I’m going to start this recap with a confession: I genuinely enjoy banana-pants random nonsense. I love weird shit. I fell in love with Tank Girl the moment they were kidnapped and put in a room filled with bowling balls. I laughed every single time Janeane Garofalo threw something off camera and it made a breaking glass noise in Wet Hot American Summer. I love every time my neighbour randomly screams out his window what he’s having for dessert. A lemon tart? Good for you, Hank!!
They never explained the bowling balls. Delightful.
I tell you this to give context as to why I’m charging ahead with When The Stars Gossip. Is the story super compelling at the moment? No, not really. I simply do not care about eggs or sperm or who’s putting the sperm in the eggs or if they’re hardboiled or whatever. **exaggerated shrug** Is the lead making great decisions? Not at all! Intentionally starting a fire on a space station, going out into the cold void of space without a proper suit or training, invading a lady’s sleeping space, the list goes on…
But even though I’m annoyed with Ryong, and the plot has me zoning out a bit… I’m still IN, you know? The premise is cool, the setting is different, the leading lady is crush-worthy, the direction and editing is spectacular, and it’s just BONKERS. Everything that has happened so far is preposterous, and that’s enough to hook me. I need to keep watching to see what wacko thing is going to happen next!
(Yes, I still have Squid Game on the brain).
Space Twin found a random lottery ticket, checked it, found out it’s worth 500 billion won (about 500 million dollars) (Canadian) (so about 75 bucks American right now) (economy joke!) and conspired with Ground Twin to keep it. This is a pretty great example of a plot point I don’t really care about, but one that still provided us with some fun visuals and zany hijinks, as the twins gave us a fantasy-montage of what they’d do with the money (rich people stuff). Anyway, it’s obviously not theirs, so now Space Twin has to be sneaky about it. Good luck I guess?
Words cannot express how much I do not care about this egg thing, but this is a recap, so: Evil Ex got six out of the seven eggs fertilized with the dead guy’s space sperm, but Ryong really wants to do it, so he’s going to steal the remaining three.
I will say, it seemed as though Evil Ex was frustrated during the process, so it’s possible he may be lying? Or am I just trying to find intrigue where there is none?
Chaebol Daughter called Evil Ex to yell at him, and his response was, “Pretty,” which… *sigh*. I feel like the show is leading us onto this ship by presenting Evil Ex as an alternative to Ryong. We want Goeun to have a happy ending, but this (at least at this stage of the game) AIN’T IT. This man has not respected a single thing she’s said since the start of the show. He was mad they lost the baby that would’ve killed her, he’s conspiring with her father against her wishes, and he dismissed her words while focusing on her looks.
I will concede that Evil Ex is not that evil, but the show better put in the WORK to take this man on a learning journey before I’ll accept this pairing.
Ryong’s pal on the ground conveniently knows everything about the space station (what are the ODDS?) and told him if there’s a fire, all the gadgets in that section will shut down, including the safe the eggs were in. Which I’m told we have to care about, so… we’re fine with the fact that his plan involves running so fast on a faulty treadmill that he’ll spark a fire thereby endangering not only all the lives of the people aboard, but also the groundbreaking experiments.
Our hero, ladies and gentlemen.
As Ryong was scheming, Eve was busy writing her will and PRINTING IT OUT ON A PRINTER IN SPACE. I know one (1) person with a printer, and this show is telling me they have an HP Inkjet or whatever hooked up in SPACE?? We’re all out here sneakily printing our tax forms and homemade birthday cards at work, and they’re up there IN SPACE printing wills made up on the spot?? LOL, this is the most unrealistic thing about the show so far.
Anyway, the fruit fly was giving birth, and it was very cute how excited they got. Then Eve gave Ryong the ‘will’ she had TYPED UP AND PRINTED OUT (I will never be over this) which was really just a to-do list for him.
Welp. He went ahead with it. He called the mother-to-be to make sure she wanted him to be her doctor (at least that’s something?) and then got to running.
Evil Ex sprung a leak in his foot and had to go inside, so Eve finished the task all on her lonesome, which resulted in her foot slipping and her bee-bonging around that station like a human yo-yo, then she finally latched onto a panel and punctured her glove.
Was there ever a single second that we believed Eve wouldn’t survive this? No. Not the briefest of moments. However, it still had my stomach wiggle-flipping into my chest because you guys, SPACE IS SCARY. The idea of just helplessly floating away and then freezing to death in the vast nothingness… the ONLY thing worse would be falling into a giant vat of yogurt, but it’s a close second.
So yeah, there were less than zero stakes, but it still had me STRESSING.
