Castaway Diva (2023)

PEB and fellow actors make it through despite a contrived screenplay

First, I would like to apologize if I will hurt the feelings of some Park Eun-bin's fans. Basically, I am a PEB's fan too, but a kind of weird fan who allows himself to be critical about the productions where she leads in. Second, as concerns "Castaway Diva", I want to say from the start that my criticisms are not concerning the acting but the screenplay. PEB is sincere and expressive in her acting as expected, and the other actors are sincere too, but the screenplay is contrived and does not provide a sound basis for an outstanding performance. The spectator hardly knows what is the main direction, the main issue this series is aimed to, so many things are mixed up.
Apparently the main message the series intends to convey is that one must always stay focused and optimistic in order to attain one's goals. The message is right but does one really need all this overcomplicated and overemotional story to express such a straightforward idea? In order to deliver a positive message there is no need for big effects like being stranded on a deserted island, pursuing an idol career, or facing a psychopath. Positive thinking can also be transmitted by a drama about problems of ordinary people in ordinary life.
The series has also the ambition of addressing domestic violence. It is a very important societal issue and it is worth bringing it to the large audience. But does one need all this musical and romantic packaging to deal with this issue, is the improbable story of Seo Mokha a proper ground for that? Or does the caricaturally bad character as that of the pathological father provide the necessary sobriety and authenticity? I don't think so.
Another potentially interesting aspect of the series is the re-integration of a person who has been isolated for a long time. The struggle of such a person to regain a place in the society may be a very good story line. But the story has to sound true and not made-up. Is pursuing the ambition to become a pop star actually convincing? Is falling from a ferry and having been stranded on an deserted island compelling? Is an ex-fan and fallen-idol relationship appealing? For young people following today's pop culture, maybe. For me, from the elder generation, it is not.
In fact, in my opinion, the screenplay of "Diva" is not following a consistent scheme but simply pulls on all possible strings, including a story of a come-back of an idol, family pathologies, singing of the star actress, romance, in order to get the strongest emotional impact possible and to attract the widest audience possible. The series is overloaded with melodramatic situations, the weakest part being the love triangle, the hidden identities and the revengeful father. Nevertheless, PEB and her fellow actors were able to transform this mere entertainment product into a touching and audience gathering show.
I willingly admit that among the nowadays films and series, where the most popular are thrillers, horrors, violent crime or war stories, heartwarming and positive series like "Diva" are truly needed. However, I think that PEB, at this stage of her career, desserves better scripts or simply another type of scripts. She said in an interview that she would like to try different genres of films. I hope that her next production will not be a romantic comedy, but rather a psychological drama. I would like something more subtle, contemplative, introspective, even melancholic, without any excessive melodramatic effects.

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Directionless plot, slow, use of tropes and the classic ignorance of how a teen behaves

Before starting this drama I was already skeptical about the deserted island setting. I feel it's something that can't really work much as a plot device if the story is set in modern times, and this show didn't prove me wrong.
Mostly we have to take this whole story as pure fantasy, but even in the constraints of plausibility in a fantastical world, here there are things that simply don't work and that are just left as plotholes and the rest is just a collection of unrealistic situations that will make you facepalm very hard or that you'll have to brush off to move on with the story.

I find with this series there is a lack of a focus in the plot. Sure, we have a FL and the plot seems to follow her from the start mostly, only that it gets sidetracked multiple times along the way and ultimately feels like her story line didn't progress much nor it made much the impact it could have. The abusive father of ML is the only constant linear plot line in this show, even though if still with a dose of unrealistic-ness and quite dragged.

The start was good and overall it was so much more interesting and I was more invested in the story line in the beginning. I think this is mostly as well because I thought the young actors did such a better job at the characters than the older ones. I don't understand why it's a constant issue that if someone older plays like they're stuck in their teen years mentally they have to do some weird overacting that it's just immensely cringe. Don't they remember their teen years? This is becoming a new trope I absolutely despise.
What was the point of her being stuck in that island anyway? This is only used as a plot device in a couple of occasions as flashbacks and any other setting could have been used anyway. It's a small part of the plot and I don't think adds anything. She should be so much more mature precisely because of her life experiences in that island but as it's mentioned in the show itself, she's childish like that because she didn't continue her education.... excuse me what?

