Sh**ting Stars (2022)

All problematic stuff aside, still boring

I feel like I have to discuss this drama in two parts — one covering the problematic issues that it has and one covering it as a drama and nothing more.

On the first part —it's insane to me that in 2022 we're still dealing with the issue of the so-called "Third World" being portrayed like this. The story starts with Gong Tae-sung in Africa for some charity work, and right off the bat it was problematic that they not only kept referring to his presence in Africa (no specific country) as if the continent was a monolith, but also that the charity work that he did was digging wells, building schools, and "bringing water to Africa." I felt like I was thrown back in the early 2000s with this sort of outdated stereotype, not to mention the yellowish filter that was placed over all the shots in Africa, as if the entire continent was nothing but mud and dry dirt.

This all took place in the first episode, and I was grateful that GTS came back, hopeful that there would be no more mention of Africa if that was how they were going to portray it. Unfortunately, there was, and every time Africa was mentioned it just completely took me out of the show. It was always either in the context of saying how great of a person GTS was for his charity work, even saying something super weird like how there was an African child that did not have a father and so GTS "became his father." All of these mentions just felt utterly unnecessary — there are much better ways to show that someone is a good person and I can't believe that all those scenes, with dialogue about how Africa now has water and education because of this savior character, got through the writers, the directors, the actors, the editors, etc. and made it all the way to air.

Now, all that aside, I felt like I didn't connect with the drama at all either. Immediately I realized that there were far too many characters. I rarely like ensemble dramas and this is a perfect example of why. Every subplot felt half-assed and incomplete, and every character felt boring and cookie-cutter. There were several romantic ships and my interest in each of them went up and down; the writing for them just felt boring.

At the start, I was most interested in the main leads — after all, enemies-to-lovers is a great trope when done well, and I definitely liked some of their bickering scenes and their flashbacks to college. But even though the chemistry was quite good, the development for them was awkward and almost sudden. Another thing I really hate is when two characters completely alter their personalities and dynamic with each other after they get together; it often makes the relationship suddenly boring and that's exactly what I felt about these two. No more bickering (not even playfully) and while some scenes were still sweet and fun, it got old very fast.

The two main side ships were okay but I definitely felt like they were just THERE and going through the motions of getting together; I started feeling that way about a lot of side characters individually as well, even when there started to be a backstory plot with GTS's mother and also a friend who had died. Both of these plotlines felt like they could individually take up the entire 16 episodes if the right depth and emotion had been dedicated to them, but it just wasn't and combined with a bunch of anti-fan and drama-filming subplots it all just felt like a big hodgepodge of plots where none stood out.

It's funny because despite how much I was watching for the main ship at first, my favorite part of this drama ended up being a very minor side ship that had all but a few scenes every episode together — Jaehyun and Yuna, the actors from Be My Boyfriend who now play two actors. They captured the enemies-to-lovers really well and I really loved how cute the arc of their plot was.

Overall, I just felt like this drama was really messy. There were some funny scenes and interesting characters but the writing of the plot really didn't allow any of them to shine. Along with the problems that the drama had, I felt like this became something that I just watched without feeling any sort of emotional investment whatsoever.

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A Bit Disappointing…

My personal relationship with this drama was definitely one of love and hate. I have to say this because I’ve always loved Lee Sung-Kyung. She is good actress and since her days in Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo, she’s always impressed me with her acting. Though where my pet peeves slowly crept in came from the direction of the plot. For me personally, the relationship between our leads while acting as the kingpin for the events of the plot, felt often underwhelming and dispirited by cliches and monotonous setups.

Firstly, I’m going to say again that I had no problem with the cast at all . Kyung, her costar Kim Young-dae and supporting actors Yoon Jong-hoon, Kim Yoon-hye and Sojin were fairly decent here and were probably one of the saving graces of the drama series.

However where my issues did begin to manifest came through the actual screenwriting. I didn’t think it was entirely all doom and gloom per say. I actually thought the concept was interesting. It is still rare to see light shone upon the lives of those working behind the scenes in the entertainment industry and the drama was surprisingly willing to present this openly.

