 Seriously, Snow Drop is the worst drama that shouldn't have been aired. It will still be the worst in 100 years. Just looking at them makes me go crazy. Even if 100 years have passed, it will still be the worst of the worst drama in 2020. So what could have possibly caused such a reaction from Koreans? Snow Drop is a new K-drama that just premiered back in December. Snow Drop first gained popularity for being the first drama of Blackpink superstar Kim Jisoo, actually the first drama of any Blackpink member. Immediately, it was hit with heavy criticism, so much so that Snow Drop was recently voted as the worst K-drama in 2021. There were a lot of dramas that were released in 2021, so that's pretty harsh criticism. But the criticism doesn't come from the story, the plot, the acting, or the production. It actually comes from a controversy about the historical setting of the show. The drama takes place in 1987, right in the middle of the student protest against the South Korean government. Jisoo plays a South Korean college student named Young Ro, and Jung Hae-in plays Su-ho, a North Korean spy. Su-ho is being chased down by a bunch of government agents, and as he runs, he hides in Jisoo's college dorm, but Jisoo and the roommates think that Su-ho is just a democratic protester running from the police and decides to keep him hidden. This is where the controversy comes in. Professor Ban Byung-yol of Hanuk University states, it may give the viewers impression that spies were hidden among students and were indistinguishable, adding weight to the regime's claims that cracking down on student activists was an effort to catch spies. Even if it's a dramatically interesting concept, it's very irresponsible. Basically, the show is saying, hey, you know, the actually had the right idea about arresting the students and assaulting them. Well, because there actually were North Korean spies hiding among them. Now, is this a far-fetched concept? Is this an overreaction of a response to a show like Snowdrop? But what do I know? I'm not a historian or a professor of Korean studies, but he is. This is Dr. Mark Peterson, professor of Asian studies, PhD from Harvard University. So correct me if I'm wrong, you were actually in Korea during this time in 1987. Yes, I was in Korea from July 87 till June 90. Oh, OK, so you pretty much have first-hand experience of what was going on in Korea at the time. Yeah, yeah. The big demonstrations were in 80 when Chun Doo-hwan took over and the Kwangju people stood up to him and he killed a bunch of people in Kwangju and that had ripples throughout the society from 80 on until Chun died this last year. Why were there these protests happening? Like, what was going on in Korea at the time that caused the people to revolt? Student demonstrations started against Park Jung-hee, who took over the government as a military man in 1961. And it rippled on through until Park was assassinated in 79. In 87 marks the climax of all these student demonstrations that really began in 1961 and reached more of a crescendo. It was up and down, but it finally reached a violent crescendo in 87. And No Tae-woo went to the demonstrators and said, OK, what do you want? And they said, we want direct election of the president. We want restoration of free press and a bunch of other things. And No Tae-woo, very courageously, I think, said, OK, OK, OK, you got all that. We can do all that. And that marks the beginning of real democratization. In that episode of Snow Drop, there was a scene that caused a ton of controversy because there was a North Korean spy that hid in a dorm room. Why do you think that scene caused so much controversy? Yeah, the issue was the military government in order to discredit the student demonstrators. I always like to say there were North Korean spies involved and to imply that the student demonstrations or demonstrators were doing the will of North Korea. And if you can get the right wing of Korea, the population of Korea, say, oh, yeah, those students are bad because, yeah, look, they're demonstrating with the North Koreans. They're working with the North Koreans. The North Korean spies are motivating them or paying them and instigating them to demonstrate. It's a way of discrediting the student movement. And see, on the other hand, the left wing or more progressive wing of Korea always would look at the students as the pure element of Korean society. They're the pure innocent students who are reacting as the conscience of the country. And so to say that this conscience of the country pure innocent student thing is really manipulated by North Korea, therein lies the rub. People have defended the series, saying that when 2021 ended, it only had five episodes out and it wasn't nearly enough to judge the whole entire series. And then stating the reason why people were hating on the drama is only because they were black pink anties and are looking for an excuse to hate on Jisoo. Additionally, in the beginning of every episode, it's clearly stated that this is a fictional show. It's not supposed to be a historical retelling of events that happen. So if a show is fiction, then by definition, it doesn't need to be historically accurate. It doesn't need to be an accurate retelling. At least that's what defenders of the show are saying. So is the show really as bad as critics say it is? The show has an average episode rating of 9.3 and a series rating of 8.9 on IMDB, which is actually really, really, really good. The story is well told, the acting is fine, the writing is comprehensible, and by all means, the production looks like a very well-funded and produced production. So is it the worst K-drama of 2021? No, absolutely not, not by a long shot. Is it the most controversial? Probably, you know, it's definitely up there. But what do you guys think? Is Snowdrop a bad show? Is the way that it's told in a historical setting detrimental to Korean society? I don't know, but I'll see you guys next time and remember to subscribe.