What is there to say about Crash Landing that hasn't already been said? Amazing OST that will bring tears to your eyes just hearing it? Check. Interesting backdrop that provides compelling motivation for the leads? Check. Second lead syndrome so bad you will watch a whole other drama just to see the two second leads interact again? Check. Main lead chemistry so strong it quite literally launched their relationship? Also check.

Every bit of this show is dripping in love and attention. There are very few dramas where I will listen to every song in the OST after finishing, but CLOY is one of them. The only other one that comes to mind is Hotel Del Luna. The OST succeeds at pulling on all the right heartstrings to make you fall in love with the characters, or cry your eyes out when they are in pain.

Despite a lot of the clichés, like having met before and forgetting each other, somehow it works in this drama. I think the fact they only reveal the past meetings of Yoon Se-ri and Ri Jung-Hyuk after we have already fallen in love with them as a couple helps this fact. Often times, it feels like writers use the whole past lives or past meetings as a crutch to force the audience into rooting for a couple that may be lacking in chemistry. This is not the case here. You can feel the magnetism between the two main leads from the first few episodes, and it never lets up the entire show. The scenes between Yoon Se-ri and Ri Jung-Hyuk in the interrogation room with the NIS makes you heart ache, and you can see how both of them are so in love with each other that they are willing to inflict unimaginable pain on themselves just to help the other.

The supporting characters are also amazingly well-rounded. The second lead syndrome here is so real, i went and watched Dinner Mate afterwards just to catch another glimpse of the secondary couple. My one complaint is that the tragic ending for the second couple feels like it undercuts a bit of the message. Had they ended up together, it would have shown Seo-Dan that love that blooms naturally is better than trying to force it with someone who does not love you back, and Goo Seung-Jeun would have proven to himself that someone can indeed love him and he is not (at least not entirely) the bad person he makes himself out to be. Seo-Dan had an understanding of him that no one else did.

You find yourself rooting even for the background characters. Captain Ri's squad all have their unique personalities, from Sergeant Pyo's facade of cold uncaringness hiding his sensitive inner personality, to Private Tang's naivety and boyish wonder. Each is so unique, yet feels like they could be real friends if they did exist. The village also has a wonderfully petty but loving dynamic. They will fight over small things, like any small town, but when big issues arise (such as when State Security agents come to kidnap Manbok's family) they band together like family.

Speaking of the village, as a Korean, I love that the show didn't go all-in on the "DPRK is a crazy place, look at all these weird rules like mandatory hairstyles and obsession with the Dear Leader" narrative. They showed the country as you would expect to find in any other country that has been plagued by decades of poverty and war, slowly crumbling under the thumb of an oppressive state government. There is famine, plague, and all other problems you find in unstable, authoritarian regimes around the globe, but avoids any of the over-the-top characterizations of North Koreans as weird fanatics obsessed with their god emperor.

Overall, this show is a 10/10 in every regard. The OST will bring back memories no matter how many times you listen to it, you will find yourself rooting for the second couple just as hard as the main couple, and the chemistry between all four is off the charts. The show manages to strike a great balance between humorous moments and deeply sad or contemplative ones. I still go back and rewatch it now and again when I need a good cry or want to have my heartstrings pulled.