Yet unsurprisingly, the series relishes in the idea of bringing about all the joyous tropes and cliches of the hardworking and oppressed heroine into the generic stereotype of main female lead, Oh Han-byeol ( played by Kyung).

Now, I could see where they were going with Byeol as a character. Honestly, I have a lot of respect for shows which are willing to present the grisly realities of characters who work hard and the challenges that can arise for them. However in typical K-drama fashion, Byeol’s problems and issues are rarely tied with her character drive. Instead they were placed at the front of attempting to pair her off with main lead and unsurprisingly her rival and one of her artists that she’s forced to manage, successful star Gong Tae-sung ( played by Dae).

To be fair and like a lot of cliche dramas where we see unlikely love interests being paired off in a storyline, I certainly noticed that the character and relationship drive between Tae and Byeol did improve with time . However in between moments where we did actually see this relationship branch out and the storyline begin to mature at times , I still found it hard to ignore where there were garish moments of cheap comedy moments ( which raised a lot of issues)and questionable subplots.

This is where I could find a slightly grating element of the show. For me personally this came through the problems of the plot becoming quite monotonous in parts where we saw the same repetitive scenario of an issue/ point of conflict being raised, the main leads having to face it and “ struggling” with their feelings/ bond and then making up and repeat. I don’t always necessarily think having issues or dilemmas in a relationship is bad and can allow room for growth for characters. But rather than offering opportunities for us as viewers to see new problems arise or at least for even the characters to be conflicted with their own personal growth and careers was kept minimal.

As for the styling and OST I have to say I was in the middle with its impression on me. It was by no means bad. I liked how smooth some of the transitions were and typical of K-drama fashion, it was fairly sleek at times. However I can’t really say that on reflection that there were many scenes which really spoke out to me or made me do a double take. I know some may argue that a lot of editing and styling is down to production value but I’d argue that you don’t necessarily have to have state of the art equipment of editing teams to make an impression on fans; just intuition and imagination. Again, not saying it was bad just felt a bit lacking here and there.

Shooting Stars definitely feels as though it will win over more international drama fans than domestic in the long run. Do I think this is necessarily a bad thing? No, of course not. I don’t always think popularity is necessarily marked by the quality of a show but one of the main reasons why I decided to bring this up in my final thoughts came through acknowledging why it may appeal to some, especially in the international K-drama community.

It’s cheesy and easygoing fluff filled with a good mixture of familiar and rookie stars who helped to freshen up the roles to a certain extent.

On the other hand for me personally, I felt as though the show felt like a bit out of place and time in the sea of dramas for 2022. The writing felt a bit stale in parts including the character and plot writing and I felt as though what could’ve been a good springboard for a lot of old tropes and cliches being taken into a new light or being given a new spin slowly descended into a cesspit of predictable storyline. Overall a 7.0/10. Not bad but certainly could’ve been a better show for me.

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Sh**ting Stars was one of those dramas where there was enough humor and romance and likable characters and general cuteness to keep me around, but the story lacked in some important ways.

First, some of the plotlines went in directions I wasn't a huge fan of. For example, I think Oh Han Byul agreed to date Gong Tae Sung a little too quickly considering she'd been so disappointed by him before and still carried a lot of hurt from the experience to the point that she'd put up a wall in self-defense. I was expecting Tae Sung to have to work for it a little bit, but Han Byul agrees to date him rather quickly. There were also a couple of really dramatic subplots, namely Tae Sung's mom abandoning him as a child and his friend's untimely death, that felt very tacked on for the purpose of dramatics rather than meaningful storytelling. If they had tied these two subplots into the drama's overall theme of working in the entertainment industry managing celebrities and the toll being in the public eye can take on the celebs and those who work with them, maybe they would have been more effective. As is, they weren't integrated well, and I kind of zoned out whenever the drama focused on them. It didn't help that Kim Young Dae's more emotional character moments did not work for me at all. Whenever he was being cute or playful or jealous or argumentative (or smoldering, lol), he sold his character so well I wanted to buy plushie versions. But I did not like his way of emoting pain or anger or sadness. It always felt...weird. Even when he was just being more serious, I just wanted those scenes to be over.

