Too ambitious for its own good...

I'm not going to lie; I dropped this drama after episode 9 and kept myself updated through clips and spoilers. As of now, two episodes are left to be shown. If they should miraculously change this hellish journey to one that seems like a worthwhile experience (at least in retrospect), I might rewrite my review. But if I don't, this is my final verdict on a series that had lots of potential but didn't live up to expectations.

First of all, I feel that for a lead character, Youngro is too passive and useless. Not going to elaborate further on that, you're going to read many comments about how the women of this show are hard to like and how they don't drive the plot forward as much as the male characters. Admittedly, one could say that the men of this show are not exactly likeable either and most of them are power-obsessed and fickle douchebags. But then again, with the majority of the plot playing out in an all-female dormitory, it's disappointing how the screenwriter, who is a woman, decided to turn all the dorm girls into whiny extras. Like I said, even Youngro seems like a side character.

Secondly, while in the beginning I disagreed with people saying they were growing tired of the dorm setting where 90% of the show takes place, by now I've come to feel bored myself. And I'm usually all in for returning to the same locations throughout a drama or a movie because, if efficiently done, that's a perfect way of evoking emotions and bringing depth to a story. You show the same places, but the people inside those walls are subtly different every time which you notice even more because they are set against a space that has remained unchanged. And that space itself becomes iconic after a certain time. Think of Central Perk from "Friends", as an example. But you need well written characters for that and engaging dynamics between them. In "Snowdrop", those are sadly missing and there is nothing else that is interesting or exciting enough to make up for the fact that we are confined to a handful of locations for over 14 hours with such boring company. Neither the political schemes, nor the romance, the friendships, or the personal agendas of these characters make me want to stick around until the end.

That being said, I can only bid this drama farewell with much disappointment because the writer-director duo as well as the actors and actresses (who are insanely talented, don't get me wrong) had made me set my expectations too high. I was especially hoping the show would eventually be able to bury the initial controversy surrounding the project by turning out amazingly thought-through, masterfully directed, cleverly written and politically on point. It didn't do all that for me and I would have been satisfied if at least one of the genres this drama picked up had worked in the end, be it action, romantic melodrama, espionage thriller, political satire, or coming-of-age. Guess the show was too ambitious by trying to be all of that at the same time. Then again, why didn't it work? Did the writer have to change her script midway due to the controversy? Did the production team suddenly realize they would receive an angry response over the politically messed up premise? Did they change the genre from drama to a "black comedy" (or whatever else this strange genre salad is) because of that but didn't have enough time to execute that well enough? I guess we'll never know.

~ Update after knowing how the last two episodes went: Sadly, I'd have to give this an even worse rating if I were to include my thoughts on the finale. But I'll just leave my review as it is and leave the final judgment to those who have watched this from start to finish.

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I stumbled upon a video some time ago that was about Seo Kang Joon's progress as an actor. It was in Korean and there were no subtitles, so I practically understood nothing BUT there were some snippets from this drama special shown. I sensed some good melodrama in there, so my curiosity was sparked for good. I looked it up, wanting to know how a plot that twisted could be executed within an hour. An hour! And here are my impressions of that hour between confusion - because there were no subtitles - and amazement - because there was so much going on:
Plot-wise, Haneuljae's Murder reminds me of a greek tragedy. It comes across as a play almost. Considering the little budget this project had and the short running time, the outcome is pretty impressive. There was much effort spent on the cinematography, I could tell. Even though the production value is not very high, the consistent autumnal color palette is beautiful and it creates a sense of nostalgia and sadness.
Overall, I'm intrigued by these drama specials now! They take on this seemingly impossible and ambitious challenge of cramming plot enough for a 10-16 ep drama into an hour. The result is not exactly satisfying, but interesting and somehow captivating for sure!

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