Sh**ting Stars (Shooting Stars)

Ok, so after all that covid horribleness (mostly; I still have a cough I can't get rid of) and other things that I'm not going to go into now, I am back exercising on the elliptical. As it feels like starting again (I'm weak, man), I figured I'd go for a show around an hour vs. anything longer, which is how I wound up starting Shooting Stars (which, for some reason, they list as Sh**ting Stars, but then it looks like you're saying something entirely different and swearing and the stars are doing something rude...) rather than From Now On, Showtime, another new show I was considering. Purely because the Showtime one was 11 minutes longer.

Anyway, the lead is Oh Han-Byeol (Lee Sung-Kyung -- of Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo among others) and I quite like her usually, so it was a no brainer anyway. She plays a PR Team Lead working at Starforce, a company that manages actors and idols. The male lead is Gong Tae-Sung (Kim Young-Dae), the top actor at the company who has a pristine reputation. Turns out, they have history. Six years previously, when she was a rookie, she made a typo where she called him a eunuch and he still hasn't forgiven her. But, before that, they attended the same university and obviously have some kind of a past based on photographs. 

Apparently, there is some controversy about the show, though it was hotly anticipated as a comeback for Sung-Kyung. The first episode sees Gong Tae-Sung on a volunteer trip to Africa and the show is being  accused of racism. To be fair, I didn't read any of those headlines until after watching two episodes but I have to admit that I did have a bit of an inward groan when I saw him volunteering there in the first episode. Mostly because it's just called "Africa" rather than a country, like they couldn't be bothered to identify "Kenya" or "Nigeria" or somewhere rather than an entire continent (after some research, looks like it was Zambia based on the language). Two, it kinda harks back to the whole white saviour thing. But, also to be fair to the show, it wasn't too terrible or too white saviour-y. Like, the scenery actual very much fit from my own trip to Kenya and it wasn't totally overdone. In fact, wherever they shot it was actually in much better shape than the couple of towns I saw. So, while it was a bit stereotypical, and definitely could have been handled better, I wouldn't pan the whole thing because of it. His interactions with the kid, in particular, was decent. Plot-wise, I think they just wanted to show that he'd been away for an entire year somewhere. 

Anyway, there's a definite enemies-to-lovers vibe going on. But I'm also quite liking the supporting cast as well, so that's a bonus. Many of these actors I've seen in other shows, though two of them (Young-Dae and Yoon Jong-Hoon (who plays Kang Yoo-Sung, another employee of Showtime) actually remind me a great deal of some other actors and I was confused for a few minutes until I looked them up. Some of it was attitude, I suppose, not so much how they look. Mannerisms? But, anyway, suffice it to say I'm generally liking the whole cast.  I think Young-Dae is giving me some Hwang In-Yeop in True Beauty vibes -- especially in the magazine photoshoot. It's not that they look alike; it's just how it was filmed, I suppose. And the save sort of bravado in the characters.)

It's hard to say yet whether the chemistry between the two leads will stand out or not. There's a bit of pratfall comedy to this one and there's something there, but hard to see what yet. Will write more after I have watched more episodes...though I wish I had realised that this one was still ongoing as it's only been released on Viki up to episode 6 (which isn't even wholly translated yet). So if I do exercise every day this week, I'll need to alternate with some other show(s). Though I should finish up some others on my list, so maybe that's a good thing.

Edit: I'm at the halfway point, if it's normal drama length. And I'm really enjoying it. It's just a fun one. I don't feel like re-capping it all BUT I did want to give a shout out to poor Jin Ho-Eun who plays Byeon Jung-Yeol (the character that helps manage Tae-Sung). They have given him, like, the world's worst haircut ever.

I mean, look at these two pictures of him. 

He's super adorkable in his role and actually really steals the scenes he's in, even with that haircut. Actually, I have to say that all of the supporting cast in this one are really fun. 

There are no "bad" buys. Even the sort-of spoiled snotty actress is more comic relief than an actual bad guy. Oh, and there was a cameo from Moon Ga-Young as an actress that "fake dated" Tae-Sung, though poor Oh Han-Byeol thought it was for real...back when she sort of had a crush on him...which made her harden her heart...which is giving him a headache now that he's trying to confess to her. 

But, seriously, dude, you've spent 10 years teasing this girl and putting yuck in her coffee and tying her shoelaces together and you're surprised that she doesn't believe you're not trying to set her up somehow? 

Anyway, the show is lots of fun. There's definitely some angst coming up as Tae-Sung's mom--who was a famous actress and basically apparently bailed on him, even when his dad was dying -- has come back into the scene. Though he's so pre-occupied with his love conundrum that it's not affecting nearly as much as anyone else was expecting.

Edit: Okay, so I finished this one a while ago but this is the first chance I've had to update. I really quite enjoyed it. It was very low angst -- most "issues" were solved easily, with little drama, and weren't drawn out for very long (an episode or two, three at most). There was a fair bit of sweetness and adorkableness. There were no Noble Martyr moments or forced separations for no reason. In other words, none of the stuff that I really hate. 

The actors were all great, the characters were lovable. Am I glad I watched it? Totally. Would I watch it again? Hm, maybe someday. I wouldn't say it had a huge amount of swoon worthy moments, but it was all a joy.