Snowdrop EP01 – Lost in Translation

We’re back with another deep-dive into a new series, JTBC/Disney+’s Snowdrop (2021). As dramas go, it’s about as different as you can get from TotNT in terms of genre, setting, tone, premise, etc. but requires just as much cultural contextualisation, if for entirely different reasons.

That being said, none of this info is necessary in order to enjoy the show, which is (by our estimation) extremely well written, acted, and produced. However, there’s so much attention to detail and so much history behind it that subtitles really can’t hope to capture it all. Consider this your guide to all the easter eggs, historical context, and cultural/linguistic subtext you may have missed in Snowdrop EP01.

By now, if you’ve heard of Snowdrop, you’ve likely also heard about the controversy surrounding it. Suffice it to say, none of the accusations hold water. You can find a full explanation of what and why here.

This first episode covers a lot of ground, so buckle up and get comfy. We’re writing this after the series has wrapped, so we’ll occasionally call attention to things that will become relevant later on, but will hide anything too spoiler-y behind spoiler tags.

Finally, in addition to our own commentary, this time, we’ve included comments made by Korean fans, taken from the show’s DC mini gallery. There are a couple of reasons for this: one, because they’re often funny and/or insightful; and two, because–particularly given the false accusations aimed at the show–we think it’s helpful for overseas viewers to see how things were interpreted by a domestic audience.

azeria | eulie | korean fans

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※Contains spoilers

Opening Credits

♪ I think perhaps because your smile is a bit sad / [My] heart seems to have emptied for being unable to know all [of you] / With our two hands clasped, leaving somber footsteps behind / In that place I dreamt of every night, I’ll meet / With you, my friend ♪

• ♬Friend♬~ I don’t know if I’ve ever met an opening sequence that I at once so can’t bear to watch and yet equally can’t bear to skip. Gets me every single time ㅠㅠ
  • My heart... ㅠㅠ

Spring 1987

• We open at Hosu Women’s University (or, as it says on the gate, HOSU WOMANS UNIVERSITY). This is a re-imagining of Ewha Womans University, founded in 1886. The hanja for Hosu (好・秀) mean ‘good/like’ and ‘outstanding/remarkable.’
• The BGM here is (appropriately) ♬HOSU WOMANS UNIVERSITY♬.
• We get our first glimpse of Go Hye Ryeong [Jung Shin Hye] practicing the song ♬Bimok♬, which features throughout the drama. We’ll come to know her as a fourth year in HSWU’s vocal music department and one of the main quartet of girls staying in Room 207.
• Our female protagonist, Eun Young Ro [Jisoo], makes her first appearance as she looks up, surprised to hear her name being called over the dorm’s PA system.
• Ahhhh this sequence: Young Ro’s mad dash for the phone. Korean fans started referring to this as one of Young Ro’s ‘ddallang ddoong-ddang’ (딸랑뚱땅) scenes after Jisoo spontaneously coined the term while filming EP11, saying it ‘was Young Ro.’ No such word exists, but the feeling it gives off is spazzy and loveable.

• We’re also introduced to Gye Bun Ok [Kim Hye Yoon], the dorm’s telephone operator, as she pages Young Ro over the PA system and starts her 30-second countdown.
• As Young Ro sprints through the hall, we see her nearly run into Shin Gyeong Ja [Jung Yi Seo]. Young Ro clocks the yellow armband identifying Gyeong Ja as the student representative, moving carefully past her before breaking into a run again once she’s in the clear.
• Heh When Young Ro pelts up to the front office, her momentum propels her straight through the pass window, both hands outstretched for the phone. The sequence does a nice job of showcasing the dorm and its occupants while underlining the fact that we’re firmly in the 80s: no mobile (or even cordless) phones here.
• On a linguistic note, Young Ro calls Bun Ok ‘eonni,’ meaning ‘older sister,’ but it’s used more generally on older girls one is close with, or even as a polite-but-friendly way to address a girl who fits the right age bracket when you don’t know her name. In this case, it’s a sign the two are friendly.

Room 207

• At breakfast, we get our first proper introduction to Yoon Seol Hee [Choi Hee Jin], another of Young Ro’s roommates and fellow first year, as she and Young Ro make their way through the refectory chatting happily together.
• When questioned as to who the phone call was from, Young Ro literally responds, ‘I’m telling you, it’s over with that Terrius.’ This is a reference to a love interest in the Japanese manga ‘Candy Candy,’ who leaves the heroine to wind up with someone else. First published in 1975, the series became as iconic in Korea as in Japan. So, when Young Ro refers to the guy as ‘Terrius,’ she’s using a contemporary (to the 80s) reference to say he wasn’t ‘the one.’
  • Terrius, you jwerk
  • Idiot
  • Yep, that Terrius is a crazy nom (미친놈)
• In the subs, this has become: “I told you, that long-haired guy and I are done. | He didn’t even call me after that day.” But what Young Ro actually says is that it ‘ended cleanly, without a request for a second date,’ not specifying who turned whom down. Given her delivery, I kind of got the sense she wasn’t interested in seeing him either.
• On a linguistic note, as fellow first years, Seol Hee and Young Ro use banmal (casual speech) when speaking to one another. They also address each other familiarly and affectionately as ‘Young Ro-ya’ and ‘Seol Hee-ya,’ respectively.
• ㅋㅋㅋ Seol Hee’s face when Young Ro points out Hye Ryeong behind her. Just when you think Hye Ryeong is going to be a b*tch to the younger girls, it turns out she’s just a diva heh
• Aww I find Young Ro’s positivity so endearing. Her comment about the phone situation improving their running abilities establishes something about her personality and her role in the Room 207 dynamic right off the bat.

• Finally, we get our first proper introduction to Yeo Jeong Min [Kim Mi Soo], the final member of Room 207. Like Hye Ryeong, she’s in year four. Though she appears to be completely absorbed in her book, she speaks up in defense of Bun Ok. The writing here really does a wonderful job of showcasing all four girls’ personalities in the space of a short exchange. Point to the writer.
• Agreed. I couldn’t help but like Jeong Min right away. In a sense, she’s an embodiment of the generation of student activists who risked their lives to take a stand against the South Korean regime. And just a really cool eonni.
  • Jeong Min-ie is definitely a fan favourite. Kim Mi Soo put a lot of effort into researching the history of the movement and the era in preparation for the role.
• Again, on a linguistic note, Young Ro and Seol Hee use jondaetmal (polite speech) with their eonnies, since they’re older. Young Ro is very polite in general, often using honorific language on older characters and favouring the humble first person pronoun ‘jeo/je’ (저/제) over the more neutral ‘na/nae’ (나/내)–though she will use the latter occasionally.
• This foursome — Young Ro, Jeong Min, Hye Ryeong, Seol Hee — is collectively referred to by Korean fans as ‘Room 207z’ (207호즈).

• In the Disney+ subs, Hye Ryeong’s nickname for Bun Ok has become “Gizzard,” which isn’t a bad option, though what she literally calls her is ‘Chicken Poop House.’ This is because her name, Gye Bun Ok, is written with the hanja (桂芬玉), where ‘Gye’ (桂) means ‘laurel,’ ‘Bun’ (芬) means ‘fragrant,’ and ‘Ok’ (玉) means ‘jade.’ However, ‘gye’ is also how you pronounce the hanja (鶏) ‘chicken,’ ‘bun’ is also the pronunciation for (糞) ‘poop,’ and ‘ok’ is also the pronunciation for (屋) ‘house.’ Translated into spoken Korean, this becomes ‘talk-ddong-jip’ (닭똥집), i.e. ‘chicken-poop-house.’
• Hye Ryeong included, a lot of the students in the dorm speak in dialect. This is due to the assumption that it would mainly be students from the countryside who would need to live in a dorm (as opposed to those already residing in Seoul). In Hye Ryeong’s case, the dialect comes out strongest when she’s angry or upset.
• Jeong Min sets Hye Ryeong off here by calling her ‘Hye Ja-ya.’ Hye Ja is Hye Ryeong’s birth name, which she’s since changed — likely because it has a bit of a dated or even bumpkin-y sound to it. Not exactly the name of a future world-famous opera star. Jeong Min and Bun Ok will sometimes call her this when they want to knock her down a peg.
• Okay, I have to say, I think the subs way overuse the term ‘wench,’ especially considering I’ve never heard an English speaker use the word in earnest (not in real life, anyway). When the subs have Hye Ryeong calling Jeong Min a ‘wench’ here, what she literally says is something like ‘you leprous girl’ (이 문디 가시나). The terms are both Gyeongsang-do dialect in addition to being outdated, and the former is (understandably) considered both offensive and politically incorrect. On Hye Ryeong’s character quotes page, I have this as ‘you diseased bimbette.’

• The book Jeong Min has allegedly been reading is volume two of the baseball manhwa The Outsider Team of Terror (공포의 외인구단) by Lee Hyun Se. The subs have it as ‘The Terrifying Mercenary Baseball Team’ and–even funnier–Wikipedia has it as ‘Alien Baseball Team’ but as far as I can tell there’s no official English title. Given that the story is about a team of underdog/misfit players, though, I think ‘outsiders’ is probably what the author was going for. The series was adapted into a movie–Lee Jang Ho’s Baseball Team (이장호의 외인구단)–in 1986 and the song that starts to play when Young Ro finishes her recitation is ♬I, to You♬ (난 너에게) by Jung Soo Ra from the movie soundtrack. (Eomji, who gets mentioned, is the series’ female lead).
• Side note, but Young Ro’s dramatic delivery complete with the character voice and facial expressions (not to mention the bravery of the gesture) totally won me over. How do you not love this character?
  • This is where I fell for Young Ro, check her out, helping
  • Me too!! ( three~)
  • A righteous woman
    • This is a reference to how Jung Hae In (Im Soo Ho) described the character in an interview. Fans were tickled by the description since it was just such a Jung Hae In-thing to say.
  • You can really see Young Ro’s strength of character
• The book Jeong Min has been concealing inside of her manhwa is The Truth About Socialism (1950) by the American socialist economist Leo Huberman. In Korean, the title has become ‘What is Socialism?’ (사회주의란 무엇인가). This is one of the banned reading materials mentioned in Jeong-min’s character profile, so Young Ro took quite a risk covering for her. (Also, did she just have that line from the manhwa memorised? haha)

The Dongshim Society

• Time to meet more of our extended cast, Nam Tae Il [Park Sung Woong] and Kang Cheong Ya [Yoo In Na], as she helps him dress at her apartment (which also doubles as their love nest).
• On a linguistic note, when the two are alone, they speak to each other in banmal and Cheong Ya addresses him as ‘dangshin’ (당신) which, in this context, could be translated as ‘dear.’
• It’s worth noting here that Nam Tae Il is keeping tabs on ANSP Director Eun Chang Soo, who we’ll meet shortly. As noted in his character profile, Tae Il is looking for the opportunity to off the other man.
• The Revolution that Cheong Ya mentions is a reference to the 12.12 Military Insurrection of 1979, in which Army Major General Chun Doo Hwan, acting without authorization from then-President Choi Kyu Ha, ordered the arrest of the ROKA Chief of Staff on allegations of involvement in the assassination of former President Park Chung Hee. A series of conflicts broke out in the capital and, by the next morning, the Ministry of Defense and Army HQ had been overtaken. This and the Coup d’état of May Seventeenth effectively ended the Fourth Republic. According to their character profiles, in this dramaverse, Nam Tae Il participated while Eun Chang Soo did not, and those decisions still dog them.
• The chyron here reads ‘Secretary General of the Aemin Party, Nam Tae Il (Ruling Party Second-in-Command).’ No such political party exists, but I’m inclined to interpret the name to mean ‘love for the people’ (ae = love/affection; min = the people). The irony is fully intentional.
• Nam Tae Il’s pet name for Cheong Ya is ‘yomul danji’ (요물단지), which is a bit hard to translate. A ‘yomul’ (妖物) is a strange, treacherous, or wily entity while ‘danji’ (단지) is a small pot or jar. So he’s calling her something like, ‘a bottle of wiles’ or ‘bottled trouble.’ In the Disney+ subs, this became “you wicked little fox.”
  • Tae-il’s ‘Yo-yo-yo-yo-yomul danji’ is one of the show’s iconic refrains.
• ‘Code One’(in English) here is the fictional counterpart of Chun Doo Hwan (the sitting ‘president’ at the time, who was not so much a democratically elected leader as he was a military dictator) within the Snowdrop dramaverse.

