White Christmas – Christmas Eve Started With a Black Letter

“White Christmas” is a 2011 KBS Korean Drama Special Series, with 8 episodes, and categorized as Crime, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Murder Mystery, Psychological drama, High School, and Youth.

SUMMARY: A group of students are left behind to spend winter break at their school instead of going home for the holidays. A person who was injured in an accident shows up outside the school gates. They brought the person into the school’s infirmary to treat his injuries. The person turned out to be a serial killer who had escaped police custody. So much for enjoying a jolly Christmas vacation.

♦ It’s Christmas Eve! Let’s Get This Winter Break Started!

In “White Christmas”, the only white thing is the snow. There is a Christmas tree in a few scenes, but it barely has lights on it. Susin High is an independent private high school located in a secluded area in the mountains of Gangwando. The scenery is very picturesque, especially during the winter. This is a no-nonsense school and the only activity allowed is studying. Students live in dorms and parent visitation is minimal. The students nicknamed their high school “3 Year Alcatraz”. It’s Christmas Eve, December 24, 2010, and several buses loaded with students leave to start their 8-day vacation.

Not all of the students have left for the holidays. Seven (7) students have remained behind. WHY? They have their reasons. Whatever the reasons are they just don’t want to go home for Christmas. There is one other student who stayed behind but he was hidden. Technically he had been expelled so he should not have been on the premises. But he stayed behind because he wanted to catch the person who framed him for doing something wrong and got him expelled. So altogether there are 8 students, and one (1) teacher who was left behind to supervise them.

Did You Get a Black Letter Too?

A few years earlier they left two (2) students behind without adult supervision and there was an incident. Since then students have been allowed to stay at the school during the 8-day winter break but there has to be one teacher/adult to supervise them. Each of the students has something in common. As soon as their vacation began, they each received a black letter. It is a poem written on black paper placed inside a black envelope. They don’t know if it’s a silly prank or a dangerous threat. If they are in danger, is the person making the threat one of them or the teacher?

In addition to the nine (9) people at the school, an accident victim showed up outside the school gates. They couldn’t leave an injured man in the snow, so they brought him inside and treated him in the school’s infirmary. Fortunately, he was not badly injured. The man said he was a psychologist. That was his profession but in his spare time, he was a serial killer. He revealed that to them later, once he felt better.

So much for a jolly Christmas vacation.

QUESTION: Are monsters created or born?

According to the psychologist/serial killer, the media created the “myth” that serial killers came from broken homes, were victims of child abuse, or had something awful happen to them that made them that way. It’s simply not true. Anybody can become a serial killer, no matter what their background. This story is about how students had to become monsters in order to catch a monster.

Main Characters:

• Park Moo-Yul (played by Baek Sung-Hyun, “Su-Ji and U-Ri”)
• Lee Jae-Kyu (played by Hong Jong-Hyun, “The King Loves”)
• Jo Young-Jae (played by Kim Young-Kwang, “Pinocchio”)
• Yoon-Soo (played by Lee Soo-Hyuk, “Tomorrow”, “Doom at Your Service”)
• Yoon Eun-Sung (played by Esom, “Taxi Driver”)
• Choi Ji-Hoon (played by Sung Joon, “Island 1 and 2”)
• Kang Mi-Reu (played by Kim Woo-Bin, “Black Knight”)
• Yang Kang-Mo (played by Kwak Jung-Wook)
• Kim Yo-Han (played by Kim Sang-Kyung, “Poong, The Joseon Psychiatrist 1 and 2”)

Where to Watch

Viewership and Rating:

• IMDb: 7.9 out of 10 stars
• My Drama List: 8.4 out of 10 stars
• The Talking Cupboard:  9 out of 10 stars
• Letterboxd: 3.7 out of 5 stars

My personal rating is 9 out of 10 stars.

• “Are monsters created or born? … White Christmas attempts to take on the question mentioned above and the drama takes you to the haunting place of a human’s psyche.” (White Christmas: a Review | the talking cupboard)

“White Christmas” started very slow and I admit that a Korean drama about a serial killer is not a perfect pick for the holiday season. But it got interesting and I couldn’t stop watching. Don’t expect blood and gore. Do expect mind games because the serial killer loves to get into the heads of his intended victims, especially when the victims are students who are supposed to be the most excellent young minds in the country. The killer undoubtedly wanted to know if those excellent minds could outsmart him. He’s committed several murders and hasn’t been caught. Can they beat that?

One final note. I don’t do this often but every once in a while there’s a movie or a series with a freaking awesome soundtrack. This series gets a separate rating of 10 out of 10 stars for the background music.

LINKS OF INTEREST:

Review – White Christmas (A Tribute to 90’s Angst) | subtitledreams

The Gift that Keeps on Giving: White Christmas Korean Drama Review | Kdrama Fighting

Kdrama Special – My Princess, Liar Game, Glorious Day & White Christmas | Top of the Kpops

TRAILER/TEASER:

BlueBirdProductions. “White Christmas Trailer – Radioactive.” YouTube, 27 May 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCAc1soe3ZM.

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