Snowdrop (2021)

10/10 for me

even with all the controversy regarding this kdrama, i cannot stop myself from recommending it to anyone. it was honestly one of the few kdramas that had a significant impact on me, having me glued to my screen and seat. haein has blessed us with yet another outstanding performance on his end and actress kim jisoo did not disappoint. needthless to say, as a fan of both, i'm extremely proud of them. the storyline was greatly created and it developed amazingly. the soundtrack is also one of its strongest points. with the end of it, i can now only hope to see them together in another kdrama.

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my honest review of snowdrop

compelling story, pretty osts and cast, acting is decent, but what I don't like about it is the going back and forth between whether or not the hostages (girls in the dorm) will get killed, just decide at this point. i get that it's necessary for the storyline to drag on but at one point it just becomes stupid and repetitive, it also makes me want to skip out most of the scenes because of this. now let's talk about the big elephant in the room. haein's and jisoo's acting/chemistry. I'll talk about Jisoo first, as a rookie actress, I'm thoroughly impressed. her crying scenes weren't hard to get through and i saw her exhibit sm emotion in youngro which was good. however with the positives, come the negatives. in my opinion, she's somewhat inconsistent with her "affection" towards suho aka haein. at first, she's smitten with him but then she obviously becomes afraid of him which makes sense since she finds out he's a spy. but we're now on ep 14 and I still don't believe she ever fell in love with him again from that point onwards. this whole storyline revolves around their love, it's meant to be a tragic love story and yet that love isn't really present in youngro. which is also why I think that this storyline makes it even harder for jisoo, a rookie actress to act out because she has to demonstrate fear, anger and love for haein at the same time. it's difficult to show these emotions and I'm not blaming Jisoo at all, but that kiss scene....moving on. Haein, great performance as always, you can truly see his experience in acting. I haven't seen him on my screen in a good while and I'm generally quite happy with his choice at choosing suho. he does a good job at imbalancing the love he has for youngro and his duties as a nk spy, it shows he's a flawed character that obviously won't always do the right thing. same for youngro, she's flawed in many ways as well which makes her a great character. i just don't know if it's the right character for jisoo but that's just my opinion. overall, ill be honest. i don't like the story. it feels like such a forced attempt at creating crash landing 2.0 (which i didn't really like either). but then again, i don't like dramatized, overly cheesy stories so take that as you will. i think that it is a good drama and jisoo obviously still has a long way to go but we have to remind ourselves that this is her first drama. I'm sure she'll do amazing in the future, as for haein. he's doing great, nothing else to say. everyone go watch D.P!!

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"I wanted to stay by your side... I never regret meeting you"-Sooho

Overall I give this around a 9.5-10.
I'VE NEVER CRIED SO MUCH OVER A DRAMA BEFORE! THIS HAS BROKEN ME.

Overall I love the drama, it was so beautiful, each character portrayed the drama so well. Jung Hae In did an outstanding job! This was Jisoo's first role, but wow she did amazing! She made me feel all kinds of emotions.
This was truly indeed a melodrama. It makes you feel so many emotions. You can really feel each characters struggles and pain as you watch them.
This drama was not perfect but each episode was like a rollercoaster. It makes you want more as each episode gets more intense and chaotic. Their were some draggy parts that shouldn't have been there, and the ending was expected. They did an amazing job portraying the tragic love story between the leads and how their fate was not meant to be. It was a slow burn romance since there was more of the political stuff than romance, But overall it was very good. Each episode leaves you craving for me, and it's ver addicting. After finishing this, I don't know if I can move on from this.

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Don't watch it sis

Traumatic drama with a bad rushed ending and the two leads don't even have a passionate kiss throughout the whole drama. I expected a good romantic drama but it was just a political mess and my anxiety just went x100000. At first it was good and enjoyable the whole dynamic with the university matter and the students. As soon as I noticed it was a sort of "Casa de Papel" remake all closed in that damn university for 10 episodes I knew it was going to be a flop. Some things were just the same and I had the same vibe. Don't let the marketing fool you this is NOT the romantic drama you're looking for. I loved the leads acting tho. All wasted.