• Next, we’re introduced to Eun Chang Soo [Heo Jun Ho], whom the chyron identifies as the Director of the Agency for National Security Planning (ANSP) and third-ranked person in the ruling party.
• In flashback, we also get our first glimpse of his wife, Hong Ae Ra [Kim Jeong Nan]. She’s his second wife, as we’ll soon learn. Also, that necktie looked like a noose the way she tied it. Yikes.
  • The contrast between these two and Nam Tae Il and Cheong Ya probably isn’t an accident ㅋㅋ
• Again, right off the bat, we’re informed of one of the main sources of tension between Eun Chang Soo and Nam Tae Il: Tae Il is four* years younger than Chang Soo, making him Chang Soo’s hubae (junior) at the Korea Military Academy, but Tae Il also previously had Chang Soo’s current job, making him more ‘senior’ in that respect. So Chang Soo is older, but Tae Il outranks him. Because of this, there are rumours that Chang Soo goes around offering bows to Tae Il on holidays (명절이면 세배를 간다). On New Years in Korea, it’s traditional to go around calling on family, friends, etc., offering greetings and New Years bows (세배・歲拜). However, the person going around doing the calling is typically of a lower station than the person doing the receiving — since they have to do all the leg work. So, for Chang Soo to call on Tae Il, who is four years his junior, would be an embarrassment to Chang Soo. I like how the Disney+ subs handled this: “I know he’s your predecessor as director, | but he’s four years your junior. | We can’t let people think that you bow to Nam Tae-il, can we?” It gets at the gist while mostly skirting the part that requires cultural contextualisation.
  _{*n.b. In the dialogue it’s stated that Tae Il is four years Chang Soo’s junior, but the official JTBC website has their respective ages as 54 and 56, so there’s a discrepancy. I’m inclined to go with what’s in the script.}
• Appropriately, the BGM here is ♬Power Game♬

The Gathering

• When Chang Soo arrives at the gathering, he exchanges greetings with Park Mu Yeol [Kang Moon Kyung], whom the chyron informs us is the head of the Aemin Party (Majority Party First-in-command). He’s also their candidate in the upcoming election. Chang Soo ignores the seat Mu Yeol attempts to usher him to, causing the other man to throw him an anxious look.
• The chyron, translating the text on the blue and gold pennant, informs us that this is the Dongshim Society (동심회・同心会・‘same-heart/mind-society’), a reimagining of the historical Hanahoe (하나회・‘one-society’), an unofficial private group of military officers who formed the core of the group that took control of the South Korean government in 1979.
• There’s a brief, silent power struggle here as Eun Chang Soo arrives and makes a point of taking his seat to Code One’s immediate right (the seat meant for the second most powerful person), directly across from Park Mu Yeol, rather than his usual seat to Mu Yeol’s left (meant for the third-in-command). Korean etiquette includes a complicated set of rules dictating who sits where in what situation. In any case, that’s why everyone is exchanging uneasy looks and why Nam Tae Il is so affronted when he arrives to find Chang Soo in ‘his’ seat. It’s also what prompts Tae Il’s stunt with the blood when Code One doesn’t comment on the change.
• The BGM playing when Code One makes his entrance appears to be an unreleased track. As the scene progresses, it transitions to ♬Under Work♬

Operation Phoenix

• Eun Chang Soo and Nam Tae Il pretty much sum up half the show’s premise in this next scene but I don’t think the subs did a very clear job of capturing it. I’ll translate the exchange here, since it’s key:

Code One: What of Operation Phoenix?
Eun Chang Soo: Yes, we’ve arranged to run an op in which the North will kidnap the opposition party candidate’s ‘brain,’ Professor Han Yi Seop, and make it look as though their party is carrying out the election with the North’s funding.
Nam Tae Il: If it gets out that they received money from the reds for the election, it’s obvious those opposition party bastards will lose.
Code One: It mustn’t go awry.
Eun Chang Soo: Yes, it’s progressing smoothly. I took measures so that a peaceful transition of power will be possible.
Code One: ‘Possible’?
Nam Tae Il: For the sake of Your Esteemed Excellency and our Aemin Party, I shall stake this life of mine and see to it that the regime maintains* power at all costs, Your Excellency!

_{*Literally: ‘the recreation of the the regime succeeds’ but since they are currently in power, what he means is that they maintain/renew their hold on it.}

• In case anyone was wondering, Korean fans found this scene as hard to watch as we did.
  • Ugh fml They included the Dongshim Society to knock the Hanahoe, right? They really drag them good ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
  • ㅇㅇ You can immediately tell they’re dragging the Hanahoe. They’re like yakuza.
  • Whenever I watch, I always skip over this partㅠ It’s so gross I can’t bear to watch Ack the bloodㅠ
  • Oof No matter how many times I see it I can’t get used to it

The Three Wives

• We move to Myeongdong next to meet more of our extended cast, and wow, it looks nothing like the Myeongdong I know today. A lot has changed in the last 30 years.
• All in white, we have Choi Mi Hye [Baek Ji Won], owner of Charmant, a Myeongdong fashion boutique-cum-café frequented by women of the ruling class. She supposedly studied abroad in France and likes to pepper her speech with French to play that up. Her ‘Très, très, très, très bien!’ just became “How amazing!” in the subs, though.
• We also get Hong Ae Ra’s chyron at this point, identifying her as Eun Chang Soo’s wife.
• Currently, both women are playing court to Jo Seong Shim [Jung Hye Young], whom another chyron informs us is Nam Tae Il’s wife. Seong Shim is the clear leader here, talking to the other women in banmal while acting superior in every way. Despite the smiles, you can immediately tell they all hate each other.
• The BGM here is ♬Lovely♬. It’s funny, when I first saw the track title on the OST, I just assumed it would be used in relation to Young Ro ㅋㅋ
• Not exactly a Korean culture note, but contributing to the French salon vibe we have Chopin’s ♬Nocturne op. 9 No. 2♬ playing in the background here.
• ㅋㅋㅋ Like Nam Tae Il’s ‘Yo-yo-yo-yo-yomul danji,’ Seong Shim’s ‘No, no, no~’ (‘ani-ji, ani-ji, ani-ji~’) is another character catchphrase you’ll hear again and again.
  • ㅋㅋㅋㅋ It’s addictive ㅋㅋ

• Jo Seong Shim’s use of banmal towards Hong Ae Ra is a thrown gauntlet — She’s just waiting for the older woman to object. It’s a blatant (and obnoxious) power play. The same goes for addressing Ae Ra as ‘janeh’ (자네), which is only used towards people of lower rank/seniority. Her question, ‘You’re (‘janeh’) 3 years older than me, was it?’ — posed in banmal — is the epitome of this. But as long as Nam Tae Il remains Code One’s favorite, the other two have no choice but to kiss up to her.
• I really felt this when I was gathering character quotes, but so much of the communication that happens between characters or what gets communicated to us as viewers happens entirely non-verbally. This scene is a prime example of that. In this one interaction we learn all we need to know about how these women are in relationship to each other. Point to the writer, point to the actors.
  • Seriously the adult cast lineup is killer. You can count on them to dish a large portion of the ‘black comedy’ the show is billed for.
• The other thing that caught my attention in this scene is the directing. There are a number of really clever shots. I’ve noticed that the director (Jo Hyun Tak) has a habit of capturing a character through a pane of glass when they’re in a moment of cognitive or emotional dissonance. The resulting refraction is a really cool way to illustrate this visually. Having Mi Hye behind her only adds to the effect in this case.

The ANSP

• At the airport, we meet ANSP Team Leader Lee Gang Mu [Jang Seung Jo] as he arrives back in Korea on a flight from Frankfurt after a number of years spent operating in Europe. He appears uncomfortable with the welcome he receives from his hubae (junior colleague), glancing back reluctantly before continuing on ahead.
• This is also our introduction to ANSP agent Oh Dong Jae [Choi Gyeong Hoon], who’s holding a sign that reads: ‘WELCOME TO KOREA Lee Gang Mu sunbae-nim, [we] welcome your return.’ He’s so psyched to be meeting the ‘legendary Black Tiger’ but, yeah, Gang Mu looks like he would sooner unhitch the welcome wagon altogether.
• In the car as well, Gang Mu appears uncomfortable with Dong Jae’s adoration, avoiding both his eyes and conversation. He comes off as aloof, but there’s more to his story.
• In the script, Dong Jae gushes a bit more about his legendary sunbae (giving us some additional backstory on Gang Mu up front) but the scene was pared down.
• As an aside, Gang Mu’s code name ‘Black Tiger’ is in English (‘beul-laek ta-i-geo’).

• Also in shades, we have Jang Han Na [Jung Yoo Jin] who shows up at ANSP HQ in her jeep and 80s powersuit and strides in like she owns the place.
• Quick history note: The ANSP, or Agency for National Security Planning (1981-1999) was the enforcer arm of the authoritarian regime that held power at the time. On paper, they were Korea’s preeminent intelligence organisation, charged with ‘the collection, compilation, and distribution of foreign and domestic information regarding public safety against communists and plots to overthrow the government.’ In practice, they carried out a brutal communist witch hunt against anyone who opposed the regime. They’ve gone down in history as villains, and a lot of the controversy directed at the show stems from how they’re (allegedly) portrayed.
• We get the chyron for COSMOS TOYS (the ANSP HQ front) here, even though the text on the side of the building isn’t visible in this shot.
• No chyron, but the plaque on his desk (局長 安京熙) informs us that the man combing his office for listening devices is Bureau Chief An Gyeong Hui [Lee Hwa Ryong]. Check out how big that bug detector is ㅋㅋ I kept finding myself surprised and amused by the tech in this show, since it’s set in the relatively recent past, but predates me.
• One thing I really appreciate about this series is that there are no throw-away lines or sequences. Everything happening on screen comes into play at some point. Pay attention to both the wire-tapping and the darkroom/photography here – both will be relevant later on.
  • Chekhov’s gun in action. Point to the writer.
  • No such thing as ‘just because’
  • Seriously, the foreshadowing and callbacks kill
  • For real, when I saw that come back into play later I got chills
• On a linguistic note, the man in the darkroom addresses Han Na as ‘Jang jooim’ where ‘jooim’ is her professional title. This would be something like a section chief or department head depending on the agency’s parlance.