The love story in this show is quite anticlimactic and the "love triangle" if it can even be called that, it's unnecessary as always.
A lot of the plot points are just like that because the script said so, otherwise they make no sense, like Ki-ho hiding his identity to her knowing she's looking for him, like so much could have been avoided if he had told her straight away and told her the situation and to keep it secret. It's just so silly. Also he goes from that to then wanting her to be famous like all of a sudden he doesn't care anymore.

The biggest middle chunk of the show the attention is mostly on Ran Joo's character more than the FL, to the point the whole premise of her career as a singer is put to the side. At this point I lost most of the interest I still had for the story. Ran Joo's character is not bad but it's not great either and if I was supposed to feel sorry for her I didn't because her situation could be so much worse, especially when compared with the Kang family whose dynamics, by the way, were of the best of the show.

I think overall for a short drama it didn't have a clear idea of what it wanted to focus on, there were multiple subplots and the execution of them was not done in the best way, the story progressed in chunks of focusing on one thing or another what I get why they did it that way but it just added more to the unrealistc-ness of it all. Moreover, some of the characters would also keep changing from one side to the other what would do or undo the plot as it goes. The worst of all of this is that it makes you lose interest as it changes because most plot lines become very dragged as a result. Points for having so many story lines and characters at the same time and somehow still manage to make it boring.
There were a few conversations between characters that were engaging and I shared their sentiments but most of the others were very uninteresting and added nothing to the story or character development.
FL is cringe, ML is background character, couldn't care for Ran Joo, second ML (Woo Hak) has more screen time than the first and yet his personal story goes really nowhere (and he had more chemistry with FL too), and I have no idea why Lee Seo Joon is considered main character, he spent the series going in circles. Kang parents were great and I wish we got more of Mo Rae since she seemed somewhat interesting.

No more amnesia trope PLEASE. I'm so done with it, let's just leave it back in the past where it should remain. It was annoying at the time and it's even more annoying now.
This is also labelled as "comedy" here but I really don't know why, there are zero comedy moments unless people laughs at FL accent and "teen" attitude what it's actually insulting because it perpetuates this idea that certain accents/dialects mean the person is ignorant and dumb, she even somewhat drops it in the last episode, because now she's a *proper singer*... meh.

I debated giving this a 5 because I've seen worse and it had some nice moments, but writing this review and thinking about the series really stopped me. It is watchable if there is nothing else to watch and some of the songs were nice but I generally can't recommend. It doesn't know what it wants to be and manages to do everything half way in a dragged and boring way.

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Could be better but still great nonetheless

Story:
The story revolves around Seo Mok-Ha, a 31 year-old who's pursuing a singing career and just got stranded on a deserted island for 15 years. As she goes to Seoul and settles there, she faces many hurdles to reach her dreams. There are several main problems in the story, but as the story progresses, those problems become more and more intertwined.

The story shows the complicated nature of humans' interactions in which a lot of clashes between the main protagonist and other casts are shown. I personally love the relationships between Mok-Ha and Ran-Joo, her childhood idol and later becomes her mentor, as it shows that two people with different "ideology" can still be as close as they are. For me, it is the main highlight of the story. On the other side, she also has "familial" issues, especially regarding her love interest's family (Ki-ho's).

Surprisingly, even though the story seems to have two main plot lines, they're blended well. My main criticism is the lack of main protagonist's "character moments", whether they are about her and her love interest, her and rising fame, etc. Especially about her as "diva", unfortunately, we only get those at the end. This would be better as 16 episode series.

Cast:
Park Eun Bin can never cease to amaze me with her act. Her expression and mannerism brought Mok-Ha as a character to light. Also, as the "prodigy" diva of the series, she must ensure that her singing is up to standard and she delivered big time. It also helps that her smile is full of charm, so it perfectly fitted the cheerful nature of Mok-Ha.

Kim Hyo Jin's Yoon Ran-Joo was also great. Her acting as the once-loved-by many-but-have-fallen veteran diva was surely one of the hightlights of the story. Especially her complicated thought as someone that has been betrayed couple of times, she ensuresd that Ran-Joo doesn't come up as a shallow person.

Other casts also did well. Cha Hak Yeon did amazingly well as Woo Hak and the character was well-written. Chae Jong- Hyeop seemed to have the weaker performance amongst the main casts, but I'm pretty sure it must be because his character. The supporting casts also did tremendously well.

Special mention to the young actors of Mok Ha and Ki Ho, Lee Re and Moon Wo Jin. Their early presences, while short, was memorable. They did well to establish the bond that Mok Ha and Ki Ho had in the past.

