hurting the heroine. Both protagonists succeeded in their missions but at the price of only being together two weeks in a year... in Switzerland (yeah, spoiler alert warning came a tad too late). Did they end up getting married? Did they live happily ever after? We will never know.

There are 16 episodes to this series but I wasn't able to watch the last two or three so I had Mommy tell me how it ended. 

My take on this telenovela: it's well-made. I love the cinematography. It's obvious that whoever was in charge really thought about blocking, lighting, and mood because though I have no idea what was being said (if I don't read the subtitles), I could get a clue for each scene. My favourites, even if they tended to be overused, were scenes were the five sidekicks were sitting down looking at the sky, with their backs to the audience. Scenes such as these evoke a sense of peace, catharsis, and hope. On the other hand, the two main protagonists were clearly framed using the rule of thirds whenever they are overlooking sweeping landscapes. Aside from the cinematography, I appreciate the series because of the excellent subtitles provided. Whoever took the time to translate the script to English has done a superb job... I'm sure that the English translation has played a huge role in helping Crash Landing on You become an internationally popular series (aside from the acting chops of the cast, of course). There is probably much curiosity about what life is like in North Korea and the series provides a peek into it... though perhaps the portrayal may be fictionalised and may be a closer portrayal of life in rural South Korea (which I've seen during my trips there... note that I've only been to Seoul once as I spent most of my visits in the mountains). I mean, do high-ranking officials in Pyongyang actually drive Jaguars as their personal vehicles and do their nieces accessorise with Loewe handbags? And do officials universally carry Samsung mobile phones (South Korean brand) as a matter of choice?

Now I understand why my cousins got hooked onto the series. It's really an enjoyable program to binge-watch while ordered to stay at home.