Summary
When the Stars Gossip Episode 8 backs out of a potentially good angle by putting Eve and Ryong in closer proximity that ever. Results are predictably mixed.
Well, Ryong’s extraterrestrial isolation didn’t last long, did it? There I was thinking that When the Stars Gossip might improve a little after taking a fairly major swerve at the end of Episode 7, but Episode 8 backtracks almost immediately and uses the whole thing as an excuse for Ryong and Eve to get closer together. And, well… they do. But is that enough?
I’d argue at this point that it isn’t. I’ve become so painfully indifferent about this show that I don’t think anything it does now is going to move me; it’s full of comedy that isn’t that funny, drama that isn’t that dramatic, and romance lacking a real spark of chemistry. Everyone just seems to be going through the motions in a show that had a very novel set-up but has largely used it as an excuse to navigate the most contrived and familiar angles imaginable.
Even the things the show is good at don’t tend to matter. There’s an extended sequence near the beginning of the episode that finds Eve carrying out a perilous spacewalk to get back to Ryong, but despite various things going wrong – the floating debris, an oxygen leak, and so on – you never really get the sense that she’s in any real danger. Most shows don’t kill off their female leads midway through, to be fair, but most shows aren’t so reliant on making us think they might just so there’s something happening.
Eve’s heroic return gives her and Ryong at least a week of isolation, since that’s how long it’ll take to get another vessel up there, much to Dong-a’s hypocritical chagrin. If only he knew that things were proceeding mightily fast. Eve and Ryong kiss almost as soon as she gets back aboard, with enough grand gestures having been carried out on either side to make the point clear. The Scorpion’s abandonment of the station with all the other crew ends up creating our leads a kind of honeymoon period.
This would be great for Eve and Ryong but not especially good for the audience, so luckily more technical disasters keep them busy, including their only means of returning to Earth blowing up due to a leak caused by the debris. Thanks to damaged solar arrays, they have to reduce the power to a trickle and try to survive on the bare minimum until they’re rescued, which turns a romantic getaway into a slightly more fraught survival mission, with Ryong arguably more concerned about the fertilized egg than anything else.
This would all be fair enough if When the Stars Gossip Episode 8 didn’t proceed in thoroughly predictable ways, but unfortunately it does. Like penguins – hey, if the show wants to use animal metaphors all the time, why can’t I? – they attempt to share body heat after self-isolating in their own pods, and you know where that’s going to lead. A bit of alcohol – Eve isn’t quite so draconian about the contraband rules at this point – helps to lubricate the situation. With Dutch courage and beer coats at an all-time high, Even and Ryong finally consummate their relationship. As far as first times go, at least it’s memorable.
But where from here? It seems that Eve and Ryong are going to make preserving the fertilized egg their top priority, despite their risky circumstances, and it’s obvious that their relationship is going to continue back on earth – depending on what might still happen in space – which will give them both a fair amount of explaining to do. But at this point, I really can’t say I relish the possibility of any of this. For a show built on such a good idea, When the Stars Gossip seems to be proving that it doesn’t have any others.
