Crash Landing On You (Web-Series - Netflix)

Arun Gowtham

Plot: Yoon Se-ri, a South Korean young business woman who went paragliding got hit by tornado and accidentally dropped into the restricted military zone of North Korea. Captain Ri Jeong-hyeok who finds her decides to give her shelter and device plans to help her return to South Korea but over the course of time, they fall in love. Captain Ri too has some secrets, he doesn't look like one from a simple background, he seems to have a bothering past too. What was the Captain's concern? Does Yoon Se-ri return to South Korea? Will love bring them together? This is what Crash Landing on You is all about.   

Given a plot like this, it would be natural for any movie watcher to expect that the focus might be only on the lead star, but here every character looks prominent and everyone has a role that has something important. 

Yoon Se-Ri (Son Ye-Jin) 

Yoon Se-ri has to disguise herself as fiance of captain Ri to avoid the doubts and speculation of local people, else it might land her in real trouble, as she might face legal issues for staying in North Korea illegally. In the process, she quickly develops a bond with Captain's colleagues and the neighbourhood women. We also happen to see bits and pieces of stories happening parallely in South Korea in Se-ri's family and an unusual truck inside military zone.

At this point the series looked like it's not just about the two, it has Geo-politics (South/North Korea), Internal politics (North Korea), Family politics (brother(s) from an elite family), an evil state officer who is behind the death of Captain Ri's brother who tries to expose the officer's wrong-doings, Ex fiance of se-ri, fiance of Ri, friendship, bonding and in the middle we have Ri and Se-ri. 

The lead characters as a standalone itself are an interesting one to watch, Yoon Se-Ri is not just a rich woman, she is intelligent and smart that she herself build an emperor of business that blooms in stock market, she has her own witty and humour sense. Captain Ri is a rugged and honest army man, who seems very unlikely to fall easily for women.

The transformation of a rugged man into a caring person, the slowly evolving chemistry/romance between Captain Ri and Se-ri is what hooks the audience. They are amusing at times but that's what make this drama very natural.  Captain Ri, even goes ones step above by over protecting Se-Ri, that deliberately shows his love for her without words spoken. 

Yoon Se-Ri (Son Ye-Jin) and captain Ri Jung Hyuk (Hyun Bin)

The biggest plus about this series is the consistency and balancing. The series had loads of comical , entertaining and emotional moments written in a balanced way. Thanks to the engaging plot and back stories which makes audience to keep waiting and want more as each episode passes. 

The conflict and challenges gets real big with every episode, which gives you feel it might be impossible for the leads to get united?! The tension is real, then comes this smart writing which saves for good.  Technically music and cinematography makes this tale more beautiful.

Bottomline:

A sweet simple heartwarming, love tale of Yoon Se-Ri and Captain Ri, that literally has no boundaries.