• Lol When An Gyeong Hui cranks up the radio to cover his conversation with Han Na, the song playing is ♬Wind Wind Wind♬ (바람 바람 바람) by Kim Beom Ryong (1985). The lyrics describe someone waiting for the return of his lover, who brushed past, departing like the wind. This is a reference to Gang Mu and Han Na’s relationship, which we’ll learn more about later. Point to the music director.
  • Also, in Korean, ‘to be met with wind’ (바람을 맞다) is an idiomatic phrase meaning ‘to be rejected or stood up’ [by a romantic partner]. Seriously, the way this show uses music is subtle but genius ㅋㅋㅋ
  • Really, ‘Wind Wind Wind’~ is playing here, huh? They use the BGM so well, seriously ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
• When Han Na hands over her photos, the Disney+ subs have her saying, “You must know the man’s the Crown Prince,” which is an accurate translation, though it’s misleading since the House of Yi was deposed when Japan occupied Korea in 1910 and never reinstated. The man in question is Park Jun Pyo [Lee Joo An], Code One’s son and tabloid disaster waiting to happen. So she’s not using the title literally here. Needless to say, there is no Crown Prince of Korea.
• Just as Han Na moves to leave, An Gyeong Hui informs her in a seemingly offhand manner that Gang Mu is back, making her pause. The news very obviously means something to her, though she makes an effort not to react.

Daedong-gang 1

• After mentally preparing herself, Han Na re-enters the main floor to find Gang Mu leading a briefing on Daedong-gang 1:

“Though we’re in the dark about his face, his name, and his age — next. (‘Daedong-gang 1’ appears on the screen) This is the bastard’s code name. We obtained intel that he entered Seoul under the radar. (…) If a guy who’s been operating covertly all across East and West Germany suddenly entered Seoul under the radar, it means he either has a target to suborn in Seoul or he’s been given a mission the domestic spy network can’t handle. In any case, we have to catch the bastard at all costs before he accomplishes his mission.”

• A note about this code name: the Daedong-gang (大同江)–or  Taedong River–is the second largest river in North Korea and runs through the heart of Pyongyang. It’s iconic the way the Thames or the Seine are iconic. In fact, there are several old trot songs with this river’s name in their titles: The Daedong-gang I Dreamt Of (꿈에 본 대동강), Embittered Daedong-gang (한 많은 대동강), Daedong-gang Letter (대동강 편지), etc. The songs’ lyrics express longing for places in the North, since Korea had been one nation up until the US and the Soviets divided it into two occupational zones following Japan’s surrender in WWII (1945-1948).

• We get a flashback to two years previously in Germany (as the chyron informs us) to a train speeding its way through a mountain pass. I can’t say I’m a fan of the different screen dimensions, but alas.
  • All filming was done domestically but they still produced that quality? Daebak
• In flashback, Gang Mu and a subordinate canvas a train for Daedong-gang 1, who narrowly escapes them by leaping from the moving train (dang). Gang Mu and his hubae follow, with disastrous results, as the latter is impaled on an iron rod and dies.
• This scene was a bit longer in the script: the last bit got reshuffled into another flashback that occurs in EP05. (Gang Mu pursuing Soo Ho until he vanishes over a cliff.)
• In the flashback sequence, we hear Gang Mu call his hubae ‘Jin Seong-ah’ and then ‘inma’ (인마), meaning something like ‘kid/punk,’ both of which serve to tell us that Gang Mu was fond of him. So I get why he’s so dogged in his pursuit of Daedong-gang 1, but...it’s hard to say that Soo Ho killed the guy.
  • Even seeing it again, that wasn’t Daedong-gang 1’s fault. Gang Mu-ya, that really wasn’t Soo Ho’s fault...

• Gang Mu finally notices Han Na, but, after a brief pause, continues his briefing without acknowledging her gesture of greeting (the raised hand, not the bullet heh).
• Lol Han Na is such a loose cannon. Before you go thinking she’s the only crazy one, though, consider the fact that, when everyone else hit the deck, Gang Mu just stood there. We finally see some emotion enter his face though.
  • Lol #2 Why is Dong Jae so slow on the draw here? It’s possible he has some hero-worship for Han Na as well.
• The subs have Gyeong Hui saying “Gang Mu” here when he asks for volunteers, but that sounds more casual/familiar than what he actually calls him: ‘Team Leader Lee Gang Mu.’
• Han Na’s nickname around the office is ‘Il-dang-baek’ (一當百), which literally means ‘one who is equal to/does the work of a hundred.’ This became “One Hundred Warriors” in the Disney+ subs.
• An Gyeong Hui also states here that she’s the agency’s first-ever female agent. I’m not sure how historically accurate the idea of a female agent is or if, conversely, there actually were female ANSP agents in the late 1980s and it’s the notion that Han Na is the first that’s fictional.

Rooftop Party

• Right around the 0:26:00 minute mark we finally meet our male protagonist, Im Soo Ho [Jung Hae In], sleeves rolled up as he grills samgyeopsal for his fellow student lodgers. This is the Soo Ho we were promised in the promo materials and it’s making my heart hurt a little.
• It’s interesting to me that, while Soo Ho’s character profile on the JTBC website clearly states he’s a North Korean special operative, the teaser trailers and character blurb provided to the press ahead of the drama’s release carefully hid this fact. In a BTS video released prior to the first broadcast, Jung Hae In introduces his character as ‘a graduate student at a prestigious university living in 1987 Seoul,’ adding that he is, ‘a thoughtful character with soft charisma.’
• I also find the camerawork here really interesting, with Soo Ho going in and out of focus. At first I just accepted it as a result of the heat off the grill, but I think it’s more intentional than that. It’s like we’re being told that we’re not seeing Soo Ho entirely clearly. As with the refractive shots, it may also reflect Soo Ho’s own mental state: a blurring of the lines between Soo Ho the operative and Soo Ho himself.
  • Also, I just have to say that Jung Hae In is very pretty, in focus or out.
• Nagging him is Oh Gwang Tae [Heo Nam Joon], whom we’ll come to know as a windbag; he likes putting on airs and cozying up to people who seem financially well-off. More relevantly, he’s a TA for Professor Han Yi Seop (i.e. the target of Operation Phoenix).
• A trio of young women camped out on the adjacent rooftop play exposition fairy as they gush over Soo Ho (there’s no way he’s not hearing every word of this, right?). We get Soo Ho’s (alleged) backstory: that he was raised overseas in Germany where he’s currently enrolled as a graduate student, and that he’s in Korea writing his master’s thesis. There’s something very Disney about this sequence, now that I think of it.
• More specifically, the trio state that Soo Ho is writing his thesis on the topic of Park Chung Hee’s economic development plan. Park Chung Hee was a South Korean politician and army general who served as de facto military dictator of South Korea from 1961-1963, then as the country’s de jure third president from 1963-1979, when he was assassinated. Park began a series of economic policies that resulted in economic growth and industrialisation so marked it’s now known as the ‘Miracle on the Han River.’ As a result, South Korea possessed one of the fastest growing national economies during the 1960s and 1970s, exhibiting one of the largest and most rapid reductions in poverty in human history. So, as covers go, this actually is ‘a likely story.’
• We also meet Mrs Bong [un-billed], who runs the Haedal Boarding House where the boys are lodging. She calls Soo Ho, ‘Soo Ho haksaeng’ (‘student’) and rags on Gwang Tae to be more like his hyung since, as it turns out, this party is courtesy of Soo Ho.
• There’s something about the way Soo Ho blows on the meat before handing it off to each of the boys that just gets me. I know there are Reasons for all this but...he’s such a hyung.
• Gosh, the faces Gwang Tae makes ㅋㅋㅋ He gets a smile out of Soo Ho, though, so I guess we’ll give him a pass.

Shibuya HSWU Roll Call

• While Soo Ho enjoys a moment of peace with his sharehouse-mates, Young Ro is running for all she’s worth. She’s arrived back in Seoul later than she’d planned after visiting her grandmother in the countryside. The chyron informs us that it’s 15 minutes before roll call, which explains the stream of students running along beside her.
• This dropped out of the Disney+ subs, but ‘Anyway’ (애니웨이)–in English–is practically Hye Ryeong’s catchphrase; she often uses it as a conversation opener or segue the way the Korean phrase ‘keuneo-jeoneo’ (그너저너) might be used. Since it doesn’t always make sense in English (and would have used up precious characters) this verbal tic got left on the proverbial cutting room floor.
• The young man in the KMA cadet uniform with her is Choi Byeong Tae [An Dong Gu]. He seems like he’d be a bit character, but we’ll actually be seeing him again. The look Young Ro gives him as she pauses to urge Hye Ryeong along with her is great.
  • Seriously, her face when she sees Byeong Tae with the ring ㅋㅋㅋ I know this is is Jisoo’s first major role, but I think she’s doing great.
• On a linguistic note, Byeong Tae addresses Hye Ryeong as ‘Hye Ryeong-ssi’ and the two speak to each other in jondaetmal, even though they’re the same age, which tells us a bit about 1) Byeong Tae’s personality and 2) the nature of their relationship. They’re dating (sort of) but aren’t close enough to have lowered their speech.
• Again, Young Ro calls Hye Ryeong ‘eonni’ but this just became “Hye-ryeong” in the subs.

• Leaving Byeong Tae behind to do a little victory dance, Young Ro and Hye Ryeong sprint for the dorm. Young Ro ends up in the lead with Hye Ryeong trailing behind, possibly because she’s in heels.
• Side note: I was struck all over again as I was screen-capping this sequence by how pretty Jisoo is. Even with her face scrunched up and her hair flying everywhere and the frame being out of focus, she’s still just ridiculously pretty.
  • Eun Young Ro is seriously too cute. Super cute ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
  • Her expressions are super cute ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
  • Dallang ddoong-dang ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ She starts cheering and her tin goes rollingㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ So funny
  • I should have given birth to Young Ro. Our puppy is really so cute ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
• I love how when Young Ro turns to see Hye Ryeong lagging behind, she starts out frantically urging her to hurry up and then, between one moment and the next, switches to cheering her on, jumping up and down happily, all urgency seemingly forgotten. Unfortunately, the tin she was carrying shakes free of its bundle and goes rolling all the way back down the hill she’s just run up (right past Hye Ryeong heh). After a moment of indecision, Young Ro goes after it. Aww she’s a good granddaughter.
• The dorm is so far. The dorm is at fault
  • ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Yes, blame the building.
• Fun fact: This was Jisoo’s first scene that she filmed (the long sprint for the dorm).

