Review - "The Snow Queen" (2006)

After I finished watching The Snow Queen, I was so sad I couldn't bear to listen to the OST of the series for a while. It was that depressing. Beautiful but melancholic is how I'd describe the whole story. But of course I've recovered from all that and nowadays the OST is always playing in the background when I'm working.

[Image source: Hancinema]

I actually think this is one of the better Korean dramas I have watched lately. I used to like An Autumn's Tale a lot, but now if you ask me, I think I prefer The Snow Queen.

The story revolves around Han Tae Woong (Hyun Bin), a Maths genius who went to one of the top science schools in Korea and became best friends with a fellow student, Kim Jeong Kyu (Lee Sun Ho). Unfortunately, fate dealt a cruel hand in the lives of the two young men, and Tae Woong - instead of achieving the greatness his talents promised - sank into the depths of depression. (I must add, though, this part of the story didn't really convince me. But let's leave it at that.)

Eight years later, and still struggling to overcome his grief, Tae Woong became a boxer (um, actually he's more like the sandbag for other boxers). He then met the very beautiful but also extremely obnoxious Kim Bo Ra (Sung Yu Ri). What he doesn't know is that Bo Ra and him had actually met a long time ago when they were still schooling. Both of them still cherished memories of each other (especially for Bo Ra) but as such stories would have it, they took the next ten episodes to find out. Of course, there were also other distractions, like a handsome doctor who had his mind set on winning Bo Ra's heart and a tomboyish girl hopelessly infatuated with Tae Woong.

I enjoyed watching Sung Yu Ri display her versatility in this show. Not just in her fashion sense (that, as far as I know, is the most talked-about thing about her) but also in the unveiling of Bo Ra's character. At first she was just a mean and spoilt rich little girl, but as the story unfolded, her profound sense of loneliness (hence the title of the series) came across much stronger and it really touched me. For some reason, I'm always drawn to such characters.

[Image source: Hancinema]

Things were never meant to be simple between Bo Ra and Tae Woong, and as their relationship deepened, events from the past began to rear their ugly heads. Whatever fragile trust and feelings they had built started to crumble. The fact is, the two of them needed each other to undo the past and find the happiness that had long eluded them, especially for Tae Woong (whom I feel is really suffering needlessly at times). But like in 99% other Korean dramas, fate had other nasty tricks up its sleeve. I have to admit, by this time, I could predict what was going to happen. All the classic signs were there. To the credit of the director, though, I was hooked till the end because of the strong emotions and the beautiful filming (each scene was picture perfect).

If you throw in everything - the actors, scenery, music, story - I think I'd give The Snow Queen 7.5/10.