Summary
When the Stars Gossip Episode 9 revolves around a daring rescue mission that has the unfortunate consequence of bringing the show’s drama back down to earth.
As of Episode 9, When the Stars Gossip has pretty much lost me. It’s a shame, really, since there have been so many glimmers of potential that the fact the K-Drama doesn’t seem to be cohering into anything feels like a waste. The idea of making the drama earthbound when the space setting was the primary interesting thing about it is the kind of naïve decision that a show makes when it fundamentally misunderstands its appeal.
I never bought into Ryong’s fertilization mission from the jump. Honestly, it was so silly I never thought we were supposed to. I figured it was just a fun novelty to excuse a space romance, yet for some reason, every time it looked like we were heading in that direction things reversed course. Ryong returning the fertilized embryos to earth, for the benefit of people I don’t care about, doesn’t seem very appealing to me.
It occurs to me that the whole thing’s back to front. Go-eun has barely been present throughout, and we’ve only seen Ryong crack on with Eve for the most part, so roping her back into the so-called “love triangle” at this stage makes her feel like an imposter. We should have become familiar with Ryong and Go-eun’s relationship first, and then saw how that was imperilled by Ryong’s connection to Eve. This way around doesn’t work.
It’s kind of the same with Dong-a. Again, Ryong and Eve are the couple, and the idea of Dong-a being able to viably redeem himself post-cheating plot is bizarre. It’s like nobody quite figured out who we’d be rooting for or interested in, even though it should be extremely obvious.
I still like the idea of Ryong and Eve being stranded aboard the station, and it increasingly seems like the best one When the Stars Gossip has had, which is why it’s so strange that their honeymoon period comes to an end in Episode 9. And oddly enough the focus shifts to the technical aspects of their rescue, which are a bit scientifically questionable. Does anyone watching this show care about that kind of thing? Probably not, no. But these things sometimes symbolize a general lack of thought, and perhaps even interest. Another example is when Ryong’s moms set the kitchen ablaze in the most ridiculous circumstances just to have something going on.
There are political aspects of the rescue to consider. Ryong is a tourist, after all, and the fact he wasn’t the first one off the station is a PR disaster, especially with all the other astronauts having gotten back safely. With he and Eve still stranded and their oxygen dwindling, the amount of time it would take to launch a conventional rescue mission significantly outweighs the time they have left. So, improvisation is needed.
Armed with a plan involving robot arms and a direct launch of the rocket straight to the orbiting station, Dong-a is, somewhat improbably, the man of the hour. He leaves Earth reiterating that his affair with Tae-hui was just a mistake and Eve is the one he wants, so it’s obvious that he’s imagining this as a romantic, heroic reunion. That’s until he finds Ryong and Eve naked together in the insulation tent, I suppose.
The mission is a success and everyone survives, of course, leaving the last few episodes to deal with the romantic and relationship fallout, which I can’t imagine anyone caring about divorced from the show’s silly space premise. I’m open to being surprised, as ever, but everything about When the Stars Gossip Episode 9 felt off to me like a show rapidly running out of ideas and having no clue what or who it wants to be about, so I’d say the chances of it reversing my opinion at this late stage are slim.
