Summary
When the Stars Gossip lays some interesting foundations in Episode 1, even though it’s all over the place tonally and sometimes a bit silly for its own good.
It’s fair to say that sci-fi isn’t exactly a go-to genre for K-Drama, and sci-fi-comedy even less so, which makes When the Stars Gossip an especially curious choice for a Netflix series. Slotting neatly into the lineup just as When the Phone Rings, a similarly-titled but wildly different and much more traditional series, has just ended, the tonal whiplash in Episode 1 might have many viewers bouncing off the series altogether.
We’ve got love triangles, slapstick comedy, arch silliness, surrealism, flashbacks, and… feet, for some reason. It’s hard to even know where to begin. We’ll try the beginning.
That’s October 25, 2024, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, which is incidentally the setting for the Call of Duty: Black Ops mission “Executive Order”. Here it’s the launching point for both the series and a mission to study samples that could unlock some of humanity’s great unsolved mysteries, if only the three astronauts aboard can get to the space station without any calamities, which doesn’t seem especially likely given the inexperience of one of their number.
This is Gong Ryong, very much the focus of When the Stars Gossip Episode 1. Dubbed a “space tourist” because a tremendous amount of money has been spent to guarantee his inclusion in the mission despite him not being an astronaut, Gong Ryong is an OB-GYN – that’s obstetrics and gynecology – who can’t pluck up the courage to pick the flight song or hold his stomach on the journey.
Through a cloud of his own zero-G vomit, Gong Ryong reminisces. He was raised by his eccentric aunts and grew up to be a kind of celebrity midwife. He’s sharp as a tack and a better scrapper than his wobbly space legs suggest, but he’s also locked in an ongoing rivalry with his father-in-law, Chairman Choi Jae-ryong.
This is down to Gong Ryong’s relationship with the chairman’s daughter, Go-eun. When she lost her unborn baby after a surgery, Chairman Choi blamed Gong Ryong for ending his bloodline and subsequently sabotaged his career. Gong Ryong’s revenge is a whirlwind romance with Go-eun, leaving a lot of lingering suspicion over quite how authentic the union is.
It stands to reason, then, that Gong Ryong would possibly have eyes for someone else. When, in the present day, the mission’s commander, Eve, saves his life by unblocking his airway, it becomes clear that he might well have eyes for her. Eve, though, is in a – very new – relationship with Park Dong-a, who works at mission control. And, aboard the space station is Go-eun’s ex, Kang-su, who wants her back and is close to her father in a way that Gong Ryong could only dream of. Naturally, Chairman Choi prefers Kang-su as a suitor for his daughter.
As you can see, there’s a lot going on here, and it’s doubtlessly going to get a lot more romantically complicated as things progress. Gong Ryong is clearly more interested in Eve – or perhaps her feet specifically – than he is in Go-eun, but that seems like the tip of the iceberg for what’s to come.
It’s certainly a lurch from more traditional K-Dramas and some shoddy CGI and green screen work here and there doesn’t exactly help matters, but there’s also something a bit charming about all that which fits with the show’s obviously eccentric vibe. It’s always hard to judge in Episode 1, but there’s definitely potential here for a fun show; hopefully, it doesn’t get too bogged down in arch silliness and forget to have a point.
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