Star With a Secret (2020)

It’s No “ Secret” That This Drama Is A Waste Of Time...

First of all before saying why this drama didn’t met up to many expectations of drama fans, it’s important to say that there were some genuinely intriguing aspects towards the show.

One of the most apparent aspects of the drama was the international relationship between our Vietnamese female lead and aspiring reporter Chi Mai ( Hoàng Yến Chibi) and South- Korean Hallyu Star JIN ( Sung Joon). Although it isn’t out of the question for dramas to tackle international relationships or respectfully cast actors from different countries ( such as renowned South-Korean actor Lee Jong Suk being cast in the Chinese drama Jade Lover, or a young Lee Joon gi’s appearance in the Japanese movie with actress Aoi Miyazaki in Virgin Snow ), it isn’t a theme or relationship which is often tackled or centralised in many typical Asian dramas.

Respectfully a lot of this can be to do with natural cultural differences and language differences between the two countries, and in My Secret Star there is the evident problem of Chi Mai and JIN’s words being lost in translation without Mai’s earphones which help to translate their conversations back and forth.

On the other hand, My Secret Star was severely flawed by the aspect of story -writing and pacing. Although the show was very short, there was little to actually develop or process the relationship between our main leads.

Undeniably the main focus of the show was the supernatural element of JIN transforming into a young child when someone makes physical contact with him. In a typical cliche manner, JIN naturally discovers that he is immune to Chi Mai’s touch leading the two to spending more time together.

This is certainly a sweet element to show within the portrayal of their relationship, however, after the few early episodes of My Secret Star, this supernatural element is nearly drawn out the picture entirely and by the ending of the drama, it’s magically “ solved” without rhyme nor reason . It isn’t necessarily that this aspect of the show shouldn’t have been included, however, it was a strange move by the scriptwriters not to symbiotically use this as a plot device within portraying the development between the leads and challenges which allow them to grow closer in later episodes.

In addition to this , despite JIN and Chi Mai’s status as an international couple, there were few culture shocks or differences between the two leads as well as general intrigue other one another’s country at all within the show. It is of course certainly not a necessary aspect to beat genuine romantic feelings, however, if a show is trying to tackle a relationship where both parties are from different countries and speak different languages, there is the natural element of wanting to learn more about someone’s background.

This is hardly shown in the drama and whilst JIN reveals a little bit and his past and resentments towards becoming famous, there’s little explanation or actual drive as to why Chi Mai wanted to become a reporter even through revelations of her childhood .


Overall My Secret Star wasn’t a show which was incredibly dire, however, poor story writing , characterisation , outfits ( particularly the Korean misrepresentation of the “ gay” fashionista ) and an inaccurate representation of international relationships, made the show incredibly cliche and a waste of time.

Read More