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Much Ado About Nothing

"Expectation" is a dangerous thing. Our expectations and assumptions set us up for disappointment and heartbreak. In a lot of ways, Snowdrop is a story about just that; thwarted expectations. It’s about realizing that the person you loved is not who you thought they were, realizing your belief system was a house of cards. It’s about realizing that at the end of it all, no one is coming to save you; you’re on your own.
I felt that shattering disappointment myself when I watched this show and I have only myself to blame. I had this very detailed expectation for what this show was going to be. I thought, for some reason, that this was a historical romance set in a politically sensitive era of Korea’s history, about a student protestor who is injured and seeks refuge in the girl’s dormitory where he is given shelter by a fellow student whom he had dated before. I thought the show was going to be about how the ANSP creates this narrative that he is a northern spy and they eventually catch him and kill him based on those accusations. Suffice to say…I was wrong!!!! That was 95% wrong.
I was disappointed. Still, had the show delivered an intriguing story, I wouldn't feel as underwhelmed as I do now. The show isn't horrible. The production is good and it had its moments. I did enjoy it for a while, but ultimately, it wasn't my cup of tea.

So, you should only watch this show if:
1. You’re not here for the romance!
2. You like the actors VERY VERY VERY much ‘cause I’ll be frank, I like Jung Hae-In a normal amount and this show made me like him a little less. I watched SITR at the same time, just to like him again!
3. You’re craving spy movies.
4. You like political jargon stories all about corruption and stupid politicians. Not a single brain cell here.
5. You’re really desperate for that 80s aesthetic.
6. You love shows that the main cast consists of villains only and a wild doe-eyed virgin running around, crying.
7. Hot guys…JHI does shirtless push-ups…just saying…
8. You like fictional history that doesn’t have to make 100% sense.
9. Romeo and Juliet AUs
10. You like the movie "Die Hard"...Idk...hostage movies...?
11. Tragic endings

Plot: (okay this section is ALL rant)I’m almost embarrassed that it took the screenwriter ten years to finish this. It doesn't feel like it was worked on for a decade but it does feel ten years *old*. The romance plot is stale as one-month-old bread. The tone and pace of the show were all over the place. There were too many themes that the show tried to tackle, with a never-ending web of backstories that were either not thoroughly developed or were just plain boring. The dark comedy is a bit gauche. Like a giant child squirming around and slapping and breaking things with its awkward limbs, the dark humor here just flapped around, desperately hoping that its unsophisticated theatrics would land with its viewers. It was not funny. Not even in a dark way. Landing dark humor needs a level of elegance that this show only had the posture for but none of the finesse. Overall the show felt both overstuffed with content while also extremely repetitive and empty. The middle episodes all had the exact same formula. They used the exact same trick to thrill the viewers which after a few episodes stopped working because you could just predict what would happen next. The stakes were both extremely high but also extremely low. The plot just had too many characters that it did not know what to do with. It only moved them around with little significant plot drive and refused to kill anyone for the longest time.

Sidenote on the romance: I think telling a story about a whirlwind romance that develops solely during a high-stress situation can be really interesting, but the show didn’t really do that. As a thriller with too many plots and characters, the show just didn't have the time to focus on the romance. The build-up in the first three episodes was alright, had the show have a proper follow-through. But then certain things happened and the events developed in a certain direction that I couldn't buy their later connection down the narrative, at all. It felt unearned. This show is low-key a two-male-lead show. While it's true that Young Ro is the defacto female lead, her significance is only in sparking the events of the show. For the rest of the series, she is pointlessly there with little character development and even less purpose. Instead, it's the two male leads who have the most significant character arcs. The same can be said for the rest of the female leads, each to different degrees. If anything, I think Boon Uk was the real female lead who had an important character arc.

Sidenote on politics: So this show makes very little political sense. Allegedly this is around the 1987 election but it was fictionalized beyond recognition and the show doesn't really make an effort to introduce the viewer to its own fantastical setting so it's just a lot of confusing conversation about god know what. Though I guess if you don't know anything about the history, it wouldn't matter.