And it must be said here that while there was some decent focus on what it's like working in the entertainment industry from the non-talent's perspective, the drama didn't do a very good of maintaining this focus throughout and was even at times very surface-level in this respect. At a certain point, the romance began to overshadow everything else to the story's detriment.

I also have to ask...what happened to the fun sense of humor the drama had in the first half, because the second half was kind of missing it. Of course, that is kind of the rom-com curse. The build-up to the leads getting together is a fun romp, but then they get together, and the romance (and comedy) sometimes loses its spark, and I think this drama is a good example of that. There's a lot of fun early on, but then the leads get together, and the whole thing kind of feels a little womp-womp. (That and I was disappointed by one of the secondary OTP's, as the characters I wanted together did not end up together. I had some pretty major Second OTP second male lead feels, lol.)

My last critique for this drama, which I really can't write this review without bringing up, is the Africa issue. A humanitarian trip to Africa (not a specific African country, but just...Africa) is used as a plot device for the male lead, and it's really just unnecessary. If they had left it in the first two episodes and not brought it up again, you could have chosen to ignore it. Or even better, they could have turned it into a celeb faux-pas where he went on the trip for the optics and it backfired on him. But it kept popping up, sometimes to help move the plot along in some way, and this just kept reminding the viewer of how poorly written and cringy it was.

So I'm disappointed with this drama. I don't think it's the worst drama I've ever watched, and I certainly got lots of enjoyment out of it. And like I said at the beginning of my review, there's some good humor and romance and lots of likable characters and overall general cuteness, so other viewers might have a more satisfactory viewing experience then me. I just don't think it lived up to its potential, and to me, that's a shame.

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A chaotic, star-studded romance.

This honestly seems like fanfiction where everyone falls in love despite the need for professionalism in the entertainment industry.
Plenty of heart-fluttering moments, along with some cringy ones. The main characters seem to have fewer scenes of bonding at the beginning, due to which their romance seems rushed. But when they do get together, it is absolutely adorable! The actors seem dedicated and passionate about their roles which is really commendable. The plot is not heavy on action, except for a few conflicts introduced later in the show, most of which are predictable. Yet, it still does a good job of keeping you engaged and curious. The direction of the scenes has been very thoughtful, especially in terms of the set design and colour tones used in certain frames. I think this drama could have been wrapped up in 12 episodes but by extending it to a 16-ep run, they invested in building the relationships of all characters alike. That's beautifully done.
I would definitely recommend it if you enjoy the enemies-to-lovers trope!

While this drama exceeded my expectations, I do have two points to critique here: *MILD SPOILERS, BUT VERY IMPORTANT*
1. The representation of African people was inaccurate, or controversial even. Portraying it as an underdeveloped continent only functioned as a device to further the storyline of the male lead.
2. There is a scene in episode 2 where the male lead almost unbelts his trousers to prove a point in front of the female lead which feels too exhibitionistic and icky.

Also, please be mindful and grounded while watching if mentions of suicide are triggering for you.

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A very light hearted drama with stellar leads

It’s been quite sometime since my last drama review though I haven’t stopped watching them. I felt the need to share my thoughts on this drama so here I am!

This drama is not those that are overly melo, really light rom com that might move you to tears on some episodes or make to laugh on some as well. It really depicts life in the backend scenes of the K-entertainment industry! And I love the little details of having cast from other dramas and/or elements brought into this!

I felt that each and every cast was well suited for role they’ve landed it! The chemistry between LSK and LYD was super cute! This was little more to the fluff side to most of the time but I really liked this drama! Can’t wait for their next works!

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Fluff, lots of it

June 19, 2022

Waw, I can't believe Shooting Stars, I genuinely love this show as it helped me get over my Kdrama slump. This show is direct and straight to the point. There is no stupid mid-break up and honestly I love the boundaries and relationships of each character. The romance was off the charts, and every existing subplot was exciting and unskippable. Especially, the two bickering actor and actress' subplots, I've been always looking forward to their scenes and also the reporter and lawyer’s ones too. And, I feel like I have experienced so much fluff within the show that it just helps me sleep at night. I will miss this show so much, can I please find a man like him?

