Advertisement
Review | K-drama review: Snowdrop – starring Blackpink’s Jisoo, Disney+’s disastrous historical romance awkwardly mixes Shakespeare and politics
- The historical romantic drama revolves around sensitive political protests in 1987, but the show’s terrible scripting and weak lead performances let it down badly
- Jisoo and Jung Hae-in don’t convince in the lead roles, although they’re handicapped by weak characterisations, ponderous dialogue and baffling motivations
Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
16
This article contains mild spoilers.
1/5 stars
Embraced by an adoring and continually expanding global audience, the horizons for K-dramas are bright. However, despite the industry’s generally sunny prospects there exists a significant obstacle on the home front, where sensitive viewer opinions can ground a show before it has had a chance to spread its wings.
Much as with Joseon Exorcist early last year, the debut of the historical romantic drama Snowdrop was met with a flurry of controversy. Viewers felt that the show distorted events surrounding sensitive political protests in 1987, a pivotal year in South Korea’s modern history, and insulted the memory of those involved in the struggles at that time.
Calls for the show’s cancellation came swiftly but in the end, it made it to the finish line. But to get there, JTBC, the cable channel behind the series, saw fit to rush it to its conclusion, releasing three episodes on consecutive days in its second week (as opposed to the usual pair) and then airing its final trio of very long episodes (five hours of content) last weekend.
Advertisement