Acting: It was fine. Some actors overdid it. The mains were all good. I believe this was Jisoo's first role? I think she did fine considering what she was given. She doesn't quite have the hang of proper expressions yet, but I compare her with IU in Moon Lovers and I think she did okay. Jung Hae-In was wasted in this show. I'm actually upset he was here. From what I've seen him in, JHI does a good job of micro-acting. A lot of which was lost in this thriller-action show to weird editing or just focusing on his newly acquired biceps. He tries to bring in his style to it but...*sigh*. Kim Hye Yoon was the stand-out. Despite the fact that her character was antagonistic, she brought a great deal of charm to her performance that made watching her enjoyable albeit also frustrating. Overall, I would say the characters lacked charm and charisma for a great part of the show and only really settle into themselves later in the show. I don't necessarily blame the actors for this, however. I think the writing did little to help the characters.

Music: The music was actually good. Both soundtrack and background music were lovely and I liked them. They were also used well.

Production: We have finally arrived at where this show excelled at! The production for this show was great. Beautiful set design, costuming, and props all over. The directing was good, the cinematography wasn't my favorite but it had its style. What I loved about this show's production was the attention to detail and the things that we might not notice but made a lot of difference in the overall quality of storytelling. (Not gonna give examples because they were super specific) In fact, I enjoyed the story that these details were telling a lot more than those ambitious scripted moments.

Rewatch: No, thanks.

Negative: Addressing the elephant in the room. So this show had controversy due to the time period it portrays. Ultimately, it manages to clear its name but I think there are certain implications in the story that will make a case against the show in some ways. It sort of did romanticize the ANSP. It wasn't much but it did bring a great deal of sympathy for the members of ansp and I can see how that could upset some. There was also a lot of anti-North propaganda in it which helped with softening whatever it said about the South's government...I thought it was all tasteless. Overall, a whole lot was said and argued over nothing. This show was just not worth all the noise that was made about it! I bet it would've flown so far below the radar that it would be beneath the crust of the earth if only it didn't have its prolific cast attached to it!

Overall: I don't recommend this. So watch it at your own risk. I was disappointed but I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it at all. It was good enough to get through once and it has enough interesting parts to be enjoyable. However, story and plot matter a lot to me, and Snowdrop lacked in that regard. Therefore it ended up being just average for me. It could be someone else's cup of tea.

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A Tragic Romance paired up with a Little Laughter

STORY
Story wise the drama was really good. There was a past and a mysterious backstory to a lot of characters. Though the backstory of the leads was revealed pretty early, there were still a lot of characters who will be making us wonder and guessing about them. Each and every character were very different and everyone were trying to survive in their own ways. Unlike the routine where all good and bad people make a team each, the drama shows a different scenario where the characters are unpredictable when it comes to their survival. The writer portrayed the raw intentions where a person can be selfish when it comes to dire situations which was pretty realistic. At first I was very doubtful if there would be any comedy, but trust me you will be cracking up badly. This drama is not a complete romance oriented, but you could feel the leads love for each other till the end. The only minus point is that the story was a little down in episodes 12 and 13 even though they had a lot of content left in the story. A lot of stuff was shown in the last two episodes which I felt was a bit of overload which clearly could have been distributed in a better way. And more importantly a lot of things were left unexplained in the end and I felt like they have have cut a lot of scenes to make it shorter. They should have made the drama extended to 20 episodes and show both romance and the mysteries surrounding the characters in an even more better way.

CAST
Coming to the cast, it was a perfect choice for every character. We have a power packed senior actors and younger actors also didn't lack to them in any way. This drama introduces debutant actress jisoo. She was really good. Though among the younger actors, Jung Hae In's acting was the most perceptible, she was no where lacking which is considered pretty good for a newbie.
Jang seung jo who plays kang moo was also good. This is my first drama with him in it. I have checked his insta and he looked like a pretty cute boy. But in the drama, portrays a person who works most of the time in a day and perfectly pulled out his look as a rough man who is dedicated and a workaholic. We also have great actors like Yoo in na, Kim hye yoon, Yoon se ah, Heo joon ho, Park sung woong and many more. So you don't have to worry about the cast as it is perfect in every way.

