Jung Hae-in, Jisoo’s Snowdrop aired its final episode today, May 25, on Disney+ Hotstar and the last episode is full of thrill, suspense and heartbreaks. Before delving deep into the 16th episode, let’s take a quick recap of where things were. The penultimate episode ended with all the four North Korean spies finally making their way out of the dorm according to what they had planned. However, one of the students of Hosu dorm finds out that the facility manager, Man-dong, who had helped Yeong-ro hide Soo-Ho previously, is also a North Korean spy and is planning to kill Soo-Ho, his comrades and return with Moran Hill. She delivers this piece of information to Miss Pi, Gang-mu, Bun-ok and Yeong-ro. The latter then rushes towards Soo-ho and his comrades in an attempt to protect him.
However, the four leave as they had planned, not knowing that Man-dong is on their trail. They decide to go on separate ways to avoid getting caught and plan to meet at the harbour. Soo-ho and Cheong-ya aka Moran Hill move in pairs whereas Comrade Joo and Eung-cheol are together. They successfully reach the harbour where they have a heart-to-heart conversation for the first time in a while. While they are just a few steps away from escape and a new life, Man-dong, along with his associate shoots both of them.
Later, when Soo-ho and Cheong-ya reach the same place, they are taken captive by Man-dong. The latter holds Man-dong at a gunpoint and chides him and his teammates for betraying their country. But Soo-ho knows how to escape the trickiest situations. He tells Man-dong he is not afraid to die but Yeong-ro is in danger and needs to protect her. This was the only thing Man-dong needed to know and when he saw his partner approaching them to kill Soo-Ho, he puts him in front of him and shoots his partner back, killing both of them. Soo-ho and Cheong-ya share their goodbyes before the former makes his way back to the dorm. He asks her to take care of his sister and his Comrades’ family members.
Meanwhile, Han-ah and reporter Gal, who tried to go on air and reveal ANSP’s plans and wrongdoings are captured and Chief Ahn kills the reporter in cold blood. Han-na however escapes and goes back to the dorm to rescue the hostages. Back at the dorm, almost all the hostages have managed to escape through the exit door in the woods but Yeong-ro gets struck at the dorm. The SWAT team also comes in but Soo-ho returns right on time to protect his lady love. He and Gang-mu put up a strong fight against the gunned men but Soo-Ho ends up losing his life. He guarantees Yeong-ro’s safety by telling the ANSP that only she knows where the money is hidden, that Cheong-ya had stolen from them to ensure the spies’ safety.
A heartbroken Yeong-ro sits beside Lim Soo-Ho’s dead body and cries hysterically.
After the hostages are saved, the truth comes out and Chang-su, Tae-il, and Ahn Gyeong-hui are imprisoned for their crimes. Bun-ok and Miss Pi have resolved all their issues and have accepted each other. Gang-mu and Han-ah, too, are together and visit Soo-ho’s death. Meanwhile, Yeong-ro is trying to move on but has kept their memories alive. She listens to his old recording where he says that he fell in love with Yeong-ro the first time he saw her. The series ends with Yeong-ro sitting in the coffee show where they first met and imagining Lim Soo-ho playing the guitar.
When the series had begun, it was marred with controversy, which took the front seat and the focus was diverted from how the story goes on. The protests were not without any reason as the show was accused of distorting history and the struggle of South Koreans during the June 1987 Democracy Movement. The ANSP, whose real-life counterpart was involved in various human rights violations acts, was shown to be a caricaturish version of them. However, as the series progressed, we understood why their real-life counterparts were accused of the same. The show doesn’t fail to show their brutal, inhumane side which includes arresting student protesters on the false accusation of being North Korean spies or torturing people to get a false confession out of them.
The actors, too, do a commendable job playing their characters. BLACKPINK’s Jisoo is a hit and a miss but there are times when she is really a treat to watch. Especially, the way she deals with the problems of her character- whose lover is a spy, her father is involved in conspiracies, whose brother has died and whose friends even turn their backs on her eventually. The makers of the show did not go by the trope of characters maturing early because of their traumas. Rather, they gave her the time and space to deal with the things going on in her life.
Jung Hae-in, on the other hand, once again shines as an actor and understands the nuances of his character. Be it playing the doe-eyed lover or the cold spy who holds his lover at gunpoint, the actor delivers in each scene.
However, the actors fail to hit the mark with their chemistry. So much so that when Soo-Ho is dying in her arms, we find it difficult to be moved by it. This remains one of the most painful things about the series because they really had the chance to impress the audiences with their forbidden love but it somehow didn’t reach us.
Some of the parallel leads and the side characters sometimes overshine the main ones- and this goes for Gang-mu, Han-ah and Bun-ok.
Overall, Snowdrop is a delightful watch if you look at it as a spy thriller and not as a tale of romance. And if you can take the history references with a pinch of salt, you will be good to go.
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