‘You came into my life as a gift’: the extraordinary cross border love story of Captain Ri, Jeong-hyoek and Yoon, Se-ri

In this second part of my love for K-drama series I focus entirely on one serial, my favourite, Crash landing on you (2019). So if you bear with me I will take you through a tale of romance, love, friendships across borders which cannot end on a note of fulfilment in ‘serial’ time. Borders, says Geetanjali Shree in her tome Tombs of Sand, should be about where people meet but instead the borders created in the 20^th century are about partitioning peoples’ lives and keeping them apart. And so it is with North and South Korea, which is where the protagonists in this story live, separated in their lifetime.

 

Crash landing is in 16 episodes, each 90 minutes, very long, and yet it had record viewership in Korea beside being one of the highest revenue earners for tv serials. It continues to fascinate audiences across the world in every age group in my experience since both I and a young 31-year-old friend loved it. Replete with romance, adventure, fun and tragedy it is a highly entertaining and seductive watch. The fact that it has interesting dialogues, dramatic situations, attractive characters and is often hilarious and depicts what South Koreans imagine to be the North, helps but so does the technical work of filmmaking with iconic shots, and stills that stay with you. It also helps that the acting is excellent with Korea’s silver screen idols Hyun Bin and Son Ye-jin as Ri Jeong-hyoek and Yoon, Se-ri respectively as the main protagonists. There are also other great performances from the four+one of Captain’s Ri’s comrades and several others.

 

The Story. 

Yoon Se-ri,  a chaebol heiress and the owner of a fashion and design company in South Korea decides to paraglide to test the new sportwear that her company is to launch. A storm brews and the next thing is, she is lost. In the North Captain Ri Jeong-hyoek and his platoon are on the last day of the border patrol. On hearing a cry for help Ri  tells his men to spread out and locate the voice which they don’t hear but he does. A woman is seen lodged high up on a tree in her paragliding harness. At his command (he has a gun) she unbuckles and falls straight down on top of him and that’s why the title Crash landing. She realises she is in the North and not the South, manages to convince him to show her the way back to the border but Jeong-hyoek steps on a mine and can’t move. Se-ri takes advantage of his immobility and runs away. She is chased by Capt. Ri’s men, loses her way and lands in what she thinks is a South Korean village but is the military village where Capt. Ri has his quarters, and unknowingly she stands right in front of it. Just as Ri, Jeong-hyoek  is returning home a jeep with the Commander of the dreaded National Security department, Cho Cheol-gang, the main villain in the story, rolls by. Ri Jeong-hyoek takes a split-second decision and moves her physically from outside to the inside of his compound and his fate is sealed; he has committed a crime. 

 

The four men in his platoon who are closest to Ri didn’t catch Yoon Se-ri because each one was in some way remiss: Master Sergeant Pyo, Chi-Su was groggy having drunk the night before while on duty; Staff sergeant Kim Ju-meok was watching old South Korean K-drama in the observation tower that morning instead of the radar screen on which Yoon, Se-ri could be clearly seen; and youngster, 17 year old Geom, Eun-dong was crying over his mother’s letter sitting in the tall grass as Se-ri ran past him. Only First Lieutenant Park, Kwam-beom had an excuse; he was busy defusing the mine on which Captain Ri had stepped. These excuses more or less characterise the four men for who they are: Kim Ju-meok the K-drama addict who comes in useful in translating cultural practices of the south to his comrades and of the north to Yoon Se-ri;  the loudmouthed Master Sergeant Pyo, Chi-Su who is irritatingly opinionated but has his heart in the right place; the quiet and handsome Park, Kwam-beom who is closest to the captain; Geom, Eun-dong the youngest whom the others protect. So when all four of them meet at Captain Ri Jeong-hyeok’s house next morning it is clear to them that they cannot  report Yoon, Se-ri to the dreaded National Security department because they themselves would be in real trouble. And so begins the pact to keep her presence secret and try and find a way to send her back to the South. The first nine episodes are primarily about hiding Yoon, Se-ri and failed attempts to send her back, keeping her safe from the National Security department and especially from Cho Cheol Gang. After many dangerous (and one near death experience for Jeong-Hyoek) but also hilarious escapades, Captain Ri  manages to find a way in Episode 9 to help Yoon, Se-ri across the border. By this time the love between Jeong-hyoek and Se-ri has become an acknowledged reality. Their parting at the border is all the more poignant as a result. 