MUSIC
You have got some really melodious songs that you can groove all day long. Especially ''wishes'' by Jamie miller, you can feel the pain in the lyrics in his voice. The drama is blessed to be paired along with beautiful voices of Jamie miller, Sung si kyung, Kim hee won, Je hwi and Kevin oh.

OVERALL
So concluding it, definitely a very good drama to watch. I personally enjoyed the drama a lot and I felt a new touch in this drama that I've not experienced in other drama. We experience an 80's touch in the early drama but most of the story takes place in the dorm. The aesthetic touch of the drama was done carefully which gave a bit of royal and an 80's vibes. Do check out the tags for the drama as I've kept my review spoiler free. You might regret it if you chose not to watch this masterpiece.

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A Masterpiece

I don't write much about drama. However, this drama is deserving of praise. We all know from the beginning that we will all cry in the end. I don't know about the others, but I had a sense it would end in tragedy. Every episode piqued our interest in the next. This heartbreaking storey is far too much to bear. Suho and Youngro's love tale is incredibly sad.I knew we'd have to deal with this catastrophe, and I guess I was prepared for it. But it was the ending that made me cry. In the end, I just feel sorry for youngro. She had literally lost everything and everyone.Let's talk about one of my favourite scenes: one way ticket. I fell in love with Suho and Youngro after hearing this song and seeing their lovely dance. I particularly like the scene in which the other two spies were discussing what they would eat once they arrived at their destination. Right now, I'm sobbing uncontrollably. I believe the episodes should be extended because there are still unanswered questions. When it comes to Bunok, I practically despise her during the entire show, but at the end, I am happy for her because, despite her numerous issues, she received a happy ending.I'd like to know how Dr. Kang is doing; I'd like to know if she's secure and living the life she desires. I realise it's a terrible finale, but I suppose it's a fitting conclusion to this storey. Because Suho can't live in either North or South Korea, and Youngro can't live with Suho, this can't be a happy ending. I'm still in tears. I'd want to see Jung and Jisoo in more romantic dramas. I'm not sure how I'll be able to forget about this drama and move on.
This is one of the dramas that we should absolutely watch when it airs. I just consider it a bit of luck that I didn't watch once everything had aired. This is undoubtedly a must watch drama.

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Is it human nature or just evil?

If you are here for the romance then back away... and do not come back... or just watch the first two episodes and then back away that works too.

This has more or less everything I love in a drama making me feel more or less every emotion possible, intrigues, dark humour and Jung Hea In... (JHI) yes JHI flirting, JHI smiling, JHI on a bike, JHI working out, JHI acting cold, JHI acting soft, JHI with a suit, JHI without a top...

It also has some annoying elements that annoy the "#"#¤ out of me with luckily just a few scenes with these unnecessary annoying characters only there as comic relief but there is so much else to make me laugh that I deem them just an unnecessary pain especially when laughed at for wearing "women's" clothing after being peed on. Just annoying...

The drama starts off a bit disneyish, making the female lead and her dorm seem like some kind of Disney type princess dorm... only missing birds and talking pets... The acting and music seemed very disney as well something that if allowed to continue would have ruined the drama but instead became a clear thought out move to set act as a contrast enhancing the very dark and evil plot.

Besides JHI, Ioved how this was made, how it kept me on my toes with more or less predictable twists (some more than others), the many aggravating characters as well as well sitting punches and punchlines... and well the darkness of the plot. I loved most of the main characters and loved to hate the others (not the annoying ones) the evil the bad ass agents with soft spots and the oh so pure evil... a feast for the eyes of any conspiracy lover... all with a well fitted ost and well lighted settings. 90% of the drama is in the same building and though I will admit that it at times I just wanted them out of there they did keep it interesting and the setting was actually very pretty with lighting and colors thru windows and what not...

TI think this also has that sky castle complexity to it... that is hard to explain to those who have not seen it.... Where greed, humanity. fear, lust and love meet... with absurd lines and absurd situations...