Sidenote: I just realized there’s something about the name Tae Sung... it’s like this name just attracts me or pulls me ... Hmmm... ? ifykyk

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It was fun until...................

Have been eyeing this drama since its teaser was released as the male lead is a promising rising star from Penthouse paired with a veteran actress and wondering how will this end up. The first few episodes were fun, and the love-hate relationship of the leads is amusing to watch. This is the first time that I valued the supporting characters as much as the main leads, their story was also interesting so there were no dull moments whenever they change the scenes. I never paid much attention to their acting because it was just too natural.

It was fun to watch and all UNTIL I reached around the later episodes after the leads got together. I felt the drama got slowed, there isn't much chemistry. I kinda thought of dropping the drama but kept on going anyways for the sake of the time I invested in this. The ending was so much more to tell, but I think they let it hang like that for the watchers to run their imaginations. However, it is not the ending I preferred.

Overall the drama is great with a lot of variety of lessons in general whether it be in the entertainment industry, love, life, etc.
I guess it was worth my weekend's time.

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Chaotic, slightly problematic but perfect

One of the best 2022 dramas. The cast was perfect. I loved how this romcom was filled with multiple love stories and more than one storyline (the focus wasn't only on the ML & FL's story) so you were never bored. All the friendships were super sweet and genuine, the whole cast fit perfectly together.

Yes, the first two episodes had problematic themes with racist aspects. The show (writer) did reference Africa as a country and it was brought up occasionally during the whole show. HOWEVER, it didn't affect the storyline at all and was talked about very rarely. I do agree that there was no need to reference Africa as such or do at least a minimal effort and chose one African country. They did reference Korea as a state so they should do it with an African state as well. I did find that rather problematic. After the first two episodes, it got so much better.

If we look past the Africa thing, the show was really light-hearted and funny. Great humor that didn't feel forced at all. A big plus for all the healthy relationships. The ending was very sweet and beautifully finished the story.I do highly recommend this drama!

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Worth all My TIME!

I wish I could just binge it, it's that good that I frown when I have to wait for another episode.
It is so fun, I laugh out loud many times, and of course there are serious parts in the story.
The FL & ML are friends from college days and the ML is a Star and is every move is watched by
the public and also his Agency staffs especially the FL as her job is lead in PR team to communicate
with reporters and also to manage all his content and news posted about the ML which some can be misunderstood.
They are kind of enemies becoming lovers and the first to confess is the ML. I am glad I found this RomCom
to fill my weekends. I gave it 10/10 because it has an overall balance in everything and the fact that I laugh so much.

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SO CUTE

light romcom drama that makes you smile ear to ear :)

the story is not that extraordinary nor depth but the chemistry of all the main casts are so beautifully delivered.
Story really does similar to what happens in the entertainment industry except with a bit of exaggeration for the drama itself to sell, but it still make us know what really happen and who works really hard behind all those beautiful star that we love. And 1 of the story really reminds me of Jonghyun somehow :( (though it has no relation whatsoever)

I love all the casts, like literally the best casts ever on a drama with outstanding Kim Young Dae (still feels like a new actor in dramaland), Lee Sung Kyung (the romcom queen nowadays), Yoon Jong Hoon (the kindest person ever), Kim Yoon Hye (always an amazing support lead), Lee Jung Shin (found him really suited this type of personality), and So Jin (i've seen no idol in her acting). They have the perfect chemistry that leads to an enjoyable drama to watch.

Not forget to mention those so amazing cameo of the casts' and staff's best friends and partners IN EVERY EPISODE that makes this drama perfect.

Will definitely rewatch this drama for the jokes, the casts and those heat fluttering scenes amidst of other serious or melo dramas.

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Really romantic drama ?

