City of Stars (2024)

two green flags, could have been a 9.5

Overall: the leads were mutually interested, sweet and flirty so this could have been a 9.5 with some changes. Series got better as it went on. 12 episodes about 45 minutes each. Aired on iQIYI. Star Hunter Entertainment also produced: Big Dragon, What Zabb Man, Gen Y, My Mate Match and The Moment I Need You

Content Warnings: non con recording/sharing, cyberbullying, past death, homophobia, sexual harassment, transphobia, manhandling, unwanted public outing

What I Liked
- dynamic between the leads including: mutual respect, communication, ongoing physical affection (although Krom needed to work on his communication skills, even at the end)
- sweet/cute moments
- a few funny parts like the bubble tea catch
- supportive friends (although the 1 friend put his friend into unnecessary pain with his "plan" in episode 4)
- worked in anti-smoking messaging in a less preachy way, also added other messages however the 'respect a person's privacy' was undermined by Krom's friends taking video/sharing without permission and spying on them
- the interaction with his fans in episode 3 made me tear up, very sweet
- a trans character that felt like a real person instead of the stereotypical characters that we normally see
- excellent dreams
- good intimacy
- conversation about preferred position, willingness to adapt to a partner's needs
- avoided ep 11 curse

Room For Improvement
- too many comedy sound effects that actually detracted from the comedy (seemed less prevalent in the second half thankfully)
- the second couple needed more screen time and he needed to mature more
- several exposition dumps, the voice overs were used too much to tell the story
- too much time spent on the talk show stuff in episode 3, overall this could have had tighter pacing
- nonsense stuff: why didn't his (obviously not American) coworkers use AI translate apps/websites?, someone else filling a person's prescription, an allegedly good friend letting a very drunk person go off with that guy, not coming up with an obvious solution to the problem shown at the end of the series, etc
- how much time passed was unclear at times
- showing a character texting when using the bathroom

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Not awful, but not amazing.

I was suitably amped up to see Kimmon in a drama again, albeit in a supporting role. From the trailers and teasers I expected a bit more drama and more exciting plot pacing.

I don't regret watching the series so far and I will finish up with the final episode when it airs on iQiyi tomorrow. I may edit this review if anything in the finale changes my mind.

The pros:

This series had a glorious lack of the typical borderline cheating/doubting feelings to the point of disrespect that some series display. I was very happy with the relationship dynamic of the leads.

I love, love, love the inclusion of a trans character that is authentic and not simply included as a plot gag.

The friend group dynamic of both lead characters is warm and supportive. I appreciate the lack of "playful" disrespect towards their relationship.

The cons:

I am not a huge fan of the quick and easy plot fixes. I feel that there was little to no actual tension building in the storyline. The fan backlash lasted what seemed mere seconds. The disapproving mother is suddenly okay with the boyfriend after one very underwhelming conversation. The money hungry ex has a sudden change of heart. Overall everyone just seems very okay with everything. Which is fantastic from a real life outlook, but makes for a dead dull drama plot.


I feel that the leads could have benefitted from a more intensive workshop for the intimate scenes. I quite like them both individually as actors, but when they had to come together in those moments there was a definite stiffness and breakdown in their chemistry.

The dialogue, just wasn't as good as it could have been. I think I could have overlooked the lack of chemistry in the romantic scenes if the scripting had been a bit more dramatic. Or had there been any type of displayed character development. We see the programmer go from detesting the actor to adoring him in a couple of episodes, with no major conversations to show the cause of that sudden transformation.

Overall, I enjoyed the series enough to finish it. But not so much that I was counting days until the next episode release.

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