• We get our first brief glimpse of Hall Director Pi Seung Hee [Yoon Se Ah], as she listens to Rimsky-Korsakov’s ♬Capriccio Espagnol, Op. 34♬ on an old record player, perfectly underscoring the girls’ mad-dash return. Honestly, if I were judging solely based on the look of the building and Ms Pi’s clothes, I might have thought the show was set in 1887 instead of 1987.
• We also meet the custodian, Kim Man Dong [Kim Jong Soo], who appears to be searching for someone in particular amongst the stream of stragglers struggling up the dorm’s front steps. When Bun Ok joins him, we find out he’s looking for Young Ro (aww).
  • On a linguistic note, Bun Ok addresses Man Dong as ‘Kim kisa-nim’ which means something like ‘Custodian Kim.’
• Fun? fact: While it didn’t bother me, some Korean viewers commented that there was something ‘awkward’ about the dialogue here. This is because the audio was re-recorded in post-production due to a late-stage change in Young Ro’s character name. At the time the scene was originally filmed, her name had been ‘Young Cho.‘ This applies to pretty much every instance of her name in the first couple of episodes.
• When Jeong Min yells at her for coming back without Young Ro, the subs have Hye Ryeong saying, “I missed roll call twice already.” Really, this should be, ‘You said it’s my fault we’ve missed roll call twice!’ According to the dorm rules, if even one of the girls is late, all four occupants of her room get penalised — and Room 207 are out of second chances.
• On a linguistic note, Man Dong’s speech isn’t standard dialect; he talks like he’s up in his years.
• Again with the attention to detail: When Ms Pi sees Man Dong, she asks him if he’s repaired the sauna seat. This seems like it might be empty dialogue, but it becomes immediately relevant in the following episode.  
• Aww Man Dong addresses Young Ro as ‘Young Ro-ya,’ which lets us know he’s fond of her — beyond what would be expected of a custodian for one of the dorm’s many occupants.
  • Come to think of it, seeing how out of 360 students Man Dong harabeoji immediately knew Young Ro wasn’t back yet, he really cares for her..

Spider-girl Young Ro

• Back in Room 207, Seol Hee and Jeong Min panic, each in her own way. Interestingly, Seol Hee, who up until now has been speaking in standard Korean befitting a city girl, slips into saturi (dialect) when she says, ‘We’re all getting kicked out now, aren’t we?’ There’s actually a whole Korean fan theory around this that we’ll explain later.
  • Hn? Seol Hee’s really using saturi. Let’s go to Chungcheong Province (in Chuncheong dialect) It seems to come out when she’s worked up ㅋㅋ
  • Fun fact: It’s actually anachronistic for the Seoul-dwellers to speak in standard Korean here. At the time, there was a ‘Seoul dialect.’ They likely didn’t bother with it for a number of reasons.
• Outside, having just missed her chance to enter the dorm thanks to the (un)timely arrival of Ms Pi, Young Ro searches for an alternate way inside. Not finding one, she decides to scale the dorm from the outside. The sequence also serves to underline the fact that there’s really only one way in or out of the dorm. This will become important again later on.
  • Spider-girl Young Ro
  • Young Ro entering her room by climbing the dorm walls is really Disney-like. Dallang ddoong-ddang heroine.
  • She’s hanging on by her toes!!! ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
  • Young Ro really isn’t normal ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ How on earth did our brave puppy get it in her head that she was going to climb the dorm wall? ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
  • Young Ro was already fearless from this time ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ How did she think to scale the dorm?
• When Ms Pi turns back one of the girls’ comforters, she uncovers a pile of red-backed hwatu cards, used to play Go-Stop, a gambling game with Japanese origins. Obviously, the issue here is the gambling bit.
• ㅋㅋㅋ In a bid to buy Young Ro time to slip inside, Bun Ok pretends to spot a rat, plunging the dorm into chaos. The little details in this scene are fun because every one is a deliberate decision made by the actors/props team. As the girls come streaming out of their rooms to vanquish the imaginary rat, they’re carrying all sorts of things: bug spray, a giant (Jinju Ham) sausage, a bucket, a rainbow duster... Dong Ji’s sporting nunchucks lol

• Having barely avoided being caught by Ms Pi thanks to Bun Ok’s intervention, Young Ro finally manages to climb into her room with her friends’ help. They immediately set about cleaning her up and pinning (Seol Hee’s) pajamas on over her clothes with clothespins (heh), and she submits to their ministrations gratefully.
  • Young Ro’s so cute ㅋㅋㅋ
  • A baby who’s grateful even when her face is wiped with the same towel just used to wipe her feet ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
  • She’s like a puppy having her feet wiped when she come home from a walk kuh-yoot
• ‘What is the meaning of this?!’ I have to give a shout-out to Yoon Se Ah here for her line deliveries. Ms Pi is the polar opposite of the last role I saw her in and she’s equally fantastic in it.
• The girls hold their breath as Ms Pi arrives to inspect them, looking around for anything out of place. It’s amazing how far erasing Yoon Se Ah’s eyebrows goes toward making her appear terrifying heh
• Minor detail, but the subs have Ms Pi saying “What if your roommates get kicked out because of you?” when this should more properly be, ‘Do you not care if your roommates get kicked out because of you?’ hence Young Ro’s head-shaking.
• Also, after Ms Pi leaves and the girls collapse in relief, the subs have Seol Hee saying, “How did you think of climbing the wall?” but what she literally says is, ‘How ever did you think to come through the window?’

Ddeok Delivery

• At his work desk in the basement, we see Man Dong tinkering with something. He looks up when Young Ro and Seol Hee drop in. Despite having only just narrowly avoided being expelled from the dorm, they’ve snuck down after lights out.
• The song playing on the radio is ♬The Hometown I Dreamt Of♬ (꿈에 본 내 고향) and writer Yoo Hyun Mi (who requested the the song in her script) gets a point for this one because this song suits Man Dong to a tee. I feel like Snowdrop does with music what JK Rowling did with character names in Harry Potter — if you’re familiar with the songs, they provide hints about the different characters. Nicely played.
• Young Ro calls Man Dong ‘harabeoji,’ meaning ‘grandpa,’ but it can be used on any man of that general age. In the Disney+ subs this has become “Mr. Kim,” which feels cold and distant by comparison.
• Awww When Man Dong sees that Young Ro made it in safely, he gushes, ‘Oh ho, our Young Ro didn’t get caught!’ The ‘our’ (우리) is a function of how in-group/out-group conventions are expressed linguistically in Korean. It’s an affectionate way to refer to someone you consider to belong to you/a group you also belong to.
• As Young Ro had suspected, Man Dong has retrieved her tin of ddeok (‘rice cakes’) that she left outside the school’s entrance earlier. She gratefully gives him a portion of gwiri ddeok (귀리떡・oat ddeok), telling him they’re good for diabetes.
  • Man Dong having diabetes is yet another detail that gets carried forward.
  • Young Ro really gives off the feeling of the youngest granddaughter.
• Haha I somehow missed this the first time I watched this scene, but Man Dong calls himself ‘HalGyver’ (halabeoji + MacGyver) here. When Young Ro says, ‘See, wasn’t I right? I’m telling you there’s nothing he can’t fix or unlock!’ he replies, ‘Auff, of course, of course. This halabeoji is a HalGyver that can outdo MacGyver, eh.’ This joke actually made it into his character profile, but the Disney+ subs opted to work around the wordplay entirely: “Of course. | I may be old, but I’m a jack of all trades.”
  • You’ll notice how he makes a motion with his hand as he delivers the line. This is because in Korean, the idiomatic phrase meaning ‘to outdo [someone]’ is literally ‘to slap [someone’s] cheek’ ([~의] 뺨 치는), so he’s approximating that gesture.

• At Man Dong’s request, Young Ro stops by Bun Ok’s room on her way back upstairs to deliver a cassette player the latter had asked him to fix. Bun Ok is acting shifty, determined not to let Young Ro or Seol Hee see even an inch inside her room, but Young Ro doesn’t take offense. When she apologizes for earlier, Bun Ok takes the opportunity to guilt Young Ro into buying her an English edition of Romeo and Juliet. Her reaction when Young Ro responds, ‘The English version?’ has ‘inferiority complex’ written all over it.
• This dropped out of the Disney+ subs, but Bun Ok and the students refer to Ms Pi as ‘Pi-bada’ (피바다), meaning ‘blood-sea’/‘Sea of Blood.’ This is a play on her surname, since Pi (皮) is a homophone for blood, ‘pi’ (血). Here, they just have her as “the hall director.”
• Again, with the overuse of ‘wench.’ When Bun Ok laments having to catch an imaginary rat, the subs have her saying, “What a wench. | I hope she goes somewhere and drops— | Yes, really.” This is paraphrasing, at best. A closer translation would be: ‘Ugh, she’s despicable.* Ah, I don’t know what that spook (gwishin) gets up to ser...seriously.’
  • *The phrase used here is ‘jaesu eopseo’ (재수 없어), which literally means ‘unlucky’ but, when used in reference to a person, means something closer to ‘obnoxious, despicable.’
• Unlike Young Ro, Seol Hee finds Bun Ok very suspicious, attempting to peer into the older girl’s room from down the hall and wondering what it is she’s hiding inside. Honestly, she’s not wrong, but Young Ro, who tends to always believe the best of everyone, tells her the put it to rest.
  • Haha the way Young Ro messes with Seol Hee here is cute–winding her up and then shutting her down. It makes the characters feel lived-in.

Room 207z

• Back upstairs, we get a shot of the plaque outside Room 207 with the names of its occupants: Yoon Seol Hee, Eun Young Ro, Yeo Jeong Min, Go Hye Ryeong. Inside, Young Ro, Seol Hee, and Hye Ryeong celebrate not getting busted by holding their own private concert while Jeong Min seemingly ignores them in favor of her book on socialism. The song they’re singing is ♬After My Love Left♬ (님 떠난 후) by Jang Deok (1986). In contrast to the upbeat melody, the lyrics are actually quite sad.
• The beat where Jeong Min slams her book shut...only to get up and join in as enthusiastically as the rest of the girls is so great. They each have such distinct personalities and end up butting up against each other at times (esp. Jeong Min and Hye Ryeong), but at the end of the day, these girls are a lot like sisters.
• This scene is too cute. I luff them.

Professor Han Yi Seop

• At ANSP headquarters the following day, Gang Mu briefs his team on their current top POI in the Daedong-gang 1 case: Professor of Economics at Hanguk University and economic ‘brain’ of the minority party, Han Yi Seop [Kim Jeong Ho].
• The subs here are a bit misleading. When Gang Mu holds up the picture of Han Yi Seop, the subs say, “This man | is likely to have helped Taedong River 1 with his mission. | And there’s no record that he came into Korea, so...” However, ‘he’ is referring to Daedong-gang 1 here, not Han Yi Seop, who’s just a regular civilian and would have no reason to enter Seoul under the radar. I’d have translated this as: ‘Daedong-gang 1. This individual* is very likely to have aided in the bastard’s operation to suborn someone. Seeing as there’s no trace of him having entered the country...’ So the ‘him’ is actually indexing ‘bastard,’ i.e. Daedong-gang 1. (The Korean doesn’t explicitly state he/him at all, so it’s vague to begin with).
  • *In the script, there was a second POI discussed in this scene — Professor Choi Seong Mook of Humbolt University, whose info (崔聖黙 追跡状況 59세 獨逸훔볼트 大学 教授) appears on the board behind Gang Mu — and in the expanded dialogue it’s clear that ‘this individual’ is actually indexing him.
• Gang Mu addresses Han Na as ‘janeh’ (자네) in this scene, which is understandable, given that she’s a member of the task force he’s leading, making him her superior (plus he’s four years older). But it’s a pretty impersonal way to address her, given their history (which we’ll learn about later). I mention it because the way Gang Mu refers to/addresses Han Na evolves over the course of the drama and is indicative of where his head’s at in regard to her at any given moment. Right now, he’s keeping her firmly at arms’ length.
• The file that Han Na swipes on Han Yi Seop reads, ‘Persons of Interest, A. Known Associates (1) Professor Han Yi Seop,’ followed by his addresses and profession. At the bottom is a line reading ‘韓暎衆. 54 y.o. (DOB 07.29.33)’. I’m not entirely sure how to interpret the hanja, which read ‘Hanyeong Group,’ here, but I’m inclined to think it’s his political affiliation. It could also be a professional affiliation.
• The subs here have Han Na saying, “I met him a few times while monitoring him.” I don’t know that she means she was monitoring Han Yi Seop specifically, though. The phrase she uses for ‘monitoring’ literally means something like ‘getting a grasp of trends’ (동향 파악), i.e. keeping tabs on public opinion trends, etc. Basically, the ANSP (a precursor to the modern South Korean National Intelligence Service) is keeping tabs on its own citizens, especially those aligned with the opposition party.