I am not going to say that this was perfect in anyway and yes it probably got an extra star ot 2 for JHI... but it is definitely a well written, well casted, well directed drama worth a watch. It may not be worth all the hype but it I am pretty sure the controversy around it was resolved...

Also Yoo In Na rocks!

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Not the masterpiece everyone says it is

Don’t let promotions fool you this is not a ROMANTIC drama, it would be better described as a political drama, and by the lack of romantic scenes in all 16 episodes, it should hardly ever be considered a romance.

In terms of plot (not going to discuss the controversies, I believe there are better articles that explained it pretty well), I consider the first 2 to 3 episodes and the last 3 as the best ones in this big mess. The first episodes show us a glimpse into the life of Koreans in the 80s, especially the university/dorm life, and for me, that was captivating and interesting. However the drama loses its train of thought the moment the hostage situation begins and we spend the next 10+ episodes stuck in a loop, where the story sort of repeats - Main characters just look at each other, the north and south talk on the phone, somehow Young Ro starts crying, and in the end we see all the politics betraying just to save their skin.

All of this is amplified by the running time of each episode, after seeing the same repeating plot, patience starts to become short to continue. Because of this, the story starts to show its flaws, one of them being the introduction of already known character's hidden/past life, in most cases, they weren’t needed and it only created a new story line that by the end we didn’t get all the answers we wanted to it. After a dull plot for most of the running time, it appears the writers remember that they have to finish the drama, so they rush every good aspect in terms of action and character development to the last 3 episodes, which makes the ending feel very much rushed and while a lot of the questions got a response, the last 2 episodes created even more questions to arise - what happened to the students, the friendship of the roommates of room 207, the blooming friendship of Boon Ok and Pi, what happened Kim Man Dong's son,where did doctor Kang go…
One positive, I appreciate how humor scenes were done, it helped at times to pick the flow back again, even if most scenes were over the top. I feel this drama would benefit if it had a smaller running time.

The performances by the cast were phenomenal with Jung Hae In, Soo In Na, Jang Seung Jo, Yoon Se Ah and Kim Hey Yoon giving everything to their characters, we could see their growth and emotions very well represented, especially Jung Hae In. The actresses that played the students were well cast, giving their all, in particular the roomates of 207. One character that I did not like was Nam Tae, for me he became a very annoying presence.
Jisoo's performance wasn’t a bad one for a rookie actress, however in terms of development, her character barely had any, she spent most of the drama crying, and at times not only would she barely appear on screen but her story would be overshadowed by other characters life. In the end, I feel that Young Ro was not used by the writers to the full potential, in particular in the scenes with Sooho as both actors had great chemistry, and I feel that in a way Jisoo was mostly used to attract audiences to see a drama that even before its premiere was already in hot waters in South Korea.

Finally, for me, the only aspect of the drama that was executed to the point of perfection was the OST, which gave the drama a different dimension. The SET, maybe because almost 90% of the drama was spent in the same location, the production/design team gave it all in the details and you could see the high quality on-screen.

To the question would rewatch this drama, my answer is NO.
(English is not my first language, so I apologize if something is wrong or hard to read)

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The brightness and bubbliness that faded

Eun Yeongro is probably one of the most pitiful leads I've seen in a while, since Kang Yoo Jung of Secret Love 2013. all the hardships she had to go through was heartbreaking. Furthermore she was such a loveable character that it was full of angst watching her struggles

Though I've expected the drama to be like what it was, I was still disappointed for various reasons. There we're a lot of things I loved about it however considering the wait and anticipation JTBC made us felt. Adding to that is the A list cast and Jisoo debut drama it didn't live up. I have a few reasons for this but let's first start with the good parts.

Good

Cinematography
This is by far my favorite for Snowdrop. it was shot sooo well and gave an atmosphere that we're living in 1988 with them. Furthermore I specially love the parts during flashbacks and the silhouette shots, it showed amazing lighting and camera motion.

Music
The choices for the soundtrack and it's singers we're fantastic. It perfectly encorporates the tragic love story of our leads. I love most of the OSTs but Jamie Miller's one was prolly my favorite.

