The Watch
Crash Landing On You’s latest episode is certainly an emotional one and ends with a very tense cliffhanger after an engrossing 85 minute slice of drama. The show has so far remained consistent in terms of its story and character development, and that’s partly thanks to the actors who do an excellent job with their roles, especially Son Ye-Jin ( Se-Ri) who has great chemistry with Hyun-Bin and the rest of the cast. Episode 8 of Crash Landing On You begins with Jeong-Hyeok talking to Seo-Dan about Se-Ri and telling her that he wants to make sure she gets back home safely. Seung-Jung tells Se-Ri she should be careful and disappear because if something happens to her, all the people who helped her will get into trouble. Worried about her safety, Jeong-Hyeok decides to take an ambulance to find Se-Ri but comes to a dead end and returns to his hospital room. The next day, the four soldiers visit him in hospital, anxious for news. Seung-Jung rings Jeong-Hyeok to tell him that she’s with him and to stop looking for her while the soldiers wonder why Se-Ri didn’t come to the phone. Pyo speculates about the man she’s with, calling him her boyfriend. This angers Jeong as he raises his voice, insisting that he’s not her boyfriend. However, his mood quickly changes for the better when he finds out that Se-Ri called him “ultimate favourite” to the patient next door. Back in his villa, Se-Ri asks Seung-Jung how he’s planning to help her get back home. He tells her he’ll use his other British identity and proposes a fake marriage to get her a different passport. During dinner, Seung-Jung proposes to Se-Ri with a ring as he wants to do things right while we see Jeong-Hyeok arriving at the villa after looking for its location all day. He turns the power off and starts beating up all the guards. Se-Ri sees him through the window and as she’s about to open the door, Seung-Jung stops her and explains that if Jeong-Heyok manages to send her back home, his safety would not be guaranteed as Seo-Dan wants to expose her. Se-Ri steps out and berates Jeong-Hyeok for arriving after getting shot. She tells him she’s decided to stay with Seung-Jung and follow his plan to get married. Telling him that he keeps failing at sending her back, she explains that they shouldn’t see each other anymore. Jeong-Hyeok decides to leave but Se-Ri quickly changes her mind and drives to find him and take him home. Unfortunately, the car is out of gas and they’re forced to seek shelter in a nearby school. Meanwhile, Cho meets with the Military Director of the Central Committee to tell him that the son of the General Political Bureau Director is protecting a woman from South Korea and wants them to be investigated. The Director agrees but request that he brings the woman to him. In the school, Jeong-Hyeok asks Se-Ri if she is really going to marry Seung-Jung. She tells him that it’s only on paper but she remains worried about what will happen to his life now that Seo-Dan knows about her. The next day, Cho arrives with soldiers at the villa to look for Se-Ri while we see Seo-Dan visiting Jeong’s father. Meanwhile, Se-Ri and Jeong-Hyeok manage to return to the village. Se-Ri decides to stay a while to look after him while we see Man-Bok listening to them speak in his station. Cho calls him to ask if they’re back but Man-Bok lies and tells him they haven’t. As we cut back to the village, the women are happy to see Se-Ri and asks her if she’s staying. After pawning off her engagement ring, she decides to buy them gifts to thank them for their kindness. At the pawn shop, she sees an expensive watch and decides to buy it, not realizing that it’s the same watch Jeong-Hyeok gave his brother many years ago. In South Korea, Chang-Sik and Su-Chan remain determined to find their boss, which leads them to find her father and tell him his daughter is alive and in North Korea. Back in the village, Jeong-Hyeok wakes up to a make-shift Christmas tree Se-Ri made. After phoning him, she tells him she has left and didn’t want to say goodbye again. As he rushes outside, she’s nowhere to be seen. It turns out she’s actually been taken away by two men who are holding her at gunpoint in a truck, forcing her to tell him to be happy and to forget their time together. He insists on finding out her whereabouts but she says goodbye and tells him she loves him. Just as she hangs up, a gunshot bursts the silence. The epilogue shows us Seoul one year before on Christmas Eve as we see a much colder Se-Ri making her employee work late. We then cut forward to how Se-Ri was kidnapped in North Korea as she was about to give Jeong-Hyeok the watch she found at that market. What another great episode this week! With a run-time of a little over 80 minutes, the episode surprisingly doesn’t feel that long, with plenty of tense, touching and fun scenes to digest. Crash Landing On You is certainly set to be one of the best Korean dramas this year and the ratings are only reinforcing this. Seeing Se-Ri trying to let Jeong-Hyeok go when he arrived to save her was one of the most emotional moments in the episode as our protagonist struggles with her feelings and knows that being together poses a real danger. The ending was really tense too and this unpredictability is helped along thanks to the original plot line set in both North and South Korea. The epilogues at the end of each episode are always a nice touch too and really do add more depth. As we cross the halfway point of this one, Crash Landing On You has been a real emotional rollercoaster so far. The day Se-Ri has to leave will definitely be very sad, especially with the four soldiers growing so fond of her. I’m really looking forward to seeing how everything will unfold for Se-Ri and Jeong-Heyok in the future and undoubtedly I’ll be counting the days until next Saturday!
