When Blackpink’s Jisoo starred in her first lead role, it was surprising that she chose a story like Snowdrop. Sure, at the time, stories set in the 1980s were a hit in Korea, with dramas such as Reply 1988 and Youth of May that nostalgically recreated the aesthetics of the time, while also re-examining the loss and the pain under the dictatorship then. Snowdrop does the same, but it adds a more controversial twist– the love story isn’t between innocent bystanders caught in the fire, it’s formed between a South Korean student and a North Korean spy. Writer Yoo Hyun-mi and director Jo Hyun-tak take this interesting premise to chaotic, unpredictable scenes, and it’s a fun ride, at least until the secrets he holds and the politics inevitably brings their childhood to heartwrenching ends. Seolganghwa isn’t a perfect drama, but it’s a story that understands how muddled and confusing the era got, and how much the country should avoid a repeat of state interests acting at the expense of personal freedoms.
Synopsis
In 1987, bloodied man Soo-ho jumps into a women's university dormitory in Seoul. Yeong-ro, a female student who fell in love with him at a group blind date, tends to his wounds as the dormitory is ensnared in intense surveillance. As Soo-ho's secrets unravel, he must eventually face the conflict between his heart to Yeong-ro and responsibility to his comrades, as well as to his sibling who awaits him in his home country. What will be of their fate?
Storyline
Seoul, 1987. When the blood-soaked Lim Soo-ho bursts into the dormitory of a women’s university, one of the students, freshman Eun Yeong-ro, decides to hide him from his attackers, thinking that he’s a pro-democracy protester. They fall in love, but Soo-ho holds a secret that threatens to put their safety at risk.
TLDR
Can we cast Jisoo and Jung Hae-in in a more lighthearted show next time?
What stands out
It’s just kinda brilliant to juxtapose trust and doubt in a partner with trust and doubt in a nation.