When the Stars Gossip EP 7 & 8 Photo-Recap: Chilly Chillin’

Okay fine. I’m still in. This show is like that catty gossip at work who you want to stay away from because they’re toxic, but then they come over to your desk like, “Did you hear that Frederick tried to throw a microwave out the window, but the window was actually a painting of the outdoors on a mattress, so it bounced back and hit him in the penis?” and you’re just like… 

I’m listening. 

It’s just so wonderfully absurd that I can’t help but flip-roundhouse-twirl with the mental gymnastics needed to try and justify the deeply misogynistic themes and blatant anti-choice messaging. As I mentioned before, a character needs somewhere to go, and making Ryong the worst in the beginning did make his admission of being the worst in this episode that much more satisfying. Now the test will be if he puts that knowledge into tangible action. Is he going to start respecting the woman he just knocked space-boots with? 

Something interesting brought up on Bluesky by calmdownjuseyo (great name) was the idea that this show is a satirical farce. I have to admit, this is the kind of high-beam gymnastics I can get behind: that the writers are creating these awful characters on purpose to show the absurdity of it all. To actually mock the misogyny, to highlight the hypocrisy, and a third equally snappy alliteration.   

I’m holding on by a thread, but watching this show through that lens is wildly more entertaining, and makes me feel less guilty for enjoying the parts I do love. If the show actually follows through, it could go down in history as one of the best Kdrama trolls in history. Punking its own industry? Okay, show… let’s see what you’ve got.

Santi suggested they give the lottery ticket back to Kangsu in order to preserve their dignity as scientists and astronauts, and the other two were like, “fiiiiiiiiiiiiine,” while rolling their eyes. I don’t care about the lottery ticket or who gets the money, but it was cool seeing the foreigner in the show being the moral voice of reason, which rarely happens in Kdramas. 

Ground Team saw some floating space garbage (polluting every place we exist in is humanity’s favourite past time) and were like, “Nah, it’s fine, this isn’t setting up the dramatic conclusion of the episode,” and Ground Boss Kang was like, “That’s a weird thing to say and makes me thing it IS setting up the dramatic conclusion of the episode,” and Ground Grunt was like, **shrug** “I can’t control your interpretation of what I say,” and then things got weird between them. 

Ground (Ex) Boyfriend Park kissed Ground Boss Kang and then immediately was like, “Nah, not feeling it,” and walked away, inserting himself back into the space love triangle. Every single woman on this show should be gay. Every single one. Just date each other and leave these men to their own f**kery. 

Remember how Ryong first fell in love with Eve because she had nice toes? I will never not think of that during every single one of their scenes. Anyway, she fell asleep and Ryong changed her toe bandages while giving a soliloquy about all the things they’ll do together on Earth as a couple. Jumping a few steps (like her giving any indication that she likes him) but whatever, at least he didn’t kiss her while she was unconscious! Progress!  

After attempting suicide, Minjung was rushed to the hospital for a little nap (Kdrama logic) but woke up the moment after she heard Ryong had been successful with the egg. Because the only thing a woman has to live for is being a mother! (It’s a satirical farce, it’s a satirical farce, please be a satirical farce) 

In a shocking turn of events, the debris field did, in fact, collide with the space station, which meant they had to evacuate on the space shuttle bus, but whoopsie, Ryong’s egg microwave wouldn’t detach from the wall, so he had to fiddle with it before heading to safety, which meant he missed the shuttle-bus back to Earth. 

Since Eve is not the kind of commander to just leave a helpless little baby tourist behind, our girl space-walked across the station, dodging space-garbage and crawling around without a tether, all just to go fetch some dude who has refused to listen to a single thing she’s said. 

I will say, Ryong screaming at her through the window to just leave him because it’s his fault and he deserves to die was the first thing this man has said that I agreed with. At least he knows! 

These two were quite pleased to see one another still alive, and they even smooched about it! Ryong listed all of his wrongdoings (including calling her a murderer) and said everything is his fault, which, YEP! Well spotted, Ryong! Let’s hope he brings more of this energy into the second half of the series.  

Ryong and Eve got all flirty, texting each other to communicate like a couple of teenagers trying to hide their love from their teacher while Ground Boyfriend Park watched on in jealous-mode. Someone needs to tell him that it’s way too late to jump back into this triangle now. Sorry, dude! No amount of renegade rocketing is going to save what you ruined. 

Because this show has focused on The Egg Thing and doesn’t really have anything else going on besides a million love triangles and mouse sex, they needed something to spice things up for this middle bit. Enter: an explosion. Now Ryong and Eve are stuck on the station without power, potentially freezing to death as Ground Team dramatically huffs and upset-poses their way into a plan to save them (just so much sigh-grunting and posing, you guys, SO MUCH). Oh, and a slap! That was fun, too. Ground (Ex) Boyfriend Park wanted to take an untested rocket up to save Eve, but Ground Boss Kang nipped that in the bud.

Okay, the theory that this show is a satirical farce is getting more and more likely. This is the second time a grown man has thrown a tantrum as a woman in charge calmly battled it with logic and reason. 

