Poor attempt
I don't even feel like typing much for this one. The drama was increasingly unreasonably frustrating to watch with each passing minute out of the 1440 minutes runtime. It's a shame that the talent and the budget had went into this drama.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Misleading Marketing yet I not mad at it
Being a fan of both Haein and Jisoo, I was extremely excited for Snowdrop. Because it's notorious scandals, I was skeptical starting it however that first episode was perfect. I loved the pace and the atmosphere and with the next episodes I realized how much effort was put into the drama. You can tell that it has a great production and a great writing team behind it. The drama grew more dark and action filled as it went by, it was unexpected. Even though it was entertaining, at some point I just wished the hostage situation to end. Obviously that didn't happened yet it stop to frustrate me. The marketing of this drama was definitely misleading since there is not a lot of romantic scenes. But the amazing writing and scenes really impressed me even thought I don't consider myself a fan of action filled dramas. I think the task of writing and directing the whole hostage situation storyline is a very challenging one and think it takes a lot of talent, Also, I was very impressed with the casting and it's acting, the only one that lacked a bit was Mrs. Pi. Haein did a good job but honestly I prefer him in other types of roles, he impressed me more in Something in the Rain. Being a Blink, I was really nervous for Jisoo and her acting but her skills totally blew me away. Overall, I think what made the drama worth watching was the reaction of the characters and how and why they made their decisions. Even thought there were a lot of plot twists I feel like the drama didn't rely on them and the characters moved the story.Was this review helpful to you?
lm soo ho's past
overall it's very nice drama. but at the end lm soo ho just die to save young ro that was heart broken. but they both look great together. jisoo's acting is mind-blowing. she just sleyed it . love her acting ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
a complex storyline doesn't need different places or location
Snowdrop plot mostly happen in the dorm and it is amazing on how they could give this drama a good flow. The character development of each characters were really good. Kim Jisoo outdid herself for her debut drama. I can't believe she would be this good. The chemistry was damn cute and heartbreaking most of the time. Every episode is 1hr and 30mins but I love how every episodes have its key points and through that they get to build a really complex storyline. This drama keeps me on the hooked because of how every episodes has a really good amount of content. This drama only need one location (the dorm) to be that good, even better than other dramas that need multiple locations. The ending was heartbreaking Read MoreWas this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
A tragic love story amidst political warfare
This drama had so much potential with it's story and script overall. Let's start with the positives, the acting of the cast was absolutely phenomenal especially Jung Hae In whom made every scene so emotional, gripping and serious. The magic of eyes in acting is so evident in here and it's effective because of Jung Hae In. Phenomenal acting from Yoon Se Ah as the strict and mysterious headmistress, Pi Seunghee and Kim Hye Yoon as the broken and annoying Kye Boon Ok both were just phenomenal but what can you expect? both actresses also did fantastic in Sky Castle. Let us start with the story, it begins with a bang with a lot of mystery, emotions and beautiful cinematography but it began to falter in the second half thankfully Kang Cheong Ya was introduced and made the story interesting again. The political and spy parts of the drama was confusing which can negatively affect the viewer's attention. If you can't make your viewers understand the main aspect of the drama which is the Political Warfare and Betrayals then you have failed. The romance between the two leads was cute but nothing special but the chemistry was there. The ending was so messy, they jump packed everything into two episodes, Man Dong's character being revealed to be a spy was poorly conveyed and the deaths of the character was also poorly executed except for Soo Ho's death scene which is probably the saddest yet best scene in the drama. The 207 girls, Kang Cheong Ya and Soo Ho's sisters disappeared without a proper conclusion on what happened to them. They also under utilized Young Ro's character, I felt like she was just a background character the whole time.The drama had ups and downs with a poorly written second half, but it had a promising script, a talented cast and beautiful cinematography to make up for it's flaws.
Was this review helpful to you?
Heartbreaking
I think at the end of the drama there is no justice at all, why? just watch the drama . There's so many questions in my mind that will never be answer. There's so many puzzle that I can't solve. Why, what, when, where, how like wut the f*ck? Where's the justice? where's code 1? why he's not in the cell together with those three idiots who think only their self? What happen to their friends? What happen to the Dr. Kang? like what the f*ckkkkk? What will happen to Lim So Hoo' sister? why her mother abandone them in the middle of the street? It feels like my head is cracking because of too many questions.Was this review helpful to you?