 

Like with other serials Crash landing is replete with plots and sub plots intertwining with each other. The other main story alongside that of Ri, Jeong-hyoek and Yoon, Se-ri is that of Gu Seung-joon and Seo Dan both of whom are connected to Jeong-hyoek and Se-ri. Gu Seung-joon is basically a handsome, suave and charming swindler posing as a businessman who has just stolen a fortune from Yoon, Se-ri’s brother and run away (he has a British passport) to North Korea because he thinks he can’t be found there. He almost got engaged to Yoon, Se-ri while in Seoul but she was smart enough to see that all he wanted was to get her fortune. Seo Dan is the haughty heiress of the only department store in Pyongyang who is betrothed to Ri, Jeong-hyoek (arranged by the parents) and who almost misses out on her own love story with Gu Seung-joon because she is so jealous of Yoon, Se-ri with whom her fiancée has fallen hopelessly and seriously in love. 

 

When the theatre of events shifts to Seoul in Episode 10 we meet Se-ri’s family with whom she has a fraught relationship. Her father the patriarch and owner of the huge conglomerate wants her to inherit the chairmanship of the firm to the great chagrin of her two older brothers and mother who is not her biological mother. Her second brother and his wife who is appointed head during the time that Yoon, Se-ri is stranded in the North and later given up for dead, do everything in their power to keep her in the north and then to get her killed when she is back in Seoul. 

 

The third major subplot and without which the main plot would be an insipid love story centres around Cho, Cheol-gang, the supposed villain of the story. Cho, Cheol-gang is the lieutenant of the dreaded National security department for the area and of the military village where Captain Ri Jeong-hyoek is stationed. He runs a lucrative smuggling business, is merciless with anyone opposing him, and bribes seniors to keep them sweet. Cho, Cheol-gang plots to get rid of Ri Jeong-hyoek because he has started an investigation against Cho, Cheol which threatens to expose a serious crime he was involved in against Jeong-hyoek’s family. Cho, Cheol-gang is after Se-ri and basically wants to use her a South Korean trespasser sheltered by Jeong-hyoek to bring down Ri Jeong-hyoek’s prestigious family. He is sentenced to lifelong imprisonment on the evidence provided by Jeong-Hyoek but manages to escape during transport to prison and flees to Seoul with the intention of kidnapping Yoon, Se-ri and bringing her back to Pyongyang to get his own back on Jeong-hyoek and his father. When Jeong-hyoek learns of the escape he follows Cho, Cheol Gang to Seoul. Episodes 10 to 16 takes place in Seoul. In Episode 15 Ri, Jeong-hyoek and his five comrades are captured by the NIS the South Korean intelligence services. They are sent back to North Korea in Episode 16. 

 

And the international border cutting off the North from the South runs through the story line as a central character.

 

This then are the bare bones of the story and gives you the gist of the many hurdles that the unlikely pair and the gang of four have to navigate. I don’t want to give too much away hoping that you will some time see it and enjoy it as much as I have. To discover Jeong-hyoek’s and Se-ri’s secrets which come gradually to light you have to see the serial.

 

Why I loved this serial and why you should see it

Love and romance. This serial was the first I saw seriously and came back to off and on to enjoy my favourite episodes. Its centrally about love and romance which because of the fact that international borders separate the pair and there is no hope in their lifetime of living together, could have been embarrassingly sentimental but is not speaks highly of the treatment of romance, for the quality of direction, the script, the acting and lots more. What it is, is a story filled with tenderness and longing, nostalgia intermixed with plain fun and mischief. As Se-ri and Jeong-hyoek navigate the dangerous terrain of life as fugitives (Jeong-hyoek is harbouring a fugitive) in the North and equally dangerous but with different risks in the South (where Jeong-hyoek is the fugitive), they learn to protect each other even to the point of risking their own lives. 