A behind-the-scenes look at the entertainment industry's PR teams, managers, and reporters as they scramble to clean up the messes created by their stars. Oh Han Byul leads an entertainment agency's PR team. One of her top clients is the star Gong Tae Sung, who can do no wrong. They were in high school and college together, where he became her sworn enemy. They bicker constantly but

The literal translation might be "shooting stars" but I still wanna call it "shitting stars" for 2 reasons: firstly, it has 똥:tong (poop) in its original title and the very fact that they've used asterisks (**) for the international title. So, even though many people say it's shooting, the intentions of the makers is very clear, huh!

Produced by "Mays Entertainment" and created by "Studio Dragon", "Sh**ting Stars (별똥별)" is a romcom plus idol-life drama. Written by Choi Young Woo and directed by Lee Soo Hyun, the show was originally broadcasted on tvN while iQIYI took charge of international distribution.

The show could be a romcom drama having the main couple at the center, surrounded by many other lovelines, but deep down, it portrays the life at Entertainment agencies, as personal managers of celebrities and members of a a PR team, all of whom are indulged in cleaning up the mess created by the stars, hence justifying the intended title.

Oh Han Byeol (Lee Sung Kyung) is the PR team Head at Starforce Ent. and a long-time close buddy to the topmost actor in Korea, Gong Tae Song (Kim Young Dae); both of them are like sworn enemies and the story mainly follows their story, as they develop feelings for each other. Kang Yu Sung (Yoon Jong Hoon) and Park Ho Young (Kim Yoon Hye) are two managers at the same agency, while Choi Ji Hoon (Ha Do Gwon) is the director. Cho Ki Ppeum (Park So Jin) works as an ent. reporter whereas Do Soo Hyuk (Lee Jung Shin) is the legal advisor to StarForce.

Other familiar faces in major roles are: Lee Seung Hyub (N. Flying), Jang Hee Ryung, Kim Dae Gon, JunQ (MyName), So Hee Jung, Choi Ji Woo and Jin Ho Eun. There are many rookie actors who did deliver well. Also, you'll see many guest roles including Kim Dong Wook, Lee Sang Yeob, Jang Ki Young, Song Ji Hyo, Moon Ga Young, Chae Jong Hyeop, Lee Ki Woo, Kang Gi Doong, Lee Sang Woo, Park Jung Min, Seo Yi Suk and Lee Joo Woon.

Plot development is average yet decent and likable. The pilot episodes and the follow-up didn't create any impression, ngl. But it suddenly became interesting from the 4th episode, idk why. The furtherance is smooth, with so many up & downs and several peak moments, accompanied by twists and revelations. Except for the first few episodes, I didn't really see it going down or dragged or exaggerated. Imo, the 13th & 14th were the ones where the show was at peak throughout, and everything is put to rest by the end, opening a smooth path for the finale week. Thr ending sequence and the finale ended in a grand way. So overally, it might not be very good in sum development, but it was nice and decent with minimum flaw and damage.

The show as an usual romcom, that too in 2022 did not require immense talent to create, however, maintaining the decent quality throughout is what should matter the most. In my opinion, the writers have been able to achieve so to a great extent, if not entirely. And provided that the writers are both debutants, they should be appreciated and encouraged for this was able to be acknowledged by a huge number of audience. It was a wise choice in their part to make it more about the "behind the scenes" workers than the stars, and also giving sufficient share to each of the couple development, adding the character goals to it.

Lee Soo Hyun PDnim who has debuted only 2 years back, has been able to create about 4 moderately acclaimed pieces and I believe this drama also belongs to the same category. His previous experiences surely has helped though this was his first romcom, unusual of his genre. The decent job in case of screenplay, screen-editing, sound editing, sequencing, etc. should be appreciated. Setup in modern urban vistas, there was no need of visual excellence, and everything has been kept simple. The extraordinary failure of cinematographic work in Africa should deduct a point from overall though.

There are 5 OSTs in total and all likable, perfectly blending to the drama and properly utilised throughout. "Shooting Star" by Nam Woo Hyun is alluring track with tranquil music describing how it feels to be in love. "How I Feel" with Kim Jae Hwan's captivating vocals has a jolly rhythm and a piece of confession. "My secret, My everything" by Sondia and Vincent Blue brings back the vibes of old K-romcom OSTs, I cry every time I listen; their harmony is everything. "Departure from a Country" by SuJu Kyuhyun is a melancholic yet alleviating song with stimulating lyrics. "Won't give up" by Choi Yuree is is a softcore track about assuring one about staying by their side and comforting for ever.