Water drops from my eyes
Too good acting by Jung Hae In, amazing . Especially the very last part of the drama . His acting made my eyes wet . I can't stop crying . Oh God what good people don't have happy ending . Though they never meet in this life that is acceptable ,though it was painful but seeing dying in front of eyes can't be bearable . Atleast our love is very far from us but it is relief that they are sound and safe .Story was little bore because Jung Hae character was a spy so he doing acting accordingly not involved much with other character ,little bit introvert ,no much romance, talking with love very formal way. So this part was little bore but ending ,I have no words to express my feeling about the ending so emotional , can't able to handle
Those like only happy ending and don't want to mess up their mood so don't watch it . This drama didn't have happy ending but still I will say watch for actors and actresses because they did a great job .
Was this review helpful to you?
best way i can explain it: the feeling of euphoria you would only be able to obtain from hard drugs
"I guess love is more important to her than ideology or principles.""Of course, love is more important than ideology or principles. Whether you're a man or a woman, that's the truth of life."
writing this review after about 2 hours of finishing the last episode of Snowdrop because i haven't been able to stop sobbing (lol). i feel like the quote i added above is a pretty good summary of the whole show. love: it's the human condition. it's not something that is necessarily in our control. you can try to make soldiers out of children, you can train them not to form bonds with each other, you can sever their familial ties, but love is the human condition and you can never really put an end to all the parts of us that want to love. even when you haven't loved anything before, even when you think you can't, even when you are not supposed to; you are still human and you want to love. every cell in your body responds to love. in the end, you do everything for love.
this show was a masterpiece. i consume a lot of media and yet, this was the best thing that i watched in years. it was perfect, so perfect to me. i loved it so much that i wanted to watch all the episodes at once, but i loved it so much that i wanted to savor it and never reach the end. every episode was so full of tension that i was always at the edge of my seat, not knowing what to expect. i was happy, i was nervous, i was excited all the time. so much so that, i'm pretty sure i will be chasing this high for a long time to no avail. the cinematography, the sound design, the lighting, the scene composition, the story, the dialogue; everything was so well-done. every detail was thought about. you could see the amount of effort that went into every aspect of this show. i was happy and sad the whole time i was watching it; happy because it crossed paths with me and now i get to see it but sad because it would eventually come to an end and leave me emptier than ever. it was unreal. it was such an experience.
RE: CONTROVERSY -- when this show first came out, i was privy to the controversy surrounding it online but i didn't partake in the discourse since i wasn't planning on watching the show at the time. i want to say that, knowing what the controversy was about, i do believe Korean people were rightfully mad at what seemed to be a distortion of history in the first few episodes. in the first few episodes, we saw the ANSP, which was the anti-communism unit working for the South Korean dictatorship at the time, through the character Gang Mu, who was presented as the good guy. while it, later on, becomes clear that the show was trying to show Gang Mu as a good guy in a corrupt organization, this was not immediately clear nor is it historically accurate; therefore, it is expected that people reacted the way they did. as many Koreans addressed, the ANSP were ruthless in their treatment of student protestors who were tortured and killed under the guise of anti-communism when they were in fact fighting for democracy to be established in South Korea. someone pointed out that some of the people who were framed as being communists and tortured by the ANSP are still alive as this is recent history, which makes this whole thing a lot more disrespectful and controversial. also, it needs to be acknowledged that you cannot just make your show take place during the democratization movement, involve the actual organizations and other parties from this period, and add in a "this is all fictional" text to your episodes to avoid the criticism. because that just simply is not how this works when you use actual names and actual historical events, even though the show does not address the movement or the events of this period in detail. as we also know, the truths about the ANSP are depicted in explicit detail as the show goes on, especially the torture, the framing, and the suppression of free speech, as well as the manipulation through media channels. nevertheless, i do feel that the initial backlash was justified; however, the show also doesn't really delve deeply into any political event and it is more focused on the romance that blooms in an unexpected circumstance, as well as the juxtaposition of the human condition and ideologies/revolutionary efforts.
ANTI-COMMUNISM -- one thing that confused me prior to watching the show was how it seemed like both leftists and people who hate leftists were mad at the show for the ways they portrayed certain things. now, we know that South Korean dramas are riddled with anti-communist propaganda and this is almost a given at this point. so, i was really interested to see how, while Snowdrop also had anti-communist propaganda all around, especially in the last episode, they were surprisingly honest about it. they showed how the police force, the ANSP, and the politicians were only there to enact the orders of the state and not to protect the citizens. we saw how free speech and people's right to information through media was controlled and manipulated by these people under the dictatorship. we saw how these parties spread and enforced anti-communism to further divide the South and the North and how the propaganda started as early as childhood (e.g., one of the characters mentioned they won an award as a kid for depicting a scary North Korean spy in a drawing.). i remember reading a statement by JTBC after the backlash and they mentioned how they tried to take a neutral approach to the events depicted and i do partly agree. but i guess that's what some people were mad at since i also saw people complain about the main lead being a communist.