 

It’s a romantic comedy without a conventional ending in that it does not culminate in marriage and living together since they live in each other’s enemy country. The last scene of the serial can easily be misread and a friend did misread it, because it paints an ideal picture of the two lovers in Europe arm in arm against a backdrop of mountains and wonderful sunshine (we only have five of those in Europe) and a picnic laid out. This idealised moment is preceded by the camera following Se-ri in what seems to be her mountain chalet picking up things for the picnic and we catch fleeting glimpses of the photos in the room which are of them. All of this seems to create the illusion of ‘living happily ever after’ unless we recall what Se-ri has said in an earlier scene when asked whether she will be in the country again for fifteen days to which her reply was that for her these were the best fifteen days of the year. So the living together is an annual event for fifteen days which is insecure, completely dependent on the political fortunes of the two countries, contingent upon Jeong-hyoek being allowed abroad to take part in the music (piano) fellowships that Se-ri’s family firm has set up. The idealised moment of the last scene celebrates the intensity of the relationship in the here and now.

 

This romance is very much in keeping with the Korean cultural trope of impossible and forbidden love and because of that it is about love itself. I watched the scene again last night where at the very end of Episode 9 Ri, Jeong Hyoek escorts Se-ri to the border so that as a civilian she can cross without fear of being shot. He prolongs this walk saying he has lost his way and in the time left tells her to go back to her life, forget about everything that happened, and never to think ever again about disappearing (euphemism for committing suicide which she had attempted seven years ago in Switzerland). ‘Because now you have me’ he says simply. Her reply that he would not be by her side is greeted with the assurance that nevertheless he would always want that she is happy and with that he dedicates his life to her. This simple declaration  of love is in my book the most poignant among the 20 odd serials I have seen so far. The next minute they are pulling each other’s leg about whether or not she should have boyfriends immediately on her return or undergo a condolence period of six months, something that Se-ri had prescribed for him. The intensity of the love declaration moment is broken by this interlude saving it from becoming sickly sweet, sticky and pedestrian. 

 

It is only when he is in Seoul and Se-ri is hospitalised in a critical condition (she was shot while trying to save him from Cho Cheol Gang) that Jeong-hyoek realises that he wants a chance to have her in his life knowing that it is a dream that will break his heart because it can never be. His silent plea to her is to please live. As a friend remarked on seeing this serial it is very innocent but not naïve and this selfless love is part of this innocence.

 

Friendships. As with other serials Crash Landing too has very strong friendships which propel the story and make it all the more interesting. Among the most prominent group of friends is the four men in Captain Ri’s platoon who are closest to him: Master Sergeant Pyo, Chi-Su, Staff sergeant Kim Ju-meok, First Lieutenant Park, Kwam-beom, and Geom, Eun-dong. Through them we get a glimpse of the life of soldiers in the North. Despite the hierarchy between them they look after each other and especially Geum, Eun-dong a 17-year-old who has joined the army early in life to support his widowed mother and his many siblings. They are especially indulgent towards him and treat him as a minor who has to be protected. This leads to hilarious situations in which Park, Kwam-beom, his main guardian, prevents him from ‘seeing’ adult scenes as when Jeong-hyoek and Se-ri are seen embracing in the hospital room when the latter wakes up from coma. Kwam-beom promptly covers Eun-dong’s eyes. 

 

The comradery between the four extends to their captain Jeong-hyoek for whom they are the only set of friends he has although he is their superior. Despite this closeness however the relationship is a critical one in that they obviously can tell each other off – when Jeong-hyoek raises his voice against Pyo, Chi-su, the latter indignantly asks if (and not why) Jeong-hyoek is actually shouting at him. Similar exchanges happen between the others and Pyo, Chi-su where they challenge him. They come closer because they share a secret; they are hiding an enemy amongst their midst for which they could be shot. In protecting Se-ri each one of them develops a special relationship with her although Chi-su refuses to let on that he has succumbed to the charms of the ‘enemy’. They are chosen by Jeong-hyoek’s father as being closest to the captain to go to Seoul and bring him back. To this foursome on their way to Seoul is added a new entrant known to them, Jeong, Man-bok who plays a critical role in getting Cho, Cheol Gang, the villain, convicted. In Seoul when Se-ri is in grave danger and Jeong-hyoek refuses to involve them because it is not part of their responsibility as soldiers, they persuade the captain by saying that Se-ri has become a friend now and protecting her is a responsibility. 