Ohhhhhhkayyyyyy, so, after our boy secured the remaining three eggs and read Eve’s to-do-list ‘will’ (THAT SHE PRINTED OUT ON A PRINTER IN SPACE) Ryong finally caught up to the fact that there was a bit of drama happening outside. Naturally he responded to this by putting on his pajama set and popping outside for his hero moment.
Since the other guy was waiting for decompression (which Ryong didn’t need, because space-hero science) and Ryong was closer, the astronauts were supportive of this bumbling civilian getting in the game. No one could see the hook, so Ryong had to keep yelling at Eve to tell him where it was. It was all very dramatic, like, just ask nicely. You catch more flies with honey, Ryong!
Asshole Dad is by far the villain of this story. This man does not care about any actual human beings, he only wants an heir to his business, and he said as much to the potential mother of his grandchild. She stood her ground, and it was glorious. More of this lady!
Oh dear. This is going to bite everyone in the ass, but you know what, I like her gumption!! Goeun announced her engagement to Ryong in a press conference (lol) presumably to paint her dad into a corner. Loving the ladies against Asshole Dad! I hope they team up more.
This was the correct response to the events that unfolded. Ryong was clearly waiting for her to be all swoony, but she’s the commander of the mission, and he’s a literal tourist. If he’d died out there, it would be on her. His stunt might have even ruined the mission, the experiments, etc. She was right to be pissed, and it gave me hope when he apologized, BUT THEN…
Oh Ryong… we’re trying so hard to like you, but you’re making it difficult. And you’re played by Lee Minho! That already gave you a head start, and you’re ruining it!!
He sulked to the boys and was like, “My crush didn’t like it when I almost ruined everything she holds dear by having enough hubris to believe I could do something she explicitly told me not to do.” And the guys were like, “Aw maaaaaaan, that sucks, bro, here, drink way too much of this smuggled alcohol we’re definitely not supposed to have that could potentially ruin our lives, goodnight!” And they LEFT HIM THERE ALONE to drink.
Naturally he drank too much (Santi risked his career to bring it and you’re gonna drink it all??? MY GUY. Check yourself!) and then did a tour of the station, giving weirdly intense pep talks and blackmailing Space Twin about the lottery ticket. But his last stop on his tour was to a slumbering commander, snug in her little wall-swaddle, where he got way too close, revealed that he’d been drinking, insisted she thank him for what he did, and then confessed his feelings to her.
Everything about this was terrible. There’s no sugar coating it. I need our boy to use this as a learning moment, and he needs to show his work or he doesn’t get the marks for it. Because here’s the thing – characters in fun comedies are allowed to be awful as long as they A) grow and change and we get to see their arc, or B) are punished for it. (Note: these rules obviously don’t apply to grim-dark hyper-realistic bummer shows.)
So yeah, he’s a bit of a shit right now, but if he learns from it, if he listens to Eve and the people around him, if he shows some humility and we see him evolve as a character, then okay… this beginning makes sense! So I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.
What did you guys think? Are you still on board? Are you loving the absurdist, zany tone, or is it putting you off? Do you think the space station could use a room inexplicably filled with bowling balls?
SOME STUFF
- Are they trying to start a romance with one of Ryong’s moms and his doctor friend? I’m not quite sure how to feel about that.
- SPACE TOILET LOL
- I know everyone has their backstories, but the twins aren’t exactly destitute. One is an astronaut and the other is a scientist at Korean-NASA. I feel like at the very least they’re financially comfortable, you know? Having them sneak around with this lottery ticket (they know isn’t theirs) is kind of… smarmy?
- So Rich Dad is going all-in on being the villain, eh? He trashed Ryong’s office and destroyed all traces of his involvement. He also told the hospital staff to fire his daughter in law, and the rage-fire that lit within my soul shall burn for eternity.
- It’s cute that Eve is honouring Ryong’s christening of the fruit flies as Public and Indecency.
- The voice-over of Eve’s ‘will’ telling Ryong to poop while she was dramatically dying outside is just so funny. The absurdism is absurd and I’m loving it.
- I think his doctor friend Sungjae is objectively the best person in the whole cast of characters. Please don’t give him a romance with his friend’s mom. Please.
- Ground Boyfriend is still around and Ground Lady Boss is suspicious of him. Is it because of his relationship to Eve, or something else? Something…. Nefarious? (PLEASE show, just give me some intrigue!)
- I was quite charmed by the bros howling, and thought we were getting the beginnings of a sweet friendship trio, but I have to assume Ryong outing them for having alcohol will destroy that adorableness.
- At least he did her chores? We do love a man who respects a to-do list.
THAT’S IT FOR ME THANKS FOR COMING, STAY SAFE OUT THERE!
Toni Watches 