Summary
When the Stars Gossip remains weird in Episode 2, but it also remains defiantly original, which is always a plus.
Stick with me here as this is a slightly weird thing to say on just Episode 2, but When the Stars Gossip is almost like the anti-K-Drama. It’s a sci-fi dramedy. It filters its romantic subplots primarily through the lens of sexuality, which is unusual in typically conservative Korean entertainment (A Virtuous Business notwithstanding.) And it seems content – nay, eager – to be quite unlike any other show out there right now.
Mostly this is good. There are certainly issues, of course. Sometimes it seems to be trying too hard to be unique and forgets to be engaging, and the characters are – for now, anyway – a little tropey. But it’s early days yet.
Episode 2 of When the Stars Gossip continues to flit between space and Earth, and the subplots are immediately getting into seriously silly territory. The rocket struggles to dock smoothly, a bag of fruit leads to the presence of fruit flies, and Chairman Choi, among others, is forced to wait to find out what’s going on because Eve is fascinatedly studying the mating flies.
The attention shown to this is one of those things that starts out amusing but goes on much too long. I think it’s intended as a metaphor, or perhaps a mission statement – a lewd little display in a show about characters with lewd intentions. But there are probably easier ways of getting that across.
If you were wondering in Episode 1 why an OB-GYN was sent to space, Episode 2 reveals the answer. Gong Ryong is on a personal mission for Chairman Choi to fertilize the eggs of Go-eun’s sister-in-law using her dead brother’s preserved sperm. Yes, you read that correctly. The chairman wants to preserve his lineage and this seems like the best way of doing it, but it requires Gong Ryong to secretly fertilize the eggs in space. The sperm was sent ahead in a cargo ship, and the eggs were smuggled in a tub of vanilla ice cream that Gong Ryong brought aboard as an ice-breaking gift.
This leads to all kinds of slapstick silliness. Gong Ryong wants to keep the vanilla to himself, for obvious reasons, but this makes Eve suspicious of what he’s hiding when he starts flapping about her wanting to melt it. Even after it’s analyzed and declared toxin-free, she collapses the packaging down, presumably crushing the eggs.
As it turns out, though, it’s Kang-su, Go-eun’s ex, who has the eggs. Naturally, Gong Ryong is fuming about this, especially since it’s clear that Kang-su is trying to get Go-eun back. It’s a bit hypocritical of Gong Ryong to even care given how much attention he has been paying Eve, but there we are. He should probably be more concerned about the chairman stabbing him in the back at any opportunity.
See, Gong Ryong also stands to benefit from this science experiment. As well as getting into the chairman’s good graces, they also have a handshake agreement for the MZ Group to build a fertility clinic in space if the proof-of-concept proves successful. Gong Ryong seems like a pretty uncomplicatedly good guy – albeit one with an eye for the ladies – and seems to want to help everyone he can.
This includes mice, apparently. Towards the end of When the Stars Gossip Episode 2, one of the mice aboard the station becomes aggressive and starts biting the females. Despite policy being to euthanize the mouse, when it has a heart attack Ryong and Eve revive it, which gets Ryong in Eve’s good graces. She’s excited to watch them mate. The mice, I mean.
But in all the excitement Ryong doesn’t answer one of Go-eun’s calls, so it seems like we’re teetering at the top of a pretty slippery slope. For once, I’m pleased to say that I have absolutely no idea how it might all shake out.