 

The other important group of friends are the four women (plus an extended group)  of the military village where Jeong-hyoek is quartered. There are two heads of this group Wol Sook who is officially in charge of the commune and Aeong, the wife of the senior colonel. Clearly Aeong is superior in terms of social hierarchy whom everybody is obsequious towards except Wol Sook when she is drunk. Their manly idol is Captain Ri, Jeong-hyoek with whom they are all in love irrespective of the fact that they are all older than him and they are married. They support each other in times of trouble and after the initial stand-off with Yoon Se-ri rally round her and make her a part of the gang.

 

Both these friendship groups play important roles in the story. They are like the ‘chorus’ in Greek plays commenting on main events or adding to it or describing the main characters and relationships. The four men in Captain Ri’s platoon keep up a running commentary about him that tells you that Ri, Jeong-hyoek is upright, uncompromising about the truth and honest to a fault which makes him unpopular with his superiors. As the relationship between Se-ri and Captain Ri develops they comment on and continuously give humorous updates on what’s going on. From the women’s interactions we learn how handsome and cool Captain Ri is and how possessive they are of him always stocking his cellar with kimchi, meat and other goodies that a bachelor soldier posted on the frontline cannot come by. 

 

Both chorus’s also serve as commentators on society. From the four men we learn about the hierarchies and the difficulties of army life, the social barriers, the background and poverty of the ordinary soldiers. But they also tell us about the extraordinary skill sets they are trained to have including martial arts which is on display in the serial. With the women we are introduced to the hardships of everyday existence including living without electricity for most of the time, fetching water, keeping families together on very little even though their husbands are soldiers and they have some earning. And everywhere all the time is the incredible hierarchies which seem indomitable but are breached by common sense. And then there is the drinking, both women and men’s groups, to the point of getting completely sozzled with hilarious consequences. 

 

Crash landing is also hilarious. Which is why it was so entertaining. Like all romantic comedies this serial balances romance with comedy right from the start. First is what in romantic comedies is called a meet-cute, girl meets boy, and the way these two meet is hilarious. Se-ri sees Jeong-hyoek from the top of a tree where she is stuck and mistakes him in turn to be a South Korean soldier then a north Korean deserter whom she effusively welcomes to the south. Asked to come down she lands on top of him. When Jeong-hyoek is immobilised because he is standing on a mine she cheekily asks for directions to the border, warns him not to shoot her when her back is turned because that would be plain mean, and then declares to the exasperated Jeong-hyoek that it was a pity they would never meet again since she really found him good-looking. Later when she does find herself dependent on him she tries to explain to him that she is very rich and would reward him if he helps her escape to no avail; Jeong-hyoek simply says he couldn’t care less who she is and remains immune to her stories about her wealth. Or when she tries to teach him how to look and behave bereft when she finally goes emphasizing that that he should say she left him and not the other way round, he ends the conversation with I don’t know why that is important but I will do that. And the repartee goes on throughout the time she is in the north. The exchanges between Se-ri and the team of men are especially hilarious especially with Pyo, Chi-su who thinks it is his socialist duty to oppose the capitalist from the south. Jeong-hyoek has to intervene when they are competing in trading insults in northern and southern dialects when they first meet and they are all in danger; is this really important to know who can curse better, north or south, he asks. The interactions between the women of the military village and with Se-ri are hysterical especially when Seo Dan, Jeong-hyoek’s official fiancée comes visiting. Jeong-hyoek had introduced Se-ri earlier as his fiancée to save her from being arrested by Cho Cheol Gang who was on one of his house searches. So on hearing that there is another woman in Jeong-hyoek’s life they switch loyalty and vow over lots of beer and dried pollack fish to get their revenge on him. The humour and comedy lighten situations and incidents that could become intense and sentimental especially when Ri’s four chosen men and Man-bok are in Seoul and when Se-ri is injured and in hospital. They poke fun at Ri, Jeong-hyoek when they see their cool, reserved strategic leader metamorphosized into an illogical, head over heels in love man-boy serving Se-ri hand and foot. And when they feel it’s over the top they go off to eat spicy fish soup saying that it is an antidote when one feels like throwing up!