DESIRABILITY -- on that note, with kdramas comes desirability discourse. it was interesting how they even addressed this in the show. when they were going to release the pictures of the North Korean spies, they complained about Soo Hoo being too pretty to be a believable "villain." they also often times mentioned drawing the spies uglier or crasser than they were to push this bad person = bad looks idea. it was also done to make South Koreans see their Northern counterparts as these vile monsters who are inhuman or just very different from them. as a result, it goes without saying that the desirability discourse applies to the show itself as well, where pretty much every character, "good" or "bad,' was conventionally-attractive. i also recently came across a video explaining how this is apparently embedded in Korean culture where they believe your inside is reflected on the outside, so there is a lot of value put into one's appearance and your character will be judged by your appearance, which is the most extreme form of beauty standard i have ever seen, especially when considering a lot of these standards are full of biases and are white-centric.
SOO HO & YOUNG RO'S ROMANCE -- this show had one of the best romance storylines i have ever seen with the way they shot the couple, the way they wrote the couple, and the way the actors acted out their roles. Jung Hae In is an incredible actor whose good looks was honestly distracting throughout the whole show, but i also thought Ji Soo did amazing and I could really see her passion for acting. this romance storyline is a great example of why i prefer "romantic" stories over romance-focused dramas because, for example, in this show, it's really not about the skinship. it’s how their eyes lingered on each other’s faces every time they got a chance to look at one another. it’s how Soo Ho's eyes always seemed to find her even in a room full of people, in the middle of all the chaos. it's how even if i didn't see it, i could feel both Soo Ho and Young Ro immediately think of and look for each other whenever they felt they were in danger. it was poetic. it was romantic. it was layered and so, so deep. their love was young, tender, and full of guilt. his helplessness, and her representing light and hope. her guilt, and him representing righteousness and sacrifice. there was a lot of chemistry between the actors but this show was also a great example of how good filmmaking and writing can elevate a romance story and intensify a couple's chemistry levels. the writing, the way they played with the lighting during their scenes, the way the director focused on their eyes: these things intensified the whole experience for me. i specifically want to make a note of how the director's focus on eyes in speaking scenes was really a great choice. i always value eye acting over anything else and that's clearly where we hold the most emotion. focusing on the actor's eyes only as they said their lines.. they didn't have to write disappointment, i saw it in their eyes. they didn't have to write the guilt, the butterflies in the stomach, the fear.. we saw it all in their eyes in these shots.
THE ENDING -- first of all, it was such a unique experience to watch all of this unfold in 16 episodes where only about 2 weeks had passed in the show. they gave us 2 full weeks of these characters' lives and it was everything. now, from the start, i knew that Soo Ho and Young Ro would not have a "happy" ending. i also knew that he would likely not survive the show. i knew they would kill him in front of me in a scene but i didn't expect to witness soldiers emptying their clips on his back as Young Ro watched. yeah, that was devastating, for lack of a better word. Soo Ho came back to die. he knew he was going to die. i knew he was going to die. we were both okay with it. because all this time, i was thinking; say he doesn't die and then what? there is no way they could have actually been together. forget about being together, if he was to get hurt, they wouldn't even treat him at the hospital and let her stay by his side. he was far from home, in a land that was foreign to him, fighting for the people that had forsaken him long ago. they had already given up on him. in fact, he had no business falling in love and he knew it too. but as i said, it's the human condition and Soo Ho's story was the saddest one next to Young Ro, who lost everything in the span of 2 weeks. she had already lost her mother; then, she lost her beloved brother in such a horrid way. she lost her respect for her father and she lost all of her friends. then, she lost her first love. the man who protected her even when she didn't know it. the man who loved her to death. and Soo Ho was doomed from the start. he had so much love to give but no way to communicate it. he cared a lot but had no way to rationalize it. he did everything to save everyone and it was just heartbreaking to see that all of his efforts to take back the things he has done were in vain. his comrades that he was responsible for died. he himself died never being able to step foot in his homeland again. he didn't get to hold his sister's baby. he didn't get to hold her either. he didn't get to drink with his comrades. he didn't get to become a musician and sing at a cafe to his loved ones. he didn't get to love, let alone grow old with the people he loved. what did he die for? what would he have lived for? it was just sad.
