A K-Drama Crash Landed On Me And There's No Turning Back Now

Official poster courtesy of tvN from hancinema.net

If you've been following me on IG and Twitter, it's not going to be any surprise that I am so much into the tvN drama Crash Landing On You recently. With everything that's been happening in real life, I haven't been able to commit to finish a movie - let alone an entire series. Just me, being the old, lazy-ass, and tired millennial that I am as of late.

CLOY was an exception. Although it was mainly the BinJin rumors which fueled my interest and got me hooked at first (Shoutout to my fellow shoppers! #InGroceryWeTrust), what kept me watching it was the story. Imagine the pain I endured watching it while it had its run (I was watching it real-time, no subs via live stream every Saturday and Sunday at 21:00 KST). Good thing, the episodes with English subtitles were being made available in Netflix an hour after the telecast.

The premise: An heiress from South Korea accidentally landed in North Korea because of a weather disturbance, and was found by a North Korean officer. What started as a pursuit to hide her from the corrupt officials of the State Security Department and send her back to South Korea safely eventually led to a warm and forbidden romance.

The series is penned by Park Ji Eun (My Love From The Star, The Producers, Legend Of The Blue Sea) and directed by Lee Jeong Hyo (Romance Is A Bonus Book, Life On Mars, The Good Wife).

Still courtesy of tvN from hancinema.net

One might think that it's your typical K-Drama. Yes, it has some traditional tropes. But this story is not solely a heart-fluttering love story; it's about constant longing and hoping. As you may know by now, CLOY is set in North and South Korea, two countries divided for more than half a century in which several families have their own stories of patiently waiting, missing, and wishing. As it was pointed out in one post in Bitches Over Dramas, instead of love, CLOY tells a story of han (Watch Episode 16 to fully appreciate this concept and make sure you have some tissues handy). See excerpt from the post below:

Spoiler Alert: Read at your own risk if you haven't seen Episode 10.

JungHyuk was at the hut, sitting near the prayer bowl. He imagined Seri beside him.

SR: I heard what this is. Someone offered prayers with water. Pyo Chisoo told me earlier. There lived a mother with a son who went to war 60 years ago here.
JH: I know that.
SR: I wonder if the mother met her son. If I await desperately with prayers, will I be able to meet someone I miss?
JH: You do it to live. If you give up on waiting, the pain of loss will kill you. That’s why you wait.

He turned to look at her, but her vision had disappeared. So, he looked at the prayer bowl again.

This is a han moment: he’s overwhelmed by grief but understands that he’s powerless to change their future. So he’s resigned to the fact that, in time, his debilitating grief will dwindle into sadness… and regret for a life that could never be. He’d always carry a hole in him where his heart should be, but he’d survive.

And that’s the symbolism of the prayer bowl. It’s broken-ness.

It was collecting weeds and dirt. But it was still waiting for rain to fill parts of it with water to offer to the gods. As long as the shattered prayer bowl sat there, then the desire and hope for the loved one’s homecoming lived on. The prayer bowl represented “han” – this union of sorrow, powerlessness, yearning, waiting, and hope.

That’s what JungHyuk meant that she couldn’t give up on waiting. Although the wait was almost unbearable, it was far more endurable than to give up all hope.

Thank you, packmule3 for your insights. I learned something new and beautiful.

Screencap from Netflix

Anyhow, the finale of the series was shown last night and I was bawling my eyes out. Don't be fooled: this series was branded as a rom-com but all it did was make me cry as I watched the last few episodes. (Btw, there's also a whole lotta action scenes courtesy of our CEO, Hyun Bin. He isn't one of the highest-paid actors in South Korea for nothing.)

I would have wanted to make a review but I still have so much feels right now I don't think I could compose a decent one. As you may have noticed, this post is so random and just me blabbering because of the sepanx I am experiencing right now. So please, if you were expecting a full, insightful review of the series, mian. This is just me trying to navigate through my withdrawal phase.

After watching Episode 16 last night, I tried to document my #CrashLandingOnYouFinale journey in my Twitter account. If you haven't seen the last two episodes and you hate spoilers, please move on to your reading and stay far away from that link.

How am I coping right now aside from posting this cathartic entry? Listening to the full OST of CLOY. The line-up of original songs is phenomenal, I'm telling you. I think almost all of the released singles topped the charts in South Korea. My personal favorites are the following: "Here I Am Again" (Baek Ye Rin), "All of My Days" (Kim Se Jeong of Gugudan), "I Give You My Heart" (IU), and "Let Us Go" (Crush). Aside from the songs, I think "형을 위한 노래" and "Sigriswil" will also be part of my usual playlist to give me a bit of peace during stressful days at work or long hours while I'm in transit.

If you're also having post-CLOY feels, check out the full album in Spotify.

Oh, and just so you know, CLOY just broke some records last night. The rating for Episode 16 nationwide was 21.683 percent and 23.249 in Seoul alone per Soompi. CLOY now holds the highest viewership rating for tvN (which was previously held by my equally beloved series, Goblin) and second in cable ratings after Sky Castle.

So much for my random post. Gotta get back to the weekday chores. Until next time!


RM

P.S. To my co-shoppers (You guys should know that this is certainly not a typo), stay strong and continue the prayer circle. The fangirl life continues after the drama ends. It ain't over 'til it's over in real life, so just hang in there until this ship officially sails! #InGroceryWeTrust