Disclaimer: The following is just my own personal opinion as a viewer (and a blink) who watched this series for entertainment purpose. Also, may contain spoilers ahead.

After (what felt like years of) long delay of the release of the Korean drama Snowdrop (설강화), the highly anticipated drama starring Blackpink’s Jisoo finally aired its first episode on December 18, 2021. I was probably one of the many blinks who were excited and curious about Jisoo’s acting debut as a main lead on this drama that has been gathering a lot of attention since the beginning of its filming. So, as soon as they released the first two episodes, I started watching and following this series as they unfold new episodes every weekend.

Jisoo’s Acting

First, I’m going to talk about the main reason I even started watching this drama, which is Jisoo because honestly, if I had to decide wether or not to watch this drama by only reading the synopsis and Jisoo isn’t starring in it, I probably skip this one altogether (historical drama is just not my thing personally). And just like any other times where an idol is making a main-lead acting debut on tv series or movies, people has certain expectations as well as preconceived bias (good or bad) towards that idol. Die-hard fans will mostly quick to support their idol wether their acting was good or bad while the general public who’s not necessarily familiar with the idol will either take interest in the debut or already has doubts about their acting skills because they are an idol. I’m not saying that these represent all general public, but these are some common reactions that I’ve read a lot online and I think it’s warranted for since there were cases in the past where idols crossed over to the acting world with subpar acting. And so, as much as I wanted Jisoo to do well, even I as a Blackpink fan was honestly a little nervous about Jisoo’s acting and worried that I will be disappointed.

But disappointed I was not because Jisoo did managed to perform above my expectations and then some. Starting off as a kind, funny, naive, and empathetic Yeong-ro in the first couple of episodes, she set the tone of the drama really well by giving the viewers a look into Yeong-ro’s mind and her world. From Yeong-ro’s friendship with her roommates to the love strucked version of herself after meeting Soo-hoo during the group blind date, every scenes Jisoo did feel natural and fitting to her character. Honestly, I see a little bit of an overlap between Jisoo’s real life character and Yeong-ro’s character that sometimes made me feel that I’m just watching Jisoo on screen (Blackpink members mentioned this too during their OT4 Instagram live a while back and I can totally see why). But when she’s in her Yeong-ro’s persona, she’s a little more restrained and graceful in the way she speaks and acts (albeit her funny scenes).

This version of Yeong-ro is then carried through the second part of the drama where it took a dark, dark turn with the whole hostage situation going on in the dorm. And this is when Yeong-ro’s character evolved to a more sombre, sad, and scared version but still maintaining her empathetic, good-natured self. I don’t think there’s a lot of scenes where Yeong-ro smiles after the hostage situation began and it’s honestly kind of depressing to watch Jisoo constantly in tears, feeling guilty, scared or having guns pointed at her head. But I have to say those scenes also showed a different side of her that I haven’t seen before. It was pretty captivating to see her portraying emotions that I never seen her wear on her face.

Snowdrop (설강화) - Eun Yeong-ro (Jisoo) — *Photo Courtesy of* *JTBC*

Then towards the end of the drama, we see another evolution of Yeong-ro where her braveness, determination, and selflessness shine. She was fighting for love, life and justice for the people around her and it was fascinating to see. I think all in all, for her first main lead role, she performed really well. We can truly see a wide range of Jisoo’s acting through this drama and I’m looking forward to other acting gig she’ll take on in the future (hopefully with a less depressing storyline than this one).

Snowdrop (설강화) - Eun Yeong-ro (Jisoo) & Lim Soo-ho (Jung Hae-in) — *Photo Courtesy of* *JTBC*

Plot

Having been heavily promoted as a romance drama, I have certain expectations about the romance storyline between Yeoung-ro and Soo-hoo. I mean if you were me and looked at these promotional posters, you probably have that expectations too right?

These photos of Yeong-ro and Soo-ho basking in the warm yellow lights staring at each other longingly as if they’re falling in love in the prime of their youth can probably be categorized as strategic marketing or clickbait material, depending on how you look at it I guess. Me, personally, as a viewer, saw this as a clickbait poster because none of these scenes nor expectations of a good romance plot represented by these posters were delivered (imho). They probably should’ve used this poster for the main marketing materials and I would definitely have a different expectations for the romance arc.

The series teased about the possibility of a happy ending for these two in the early episodes, where the story was still focusing on Yeong-ro’s dorm life with her friends and the couple’s brief interaction on the day of the group blind date. There were some good moments between the two that clearly showed their attractions to each other. But now looking back, I think those moments were too light and too few to overcome the darker and heavier things that happened afterwards and sustain the chemistry between the two of them for the rest of the series.