Comedy
This could easily been a dark and depressing film however I applaud the balance it decided to give. For me Nam Tae IL played by Park Sun Woong carried this section as the perfect comic relief even as a antagonist.

Acting
I was reluctant to add this here because let's just say some did not give their best performances in this. Our FL Jisoo is good here especially for an rookie but we can see a noticable amount of moments where it's exxagerated, still applause to her. Our ML Jung Hae In was by far the best one in the drama. I honestly think he suits this cold outside but warm inside characters it perfectly close to the image he created. Furthermore we saw the complex emotions felt by Sooho the anger, sadness, betreyal, and dilemma of having to save his love one's.

Bad

1. Character development

2. Too much happening in the ending yet unclosed stroylines

3. Too political

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Overall
If you're a fan of Haein or Jisoo I do recommend this. The same goes for me, I did enjoy it and thought it was really good but as a objective review it definitely lacked some parts.

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A drama that insult your critical thinking.

I would say that this drama is kinda living proof of what's called 'the danger of romanticism' and that's how such an idiotic excuse accepted as logic, spread like a virus then became a common ground.
Honestly, the story is good, the act is top notch, though I can't exaggerate Jisoo's acting as outstanding but indeed for her first act project she did well done (maybe should not start as a main character).
Thumbs up for the cinematograph too especially in the first two eps. It's just the lies intentioned here, the way the production faces controversy over the drama, and how they use a real sensitive historical figures and events where the survivor still alive and the story not yet enough to be told as a tale like Roman war or even the WW for the 21st century born generation, shielding behind the wall of 'fiction' is pure ignorant!
For people that care enough to through the fact and learn the history, it would be fine, we mature enough to accept it as fiction. But, how about those who are born in less than two decades ago and fed their knowledge through the drama, concluding that's the truth? Man, such people does exist! And their ignorance preserved! It's not enough by just let it be, why bother burn the fire?
If wants to make such sensitive historical-political based story, then make it a pure fiction.

I didn't see any humor delivered here, most of the time I wouldn't laughed. The romance indeed touching and tragic as expected, but what's intentioned as a romance drama was dominated by political agenda. The political scene that's started ambitiously and vanished like a cotton candy towards the end. The story is indeed good, only if it respect the history!

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Came here for Ji Soo ,Hae In and stayed for the plot

I am not gonna lie that I came to watch this drama for its star studded lineup. It has so many great actors in it that if I started talking about it is gonna take a while. It was also Blackpink Jisoo's debut work. So I was pretty hyped about the drama. This drama had its fair share of up and down moments too as it was criticized in South Korea for distorting its history. Since I was not a South Korean I didn't had much issues with how they are presenting the drama. And I take a drama as a fictional work.

So getting back to the drama I think the drama started pretty fast paced and you see a lot of Jisoo in the first 4 episode. Not that I disliked but we don't get a lot of the other actors except for Haein of-course. Each episode span out for about 1 hour and 30 min which is lengthier than your normal Kdrama length. But you don't feel that you are being forced to watch the drama for your favorite actor. The drama shifts gears after the first 4-5 episode and we see how the story is looking and where the writers are trying to go with the plot. We also start to get a lot of other actors on the screen. Which I personally loved it. They all were great actors. Jisoo also did a pretty decent work for her first role. Even though she cried a hell lot after the first 4-5 episodes. But her character was by no means frail. She would naturally improve after shooting for more dramas. I don't need to talk about other actors. They all were fantastic. A special shout-out to Kim Hye Yoon for her character though from my side. Man I hated her character more than anything. But to bring so much out of her character when she didn't had that much of screen time was definitely praise worthy.

You can't predict how this drama ends. You just can't predict that. I am currently on the 14th episode and still I am not sure what the future holds for this drama. Even though there are many fan-theories it is still not easy to predict this drama. I think this unpredictability makes this drama a gem. The writers did a pretty great work. Hats off to them. The bonus scenes after the end of the drama were a +1 from me. Do give this drama an eye. I am sure you will love it too.

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