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Pierce Conran

Lead cast: Lee Min-ho, Gong Hyo-jin, Oh Jung-se, Han Ji-eun
Latest Nielsen rating: 3.9 per cent
“Only two things are infinite – the universe and human stupidity.”
Given Korean sci-fi’s spotty track record, the above quote – one of several that appear at the beginning of the new series When the Stars Gossip – seems a bold way to open a mega-budget K-drama romcom set on a space station.


What would Albert Einstein, to whom this quote is generally attributed, make of this series, in which a billionaire gets his future son-in-law to smuggle his infertile dead son’s sperm and daughter-in-law’s eggs onto a space station in the hopes of producing an heir?
It is tempting to say that this could be presented as rock-solid evidence to prove the tongue-in-cheek theory.
Then again, by the time the series’ lead actor, Lee Min-ho (Pachinko), performs open heart surgery on a mouse in zero gravity, we begin to realise that show writer Seo Sook-hyang (Jealousy Incarnate) may be in on the joke as well.
Does that make this expensive parade of outrageous melodramatic clichés easier to swallow? Not by a long shot – there is only so much human stupidity the mind can take, whether staged or genuine.

The son-in-law-to-be is the all-around-perfect gynaecologist Gong Ryong (Lee). Ryong, who claims to remember the time he spent in his mother’s uterus, was raised by a trio of bar hostesses following her death.
An ace with his fists and his brain, he beats up drunken customers skipping on their bar tabs and aces his way through school. Later, as the most handsome OB-GYN in the land, he is hailed as a hero while delivering babies on subway trains and in public swimming pools.
His run of good luck ends after getting rear-ended by Choi Go-eun (Han Ji-eun, Lovestruck in the City), the heiress of the MZ Group.
He saves her as well, performing surgery for an ectopic pregnancy, but is swiftly blackballed by the medical profession for his troubles, having enraged Go-eun’s father Choi Jae-ryong (Kim Eung-soo), who desperately wants to carry on the family line.

After a period of drunken despair, Ryong is approached again by Go-eun, who has fallen in love with him. A relationship begins – although it isn’t entirely clear how willing a participant Ryong is.
Initially furious, Jae-ryong eventually makes Ryong an offer: smuggle the aforementioned sperm and eggs into the IOU Space Center and provide him with an heir in return for Go-eun’s hand in marriage.
Ryong boards the IOU on a 70 billion won (US$48 million) ticket as a “space tourist”, ostensibly to perform fertility research in zero gravity. The current commander of the station is Eve Kim (Gong Hyo-jin, Jealousy Incarnate), her name a reference to the robotic love interest in Pixar’s Wall-E.
Among the other astronauts on board is the stern Kang Kang-su (Oh Jung-se, It’s Okay to Not Be Okay), who is conveniently Go-eun’s ex-boyfriend. Eve also has an astronaut ex, Park Dong-ah (Kim Joo-hun, Big Mouth), who is currently working in ground control.

No matter how infinite space may be, this is still a hermetically sealed K-drama narrative.
When the Stars Gossip tries to have a little fun by embracing and exaggerating familiar K-drama codes but, more often than not, the tone feels off.
News of the death of Ryong’s mother following his birth is imparted to us during a comic slow-motion dust-up in a karaoke bar. In the very next scene, waggish music plays over a mother’s desperate wails as Ryong attempts to resuscitate her baby.
Beyond some talk about researching dementia, infertility and incurable diseases in zero gravity and some floating around the space station, the sci-fi here is strictly a novel backdrop to some stock Korean romcom and melodrama scenarios, starting with a love pentangle and the involvement of a Korean chaebol (family-run corporation).

With a purported 50 billion won budget, When the Stars Gossip is one of the most expensive Korean dramas ever made.
Yet despite the star casting and the promise of K-drama romance among the stars, the show took a long time to find a home after completing production almost two years ago. Initial ratings have been disappointing.
Another quote that opens the series is a famous one from Carl Sagan: “The cosmos is within us, we are made of star-stuff.” But is this show made of the right stuff?
There are 14 more episodes to go, but it may pass its event horizon long before that.
When the Stars Gossip is streaming on Netflix.


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Lee Min-ho, Gong Hyo-jin lead Netflix K-drama When the Stars Gossip, space station romcom

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Lee Min-ho as Gong Ryong in a still from When the Stars Gossip.

Lee Min-ho as gynaecologist in space Gong Ryong in a still from Netflix Korean drama series When the Stars Gossip.

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

Oh Jung-se as astronaut Kang Kang-su, heiress Choi Go-eun’s ex-boyfriend, in a still from When the Stars Gossip.

Lee Min-ho as gynaecologist Gong Ryong in a still from When the Stars Gossip.

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

7 of the best new K-dramas to watch in January 2025, including When the Stars Gossip

Lee Min-ho in a still from When the Stars Gossip, one of our seven Korean drama picks to watch in January 2025. Photo: Netflix

In K-drama casting news, Jung So-min eyed for romcom, Ahn Jae-hong may join Signal 2

Jung So-min, (pictured in a still from Love Next Door) has been offered a role in Would You Marry Me alongside Choi Woo-shik. Photo: tvN

Choi Woo-shik in a still from A Killer Paradox. Photo: Song Kyoung Sub/Netflix

Ahn Jae-hong in a still from Chicken Nugget. Photo: Garage Lab/Netflix

Koo Kyo-hwan in a still from Parasyte: The Grey. Photo: Cho Wonjin

Lee Byung-hun plays a political henchman in the movie Inside Men (2015). Photo: Showbox

Ryu Jun-yeol in a still from The 8 Show. Photo: Lee Jae-hyuk/Netflix

Lim Ji-yeon as Gu-deok, who becomes Ok Tae-young, in a still from The Tale of Lady Ok.

Lim Ji-yeon as the servant Gu-deok who becomes noblewoman Ok Tae-young in a still from The Tale of Lady Ok, a fresh take  period K-dramas set in the Joseon dynasty in Korea.

Choo Young-woo in a still from The Tale of Lady Ok. The actor plays storyteller Cheon Seung-hwi and nobleman Sung Yoon-gyum in the series.

Lim Ji-yeon as the servant Gu-deok who becomes noblewoman Ok Tae-young in a still from The Tale of Lady Ok.

Choo Young-woo, who plays storyteller Cheon Seung-hwi and nobleman Sung Yoon-gyum, in a still from The Tale of Lady Ok.

Lim Ji-yeon as Gu-deok, or Ok Tae-young, in a still from The Tale of Lady Ok.

Ju Ji-hoon as Seok Ji-won (left) and Jung Yu-mi as Yoon Ji-won in a still from Disney+ K-drama Love Your Enemy.

Jung Yu-mi as Yoon Ji-won in a still from Love Your Enemy.

Ju Ji-hoon as Seok Ji-won (left) and Jung Yu Mi as Yoon Ji-won in a still from Love Your Enemy.

Ju in a still from Love Your Enemy.

Ju (left) and Jung in a still from Love Your Enemy.

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A hackneyed melodrama dressed up as sci-fi, Netflix romantic comedy set aboard a space station is so silly the writer may be in on the joke


A hackneyed melodrama dressed up as sci-fi, Netflix romantic comedy set aboard a space station is so silly the writer may be in on the joke.