It also felt like Yeong-ro and Soo-ho’s chance of finding love was doomed the moment Soo-hoo pointed his gun at Yeong-ro’s head and used her as a shield before taking the whole dorm hostage. After that episode aired, I remember discussing this with my sister and we asked each other how Soo-ho’s redeeming arc will be written in order for him to be able to be together with Yeong-ro. That arc needs to be really good because otherwise, there were only two possibilities that we could see going forward after seeing that scene. One scenario is that this is a case of stockholm syndrome romance where Yeong-ro will fall in love with her captor (the classic Beauty and the Beast scenario). And the other scenario is that those two wouldn’t end up together (which in the end was the case). Both weren’t very appealing scenarios to be honest.

Throughout the series, I honestly was hoping that there will be some kind of plot twist that will give them a happy ending. But it’s clear as the story progressed, no such thing was happening. Even the coffee making scene which led to the couple’s first kiss fell kind of flat and, I don’t know, forced in a sense that it felt like the scene was there just to get them alone in the attic and kiss. There were so many issues that haven’t been resolved between the two of them and drinking coffee and sort of just ‘forget’ about those felt a little bit like a cop-out solution. That’s just me though. Maybe I’m more of a skeptic. Maybe for a young girl in college who just met her first love, a cup of coffee was enough to forgive and forget. Don’t take me wrong though, Jisoo’s and Hae-in’s acting were good. The chemistry was there. It’s just the plot that was kind of disappointing.

Romance aside, the spy/political arc kind of took over the majority of the episodes after the hostage situation began and I feel Yeong-ro’s role faded into the background quite a bit. Jisoo’s screen time didn’t feel as prominent as it was in the earlier episodes and even her role as Soo-ho’s love interest also seemed to be slowly put aside, especially after Cheong-ya’s identity has been revealed to the hostages. There were more scenes involving Soo-ho and Cheong-ya after that and to be quite honest, given their history and interaction inside the dorm, a romance arc between the two seemed to be more plausible and made sense at this point.

Snowdrop (설강화) - Lim Soo-ho (Jung Hae-in) & Kang Cheong-ya (Yoo In-na) — *Photo Courtesy of* *JTBC*

Memorable Moments

There were some feel-good moments and also I-want-to-strangle-this character moments through out this series. Let’s start with the latter ones. I have to say I can’t stand Nam Tae-il and Ahn Gyeong-hui’s characters in this series. Nam Tae-Il’s constant obnoxious, loud, and sometimes stupid comments and Ahn Gyeong-hui’s yes man, people pleasing but cunning attitude sometimes made me just fast forward their scenes. Also, I would be very concerned if people like them hold high positions in the government.

Second there’s Gye Bun-ok who constantly made me roll my eyes every time she appeared. Her character was actually likable in the early episodes, when she was kind to Yeong-ro and tried to cover for her when she was late back to the dorm for roll call. But then she just turned to the dark side ever since finding out about Yeong-ro and Soo-ho during the open house. The girl seemed incapable of showing loyalty, compassion and accepting forgiveness. I get that she has a rough, traumatic childhood growing up but still. It’s fascinating to see, though, how different she and Ms. Pi responded to the situation despite their mutual traumatic past.

Snowdrop (설강화) - Gye Bun-ok (Kim Hye-yoon) — *Photo Courtesy of* *JTBC*

For the feel-good scenes, Yeong-ro’s whole ordeal of getting back to her dorm room for roll call through the window was pretty epic. There was tension, drama and comedy all mixed together and we can clearly see the warm comradery between Yeong-ro and her friends. I think that is one of my favorite scenes in this drama. Other than that, I enjoy all of Yeoung-ro’s scenes with her roommates just because despite of Hye-ryeong’s constant protests, in the end they seemed to always band together and help each other out. Kind of reminded me of the good ol’ college days when friends feel like your family and you’d do anything for them.

Snowdrop (설강화) - Go Hye-ryeong (Jung Shin-hye)

Snowdrop (설강화) - Yeo Jeong-min (Kim Mi-soo)

Snowdrop (설강화) - Yoon Seol-hui (Choi Hee-jin)

I also quite like Cheong-ya’s character throughout the series. She’s smart, loyal, and sometimes ruthless but without feeling like she loses her humanity in the process. I admire her for staying true to her words and helped out Soo-ho until the end.

Snowdrop (설강화) - Kang Cheong-ya (Yoo In-na) & Lim Soo-ho (Jung Hae-in) — *Photo Courtesy of* *JTBC*

Anyway, overall, it was still an enjoyable series. I think for me, following it when it was airing also helped me to not get bored and just abandoned the series altogether because of the heavy spy/political arc towards the middle and end. Also, having talked to a couple of other blinks who watched the series as well, I think the general consensus was we're all pretty happy with Jisoo’s acting, a little disappointed with the plot but enjoyed the series overall. And I think this review’s long enough so I’ll just end it here.

(If any of you watched this series as well, let me know your thoughts on the comments section. Would love to read them.)