Summary
When the Stars Gossip introduces some welcome danger in Episode 3, which helps to temper some of the more slapstick elements.
When the Stars Gossip has been, thus far, a very strange and silly show, with a far-out premise about fertilizing eggs in space and a lot of low-stakes slapstick to pad out the episode runtime. Episode 3 still has a lot of this stuff, but it also introduces a bit of danger in the form of perilous spacewalks, an always welcome fixture of the sci-fi genre, and even has the decency to end on a cliffhanger.
I like this. There’s no way that the tone of the show’s first two episodes would have sustained an entire season, so it’s a positive sign that has been acknowledged early. To what extent we care just yet is, I suppose, another question entirely, since it’s a bit difficult to latch onto characters who’re largely preposterous and navigating ludicrous situations. But that may well come in time.
After the previous episode found the rocket crew docking on the space station, Episode 3 of When the Stars Gossip picks up with everything just about where we left it – the group gathering around to eat and watch the lottery, Ryong can’t stop thinking about Eve, and Kang-su is trying to find the most opportune moment to carry out his fertilization mission.
With some particulars on insemination established, Jae-ryong gets word that Kang-su is about two-thirds of the way through his task but was forced to break off after being interrupted by Ryong. Ryong can only hope that Kang-su ends up dying on the spacewalk he’ll be undertaking with Eve, a procedure so dangerous that it shouldn’t be attempted without getting one’s affairs in order first. He also decides to use the spacewalk as an opportunity to kill the power and steal the eggs.
Ryong’s scheme works. While Eve and Kang-su are fixing a solar panel, he disables the power and steals the eggs, hiding them inside the flowers where he also finds a winning lottery ticket (Mina Lee found it earlier – the jackpot is 500 billion won, which isn’t exactly chump change.) Kang-su has some issues with his suit so he heads back inside before Eve, but while she’s out there she runs into some technical difficulties. She gets hung up on the panel, and when grabbing out to steady herself, she tears her glove. This is not ideal in space, since it causes the astronaut’s suit to lose pressure, which is exactly what happens to Eve. As When the Stars Gossip Episode 3 ends, she’s losing consciousness and in quite the predicament.
This is quite the dramatic climax, obviously, and I think it makes up for some of the episode’s saggy sections, like a needless montage of Mina Lee imagining spending her lottery winnings. The insemination exposition early-doors is clunky too; the show’s better in motion than it is when it’s explaining itself.
But the more intimate character dynamics are working well. Eve and Ryong, for instance, already have solid rapport, and the odd parallels between the growth of their relationship and those two fruit flies is novel, if nothing else. Go-eun’s frustration with Kang-su is also good for a laugh, and her insults in his direction land well.
It all remains a bit of a mixed bag thus far, then, but there’s still plenty of time for When the Stars Gossip to really develop and get the most of its unique sense of identity.
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