Young Woo oppa

• Back at HSWU, Young Ro checks the post but doesn’t find anything addressed to her. Disappointed, she returns to her room to write a letter.
• We don’t meet him just yet, but we get our unofficial introduction to Eun Young Woo [Song Geon Hui], Young Ro’s older brother. If the photo of the two of them with their grandmother wasn’t enough to tip us off, the fact that the two characters’ names share a syllable is a strong indicator that they’re siblings.
• Young Ro’s letter to Young Woo reads:

To: Young Woo oppa
I don’t know if spring will have arrived where you are in Udo.
Even if it’s spring, its below zero, so.. I’m worried whether your hands are chapped again.
Even if it’s a pain, be sure to apply lotion regularly!!!
It hurts my heart to think of how you said you wanted to work outside even if it’s super cold rather than as an army clerk, working late every day in an unheated office.
Even so, outside [the military] you were on a wanted list as a student protestor and getting chased all the time..
Despite everything, I’m still less anxious with you being there rather than being chased.
It must be hard not being able to get out on leave even once, but
I hope that your heart is more at peace that way as well.
Oh right! Grandmother doesn’t show it, but she really misses you.
Next year you’ll be discharged, so we can celebrate her birthday together, and you have to hang out with me a lot!
I want to hurry up and tell you about my new roommates too..

• As she moves on to a new sheet of paper, her letter devolves into her writing the words ‘neomu hae,’ (너무 해) over and over again, which is a bit hard to translate. Literally, it translates to ‘[you’re] too much,’ but it’s used in the sense of ‘you’re so mean.’ K-pop fans may recognise it from Twice’s ‘TT.’
• Here, the subs have her grumbling, “He doesn’t take a leave or write me back” but this should be, ‘he can’t take leave,’ which is what she literally says. Young Woo (as we’ll learn shortly) was forcibly conscripted. It isn’t that he’s choosing not to visit her; he isn’t free to do so.
• Young Ro folds the second page of her letter — which she clearly never meant to send — into a paper airplane and sends it flying out her window. This is an important character tic of hers. Young Ro, who grew up in the countryside, likely didn’t know many children her own age growing up, as young people tend to move to the cities (this is actually a major demographic problem in Korea). In any case, perhaps because she never had anyone to confide in, or perhaps because she tends to keep her negative emotions to herself, Young Ro developed the habit of writing her sad thoughts down and sending them flying away in the form of paper airplanes.

Bangting Invite

• That afternoon, Young Ro complains about her brother to Bun Ok while she clocks in to help work the front desk. According to the logbook, it’s currently 13:00 on 25 May.
• Lol Young Ro and Bun Ok’s reactions to the over-the-top aegyo the girl on the phone is using. It is thoroughly cringeworthy.
  • I think it already comes across in her tone of voice, but the words she’s using are the Korean equivalent of intense uwu speech.
• The phone rings again, and Young Ro answers agreeably in place of a beleaguered Bun Ok. We see that our caller is none other than Gwang Tae, in full windbag mode as he peruses a feature on Hye Ryeong while his two friends from the rooftop party look on.
  • The feature reads: ‘“I dream of becoming a world-class opera singer!” HSWU Vocal Music Department Fourth Year Go Hye Ryeong.’
• Heh Young Ro listens disinterestedly to his blustering until Gwang Tae says the magic word ‘bangting’ (group blind date), and then she’s all ears (as is Bun Ok). Gwang Tae tells her he and his friends will be waiting at Roma Café that Saturday at 3:00 PM for as long as it takes for the girls to show.
• Korean fans worked out that, since the date of the bangting call is 25 May, which fell on a Monday in 1987, and the date of the bangting is ‘this Saturday,’ that means the bangting takes place on Saturday, 30 May 1987.

• Over at the Haedal Boarding House, Gwang Tae, ever the ham, pretends to faint in excitement at having successfully invited Hye Ryeong on a date (sort of).
• When reminded that the headcount doesn’t tally, Gwang Tae mouths, ‘Dammit...hang on,’ which went unsubbed. (Generally speaking, no utterance means no subtitle, even when what’s not-said is interpretable).
• Gwang Tae’s “Hyung~!” as he makes a beeline for Soo Ho’s room has become “Soo-ho!” in the subs. I’ve noticed Hulu subs will sometimes keep these terms, but D+ has opted to ditch them *sigh*
• Haha oh, Soo Ho. I liked this line delivery. The subs read, “Why are you always like that?” but what he says is something more like, ‘You’re always heedless like this,’ referring to the way Gwang Tae just barged in and started making demands without providing any context whatsoever.
  • I actually just loved this entire sequence. Every line delivery, every expression was spot-on.
• If ‘bangting’ was the magic word for Young Ro, it’s the un-magic word for Soo Ho, who shuts him down before he’s even gotten the word out. It would appear this isn’t the first time Gwang Tae has tried to wrangle Soo Ho into a group date, but the latter clearly isn’t interested. He’s forced to change his tune, though, when Gwang Tae threatens not to introduce him to Professor Han Yi Seop if he doesn’t join.
• This scene was slightly longer in the script, but the dialogue that got cut actually feels OOC for Soo Ho as we know him — further proof Jung Hae In put as much into creating his character as the writer did.

• Back at HSWU, Young Ro makes the same observation about being short a member, assuming Jeong Min won’t want to come, which Bun Ok takes as her cue to break out the crocodile tears. She easily guilt-trips a sympathetic Young Ro into advocating to include her as their fourth member.

• That night, Young Ro petitions Hye Ryeong to let Bun Ok join the group date, appealing to her by calling her ‘Hye Ryeong-ssi,’ instead of her ususal ‘eonni.’
  • Young Ro’s ‘Hye Ryeong-ssi’ is vaguely addictive ㅋㅋ
• True to character, we have Jeong Min making homemade petrol bombs as casually as Hye Ryeong takes off her make-up. When Jeong Min declines to join them on the group date, the subs have Hye Ryeong saying “God, I can never like you,” but what she actually says is, ‘you’re hateful’ and there’s no real sting to it.
• Lol Young Ro is too much. When Hye Ryeong doesn’t budge, she dramatically pulls out the older girl’s bathroom supplies and kneels, offering them up in a direct imitation of Byeong Tae, even repeating his cheesy line of, ‘Hye Ryeong-ssi, please accept my feelings.’
  • I’m deadㅋㅋ She’s copying Byeong Tae isn’t sheㅋㅋ
    • ㅋㅋㅋㅋ So cute
• Young’s Ro’s ‘Hye Ryeong-ssi, please accept my feelings,’ is more literally, ‘Hye Ryeong-ssi, this is my heart,’ which is awkward in English. In the Disney+ subs, this became: “Ms. Ko. | I prepared it for you.”
• When that doesn’t work, she plays her final card, grabbing Hye Ryeong as she leaves to wash up for bed saying, ‘There’s no way that Bun Ok eonni would do this, but what if she doesn’t take your calls?’ To borrow from Korean net-speak, the ‘kill point’ here is the expression on her face when she says it: the picture of innocence ㅋㅋㅋ
  • Young Ro’s making threats ㅋㅋㅋ

Roma Café

• Saturday arrives, and we see Gwang Tae echo Hye Ryeong’s final line from the previous scene about how it’s human instinct to seek out the best possible partner while he primps. Soo Ho clarifies that Gwang Tae’s idea of a ‘good partner’ is someone from a good background (i.e. money and power). I’m glad that Soo Ho gives him a whack here in admonition because I wanted to smack him too. As usual, Jung Hae In’s line delivery is spot-on.
  • ‘You ass’ This bit is so great
    • That’s rightㅠㅠㅠ He’s really just like a regular hyung
  • Soo Ho’s line here is actually terrible to translate. In Korean, it’s ‘era-i-saekki-ya’ (에라이새끼야). ‘Era’ is more a feeling than a word, by which I mean it’s an interjection, typically said in resignation. ‘Saekki,’ as we’ve explained elsewhere, literally means ‘offspring of,’ but it’s used as a curse. Often it gets translated to ‘ass,’ but in this case, ‘you punk’ would probably work too.
• Personally, I’m not a fan of how this exchange was rendered in the Disney+ subs. For one thing, ‘the lower echelon of society’ (meaning the poor/lower classes) became ‘lowlifes’ which has more to do with one’s character than one’s socioeconomic status. Secondly, the subs have Soo Ho saying that Gwang Tae intends to ‘court’ Hye Ryeong, when what he really says is ‘hook her’ as one would a fish. So Gwang Tae’s intentions are actually ass-ier than they come off as. He more than deserved that smack.
• Check out Gwang Tae’s clothesㅋㅋㅋ He’s assimilated every color on earth
  • ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ That description...
• As they exit the restroom, Gwang Tae pulls Soo Ho to a stop, asking him what he’s going to ‘put out’ later. At Soo Ho’s incomprehension, in lieu of explaining Gwang Tae starts turning out Soo Ho’s pockets, passing over a fountain pen and expensive wallet and seizing gleefully on a paper airplane. Soo Ho just reminds Gwang Tae to keep his promise to introduce him to the professor.
• We don’t see her face but, unbeknownst to them, Bun Ok is listening to their entire exchange in dawning delight at Soo Ho’s looks and (alleged) background. So begins her career as a 1980s CCTV.

• It’s ten to three, and Hye Ryeong is taking her sweet time getting ready. I liked the way the subs handled her ‘sage advice’ here: “Romantic relationships begin with a tug-of-war. | And the best way to win is | to make the guy desperate. | Got it?” More literally, ‘relationships between men and women begin with pushing and pulling’ i.e. acting hot-and-cold or playing hard to get: push them away and then reel them back in. But I like ‘tug-of-war’ as a sub.
• Heh The way Seol Hee wordlessly shoves Young Ro towards Hye Ryeong to act as their collective representative is perfect. I really appreciate how each of these girls has her own distinct personality and role in the group dynamic. Despite their limited screentime, they’re all fully developed and memorable.
• Also, the way the camera transitions from Young Ro to Hye Ryeong here is really clever. Point to the director. Between the cast, the sets, and the camerawork, this drama is just visually a treat to watch.
• Pfft Despite the fact that she’s nodding, the look on Young Ro’s face as Hye Ryeong sweeps past her tells us she still doesn’t quite get it. A baby, indeed...

