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Where Stars Land korean drama review
Completed
Where Stars Land
0 people found this review helpful
by Kira
May 6, 2023
32 of 32 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 7.5
Story 6.5
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 7.5
This review may contain spoilers

Those who spent many times at airports may like it.

If you watch Terminal by Tom Hanks, this is Korean mellodrama version of it. At least, most scenes are within terminal building. This is the attraction factor for me as I LOVE airport and I spent most of my time in the airports. Another reason to watch is Lee Je Hoon. I enjoy his acting and always like the characters he play, mostly action, thriller, fantasy genre. I have seen most of his drama and movie. This drama is my way to see the romantic side of him. I have high expectations because of these two reasons.

The premise is promising but it is poorly executed. A life within airport terminal is dynamic, chaotic but there's strict structure and rule to orchestra the complex system. There are 1001 possibilities in the airport and the drama told a few of those stories. Some were quite known and some others may not be known for casual passengers. There is specific terminal issue every one or two episodes. Within this context, this drama delivers.

However, in this is the biggest disappointment, the characters are not consistent. I can't relate to Han Yeo Reum character. Well, I prefer strong FL and she is not that kind of girl. She is a bubbly persona who is too busy thinking of what other people think about her. Her kindness and willingness to go extra miles to help others should be her charm but it didn't work for me. Too many times, I am frustrated with her logic. This is my first Chae Soo Bin drama so I don't have comparison to her acting (it's weird that I didn't manage to go beyond the first 15 minutes for the strongest delivery man and rookie cops).

Lee Soo Yeon character made me sad. Such a waste to Je Hoon acting. The first few episodes, the character is clear. Strong, cool headed, smart and all that. I can try to understand his fear in going back using wheelchair if there's a stronger back story. The look of other people? Or maybe this is the Korean context that I can't grasp. There were scenes to explain that he is lack of love, being abandon and all that. Still, there are too many holes here.

This is the case for the rest of the characters. I can imagine each of them is a strong character with their own charm. Is there not enough time to build it and give a proper story for each of them? In my opinion, everyone is interesting here.

Rowoon as Go Eun Seob and Kim Kyung Nam as Oh Dae Ki is so underrated. For me, they stole the show with their "supporting" role. Provide a beautiful nuance to the story.

Let's talk about the story. In addition to problems around the airport (passengers, aircraft, and alike), there is one big drama that should be the one that connect the past and the present time, the relationship among main characters. As the "peak", the story only shown in rush in the last two episodes. It appeared poorly and ended in a manner like it's not a big deal. So one person is groomed to drive privatization of an airport. Why it takes years, there are other ways to do that. There should be bigger goal when you implant a person to get profit out of an airport. Think about other drama with similar goal. Every episode there would be a tactic or strategy in place to move towards the goal. None in this drama.

That's one. Another one is a story about human with different ability, disable person. This can be a great story and yet, they stick to the stigma around disable person. I am sad. I like dr romantic, written by the same script writer. So, I don't know what happened here. I think this drama want to tell too many stories but failed to make it coherent. This reminds me of prison playbook - there are a lot of characters, each comes with their own story and the drama able to tell it beautifully, coherent, consistent and every thing is needed to tell the bigger story.

In short, do I recommend to watch it? Yes, why not. It's easy to watch, you won't get too stressful about it. If you like the casts, you are going to enjoy it. If you are the type of person who get annoyed with inconsistent characters: don't. My suggestion, don't put high expectations, just enjoy it. The soundtrack is super nice. Lee Je Hoon is nice to look at. Watch the last episode with the least expectation. It's happy ending, don't worry. But all done in rush. Well, that last scene made me write this review after hiatus for a year or more. (Seriously, can someone enlighten me with why there is no face of Je Hoon?)
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