Shit, is this show portraying these characters as buffoons on purpose? Later Ryong is complaining that he’s bored and Eve tells him to play on his phone. LIKE A CHILD. I’m becoming more and more convinced. 

Since Ground Team was like, “Our promise is 3-4 business days, but expect delays,” and Eve and Ryong only had enough air to last them two days, they’d pretty much resigned themselves to death. They turned off the power to everything except the air scrubbers (does anyone else picture little elves frantically running around polishing air molecules any time anyone says this?) which meant it was dark and freezing. Eve set them up in cute little glossy potato sacks, but Ryong was bored and lonely, so he scooted over to hers like a child who had a nightmare and wanted to sleep with his parents.

And sleep together they did! After some canoodle-flirting, they had some awkward floating space sex!

Oh, and he confessed about The Egg Thing before they had sex, which is nice. It was a bit funny how many times he tried to confess, and then when he finally did, Eve just shrugged like, “Whatever, man, we’re about to die.”

It makes it harder to continue convincing myself that this is a satirical farce when Eve calls the cluster of cells tucked away in Ryong’s iPod case a ‘person’, but shhhhhhh, brain, shhhhhh… it’s satire! It’s a mirror to the ills of society! It’s a zany romp that makes us examine our society! (Say it enough times and maybe it’ll be true)

And that’s that! 

I’m weirdly excited for whatever Gouen, Ground (Ex) Boyfriend Park and Evil Ex Kang have cooking. Whatever it is, they’re gonna break some rules, and everyone is going to shake their fist at them, but then give them a slow-mo nod like, “You’re a rascal, but I respect it. Go bring ‘em home.” 

I honestly have NO idea where this show is going to go from here. There will be a daring rescue, everyone will be back on Earth, and then The Egg Thing will have to carry the plot for 6 more episodes. 

SOME STUFF

• Yep! Just your typical coma makeup! Either the nurses are keeping up her look, or this brand of makeup lasts after jumping off a bridge into a river. That can’t be good for the skin, right??

• Eve is definitely pregnant now, right? Like… for sure they just ‘created life in space.’

• Why wasn’t anyone giving sweet Santi some water at the hospital?? GIVE SWEET SANTI SOME WATER YOU MONSTERS.

• Not Sweet Doctor Bestie explaining to Ryong’s three moms that a person can’t get pregnant in space because it’s nearly impossible to have sex. We know what foreshadowing is, SHOW.

• I am not here to judge (yes, I absolutely am) but why is the bestie’s relationship with the moms so inappropriate??? HE CALLS THEM ‘MOM’ why is the one mom INTO IT?? 

• RE: Santi—Maybe you’ve noticed that normally in Kdramas the foreigners are portrayed as… not great, let’s say. I lived in Korea for four years, and while I never felt any harsh effects of xenophobia (aside from a few signs on a cafés and shops saying ‘no foreigners’ during the pandemic, oof) I did get a sense that Korea has the idea that  the rest of the world—especially the western world—is sort of just bumbling around like idiots (honestly, fair) and letting lax morals rule our decisions. And it’s not even malicious! It’s just sort of how one would view a toddler who wants to do it ‘by my own’. Awww, look at the foreigner. We’re often given allowances to our detriment. Foreign characters in Kdramas make immoral decisions because we don’t don’t know any better, or we’re rude without knowing it, or don’t use honourifics. IF YOU KNOW KOREAN YOU KNOW HONOURIFICS, I’m sorry, this becoming a rant, let’s move on. The fact that it was the foreigner convincing the others to ‘do the right thing’ is cool, is what I’m saying. 

• Mouse Doctor Lee touched Dona’s boob. This show is just unhinged enough to make me wonder if they’re setting up an awkward little romance, or did they just want to make a boob-touching joke? Romance vs. boob joke… I DON’T KNOW!!!!

• After all that nonsense, the lottery ticket was sucked up a frozen vent. Is this storyline going anywhere, do you think? What could they possibly be setting up? 

• The ONLY reason Chaebol Dad was happy that his daughter-in-law woke up was so that she could be a vessel to bring his new grandchild into the world. I hope he gets public diarrhea. 

• How did you guys feel about the smooching? Did you get butterflies? Their chemistry is great, but the story has sort of dampened it for me, so this kiss didn’t really do for me what I think the show wanted it to. But I’m curious what you thought!  

• Goeun’s assistant got sassy with her this week, and I’m sort of living for it. 

• They’re going to cure Santi’s sperm, right? That’s definitely going to happen?

• Have you ever pretended to be asleep to get out a conversation with a guy, or is that just an Eve thing?

• Robot/Alien/Ghost Space Suit made it’s triumphant return wreaking vengeance upon the space station! What did these people do to that space suit to make it gather a cloud of space debris and unleash it upon them? THAT’S the story I want to follow!

OKAY THANKS FOR COMING GRAB A LOOT BAG ON YOUR WAY OUT (it’s filled with slap bracelets and stale Halloween candy) AND STAY SAFE OUT THERE!