Bangting (Group Blind Date)

• At Roma Café, while the three friends wait on tenterhooks for the girls to arrive, Soo Ho ignores them, concentrating instead on stacking matchsticks into a sort of tower to pass the time.
• Helping to set the scene is ♬At the Moonlit Window♬ (달빛 창가에서) by the City Kids (1986), which plays over the cafe’s speakers in the background.
• The girls finally arrive and, again, Hye Ryeong’s polite ‘Oh Gwang Tae-ssi?’ (which she misdirects at Soo Ho heh) has become simply “Oh Gwang-tae?” in the subs.
• Equally polite, when Soo Ho starts to clarify that she’s got the wrong person, he uses the humble first person pronoun ‘jeo/je’ (저/제) to say, ‘No, I’m...’ Basically, his manner of speech is creating the same overall impression his manner of dress is.
• Finally, our leads meet. As Young Ro reaches out for the collapsing matchstick tower at the same time Soo Ho does, their hands touch and their gazes lock *cue slo-mo* *cue BGM*
  • Jung Hae In described Soo Ho’s feelings here in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar Korea, saying, “Seeing Young Ro, his heart sort of skips a beat. It’s a situation in which that really isn’t allowed, but it’s a moment when, in spite of his rationality, his heart was moved.”
  • I found this moment interesting from a narrative perspective, in terms of what it illustrates about Young Ro as a person. The matchstick tower isn’t objectively consequential in any way — other than the fact that Soo Ho put time and energy into building it — it’s obviously doomed, and yet she instinctively reaches to try and save it, which just says everything about her. Point to the writer.
• Fun fact: The matchstick tower actually accounts for half of the origin of Soo Ho and Young Ro’s couple name.
• Minor note on the subs here: They have Young Ro’s line as, “What a shame” — which is accurate. But then Soo Hoo’s line is rendered as, “It is. One more match, and it would have been completed,” making it sound as though he’s responding directly to her. However, at this point (as you would expect of two people who have only just met) they’re both using jondaetmal — except in these two lines, since the statements are not really directed at one another. Both are semi-rhetorical.
• Just as the others decide she isn’t coming, Bun Ok makes her big entrance. Soo Ho clocks the girls’ varying reactions to this: Hye Ryeong grimaces, Seol Hee wilts, but Young Ro greets her happily. Bun Ok immediately claims the seat opposite Soo Ho, to both Soo Ho and Young Ro’s disappointment heh
• When Bun Ok introduces herself here, she says something like, ‘I’m bursting with character; Gye Seong Hee, a fourth year student in the English Lit department at Hosu Women’s University.’ She’s making a pun, since the word ‘gaeseong’ (개성), meaning ‘personality, individuality, character,’ sounds almost identical to ‘gye-seong’ (계성) the first two syllables of her fake name. So, she says she’s ‘Gye Seong Hee, who is overflowing with gaeseong.’ I think this is her being witty. In the Disney+ subs, the ‘Hee’ got dropped for some reason, so she’s just “Seong.”

• Once everyone’s seated and the drinks are served, Bun Ok insists they skip straight to the blind item selection to decide their partners, pressuring Young Ro into backing her up. Through it all, Soo Ho hangs on Young Ro’s every expression and word.
  • ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Soo Ho! What happened to the guy who had to be blackmailed into coming?? (Answer: Young Ro, Young Ro happened). From the moment he sees her, he’s transfixed.
• The music playing in the background during the item selection sequence is ♬Like the Way You Looked When You Sent Me Away With A Smile♬ (미소를 띄우며 나를 보낸 그 모습처럼) which was released by Lee Eun Ha in 1986. Again, the show does a fantastic job of using music to help bring 1987 to life. I’m not Korean, nor was I alive in the 1980s, but I immediately recognised this song when it started to play because–like so much of the music in Snowdrop–it’s still iconic.
• When the debate over whether to choose amongst the boys’ or the girls’ items comes up — along with the youthful talk of fate — we get a shot of Soo Ho in his seat at the end. There’s something in his face in this moment that makes him feel worlds apart from the other seven seated around him. It’s such a quiet beat that it made me all the more impressed with Jung Hae In’s acting. Point to Jung Hae In.
• Pfft The way Soo Ho clears his throat to tip Young Ro off to which item is his (completely unnecessarily, as the other boys are already making it plenty obvious which item is whose). When Bun Ok snatches the paper airplane out from under Young Ro’s hands, I get the distinct sense he’s swallowing down his disappointment along with his drink.
  • Aww Yes, it’s clear that, with Young Ro in front of him, Soo Ho’s completely forgotten his objective and that he isn’t supposed to care how things play out here. Boy, I thought you were supposed to be a big bad spy. Shouldn’t you be harder to read than this? haha
• Jisoo commented on this too, but it’s funny how Hye Ryeong directs all of her conversation at Soo Ho in this scene, assuming him to be Gwang Tae. Perhaps because he seems the most likely to have passed the civil service exam, perhaps because he’s ridiculously handsome... who can say? heh

Evergreen Bookshop/Records

• Following what turned out to be the world’s shortest bangting, we find Young Ro cheering herself up at a nearby record store, having promptly ditched her date.
• Haha oh, this scene: Young Ro in the listening booth at Evergreen. I both cringe for her and find her totally adorable as she rocks out to Eruption’s cover of ♬One Way Ticket♬, so aflutter over Soo Ho and immersed in the music she completely forgets she’s in public. Like a lot of the music featured in Snowdrop, the song’s upbeat tune belies its sad lyrics. The original was released by Neil Sedaka in 1959 and the lyrics make reference to the titles of popular songs from the late 1950s: ‘Lonesome Town,’ ‘Heartbreak Hotel,’ ‘Bye Bye Love,’ ‘A Fool Such as I,’ and ‘I Cried a Tear.’
• Again, the attention to detail in this show: the sheet music Soo Ho picks up and puts back again is titled ‘I Will Always Love You’ ㅠㅠ
  • Also, symbolism...? Since he’s immediately drawn to her, but ‘shelves’ those feelings. (I’m a Lit Geek, don’t @ me.)
• Young Ro attempts to make a quick getaway when she realises she’s attracting attention, only to literally run into Soo Ho on her way out. The BGM playing as the two collide is ♬Destiny♬. The track plays at important ‘crossroads’ in their relationship, so take note! Honestly, between ♬Destiny♬ and ♬Friend♬, it’s hard to pick which I feel more emotionally attacked by. I love them both anyway.
• Also, it’s hard to see due to the light coming through the window but, as Soo Ho teases her, he lifts a playful eyebrow. My heart.
• Again, they’re both using jondaetmal here. When Soo Ho asks her, ‘And you? Why did you [and your partner] already part ways?’ he uses the polite second person pronoun ‘geu-jjok’ (그쪽) for ‘you.’ I mention it, because the way they address and speak to one another will evolve over the course of the show as their relationship shifts in different ways. (Also, they’ve not exchanged names at this point since, thanks to Bun Ok, introductions got skipped entirely).
• You can really see the age difference between them here. Soo Ho, calm and composed, smiling warmly at Young Ro’s antics, and Young Ro, trying hard to match him, but still very obviously trying. Too cute.
  • Fun fact: Jung Hae In and Jisoo share the same 7-year age difference in real life that Soo Ho and Young Ro do in the drama.
• Aww As Soo Ho watches Young Ro leave, he actually takes a step forward so he can see her for just one second longer as the door closes ㅠㅠ Pretty sure that’s a Jung Hae In detail.

• Young Ro makes a hasty exit from the store, cringing and sans cassette tape after coming up 500 won short, only to hear Soo Ho call out to her from behind. He’s come after her to gift her the tape she wanted.
• On a linguistic note, when Young Ro asks him why he’s giving her the tape, she adds the honorific inflection –shi– onto the verb ‘to give’ (‘juda’ > ‘jushida’), elevating Soo Ho (i.e. the person doing the giving). So her speech isn’t just polite, it’s respectful as well. She also uses the humble first person pronoun ‘jeo/je’ (저/제) for ‘me.’ As I mentioned earlier, Young Ro is very polite in general.
• The subs have Soo Ho’s reply as, “Because we met earlier. | Just take it.” I like this sub. It’s natural-sounding and is essentially what he means. Literally, the line is, ‘We saw [each other] earlier, didn’t we? Don’t feel burdened; take it.’
  • Also, gah, Soo Ho is such an oppa. He just naturally has this way about him.
• The kill point here is the way he takes her hand and gently folds the tape into it. ‘Master of Romance,’ indeed...

The White Skull Corps

• Having accomplished his objective (operation: cassette tape), Soo Ho strides away, leaving Young Ro to chase after him this time. He doesn’t get far, though, due to the sudden appearance of a White Skull Corps squadron.
• I couldn’t find a good English reference for this one, but the White Skull Corps (백골단・白骨團・Baekgoldan) was a plainclothes police force established in 1985 specifically to suppress and arrest student protestors, though an earlier incarnation existed under Syngman Rhee. You can tell from Soo Ho’s reaction when he sees them that they are seriously bad news — as if the name wasn’t enough of a tip-off.
• Soo Ho veers into a recessed flower shop to avoid them and Young Ro follows after him, insisting she doesn’t need it as she slips the tape into his pocket. She moves to leave, only to startle when Soo Ho grabs her by the shoulders.
• When the subs have him saying, “It wasn’t like that,” the line is in banmal, which Soo Ho wouldn’t use if he were speaking to Young Ro as himself, since he’s acting. By contrast, the quiet “Just a minute, please” that follows is in jondaetmal again, since it’s for her ears only.
• The clipboard the WSC guy is holding is a roster of ‘spies’ (間諜), though it’s likely they’re actually South Korean citizens being framed as spies rather than the real deal. Some of them have aliases, but they’ve all got home addresses in the South associated with family registries.
• When she spots the WSC goon squad, Young Ro immediately gets it and — despite her fear — picks up the act where Soo Ho left off. Like Soo Ho, she drops into banmal for this charade, since they’re pretending to have a couple’s spat.
• When Soo Ho hugs her, ♬Looks Like a Real Thing♬ begins playing in the background. It’s interesting to me that they only ever use the English version of the song in the drama. That goes for both the Disney+ version and the version broadcast on JTBC.
• I like that we get to see how Soo Ho’s hand trembles even as he pats Young Ro on the back to reassure her. He’s as shaken as she is, but still attempts to offer comfort.
• On a linguistic note, when the subs have him saying, “The police are gone,” Soo Ho actually uses the word ‘jjapsae’ (짭새), which is roughly equivalent to ‘the fuzz, the coppers, the bobbies,’ etc. It’s a slang term for the authorities (usually the police) typically used by people on the wrong side of the law. Though, in this case, it’s the law that’s on the wrong side. Jeong Min also tends to use this word, for obvious reasons.
• Side note, but someone really ought to give Jung Hae In a prize for the softest™‘gwaenchana-yo?’ (‘Are you okay?’) ever. Just sayin’...
• Heh It tickles me that Soo Ho felt the need to add, ‘You’re singing isn’t great, though.’ He could’ve stopped at ‘You could be an actress,’ but, no. I feel like this is one of the little moments where his sense of humor shows through.
• It’s at this point that Young Ro reveals her older brother was arrested while protesting, which Soo Ho absorbs soberly. This would have been an all-too-common story at the time, since the White Skull Corps, ANSP, police, and military regularly cracked down on student demonstrations, rounded up protestors, and imprisoned, tortured, framed them as spies, etc. This detail is important to both Young Ro’s character and the plot, so it’s worth noting.
  • Minor note, but the Disney+ sub here reads, “My big brother was once arrested at a protest,” which makes it sound like Young Woo might have spent a night or two in a cell. The guy was forcibly conscripted and shipped off to Udo.

