Crash Landing On You has all the ingredients of making a successful recipe — two of the hottest stars opposite each other, story revolving around star-crossed lovers, high production budget and top writer. Result — a delectable dish, but not without flaws. It makes for an enjoyable watch with some golden moments and delightful characters.

It involves a South Korean heiress who accidentally lands in the North and falls in love with a North Korean soldier. The show requires a lot of suspension of disbelief right from its main basic plot. Once that is done, it’s an entertaining fictional ride.

The drama is divided into two parts, one in the North and the other in the South. It gives us double ‘fish out of water’ shenanigans.. I never had a doubt about the couple getting its happily ever after. But it is done with an engaging plot, full of romantic and sweet moments. The chemistry between Son Ye Jin and Hyun Bin is charming, and these two look gorgeous. Acting is great as expected, which makes all their scenes lovely. Every scene is framed like a picture perfect romance.

Ri Jung Hyuk is an epitome of an ideal gentleman and companion. He is so naive and adorable and brave, all at the same time. This is the first time I’m seeing Hyun Bin in such a sweet and humble role, as most of his previous ones were arrogant men. It’s exhilaratingly fresh. His shy smiles are so amazing. Yoon Se Ri is resourceful and full of warmth and compassion. Despite there being lots of instances here for her to act as a damsel in distress, Se Ri always uses her brains to solve a situation. I do have some confusion regarding her character though — we see her as a warm person when she is in the North with everyone but it is also hinted that she was cold towards her employees back in the South. There is no clear marking here and hence, I don’t buy the “now our boss is changed” verdict. Even her earlier story of being depressed is not handled skillfully.

It’s refreshing to see a drama showcasing day to day life of the North. I’m not sure how accurate that is but I guess there must be some factual depiction. We see through a motley of characters, the village people as well as the soldiers, how unaware their world is from modern developments. I really enjoyed the fun interactions of our heroine with the village women. They are naive and affectionate.

One of my favourite parts is surely the team of the four soldiers who are always taking care of the hero (and heroine). They are all different and yet similar. Their scenes are hilarious as well as warm and have a lot of heart. I felt sad when they were separated from Se Ri because their newly formed family was just so incredibly sweet.

Coming to the second leads, I found Seo Dan a very strong character and Seo Ji Hye looks amazing and plays her amazingly. This is the first time I saw her in anything. Kim Jung Hyun‘s Gu Seung Joon is a character that did not leave much impression at the start but gradually I started liking him with his sense of humour, cheekiness and also the fact that he redeemed himself by helping our main leads. I was happy that the second leads had their own love story but the culmination of their arc was handled haphazardly and was completely unsatisfying.

The villains as well as Se Ri’s family back home is over the top and boring. The urge to fast forward their scenes was too strong. The soundtrack is also pretty basic and average. The episode length is too long which decreases the enjoyment a bit. Also, I rolled my eyes over the earlier connection of the leads, as it adds another unnecessary layer to the already melodramatic romance.

I did enjoy the cute and simple solution to the problem faced by our hero and his gang when they get caught in the South. The thing about Crash Landing On You is I enjoyed everything and liked everything on a very surface level. It never touched my heart. The cinematography is breathtaking, and add to that the dreamy location of Switzerland with our beautiful leads together, it’s like cherry on top.

Crash Landing On You has become one of the highest rated cable shows of all time and I can see why. Great actors, amusing characters, sweet and easy chemistry, star-crossed romance, enjoyable screenplay. But it never had my heart completely.

My Rating: 7.5 out of 10