Music:
As a story about diva, they must deliver well in this part and fortunately they did. The songs are great and easy to listen. Eun Bin's soft voice also match perfectly with all of the songs she sings. I've put them on my playlist.


All and all, the story is well presented, just a tad disappointment in my part regarding some things that seems to be missing. The acting is just almost perfect.

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what did it want to be?

I'll preface my review by stating the obvious, in the hopes that no one gets hateful, this is just my personal opinion. Please take it or leave it alone, agree or disagree, but please respect the opinions of others (and I'm kind of irritated that I even have to say this).

There was a lot to like about this show:
Acting. Everyone was really good. Park Eun Bin as Mok Ha was wonderful. I think there were certain mannerisms that we saw that she displayed in Extraordinary Attorney Woo and I think are just part of her DNA, because I've seen them in other shows of hers. However, they absolutely worked here. She was charming and likeable, driven, yet devoted to those she loved. All of the other actors were excellent as well. I especially loved the younger actors, they were the standouts for me. Also, Kim Joo Heon playing a morally gray character, and both Lee Seung Joon as Ki Ho's father and Lee Yoo Joon as Mok Ha's father were surprising. We are so used to seeing them in the role of good guys, their transformations were amazing.

Music. As you'd expect, the OST was wonderful. Eun Bin's voice is sublime. I could literally listen to her all day.

My problem came in with the writing and the way the story was put together. On the surface, or maybe because of the trailers, this was an original premise, with strong possibilities of feeling all the feels. My struggle was this drama couldn't decide if it wanted to be a romance, a drama, a comedy, light or dark. For me, the extremes were too great. I wasn't expecting it to be fluffy, but the darkness was too dark for the rest of the drama, and the flipping back and forth wasn't allowing me to flow with the story. I didn't feel that there was enough of her on the island (a whole episode would have been nice) and the whole thing just seemed too implausible - she was that close to civilization all that time? Then, her reintegration was just too easy. First of all, the voice is a muscle. She would have needed to get used to using her voice again. Add to that, her early life was just trauma. So, she's traumatized as a child and then has the trauma of having been on an island by herself for 15 years, but she comes home and there appear to be no after-effects, just that she's glad to be back home and she immediately gets back on the track of wanting to meet her idol. It would have been so much better if we'd been able to see/feel her struggles with reassimilating into society -- that would have really improved the flow and made it more realistic.

I'd say, if you've actually read this far and are wondering whether to give this show a try, you should, definitely. Just because I'm one of the few outlier people that didn't fall in love with it, you may (and probably will) have a different reaction to it.

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Regret watching this

Pros:
- soundtrack
- the strong love between the Kang parents and sons
- the strong love between the Kang brothers
- the kids escaping abuse
- the endearing and comedic moments with Woo-Hak
- 90% of the dialogue is foreshadowing, not just filler
- metaphors with the island
- extremely caring and selfless characters
- interesting concept for the plot

Cons
- the love triangle
- infinite plot holes:
- doesn't make sense that Ki-Ho's attempts to run away fail for months. not that expensive to buy a ticket and hide on a ferry to get away
- doesn't make sense why Ki-Ho and Mok-Ha didn't just hide on the boat
- they try to play it off that abuse was seen as more acceptable, but doesn't make any sense to have a guy beating a kid senseless in public, then chasing daughter like maniac, and no one does anything
- should have explained how the dad got on a boat that already left
- made no sense how she could have washed ashore some random remote island when they're so close to populated areas
- made no sense how all that trash ended up on the island, yet no boats or Ki-Ho could find her for 15 years
- can definitely still recognize people after only 15 years, especially your own sons
- the Kangs endangering Mok-Ha and Woo-Hak by not telling them there's a psychopath
- Bo-Geol is supposed to love Mok-Ha, yet literally causes his brother to fall in love with her
- doesn't make sense for Bo-Geol to pine over Mok-Ha for 15 years and then cruelly hide his identity, "protecting her" puts her in way more danger, if she resented him that would be an understandable excuse, but she clearly doesn't. no matter how good his intentions, he acts undeniably cruel
- Bo-Geol being adamant on concealing their identities and preventing Mok-Ha from getting famous, then out of nowhere changing his mind, stairway reveal was the worst scene in the show
- the childhood lovers trope feels out of place here, shouldn't romanticize two kids trying to escape abuse
- Mok-Ha's mannerisms feel out of place, no hate for autism, but living in isolation doesn't make you act autistic

For me, the cons outweighed the pros, so I regret watching this. I can even forgive some aspects, but overall I just can NOT recommend it. What would have made it good:
- cut any romantic feelings until the present day, don't romanticize kids running away from abuse
- cut the love triangle, make either Kiho's or WooHak's feelings platonic
- cut the secrets
- cut the amnesia trope
- add an episode towards the beginning showing her time on the island
- add an episode with her readapting to society to create more comedic moments
- fix at least some of the plot holes mentioned above

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Should have been 16 episodes but I will forgive them since they gave us a good ending.