• Young Ro excuses herself and exits the alley, leaving Soo Ho to wrestle with himself for a moment before giving in and going after her.
• I can’t say how much I appreciate the beat where Soo Ho catches Young Ro’s arm but then immediately lets go of it, not attempting to hold her there by force. Way too often in dramas you see men dragging women around or overpowering them physically and it’s portrayed as somehow romantic–which is all kinds of problematic and always makes me cringe. Thank you, Show, for getting this right.
• Aww The hopeful look on Young Ro’s face when he starts to ask her out. I feel even worse for Soo Ho, though, who, after mustering up his courage, has to force himself to swallow his words mid-sentence when reality intrudes. (reality, in this case, being a young man keeping tabs on him from a nearby car) ㅠㅠ
• Soo Ho course-corrects, folding the tape into her hands once more and offering his thanks before striding away, meaning it’s now (once again) Young Ro’s turn to go after him. She screws up her courage and tells him to meet her at Roma Café the following day, under the pretext of paying him back for the cassette tape.
• Oof The contrast between Young Ro’s giddy excitement and Soo Ho’s grim resignation as they part ways hurts ㅠㅠ
• Soo Ho gets his Jason Bourne moment, disappearing into thin air as a bus passes. We can all guess what that means for Young Ro’s hopes of seeing him the next day...

Crush(ed)

• We see an excited Young Ro arrive back at the dorm and rush up to her room as ♬Snowdrop♬ plays in the background. As she pulls out her radio/cassette player from beneath her bed, the BGM changes to an unreleased track that I honestly really wish they’d given us (Blu-ray, I’m looking at you).
• Young Ro presses record, and we get her narration that featured in several of the teaser trailers: “I wondered...what ‘love at first sight’ was.” (This is a slightly different take, though). As it turns out, the line is a sort of diary entry. Keep in mind that, because this is Snowdrop, everything will come back into play at some point.

• The following day, Young Ro waits for Soo Ho at Roma Café. The way she sits in his seat, stacking matches just as he had, wanting to see the world through his eyes, is such a young love thing to do. She’s even ordered the same drink he had, despite never touching it.
• As Young Ro waits, the music transitions from ♬After My Love Left♬, which is playing over the café’s speakers, to the overlaid OST track ♬Friend♬:♪ I think perhaps because your smile is a bit sad / [My] heart seems to have emptied for being unable to know all [of you] ♪
  • Roma Café, stop it with the sad song selection. Café, have a care ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
• Though she waits — long enough to complete her matchstick tower — Soo Ho never shows, and she dashes it in disappointment.

Time Jump

• We get a six month time jump here, meaning we skip right over the June Democratic Struggle, a nationwide pro-democracy movement which lasted from 10-29 June 1987. The protests were sparked when military dictator Chun Doo Hwan announced that Roh Tae Woo, his close ally and fellow Hanahoe member, would succeed him as ‘president’–essentially abandoning even the sham of democracy, when there had been ongoing protests pushing for the public’s right to directly elect their leader for the better part of a decade. However, with the eyes of the world on them leading up to the 1988 Olympics, and predicting (correctly) that their candidate would win anyway since the opposition was divided, the Chun regime conceded to the public’s demands, agreeing to hold a direct election and institute other democratic reforms they had been putting off. So, the people have won the right to directly elect a democratic leader by the time Snowdrop picks up again in November.
  • For a bullet-point overview of the real-world history leading up to the fictional events of Snowdrop, see this post.

November 1987

• We reopen to an external shot of the Beijing Summit Hotel under a cold, snowy sky. The chyron reads, ‘6 months later Beijing, China | November 1987 North-South Secret Talks.’ Inside, we find Eun Chang Soo and Nam Tae Il sitting across from two North Korean delegates.
• The first delegate is Lim Ji Rok [Jeon Mu Song], whom the chyron identifies as the Director of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea)’s United Front Department. The UFD is the department of the Workers’ Party of Korea’s Central Committee tasked with managing relations with South Korea. It conducts propaganda and espionage operations and manages front organisations, making him the obvious liaison for Operation Phoenix.
  _{n.b. The JTBC website actually has him as the Deputy Director, but the dialogue, chyron, documents, etc. that appear in the drama itself all consistently identify him as the Director so I’m confident it’s a misprint.}
• With him is Choi Soo Ryeon [Jung Ae Ri], whom a chyron informs us is the Deputy Director of the (North Korean) State Security Agency. For context, the SSA is the precursor to the modern Ministry of State Security, North Korea’s secret police agency. Everything about her screams strict and cold as ice.
• According to the contract they all sign — Nam Tae Il with a smile and Eun Chang Soo with what appear to be misgivings — the date is currently 18 November 1987. The content of the agreement is as Nam Tae Il and Eun Chang Soo had previously reported to Code One: the South will wire the North $100,000.00 within 24 hours and, in exchange, the North will abduct Professor Han Yi Seop and then make it known he’s ‘defected’ to the North (the aim being to discredit the opposition party).
• I didn’t really notice it the first time I watched this scene, but there’s no dialogue, which is an interesting way to introduce two of our major players (Lim Ji Rok and Choi Soo Ryeon). Nonetheless, the actors managed to convey everything we need to know about their dynamic and personalities to be getting on with at this point. Colour me impressed.

D-Day

• Back to Cosmos Toys (aka ANSP HQ). I think this is the first time in-drama we get Soo Ho’s full name, and though Gang Mu refers to him as ‘Im Soo Ho’ the subs have rendered this as “Lim Soo-ho.” I’m not a fan of this decision, though I assume it was an attempt to avoid confusing viewers. We explained this in the notes on Soo Ho’s character profile, but there’s significance to the surname ‘Im/Lim’ (林) since the decision to pronounce it the South Korean way, ‘Im’ (임), vs the North Korean way, ‘Lim’ (림), tells us something about the different characters’ mindsets and allegiances. So, we feel the distinction is worth preserving.
• Gang Mu briefs his team on the people they’ve identified as having recently initiated contact with Professor Han Yi Seop, since they suspect him to be Daedong-gang 1’s latest target. The text below Soo Ho’s photo reads: ‘林守護 27세 論文 指導,’ meaning, ‘Im Soo Ho 27 y.o. Thesis Guidance.’ The hanja for his surname (林) means ‘grove,’ while the two characters that make up his first name (守護) translate to ‘protection’ or ‘guardian.’
• They were at Gang Mu’s earlier briefings, but this is the first time we get a good look at ANSP agents Lee Seung Joon [Moon Yoo Gang] (front right, standing) and Il Geun [Choi Yoon Je] (behind Dong Jae, on the left), who have volunteered for Gang Mu’s Daedong-gang 1 task force. We’ll get their names a bit later on, though we never get Il Geun’s surname and the fourth guy isn’t named at all.
• Picking up where Gang Mu left off, Han Na comes forward to present him with a cable from the University of Berlin stating that they have no record of a ‘Soo-Ho Lim’ on file, meaning at least part of Soo Ho’s history is fabricated. That makes him their #1 suspect. The date on the cable tells us it’s now 26 November 1987.
• Side note, but there is something so subtly disturbing about a basement room with tiled walls...

Pursuit

• That night, we find Soo Ho in a darkened car on a stakeout with two of his operatives.
• In the driver’s seat, we have Park Geum Cheol [Lee Jung Hyun], who — unlike Soo Ho — speaks in a pronounced Northern accent. Soo Ho calls him ‘Geum Cheol-ah,’ which, again, tells us he regards the younger man with a certain degree of fondness.
• Beside him, riding shotgun, is Joo Gyeok Chan [Kim Min Gyu]. Sharp-eyed viewers will recognize him as the man in the car outside Evergreen Records who was keeping tabs on Soo Ho the day of the group date.
• As they watch, the professor emerges to find he has a flat tyre. Soo Ho takes this as his cue to get out and approach him, pretending to assess the damage before offering the man a ride home.
• Like Mrs Bong, who runs the boarding house, Professor Han addresses Soo Ho as ‘Soo Ho haksaeng’ (‘student’), but in the subs this has become “Hey, Soo-ho.”
• Though Soo Ho is on alert, he has no way of knowing that the car he and his operatives are riding in drives right past Han Na, who was staking out their stakeout from yet another darkened car: stakeout-ception? Han Na’s coded go-sign of, ‘Finally the river flows’ is, naturally, a reference to Soo Ho’s code name, Daedong-gang 1 (i.e. Taedong River 1).

• Seated in the backseat with his gun trained on the professor, Soo Ho looks up at a set of rapidly approaching headlights just seconds before a car rams into them, slamming his head into the window and knocking Geum Cheol and the professor unconscious. Seeing Gang Mu approach, Soo Ho screams at Gyeok Chan to run.
• Quick language note on character relationships: In contrast to Geum Cheol, Soo Ho addresses Gyeok Chan as ‘Comrade Joo’ (Joo dongmu), which indicates that there’s more distance between them.
  • One thing that makes me feel like there’s a wall between Soo Ho and Gyeok Chan is that Eung Cheol-ie and Geum Cheol-ie are ‘Eung Cheol-ah!!’ and ‘Geum Cheol-ah!!’ but Gyeok Chan-ie is ‘Joo dongmu’ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
    • Right ㅋㅋㅋㅋ He doesn’t call Gyeok Chan by name very often ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
    • For real ㅋㅋㅋ If it was me I would’ve felt hurt
• There’s a great moment where Soo Ho and Gang Mu lock eyes over the hoods of their cars before Soo Ho takes off running. Interestingly, I’m pretty sure Gang Mu calls Soo Ho ‘Lim Soo Ho’ here (i.e. the North Korean variant of his name). As he chases him, though, he reverts to calling him ‘Im Soo Ho!’ and ‘Im Soo Ho, you bastard!’ heh

• As Soo Ho flees, he ends up running through a crowd of student protestors demonstrating outside of Evergreen Records. I mention it because so much of the controversy had to do with fabrications that Soo Ho was leading the movement or some such, and this is literally the only time the two appear in the same frame together for the entire drama.
• Okay, I found this really interesting. When we sketched out this post, we were working off the JTBC raw, and in that version, the student protestors can be heard singing the protest song ♬Oh Pine, Oh Pine, Oh Verdant Pine♬ (솔아 솔아 푸르른 솔아) while Gang Mu and his team chase Soo Ho through the streets. However, when I went back and watched the Disney+ version to make note of how things were subtitled, the song wasn’t there. Instead, you can hear the student protestors chanting, “Fair election! Overthrow the dictatorship!” over and over. (The cry can be heard once in the JTBC version, but not repeatedly). They must have decided to make the change so that international viewers would get what was being protested without necessarily being familiar with the song or the history. (However, as mentioned above, the people technically ‘won’ the struggle for a fair election back in June. Young Ro tells Seol Hee that this demonstration is in response to an Aemin Party campaign event taking place nearby that night).
• Some of the signs the student protestors are holding read:
  • Fair election; Obtain democracy
  • Can’t bear it; Let’s oust ’em!
  • Out with the Aemin Party, In with democracy
  • Only an awakened populace can protect democratic rights
  • Overthrow the dictator; Restore power to the people
  • Defeat the torture regime...