OVERALL -- okay, the more that i write, the closer i'm getting to breaking down again lol. overall, this was a very special project and i hope everyone involved in it knows they created something amazing that i know will be appreciated even after so long. this show had so many memorable and layered characters with their own, interesting storylines. Ms. Pi was such a prominent and memorable character and the actor gave amazing performances over and over again. comrade Joo was another character that was interesting; that scene where the cafeteria lady wanted to feed him because she thought he was her son almost broke me. he was just a kid. there is a lot more to say and i probably have so much more to say as well but i guess this is it for now.
basically, if your Snowdrop experience was not like the feeling of euphoria you would only be able to obtain from hard drugs, then i am so sorry lol. because that is exactly how i would describe it. every. damn. episode. EUPHORIA.
Was this review helpful to you?
try it and probably it's your type of drama
i'm not gonna write a long review for this so...when this drama announced and helmed by the director and writer of sky castle i am very much looking forward to it, then the cast is announced, i do have some not so good thought on Jisoo at first cause is a big drama with a big cast and she take her first lead role in this with her status as an idol, wow. then the news about her auditioned was revealed and i'm good with the cast. so...
Acting: - Jung Hae In was amazing in this, i watched some of his drama before but this one... WOW.
one thing that stand out to me was his facial expression and his accent with that tone just amazed me.
SO GOOD.
- Jisoo good in her first lead role, not gonna lie her acting in episode 1 not so compelling to me and i feel a bit... but then in the later episode till the end she acted so good, the drama do a close-up shots so much so the thing i noticed the most is her facial expression, on certain emotion good, some not but mostly good. ohh at certain dialogs i can't hear her voice clearly but not a big deal so that's ok.
- Kim Hye Yoon oh my god she's amazing, i am annoyed with her character but very much looking forward to what can Kim Hye Yoon offer in the future.
Other casts was doing a very good job especially Yoo In Na and Park Sung Woong, without this two i don't think i can enjoyed this that much.
Story: story is good and intrigued me. people said the hostage situation is dragged in the middle, but for me i like the hostage thing, how they unfold the story, how they negotiate through the phone, ohh people said the negotiation is just like a never ending story cause it's going on loop and i do quite agree with that, but thinking that the negotiation is doing it by a lot of people in 4 different places including code 1, Nam, Eun and Ahn, Lim and Choi and Sooho and Kangmoo just make me even likes the negotiation thingy.
eps 1-4 9.5/10 very good.
eps 5-10 9/10 story unfold and the hostage situation become interesting.
eps 11-13 8/10 story still good but i feel like the flow becoming very much down.
eps 14-15 10/10 the best episodes of all
eps 16 9/10 i do like it but...
as a whole i do feel the ending was very good, but i can't denied that it feel rushed.
OSTs so so good and i still waiting the full album to be released cause the BGM is good too.
Overall Snowdrop is a good drama that it's story highly revolves on the political side.
Ongoing... hooked you, Binge watch... prolly not so much.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
It's a great drama just don't make sense sometimes
First of all, Snowdrop was one of the best kdrama i have ever watched. It had everything which a drama needs to be successful and worth watching.First i would like to talk about acting of different characters....
1)Jisoo - She done an excellent job portraying her emotions and really brought Young-ro alive. She really showed that she cleared the auditions with the help of her acting skills. Everytime she cried..she showed her deepest emotion. Her sadness of never meeting her brother, worry for her father , anger towards her step mother, love towards hae in and friendship with all roomates was delivered with utmost perfection. But there is still some room for improvement...don't take me wrong but she don't know how to steal a scene..she is beautiful no doubt..ofc she is jisoo...but she has to work on her movements..but then she has just started acting and i know she will do much better...alerady want her next work.
Jung hae in- I cant say anything abt his acting..it was top notch and he has improved so much with his actions scenes. With snowdrop he kinda come out of his comfort zone of cute boy characters and showed his versatility in the field.
Yoo in na - Well well well...every scene Yoo in na was in she ruled it...her character was of someone with authority...and her way of walking and low pitched voice clearly represented it. Her expressions were extremely intimidating. Her scenes when she has to manipulate the characters or be a gentle doctor infront of politician were all on the spot. Her action scene with jung hae in was smooth and perfect. She really nailed it. Tbh i was kinda afraid that will she be able to do a role like this when all her roles were of glamorous girls in rom com but now it is as if the role was for her only.
All other actors played their roles well too..
Miss pi was a character played with utmost consciousness...she was someone with rough and hot tampered outlook but was struggling with her own problems and her fear of loosing everything again was shown and portrayed beautifully.
Call attender was an extremely annoying character but again played well.
All other roommates have their own personality and was brought together delicately.
Agents really had an aura which showed their courageous attitude and thinking.
Both the spies really pulled it well.
