I am late to the Star and Sky party, but I am just on time for Hidden Agenda, so I might as well throw in my two cents about Star in My Mind, which I finished watching today.


1. Plot, or rather a checklist of clichés.

This series shows that even a sweet, uncomplicated story about a college student reuniting with his high school crush and realizing that his feelings haven't been one-sided can turn out badly in the wrong production team's hands.

The first problem is that everything in the world of this series revolves around our main character, Daonuea. His brother, friends, acquaintances, and the people who are romantically interested in him -- everyone's only purpose is to drive his story forward, to give him advice or to profess their love for him. Outside of Dao's orbit, these guys and girls apparently have no background and no life.
He has a cute friend called Ting Ting, for instance, who is part of a number of scenes, including his first appearance on screen, and seems to be close to him. Who is she? When did she and Dao become friends? After the last episode, we still have no idea, which I find weird because a big part of Dao's conflict with his love interest, Kluen, happened because of Kluen's close friendship with a girl. If Dao demands from Kluen to clarify his relationship with his friend, why did Kluen, who often gets jealous, not ask the same about Ting Ting, a girl that is apparently close enough to Dao to barge into his dorm in the morning, while he is still in bed?
Ting Ting is a minor character. What about Typhoon, Kluen's main rival for Dao's heart, though? He has a lot of screen time, but we know nothing about him except that he studies Medicine, his parents own a mountain resort, and he is obsessed with Dao. When he is not needed for the development of the story, he is forgotten about -- just like every other character except Dao and Kluen.

The second problem is that to spice up the simple plot, the scriptwriters of this series turned to the checklist of clichés and chose some of the worst ones.
A crowd of people falling deeply in love with you at first sight? Check.
Dating someone you don't like for a trial period of one day? Check.
Arriving at the precise second needed to overhear something that can be misinterpreted? Check.
Eavesdropping on a conversation only to walk away mid-sentence for no reason, completely misunderstanding what was said? Check.
Introducing a heavy topic like domestic violence just to use it as a cheap plot device? Check.
Romanticizing kissing someone while they are asleep and unaware of your actions? Check.
I think that there are more, but you get my point.

The third problem is the situation with Gia, Kluen's ex-girlfriend and close friend. It seems that the production team of this series intended it to be a great revelation that Kluen and Gia are not together anymore, but it was obvious from the moment she appeared on screen. In itself, this does not bother me much. What surprised me is that not only Dao, but no one else who went to high school with Kluen and Gia knows. Come on, these characters live in the age of social media. How do they not know that these two broke up ages ago? Things like that spread like wildfire without social media too -- at least one of Kluen and Dao's friends should have caught on.

2. Characters, or more precisely, two [not always likeable] main characters and a group of one-dimensional sidekicks.

Let's begin with Dao again. He is most definitely a character. The thing is that he is not a particularly well-written character. Although the scriptwriters have attempted to present him as a person who charms everyone with his kindness and attentiveness, his actions do not match this depiction. For instance, he knows how painful and humiliating rejection is, but he insensitively rejects a girl in front of his friends, embarrassing her. I do not mind a main character who makes mistakes, but he should be written as flawed on purpose and undergo character development. The scriptwriters of these series, though, obviously did not realize that Dao's behavior is wrong -- the other characters take his side.
Dao can also be really selfish, and he lets others force their decisions on him. A main character who has no backbone and allows himself to be carried by the current is not interesting to watch. It also does not help that Dunk, who plays him, has a lot of work to do on his acting.

More effort should have been put into writing Kluen. He had the potential to be a great love interest and a sympathetic character, but he did not get there. He was supposed to convey the struggles of people who are bad at expressing their feelings. However, the scriptwriters did not care to add any inner monologue, and this made him difficult to sympathize with as instead of struggling with communication, he seems indifferent to Dao's feelings. Kluen should have been written like Tinn form My School President -- a character who looks cold, but is actually overwhelmed by love and gay panic.
There is also a scene in which Kluen forces himself on Dao, which I think is completely out of character for him. The only thing that saves Kluen from being completely unlikeable is that Joong is a good actor, especially when it comes to facial expressions, and he conveys a lot with his eyes.

The rest of the characters are not fleshed out at all, and this makes it difficult to connect with them.


It is not all bad, though. Joong and Dunk's chemistry is amazing, especially in the last two episodes, when Joong stops behaving like Kluen and begins to behave like himself. The two of them look like they genuinely enjoy being around each other, and their kisses do not look awkward. There are also moments that made me laugh, which is great because I usually do not like the humor in BL series.

Overall, though, I hope that JoongDunk's new series will show what they are capable of as a pairing because this one did not. Their entertaining chemistry was almost wasted here, and at the same time, it was the only thing that kept me watching.