• The protest crackdown is violent enough that it can be heard from up at the dorm, where Young Ro and Seol Hee worry for Jeong Min, knowing she’s out there demonstrating. Again, from a narrative perspective, all of this is essentially in service of justifying why the girls assume Soo Ho is a student protestor.
• Minor detail, but Seol Hee’s line in the Disney+ subs saying, “They’re shooting so many tear bombs today,” doesn’t actually mention tear bombs (최루탄); the object of the sentence is omitted, but that’s what they would have been. ‘Tear grenades’ might be a slightly better translation.
  • Quick history note on the tear gas/grenades (최루탄): The tear gas used to suppress protests was highly toxic, lingering for days and killing the surrounding plants and insects. It also came in a variety of forms, some of which produced shrapnel that seriously maimed or permanently blinded protestors. It was so brutal, in fact, that there came to be protests demanding the government stop using tear gas to suppress protests. You can find more on this here.
• In the script, this scene was followed by a deleted scene in which Young Ro returns to her room and pens a follow-up letter to her brother saying she’s forgotten all about the guy she met back in the spring and the fact that she hasn’t gone on any more dates has absolutely nothing to do with him (heh). She then launches it out the window like the others.
• Meanwhile, Gang Mu and Seung Joon have tracked Soo Ho through Mt Ogong. They’ve lost sight of him for the moment, but Gang Mu finds his blood smeared on the chainlink fence behind the HSWU dorm. Figuring Soo Ho must be inside, they head for the dorm.
• They’re right of course, as we next see a badly injured Soo Ho pull himself through the window of a darkened room 207 (right past a potted snowdrop plant sitting on the windowsill) before tumbling to the floor and losing consciousness.
  • Haengseong both climbed through the window of Room 207. It’s fate, I tell you, fate!

Barred Entry

• While Soo Ho drags himself in through the window, Gang Mu and his team storm up the front steps, guns drawn, unfazed by the students’ terror at their intrusion.
• Upstairs, Young Ro arrives back at her room, unaware of the search. Her carefree smile drops when she turns on the light and notices the disarray that Soo Ho caused on his way inside.
• When Ms Pi attempts to run the ANSP off, the subs have Gang Mu saying, “We’re chasing a North Korean spy!” The word for ‘spy’ he uses here is ‘kancheop’ (간첩・間諜), which is one of several words for ‘spy’ that get used in the show. I mention it, because who uses which word when and to whom is informative. ‘Kancheop’ is the standard word used by most of the South Korean characters. It doesn’t actually mean North Korean spy specifically, though, that’s just how it’s being used here.
• Ms Pi cooly informs them they’ll not be allowed entry without a warrant. You have to admire her nerve. Unfortunately, this was another moment that drew erroneous controversy, with some netizens insisting it was unrealistic because the ANSP would have just abused their power and searched the place anyway. Yes, but...it’s fiction, and we need to buy our heroes time somehow, right? Honestly...
• Despite his impatience and her outrage, both Gang Mu and Ms Pi use jondaetmal with each other — until, that is, Gang Mu gets fed up with her defiance and tells her she’s violating National Security Law. That line is delivered in banmal.
• Despite Ms Pi’s adamant refusal, Gang Mu completely ignores her, telling his agents to search the place from top to bottom. (You were saying...?)

• Back in Room 207, Young Ro cautiously makes her way forward, finally catching sight of Soo Ho’s back, shot and bleeding out from the shoulder.
• Once again, the BGM here is ♬Snowdrop♬. Love this track.
• Carefully, she reaches out and turns him over, gasping when she sees his face. *cut to black* *cue title animation* Don’t go anywhere just yet, though – there’s still a bonus scene!

Next Time

• There’s a line in the EP02 preview that never appears in the episode itself: we hear Ms Pi say, ‘If there is even the slightest bit of untruth [to that], you will surely pay a commensurate price for it.’ The line appears in Scene 86 of the EP02 script.

Bonus

• We return to the night of the rooftop party at the Haedal Boarding House, as Soo Ho plays the guitar and sings while the other boys dance and carry on merrily. Though he’s smiling, his expression appears somehow wistful.
• This scene originally occurred within the course of the episode itself (as did all the bonus scenes), right on the heels of the samgyeopsal party.
• The song he’s singing is ♬‘If I’♬ by Kim Hak-rae and Im Cheol-woo (1979). The lyrics, ♪‘If I were a wordless wanderer / I would become a stone in this world / If I were a drifter searching for my love / I would go to the ends of the earth’♪ seem to have been chosen with Soo Ho in mind.
• Amidst the merriment, however, we see someone in an electrical repairman uniform climb a nearby roof, allegedly to service the power cables. It’s Gyeok Chan, keeping tabs on Soo Ho again. Soo Ho clocks his presence, expression clouding over.
  • The uniform Gyeok Chan is wearing reads ‘Taekguk Electrical Repair’ (태극전파사). This detail comes up again in EP04.
• Fun fact: It snowed in Seoul on the day the first episode aired.

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Azeria

Gosh! Where to begin? First, off, thank you to everyone who read to the end. We try to make these enjoyable and informative, but know they can also be dense and (perhaps overly) detailed. The episode itself is also longer than average (90min vs the typical 60min). That said, one thing I’m always struck by is that, despite its longer runtime, Snowdrop never feels overly long. I lost track of how many times I thought, ‘Wait, it’s already over??’ while watching for the first time. When you think about it, though, watching Snowdrop is essentially like watching a full-length movie every week (lucky us!).

Another thing that’s unusual about this episode is that, even though it primarily serves to introduce us to the truly sprawling cast of characters, and even though it ends at what is essentially the start of the main narrative, the character moments and dynamics are rich enough that it doesn’t feel perfunctory; it’s fun to go back and rewatch. I don’t tend to re-visit first episodes very often, but Snowdrop proves to be an exception. Part of that is the writing, and part of that is the cast. I alluded to this earlier, but — aside from the new faces among the younger cast — this entire cast lineup is nothing but heavy-hitters: Jung Hae In (Im Soo Ho), Yoo In Na (Kang Cheong Ya), Heo Jun Ho (Eun Chang Soo), Park Sung Woong (Nam Tae Il), Jang Seung Jo (Lee Gang Mu), Yoon Se Ah (Pi Seung Hee), Kim Jong Soo (Kim Man Dong), Kim Jeong Nan (Hong Ae Ra). When the group poster featuring the 23(!!) central characters was first released, it caused a huge stir, with press headlines talking about the ‘unprecedented scale’ and the ‘legendary-level casting.’

One thing that has unfortunately been buried by all the controversy is that, before all the hearsay and fabrications, Snowdrop was a ‘highly anticipated production’ (기대작). For one thing, it marked the reunion of the same writer-director team as SKY Castle (2018), which kicked up a major phenomenon in South Korea and enjoyed record-breaking viewership ratings. On top of that, it boasts a star-studded cast. And the finished product reflects both of those things — It’s tightly plotted, cleverly shot, diabolically scored, and brilliantly acted. To put it mildly, it’s really unfortunate that the show garnered so much undeserved bad press, because, in other circumstances, it could have been a massive hit. That said, Snowdrop did extremely well on Disney+, charting among the top five most-watched shows in every country it was available for the entirety of its run (oftentimes occupying 1st place in all five). The show also helped put Disney+ among the top 5 streaming platforms in South Korea for the first time ever.

Finally, I’d feel remiss not talking about our main couple. We actually haven’t seen that much of Jung Hae In yet, but where he does appear, he’s pitch-perfect. I remember a review on Dramabeans lamenting that he was only displaying his ‘same old magic’ in the role. I understand this reaction, but it’s premature; we’ve still only just seen the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Soo Ho. Speaking as someone who’s seen the entire show, Jung Hae In has never been this good. Or rather, he’s always been an excellent actor, but we’ve never had the occasion to see the full breadth and depth of his range until Soo Ho. And before you go thinking I’m biased, the Korean fans and press all said the same. Trust me, it’s worth watching this show just for Jung Hae In — he’s that good. As for Jisoo, I was pleasantly surprised by her acting and found Young Ro instantly likable. Like Jung Hae In, the early episodes don’t really give you a sense of her full range, and she only gets better as the show progresses. Anytime the two share a frame, I’m instantly drawn in.

Eulie

I’m going to try not to rehash, but ditto to the above. As azeria said, the cast is brilliant and they’ve all brought their A-game. I can’t imagine another actor playing Soo Ho, and completely get why they bent over backwards to make it possible for Jung Hae In to play the part. I’ve always liked him as an actor (and a human being) but, while we haven’t seen much of the character so far, his range and nuance in this role are above and beyond what JHI has had the opportunity to showcase in any of the previous roles I’ve seen him in. Definitely a reason to watch. Jisoo also impressed me, since I went into this knowing Young Ro is her first significant role. At this point, it’s sometimes hard to tell where Jisoo ends and Young Ro begins because they’ve got a similar loveable, bubbly vibe, but her acting never once threw me out of a scene — and she only gets better. Yoon Se Ah (Ms Pi) is brilliant as always, and the newer faces are doing a great job keeping up with their more seasoned co-stars.

I’ve spent hours by now going over the script, and it’s only made me appreciate Yoo Hyun Mi’s writing more. I never watched SKY Castle (2018), but I know her from Gaksital (2012), which I loved even though it left me in tears ㅠㅠ. Her attention to detail, use of thematic echoing, and way with words never fail to impress. Snowdrop is tightly plotted, well-paced, and its character arcs are nuanced, convincing, and interplay in both heartrending and gratifying ways. Jo Hyun Tak’s directing is equally deft, and I think the music director (Kim Tae Seong) deserves an award for his pitch-perfect use of the OSTs/BGM and featured music. I seem to notice something new to appreciate every time I watch.

You can see how the show’s premise is built around the lead-up to the 1987 South Korean presidential election, but the candidates are fictional, as are all the characters, Operation Phoenix, etc. etc., so the show is couched in history, but departs from historical fact. Without giving too much away, knowledge of how the real-life election played out isn’t going to tell you anything about how the election (or anything else) in Snowdrop unfolds. You’ll have to watch and see for yourself.

I’m mentioning things about the Disney+ subs in places, since I assume they’re what most viewers will be referencing, but I actually think they’re pretty good quality overall. Subtitling is not easy and I’ve found myself impressed with how the subtitler, Wayne Ryu, has handled certain things. For the most part, here, you can assume that if we’re not commenting, it’s because the subs are basically fine as they are. That, or they’re off in a way that doesn’t significantly impact viewers’ understanding. That said, if there are any lines you’d like clarification on, feel free to drop us a comment or check out the Snowdrop quotes page in case it’s there.

Finally, we plan to keep going with these Snowdrop episode breakdowns, but they take a while to put together since we have to watch, draft, fact-check, edit, screencap, etc. so stay tuned. We’ll have the next one up as soon as we’re able. If you read to the end and enjoyed, we hope you’ll consider buying us a coffee. If nothing else, it helps us gauge readers’ interest (and justify all the hours we pour into these ㅋㅋ). Until next time...happy drama watching

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