What I liked...

# Chemistry development between Tae Sung and Han Byeol was very fond, sweet and likable. Even though they get together sooner than expected, the follow-up journey was nice as well.

# The second couple (won't say who) were the cutest, I'll cry. I wish they had more screentime as couples or their prior development but I'm actually very happy that the couple existed. Let me cry again. The same goes for the third lead couple as well. Let me informq that there are 6 couples in total and each of them are uniquely heart-winning. Look forward to them.

# Park Ho Young, as a person was sweet and her acting is so adorable no matter the situation. The cheerful character she played, surely will remain in my memory.

# Kang Yu Sung, as a responsible and handsome manager did give me flutters throughout. The man is so charming, I will literally pluck stars for him. The character was well written.

# My Lee Jung Shin did shine in the show as well. Him in formal is paradise. The couple chemistry might have come very late but it was nice.

# The PR team, Manager team and the entire organization have been an amazing experience. I don't think such importance was given before? The office scenes were mixed bags of emotions, depicting various situations.

# Emphasizing mental health issues in idol dramas is common but this show did a good job in exposing variable sides of it and also throwing light upon the "behind-the-scene" efforts from the companies, which might not be entirely real.

# Dae Soo calling Yuna-yaaaa was so funny yet so pleasant, I swear. I will miss that for a while, hahahaha.

# There are more than one bromance in different forms though none of them is greatly emphasized, starting from co-stars to managers then between stars & manager and then stars and staffs, and what not. Each of them were fluffy.

# I love the very way the OSTs has been utilized in the show; not only they're good on their own, the appropriate use during the melodrama is actually well-handled. I don't usually see this as a specific point but this drama made me realize so.

What I didn't like...
# Kim Young Dae's acting was a bit off imo. Outstanding performance should be expected from a lead but I guess he was still not prepared to takeover the ML role. It wasn't bad actually, the thing is he needs more training and polishing, and definitely has the potential to become a good factor.

# Unnecessary crossovers did irritate me. The "Find Me In Your Memory" appearance was fine and relatable but the "Penthouse" one was annoyingly cringey and wasn't necessary. Def felt like a filler.

# The cinematography in 1st ep was disgusting, infact, very much overdone. No, seriously, Africa doesn't look like that irl.

# The less of the 2nd couple came to me as disappointing when I realized that even with the seemingly lees screentime, they outshined the lead couple.

Final Remarks... The pros definitely outweigh the cons: in simple, it was a good show to look forward to. Unlike a lot of people, I think it a fairly average drama with very few flaw, which makes it a decent one time watch, yet something that everyone should watch, provided that these days, old-styled romcom dramas with good production values. Go ahead.

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DONT LISTEN TO ANYTHING AND JUST WATCH IT BECAUSE IT'S WORTH IT!

I was so eager to write a review of this drama. And i am finally writing it. I completed all the episodes and with each episode the plot became more and more interesting and beautiful.
First of all, what i liked in this drama was it was not only about the main couple. The screen timing was equally given to other couples and the other cast members.
Secondly, there was not only the male lead chasing behind the female lead and then other all type of misunderstanding and nonsense scenes. What i really liked was after chasing for a while they got into a mature relationship which was more beautiful than anything else. They didnot have any breakup or something like that.
Thirdly, besides romance there were other emotional and beautiful stories which i enjoyed really very much
Fourthly, the comedy was on point.
I dont want to spoil much but its basically a story about people who work behind the scenes. The people who deal with all kinds of things that an actor/actress/idol does. I never knew how hard it was to deal with things when any actor/idol dates.
This story also underlined the point that celebrities too are human beings and they too can fall in love and get married. This point is very much necessary to understand.
The cast was perfect. The story was perfect. The OST was perfect. I dont know how much i was able to portray this beautiful plot through my immature review but if you are reading this you should give it a try!

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