The Snow Queen

The video below was my only conduit to my favourite Korean male actor – Hyun Bin – since I watched My Lovely Samsoon some time last year. Made a point to catch this advert whenever I walked past the Beauty Credit outlet at B1 Vivocity. Yes, I have to admit it was kinda pathetic.  It was barely an adequate Hyun Bin ‘fix’ till I discovered that he is helming a new KBS drama – The Snow Queen.

READ ON FOR THE REAL POST ON THE SNOW QUEEN. . .  . . . 

I patiently waited for the release of the dvds in Singapore since I found out about this drama some months back. My patience paid off on Monday when I saw it lying among other dvds of just released Korean dramas. My heart pounded as I held the immaculately sealed dvd boxset in my hands. Yes! Yes! Yes! There’s finally life after Alone in Love! Whoop! Hyun Bin! Hyun Bin! Hyun Bin!

Ok, enough with the dramatics. As if there’s not enough of that stuff in the Korean dramas.

Frankly, I have no, abolutely zilch, idea of what The Snow Queen is about. I only knew that Hyun Bin is in it. Heck, I don’t even know the female lead – Sng Yu Ri – is such a stunner, er, till I started watching the series.

I absolutely love the way this scene above was filmed. Took me ages to capture the still on the PC. But as you can see, it is well worth it!

As with all, if not most Korean dramas, The Snow Queen come in 16 episodes. Filmed using a style more akin to what we get in movies, the colours, costumes were vibrant, rich, colourful and wonderfully sharp. My only gripe with the series was that Hyun Bin spotted a goatee, so “un-him“, for the entire series! That aside, The Snow Queen is a depressingly bittersweet drama about a boy genius, 泰雄  (Hyun Bin) giving up his dreams, of becoming a mathematician, after the death of his best friend. Intermeshed in this tragic tale was a girl 宝珞 (Sung Yu Ri).

泰雄 and 宝珞 share a beautiful yet tragic fate with each other. Meeting each other while in their teens, they shared a special bond, one which saw 泰雄 becoming a special 大哥哥 to 宝珞. Unbeknowst to each other, 泰熊   best friend is THE brother of 宝珞. In a weird twist, both of them never got to know each other’s name. 宝珞’s brother committed suicide on the day when 宝珞 was supposed to meet 泰雄, and the opportunity to know each other’s exact identity was lost.

8 years passed before a chance encounter allowed 泰雄 to 宝珞 meet once again. However, 泰雄 , unable to bear the loss of his dearest friend entered into a prolonged period of depression, one which saw him giving up his dream and even his name. Now known as 得九, he goes about his life as a trainee boxer as he tries to fulfil his friend’s dream of being a professional boxer.

As the story unfolds, 宝珞 realised that 得九 was actually 泰雄 . If you expect the teenager’s crush to bloom into a real relationship, you are mistaken. Love in Korean dramas are seldom easily, nor always, fufilled. Firstly, 泰雄 is still wallowing in depression as he believed that he was the cause of his best friend’s death, which I felt is totally ridiculous. Thankfully, they managed to overcome their emotional baggage and initial objections from their respective families.

SPOILER AHEAD!!! STOP READING IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW THE ENDING!!!

Overcoming familial objections was the simple part. Having tested their love with everything it can throw at them, fate decided to unleash it most dreaded weapon – THE CRITICAL ILLNESS!!! Yup, scriptwriters are evil-creatures. Instead of giving us the good ending which all of us pined for, and deserved after 15 episodes of grieve and tears, it gave us, as always, more grief and tears. 宝珞 was diagnosed with cancer – yawn… Anyway, 泰雄 must be wondering what has he done in this previous life to deserve all this. First his best friend died on him, now he is going to lose the only person who can give him happiness. Life can be so cruel sometimes.

At this point, and after surviving the pervious 15 episodes dry-eyed, tears finally flowed as 宝珞 ‘faded’. It was heart wrenching to see 泰雄 having to go through the pain of losing, yet again, a loved one. And this time he will indeed carry the pain with him for life. You will understand when you hear 泰雄’s last lines in the series.

This is a seriously depressing series. Not recommended for people prone to depression, or are currently undergoing great stress in life. Watching it will only add to the burden one is carrying in real life. I recommend it to those who yearn for a touching drama. But don’t expect it to be as great as Alone in Love. It’s a drama with a great premise. A pity that it was let down by poor story and character development.

I will leave you with one of the more ‘happy’, or should I say, non-depressing, scene from The Snow Queen. Oh yeah, my new banner was also specially custom-made, by yours truly, from a scene in The Snow Queen.

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