What i liked -
Seeing all actors out of their comfort zone and nailing it.
Friendship of roomates
Trust of spies trio
Motherly nature of cook
Warden doing everything to save her children.
One way ticket dance scene.
Yoo in na and jung hae in fight scene
Jung hae in and yoo in na past
How they used tge character of wifes to show how deeply south korea was infiltrated by north koreans.
Yoo in na departure
Jisoo emotional scene
Kang hana doing everything for her love
What don't make sense
-jung hae in going back in dormitory and whatever reason they showed wasn't convincing enough.
-yoo in na being able to go in dormitory without any effort
-jisoo being in love after all that
-just how many spies were in that dormitory..like no one was a simple character either they are a spy of belongings to that govt organization.
-fortune teller being a spy
Otherwise it was a great show
Was this review helpful to you?
Yes it might reflect some of the events in the past in Korea and not being a Korean I can't relate to it but the story is pure fictional and it shows what a government can do for their own advantages. The way it is portraited .....I can't describe. It might focus more on politics rather than romance between main couple but its worth watching
I really thought I couldn't watch sad ending dramas... but this drama paved way for sad ending drama for me. So if you are looking for something really mysterious and something that can hook you up to the end I recommend you this drama....
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Worthwatching. Great Acting and Interesting Storyline, but Lacking Some Closure
I understand why so many koreans didn't want this drama to happen, given the innacuracy about the spies and the ANSP. I suggest to whoever wants to watch this to get informed about this period of korean history first, or at least of what's wrong with the drama. This was the reason I wasn't sure about watching it, but I'm glad I did.The acting was excellent, I've liked Haein since Were You Were Sleeping (I literally only finished watching that one because of him, and he wasn't even the lead), and I love seeing him play such a different role here, (now I plan on watching DP just to see him being a badass lol). Most of the supporting cast are very well-known and acclaimed actors and they also did amazing here. I was very nervous about Jisoo, as this was her first drama and she was playing the female lead, but she did honestly great. In the first few episodes I found some of her expressions a little cringeworthy, I'm not gonna lie, but I found all of the actors' expressions like that at the time so it might have been the director's fault? I don't know. But she gets better throughout the show, she nails the dramatic scenes, and I wish we had seen more depth to her character. Her chemistry with Haein was off the charts too, I want to see them together in a light-hearted show in the future. Oh, and special mention to Yoo Inna, whose character and acting was the best on the show along Haein's.
Now to the story. During the first few episodes, I found the politics parts completely uncomprehensible. I couldn't understand who was plotting against who, who were trying to catch the north koreans and who were in control, plus whatever the gossipy ladies were doing and who they were married to. During these episodes, the Youngro and college girls' storyline was what kept me going, it was very entertaining. The scenes where she meets Suho at the group date and then runs into him at the music shop are very cute (when he's making gestures so she picks the paper plane, my heart!!). I wish we could've gotten more of all of this before we got to the hiding Suho part. Still, the episodes where the girls hid him and the open house part were also super entertaining and cute. What I found super annoying was how every 5 seconds someone would get themselves in a situation where they were about to get caught doing something, only for them not to get caught. This literally happens like 10 times during the first 3 eps.
When the hostage situation happened, I finally started understanding the politics part, and Youngro and the girls started losing leadership. The main plotline became about 'how are we getting out of this' and the South-North schemes, instead of the romance (which I wouldn't have minded if this wasn't advertised as a romance). I really liked how they managed to spark the
romance up again after he literally held her at gun-point, hostage and threatened her life several times. It somehow felt natural, so props to the writers for that (it would've felt even more natural if they had known each other more before all of that, though).
I actually liked the ending, I expected things to go like that, I just wished we had gotten news about Dr. Kang, and specially closure on Youngro and her relationship with her roomates. They went through so much together only for them to never speak to her again? Did she ever get to explain she didn't support or speak to her dad? Her brother and the love of her life died and her father is in prison, at least they could've shown she had friends again. I also felt like there was more to Seolhee's character and family and it never got explained.
One thing I really liked was that I didn't know who I was rooting for (other than the college girls) until the last few episodes, Kangmoo and Hanna? The Spies? The ANSP? (no never) Ms. Pi? did I like Bunok or not? (answer was no). It was fun to switch sides every few minutes.
In the end, I really enjoyed the drama. I just wish the leads would have dated or gotten to know each other better before the conflict happens, most of the romance was due to Jisoo and Haein's amazing chemistry and acting rather than how their scenes were written. I also wish they had excluded the whole wives' sub-plot, the actresses were good (and funny, specially the last few eps) but it was so unnecessary.
Was this review helpful to you?