Since the first episode, there hasn't been a moment that I have not been in love with this drama. I watched every single episode within hours of release which is a feat for me who likes to watch both of the week's episodes at once.

No character was twisted to fit the plot or their circumstances. Everyone lived to their wishes even the villains of the story didn't just serve the purpose of the villain but were their humans, from Mok-ha's father down to Ki-ho's.

My favorite part has to be the siblings. In all K-dramas with a love triangle, not a single "brother couple" was as beautiful as Wohak & Bogeol. Love isn't everything, sometimes some things are more important, and some confessions can be left unconfessed.

If you like picking flaws in dramas, I am sure you'll find a couple here and there. In my case, I can turn a blind eye to the unreal things as a favor to all the beautiful emotions they showed me. Great acting on everyone's part (besides a few very minor characters). I wished that Mok-ha's accent became a little lighter at some early point but it was inevitable given the short time the drama covers.

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A story about a young woman who dreamt of becoming a diva.

The idea of the story itself is very unique in my opinion. Though there are some illogical point (regarding her survival in the deserted island), but the whole visual is super great. And the story is not merely highlighting the romance between the main leads couple. But it showed us friendship, hope, resilience, and persistence.

The actors and actresses really did a great job in portraying their character. Park Eun Bin with her quirk, Chae Jong Hyeop with his talking eyes, Cha Hak Yeon with his wit, and Kim Hyo Jin with her clumsiness. I really enjoyed their acting here. So did the supporter character. Everyone was equally doing their best to portray their character.

Though the focus of the series itself is not romance, but I can feel a great chemistry between the ML and FL. They portrayed pure love. And it feels so sweet and sincere.

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Wait, who is the main lead here?

Castaway Diva stars one of my favorite K drama actresses Park Eun Bin as Mok Ha. However, I am a "story first" kind of watcher. The fact that one of my favorite actors is included is just a bonus to me.

When I initially envisioned Castaway Diva, I envisioned it as a story about overcoming trememdous odds. Overcoming enormous mental and physical suffering intertwined with loneliness and personal suffering, while still maintaining the vision, persistence and inner drive to pursue your dreams of becoming a famous singer/diva. It is possible to achieve one's goals even when facing the most adverse circumstances, with determination. Even with the psychological effects of years of isolation and loneliness, and how having a dream can help keep a person motivated even in the most difficult situations.

In reality, we got a story about child abuse on two fronts, one involving Mok Ha, and the other with Kang Geol. Both grew up in hardship caused by their fathers. Mok Ha escapes on a ferry. But after her father miraculously appears on the ferry she jumps off not far from the mainland and ends up on a deserted island where no one finds her or the island for 15 years.

In her now adult years, the time quickly passes past her teenage years (where many definite trials of survival were omitted). An abundant supply of washed up trash, combined with a variety of items that are good enough to get her by, eases the perceived hardship. She looks a little dirty and her clothing is worn. That's all the evidence we have of 15 years. A flashback shows her attempt to end her life, only to be saved by seeing a floating...cooler. Her mental state is worn a bit.

I'm not being overly critical here, these are things that actually happened. In EPISODE 1, she is rescued. My first thought was that they might be able to fill in many things through flashbacks. Furthermore, I felt the studio did not want to lose audiences to a drawn-out survival story and it would press Park Eun Bins' range once again, but I think her fans would like to see her in a different, more fairytale setting. Anyhow...

Adopting back into society is a breeze. The doctor has marked her health as good. Her skin, hair, and teeth are all in excellent health. In terms of body weight, she is in proportion to any other woman her age. It's all going well! It would have been better to just have her run away instead of having her be a castaway. With an abusive father and his death, her isolation and loneliness on a deserted island at 15, Mok Ha has been through a lot mentally. Despite this, she immediately finds strength to support her idol, Ran Joo, and launches a campaign to encourage HER comeback. It's not the other way around. In this story, Ran Joo takes center stage with Mok Ha supporting her as Ran Joo overcomes odds.

