So I don't seem to have loved this drama as much as so many other viewers have appeared to. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it a lot, with the tale end (last 4-5 episodes) being the best for me, but I wasn't too impressed or enthralled with the story in the beginning.

I didn't find Se Ri to be particularly interesting in her normal South Korean lifestyle. Things got interesting when she finally got to North Korea. Unfortunately, I am one of those people that was a bit bothered by how romanticized North Korea was portrayed. I've exposed myself to a number of resources on what N. Korea is like, including autobiographies in video and literature formats as well as documentaries...I'm no expert at all, but I can assure you, North Korea is not nearly so care free and/or "normal" in regards to overall mentality and lifestyle. If an individual were to read the autobiographies, one would realize how twisted, tragic, and dangerous living in North Korea truly is. Due to having some knowledge in this area, I did have some trouble swallowing the picture painted of N. Korea initially. Once I got over my initial shock (I simply wasn't expecting N. Korea to be portrayed this way), I was able to enjoy the drama for what it was, a fictitious piece of entertainment, loosely based on real places.

I did not begin to really get sucked into the drama until probably episode 12. The drama at this point is more focused on South Korea, as by this point, Se Ri is now back home, and the action picks up significantly with Chul Kang out to kill her. There were some awesome fight sequences as well as some entertaining comedy, especially between Captain Ri's men/platoon and the drama at the NIS. I also find a better balance of screen-time between characters by this point in the drama.

The reason the last couple of episodes were my favorite in the entire drama was because you got to see people being kind to others, even when it put themselves at risk. It was the generosity and selflessness that was beautiful to witness now that the characters were thoroughly established. For example, I seriously started crying when all the wives came to help the colonel's wife after he was arrested - it was incredibly touching. Also when the homeless orphan hides Seung Jun in the village so the Chinese thugs don't find him - and then Seung Jun starts crying because their song hit's him. *sob* That was POWERFUL. The way Chi Su saved Man Bok from being shot in the final gang shoot-out was impressive and selfless too! Honestly, while I enjoyed the main couple, the smaller, discreet, overlooked touches were what really made this drama so good for me.

Additionally, I personally adored Seung Jun and Dan together as the secondary couple. But, I can't get over their tragedy.
With all the rule-bending this drama took liberty with, why was it okay to kill of Seung Jun?? Why wasn't there a way to save him? Anndddd with all the other characters so neatly and thoroughly wrapped up, why leave it ambiguous? Why not come out and clearly state what happened and if he's truly dead or not? And no, I'm not satisfied with the answer, "it's for them to pick up there for a season 2." If there's no season 2 guaranteed, I'm not okay with the ambiguity, because it might never happen!

Speaking of rule bending - if they were able to take creative liberties to create a new and improved N. Korea for the sake of drama plot, why not work things out between Captain Ri and Se Ri a bit more smoothly? There were so many time jumps in the end with their struggle spanning years. Why couldn't they get a simpler/neater happily-ever-after with all the other plot conveniences devised? Yes, I know that Captain Ri didn't want to jeopardize his parent's safety if he pissed off the N. Korean government, but seriously, come on, with all the other plot conveniences, it wasn't possible for Se Ri and him to live more happily-ever-after?

"Picture of My Heart" by Song Ga In and "Longing Hill" by April 2nd were my favorite vocal OST in the soundtrack. All the instrumental pieces were great too. I especially loved "Time of Jung Hyuk for Se Ri" and "Same Sky, Different World" instrumental pieces. Although, not to be a jerk, but I really didn't like the piano piece that Captain Ri wrote for his brother that Se Ri loved so much...Please don't hate me over that! It's just with such great OST's and instrumental accompaniments, that piano piece didn't fit well.

I would also like to state a super unpopular opinion. I'm not at all attracted nor do I swoon when Hyun Bin comes in the picture. His character as a human being is attractive, but his physical appearance, not so much. So that, I do not understand very much.
I also do not find Son Ye Jin particularly remarkable. In everything I've seen her in, I've been unimpressed. She's not a bad actress, I'm just not blown away by her...

Anyways, I know I've been long winded in stating my unpopular opinions, but I don't actually hate the drama. I simply would like to point out some of it's imperfections for those of you out there that might not have held Crash Landing On You in such high regard, or are on the fence as to whether or not you want to watch this. Hopefully this will help in figuring out what to expect.