 

North and South from another angle. The border between the north and south is often mentioned by both Se-ri and by Ri’s men. They talk about it nostalgically and about the possibilities of unity, of seeing each other again, although Pyo, Chi-su characteristically dismisses it as propaganda. The border and the line of demarcation become the stuff of jokes between Jeong-hyoek and Se-ri as she blames it for making her a flirt who constantly breaks up her relationships because she couldn’t meet her chosen one who happened to be on the other side of the border.

 

The treatment of the north south divide is very different in this story from that we are used to especially those of us who on a regular basis are exposed to western media telling us about the evil empire in the north. The view of the north in this serial is from the perspective of the makers of the serial who happen to live on the same land mass albeit in the south, who share a language, cuisine and culture with their counterparts in the north. And because the serial starts in the north with the dashing Captain Ri, Jeong-hyoek and his funny, lovable gang we are gradually introduced to life in the north which while it differs quite considerably from the south in terms of creature comforts and state of development is nevertheless familiar. The depiction of the north while exposing the everyday difficulties and lack of amenities is throughout treated respectfully as equal and not as poor relatives to be pitied nor condemned as the evil empire. And in fact what seems to be different as for example Yoon, Se-ri’s family wealth and the power that comes with it is not that dissimilar to the power and privileges enjoyed by Captain Ri, Jeong-hyoek’s family except that it is in a different currency, political capital. Both fathers are patriarchs who are powerful and they use this power to get their way. As the serial begins on the south side we see Se-ri’s father being released on bail having been imprisoned because of financial misdemeanours. We also learn how ruthlessly he treated Gu Seung-joon’s father.  On the north side when Se-ri disappears Jeong-hyoek accuses his father of killing her knowing fully well that the father is quite capable of doing so. The children from both sides of the divide are under no illusion about the ruthlessness of their elders.

 

We also learn that the warmth of friendship and the excitement and commitment of a love relationship is not specific to one side of the divide, the south. On the contrary Se-ri who despite her wealth and powerful position in the South is a lonely soul finds for the first time in her life true friendships in the north among the gang of four soldiers and among the women of the military village. The gang of four men are affectionate and totally loyal to her and not only because she and Jeong-hyoek are a pair but because of their relationship with her, Se-ri. 

 

The best depiction of the tragedy of the divide is in the penultimate episode when Jeong-hyoek and his men are about to be transported back to the north. The handover of the men by the south NIS to the National Security of the north occurs at the border where the Line of Control is clearly marked in yellow across the expanse of the road. As Ri, Jeong-hyoek crosses the LOC and is being handcuffed, a car stops on the south side of the LOC and out tumbles Se-ri who on seeing the handcuffs on Jeong-hyoek starts running towards him. Realising that she is sprinting towards him despite her weakened condition (she has just come from the hospital where she was on the brink of death for some time) Jeong-hyoek yells don’t run and then forcibly releases himself and without fear of being shot runs towards her and crosses the LOC. As the two ill-fated lovers cling to each other the guns bristle on both sides of the LOC with the south NIS protecting the lovers and the soldiers on the northern side making sure that Jeong-hyoek does not escape. And all around them are billboards with Peace written on them. This iconic scene pregnant with meaning and desire is unmatched by any others I have seen in a long time.

I took the wrong train but arrived at my destination: to you

This is a running gag between Se-ri and Jeong-hyoek said in different ways. The Guardian article on this serial called it the implausible tale and I am reminded of it when this gag between the two  becomes a reality in the film. The consequence for me an avid K-drama watcher is that the story of Jeong-hyoek and Se-ri  spoils me for other romances. I recently watched Queen of Tears (2023) which has been highly praised by the east Asian K-drama critics and found to my distress that it was insipid, without humour and bereft of drama that is at the heart of the implausible tale of the two lovers in the cross-border tale. The dangerous situations for lovers in the Queen of Tears appear contrived when one thinks of the nail-biting drama of Se-ri and Jeong-hyoek’s lives. Not that I am believer of reality in art and fiction; so-called reality is overrated and anyway whose reality are we talking about! The willing suspension of disbelief with which I enter into the relationship with a book, a film and K-drama makes it possible to be in their world. In Crash Landing you worry for them and hope they will meet again. And in doing so Yoon, Se-ri and Ri, Jeong-hyoek get right under your skin and stay there.