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Pierce Conran

This article contains spoilers.
Lead cast: Lee Min-ho, Gong Hyo-jin
Latest Nielsen rating: 2.7 per cent
What happens when you mix K-drama, sci-fi and 50 billion won (US$34 million)? Cheating astronauts, zero-gravity sex and a coveted winning lottery ticket, apparently.
There was no question of When the Stars Gossip ever being serious sci-fi. This is a high-concept K-drama with Lee Min-ho (Pachinko) and Gong Hyo-jin (When the Camellia Blooms) from romcom specialist Shin Sook-hyang (Pasta, Don’t Dare to Dream) after all.
Perhaps this was why it was doomed to begin with. Science fiction is an elastic genre that can take on many forms, but the embryo from which it grows always needs to be an idea.


Too often with Korean sci-fi, the science fiction is merely cosmetic. Imagine a thespian known for Ibsen plays strutting up on stage for a bawdy comedy and making up for the fact that he has not a funny bone in his body by painting a smile on his face.
This becomes painfully clear by the end of episode nine, when astronaut Eve Kim (Gong), space tourist Gong Ryong (Lee) and their saviour Park Dong-ah (Kim Joo-hun, Big Mouth) crash-land back on Earth.
The space station quickly becomes a distant memory, visible only through the pratfalls of astronauts struggling to re-acclimate to Earth’s gravity.
The sci-fi set dressing largely out of the way, the series boils down to its essentials. What remains at the bottom of the pot is a sickly sweet stew made up of romantic principals and comic-relief caricatures.

Earlier, Ryong and Eve, stranded in space and with limited power available as they awaited rescue, snuggled up to one another for warmth, but went an X-rated step further by engaging in zero-gravity sex, despite both already being in long-term romances.
Ryong is engaged to – but not in love with – corporate heiress Choi Go-eun (Han Ji-eun, Bad and Crazy), who may be warming up to her astronaut ex Kang Kang-su (Oh Jung-se, It’s Okay to Not Be Okay).
Meanwhile, Eve is with fellow astronaut Dong-ah, who has also been cheating on her with Space Centre director Kang Tae-hee (Lee El, My Liberation Notes).
Not only are the leads dishonest with their partners, they are also dishonest with each other. Ryong went into space under false pretences to surreptitiously fertilise the egg of Na Min-jeong (Baek Eun-hye), the daughter-in-law of the MZ Group chairman Choi Jae-ryong (Kim Eung-soo), with the sperm of Choi’s dead son, who was infertile – a problem that being in space apparently solves. Kang-su was previously villainised and fired for trying to do the same thing.

Ryong kept his secret from Eve, while also cheating on his fiancée. He also deliberately started a fire on a treadmill in a space station, while several astronauts risked their lives to make repairs outside, all to help Min-jeong conceive. At one point, when Min-jeong believes the plan has failed, she attempts suicide by jumping off a bridge.
Ryong is also quite happy to help other members of the space station crew steal a winning lottery ticket bought by Kang-su, who is unaware that he has won.
Neither logic nor morality appears to be the strong suit of When the Stars Gossip. So what is?
A few idioms come to mind while watching the series: “learn to walk before you run” and “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”, followed by the swift realisation that idioms are not always right.

This sci-fi opus wears its influences on its sleeves. The trouble is, those sleeves are very short and it is still winter.
Echoes of Interstellar, Gravity and The Martian abound, and the inspiration is not merely narrative. Like many Korean films and shows before it, this series lifts Hans Zimmer’s score from Interstellar.
The Moon, a recent big-budget Korean space action-drama for the big screen, draws from the same three films (and music) for inspiration and little else – it was also a major critical and commercial dud.
It is all in the name: science fiction. You need both in abundance for the formula to work. It is no accident that many of the greatest sci-fi authors were science thinkers (Arthur C Clarke), professors (Isaac Asimov) or programmers (Andy Weir).

Sci-fi filmmakers may not have those bona fides, but they often have a lifelong passion for science fiction, like Christopher Nolan and Alfonso Cuarón.
Similarly passionate about science fiction is Bong Joon-ho, one of the lone bright lights of Korean sci-fi, who returns to the genre in a few weeks with Mickey 17, based on a book by Ashton Edward, a quantum physics professor.
Watching the three most successful space sci-fi films at the Korean box office and quoting Carl Sagan is not enough to balance the “science” and “fiction” equation.
Given that it is unlikely to rectify this as it concludes its run in a few weeks, the question on our minds about When the Stars Gossip is: when will they stop?
When the Stars Gossip is streaming on Netflix.


Netflix K-drama When the Stars Gossip midseason recap: a giant leap back for Korean sci-fi

9 of the best new K-dramas to watch in February 2025, including Jisoo in Newtopia

Netflix K-drama Love Scout midseason recap: romcom loses way after an engaging start

K-drama The Tale of Lady Ok review: Lim Ji-yeon, Choo Young-woo lead fresh Joseon era saga

Korean drama reviews

Lee Min-ho as space tourist Gong Ryong in a still from Netflix K-drama When the Stars Gossip.

Gong Hyo-jin as astronaut Eve Kim in a still from When the Stars Gossip.

Lee Min-ho and Gong Hyo-jin in a still from When the Stars Gossip.

Gong Hyo-jin (left) and Oh Jung-se as astronaut Kang Kang-su in a still from When the Stars Gossip.

Lee Min-ho (left) and Gong Hyo-jin in a still from When the Stars Gossip.

Kim Ji-soo (Jisoo) of K-pop group Blackpink in a still from new K-drama Newtopia.

Han Ji-min (left) as headhunter Kang Ji-yoon and Lee Joon-hyuk as her personal secretary Yu Eun-ho in a still from Netflix K-drama romcom Love Scout.

Han Ji-min as headhunter Kang Ji-yoon in a still from Love Scout. 

Han Ji-min (left) Ji-yoon and Lee Joon-hyuk as Eun-ho in a still from Love Scout.

Lee Joon-hyuk in a still from Love Scout.

Han Ji-min (left) as Ji-yoon and Lee Joon-hyuk in a still from Love Scout.

Lim Ji-yeon in a still from The Tale of Lady Ok.

Lim Ji-yeon in a still from The Tale of Lady Ok, in which she plays a slave-turned-noblewoman who almost loses it all.

Lim’s character comes from a humble background before assuming the identity and status of noblewoman Ok Tae-young.

Choo Young-woo plays storyteller Cheon Seung-hwi and idealistic nobleman Sung Yoon-gyum in the series.

Lim in a still from The Tale of Lady Ok.

Choo in a still from The Tale of Lady Ok.

K-drama Study Group a breezy school fight drama with Hwang Min-hyun taking on the bullies

Hwang Min-hyun as student and fighter Yoon Ga-min in a still from K-drama Study Group. Han Ji-eun, Cha Woo-min and Lee Jong-hyun co-star.

Hwang Min-hyun as reluctant fighter Yoon Ga-min in a still from Study Group.

Han Ji-eun as teacher Lee Han-kyung in a still from Study Group.

Hwang Min-hyun as Ga-min in a still from Study Group.

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This Netflix series, like many sci-fi Korean dramas, doesn’t have the science or the fiction to be anything more than a formulaic romcom


This Netflix series, like many sci-fi Korean dramas, doesn’t have the science or the fiction to be anything more than a formulaic romcom.
