[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Shooting Star" Episode 1

With inaugural ratings of 1.632% "Shooting Star" didn't get off to a promising start, and the content of the first episode itself also didn't do too much to inspire confidence. "Shooting Star" isn't bad, exactly, but it feels like a premise in search of a plot, and not having a whole lot of luck finding one. Han-byeol (played by Lee Sung-kyung) works in marketing for a major talent agency. Tae-seong (played by Kim Young-dae) is a big star in this organization, making a big comeback following a year-long break. Together they...used to be college sweethearts?

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Yeah, I'm honestly not sure. A big point is made of Han-byeol's forgotten picture in her apartment, but as of yet this particular plot hook is very underexplained. Han-byeol is grumpy because of her erratic work schedule and the need to be on call all the time to deal with a public relations crisis. Lee Sung-kyung is poorly cast, though, mainly because she's just too pretty. This didn't have to be important, but Han-byeol makes a whole big point on her blind date of how stars look way different than support staff.

We only very briefly sees the ages and professions of characters flash by on the screen, and it's often way harder to tell from context which characters are supposed to be stars and which ones are supposed to be support than you'd think. "Shooting Star" really needed more ambition in the wadrobe and makeup departments. If Lee Sung-kyung could be convincingly transformed into "Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo" it really shouldn't be that hard to make her look like a working girl here.

Then there's Tae-seong, a character who's far more intrinsically flawed. If "Shooting Star" wanted to be a story about the people who work at agencies, it should've just done that. Having an in-universe star as the other lead just drags the narrative away from the premise, in this case to talk about Tae-seong's charity work in Africa. More specifically I think he's supposed to be in Zambia, but either way those scenes were mostly pointless.

The best scenes in "Shooting Star" are the ones that actually get into the whole cleaning up the poop of the stars interpretation of the show's original Korean title. It's funny watching Han-byeol and her co-workers observe celebrity culture with indifference and even annoyance, since to them it's work, and not an amusing way to spend their free time. Yet this contrast is frustratingly absent.

Review by William Schwartz

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"Shooting Star" is directed by Jamie K Lee, written by Choi Yeon-soo-II, and features Lee Sung-kyung, Kim Young-dae, Yoon Jong-hoon, Kim Yoon-hye, Park Sojin, Lee Jung-shin. Broadcasting information in Korea: 2022/04/22~Now airing, Fri, Sat 22:40 on tvN.