Wrapping up, overall it was a good production. Of course we have Bo Geol and Wook Hak's loving friendship and the psychotic father story. The main disappointment for me was not all the little issues as mentioned, but the fact that the ML took the role of the support person. Those who think otherwise would be fooling themselves. I just wish most of the focus was on ML.

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Overall bland

Should have been story of stranded girl finding her own way into stardom. But viewers got all the other things instead.
Cons:
1) Drama has too many plotlines and almost each supporting characters had a backstory. As a result, i wasn`t invested in each story.
2) Character consistency or logic
Characters changes suddenly without much logic or explanation.
3) It was supposed to be Rom Com but it didn`t do both of these well. Romance was not swoony and comedy was not funny.
Pros:
1) I loved Park Eun Bin`s performance. She sold this endearing character
2) OSTs were good.
3) I loved some of the messages writer was trying to tell

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We're all Castaway Divas

Castaway Diva weaves an extraordinary tale of resilience and the pursuit of dreams that left me emotionally invested from the very beginning.

Mok Ha's narrative unfolds as a poignant journey, transcending the conventional boundaries of survival stories. From enduring the solitude of a deserted island during her formative years to re-entering a society that has drastically transformed in her absence, Mok Ha's character resonates with an authenticity that is both heartwarming and heartbreaking.
What struck me the most was her unwavering determination to fulfill her lifelong dream of becoming a singer despite the immense challenges that stood in her way. The series adeptly explores the complexities of social dynamics in the contemporary world, highlighting the stark contrasts between Mok Ha's isolated existence and the bustling, interconnected reality she faces upon her return. As she navigates this unfamiliar terrain, the show skillfully captures the essence of her struggles and triumphs, delivering a powerful narrative that tugs at the heartstrings.

Castaway Diva is not merely a story; it's an ode to the indomitable human spirit and the boundless pursuit of passion, leaving viewers with a resonant message that dreams, no matter how deferred, can be realized with unwavering perseverance.

Really, a must watch – I laughed, I cried, and above all, I found myself deeply inspired by the journey of these castaway divas.

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Very shiny but without much charm

Honestly, I think 7.5 might be too generous?? idk
I genuinely had so many hopes for this drama. I’m a big fan of PEB and was holding my damn breath until this drama would be released because it sounded soo interesting. Unfortunately, at least in my opinion, this drama ended up giving too much screen time to subplots that I did not care about whatsoever (RJ shares, Ran Joo’s mother, and most of all the stupid abusive dad storyline) and not nearly enough to the parts that actually mattered and most of us came here for (helloooooooooo? romance? literally where).
This is a drama that genuinely had so much potential and had all the right tools to become successful, but it completely fumbled the execution and left me feeling quite disappointed. Couple of upsides: love love LOVE the SML, honestly he had more chemistry with PEB than CJH and was honestly just the best boy all around. So devoted to Seo Mok Ha from the very beginning, was literally fantasizing about being her childhood first love to have an excuse to be with her like cmon the flag doesn’t get any greener than that. Music was simply amazing, no doubt about that. My Spotify playlists will be blessed with many new additions. Park Eun Bin slayed as always, I will always watch her in anything and everything.
Now for biggest pet peeves: Although I enjoyed the character development of the ML, they just didn’t give him enough time to develop as an individual and then as a love interest for Seo Mok Ha, they just kind of slapped them together at the end and called it love (even when we get past how insta-lovey their childhood story was). Because of this the chemistry was just so off and I couldn’t root for the main couple since they gave them nothing to work with besides a crush from 15 years ago. Like I said before, the inclusion of many uninteresting (to me) plotlines made the plot drag so much and genuinely just made for a very dull viewing experience. I quite frankly didn’t come here to watch a batshit crazy police officer chase his family across all of Korea, I came to watch Park Eun Bin become a singer and maybe fall in love, so the fact that such a large portion of the story was focused on stalker daddy disappointed me pretty immensely.
All in all, not a terrible drama and may be a worthwhile watch, just maybe not for me. Blame my sky-high expectations or the marketing, but this drama just didn’t live up to what I had imagined in my head. If you must, at least stay for Park Eun Bin’s music. Or find the Spotify playlist, that works too lol.

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