When the Stars Gossip review: A promising story undone by weak writing

Even Gong Hyo-Jin and the K-drama icon aka Lee Min-Ho couldn’t save this drama from falling flat. Here’s why!

When the Stars Gossip review:  At first glance when I heard that When the Stars Gossip was about an astronaut and a space tourist falling in love with each other, I thought K-dramas will really leave no stone unturned to give us a fresh story every month. Intrigued by the concept, I binged the first two episodes of the drama, and I was hooked! K-dramas are usually known to start slow and pick the pace up eventually, but sometimes there comes a series that has us all in its grip from the first frame itself. When the Stars Gossip definitely looked promising in that sense. The premise had good potential to unfold into something big and it had stellar leads making a comeback. What could possibly go wrong? Well, the show turned out to be yet another example of 'writing is the real star'. You can have the best actors, the best sets, the best cinematography, but if the story isn’t weaved well together, it’s going to come crashing down. 

When the Stars Gossip revolves around Gong Ryong (Lee Min-Ho), a gynecologist who loves his job. He was raised by his mother’s three best friends after she died giving birth to him. Since then, he considers all three of them as his mothers and his relationship with them is like any mother-son equation would be. He starts dating Choi Go-Eun (Han Ji-Eun), the daughter of the MZ group owner. He never truly falls in love with her but given her rich status he feels this is the best that he can do. So to win her father’s approval he is pretty much ready to do anything. Hence he is sent to space by her father to complete a secret mission. As a space tourist he meets Eve Kim (Gong Hyo-Jin), the commander of the spaceship. She is a head strong woman who takes her position as commander rather seriously. He also meets Santi (Alex Hafner), Lee Seung Joon (Heo Nam-Jun), Lee Do-Na (Lee Choo-Hee), and his girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend Kang Kang-Su (Oh Jung-Se) who is also a part of the team. Together the six of them are responsible for conducting various experiments in space with the supervision of Park Dong-Ah (Kim Joo-Hun) and Chief Kang (Lee El) from Earth. 

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Gong-Ryong and Commander Eve’s first impression of each other wasn’t the best. They barely saw eye to eye about anything. But that’s the first sign of an enemies to lovers arc. One moment they’re bickering like kids and the other they’re hugging each other for successfully saving a mouse from a cardiac arrest. Yes, you read that right. And believe me, you will be equally invested to see if the mouse survived or not. Since the first episode itself the drama tells you to keep logic aside and enjoy it for the edge of the seat moment that it gives you. For most of it, I followed that path too. I did not question Gong Ryong when he saved Commander Eve during a dangerous space walk incident without any training whatsoever. I did not question him even when he conducted an illegal IVF in space without a microscope and the right tools. I did not question either of them when they had sex in space in -20 degrees. I bought it all. Simply because there was chemistry, it gave me the escapism from reality that I desired and there’s nothing more I love than lots of drama. But even for someone as delusional as me, there’s a limit to how much I can turn a blind eye to. 

While the first half of the show had me hooked, the second half made me start to lose interest. Gong Ryong and Commander Eve break up once they’re back to Earth. They both had their partners and their partners’ partner to deal with. But without spoiling much, the biggest disappointment to it all was the fact that all of this was for nothing! The story took a dark turn out of nowhere and for no reason at all. Commander Eve did not deserve the ending that she got.

Think of the same disappointment you felt when you saw Daenerys die in Game of Thrones. She started from nothing, rose from the ashes, only to not achieve her dream in the end. Commander Eve’s conclusion is wrapped up on similar lines. And as for the rest, it’s left open ended which seems like such a disservice to the characters and to the viewers who’ve invested hours watching this series. What really happens to Gong Ryong in the end? Does he serve his sentence? Does he lose his eyesight and ability to walk? Which version of the future that they show is actually true? Do Kang-Kang Su and Choi Go-Eun get together? What happens to the lottery ticket? Does Do-Na tell her twin sister about her relationship? Well, I guess it’s all quite literally left for the stars to gossip! 

Instead of rushing it all in the last episode, it would’ve been better to have distributed the sub plots in the filler episodes towards the end when the viewers were struggling to concentrate anyway. When the Stars Gossip was made by one of the best production houses in Korea and it had an OST sung by BTS’ Jin, so, with the hype that it created for the K-drama fans, it certainly was a major let down when the loose ends weren’t tied in the end. Maybe love and drama also lost their ground in zero gravity and maybe the leads should’ve come back to Earth instead of having their head in the clouds all the time!

When the Stars Gossip is currently streaming on Netflix!

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