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Shooting Stars: Episodes 9-10

Romance is on full blast this week with happy couples getting together, and new love triangles popping out of nowhere. But despite the seeming sunshine, clouds from the past are beginning to gather and threaten to rain on the parade of some of our characters.

 
EPISODES 9-10 WEECAP

We pick up from where we left off last week, with Han-byeol running off to meet with either Tae-sung or Soo-hyuk, and her lucky date ends up being… no one! Actually, it’s Tae-sung, but by the time she arrives, he is swarmed by a truckload of fans and she leaves – but not before calling Yoo-sung to come to Tae-sung’s rescue.

Han-byeol gets to have the dinner date with Soo-hyuk, and when he mentions that he’s not a “star in the sky” but an ordinary guy, it gets her thinking.

Considering that she has dealt with Tae-sung in a strictly professional manner since she confirmed his dating rumor, the knowledge that he likes her makes her hesitant. But more than the reality of his celebrity status which is starting to hit her, she’s scared of getting hurt again.

Encouraged by Ki-bbeum to act on her feelings, Han-byeol marches over to Tae-sung’s house where he reaffirms his love for her, and they kiss! From multiple angles too!!! RIP, my screencap button.

But what’s a K-drama if the characters don’t get interrupted while kissing? Jung-yeol, the captain of the TaeByeol ship, rings the doorbell and sends Han-byeol scampering away to hide. Lol.

Meanwhile, Jae-hyun and Yoo-na who have gone from reel to real kissing – and dating – also go from interlocking lips to interlocking fingers in each other’s hair when Dae-soo and Yoo-sung walk in on them. I just can’t with these two! And I love that in both scenarios, it was the women who initiated the kiss.

As Tae-sung and Han-byeol settle into their new relationship – initial awkwardness aside – Han-byeol is so giddy that she greets and smiles at all the Tae-sung posters on the street – something she couldn’t stand seeing earlier on in the drama. The feeling is so contagious that Yoo-sung catches on from an equally giddy Tae-sung, and he’s happy for the couple.

That same feeling makes Han-byeol turn Soo-hyuk down and thankfully, he’s cool about the rejection. But he has more things to worry about, like a leaked blind item about an incredible male couple: “national boyfriend and top star A” who just returned from a volunteer trip, and “lawyer D” who just moved next door to A. This has to be the funniest subplot yet!

The rumor sends the StarForce team into a state of shock (and me, into a hysterical fit!). Soo-hyuk fields unwanted questions and calls from reporters, but he meets with Ki-bbeum who is tasked to get an interview with the boyfriend of the national boyfriend. Heh.

In addition to the scandal between his biggest star and their lawyer, Ji-woo also scans an article on Eun Si-woo – Tae-sung’s mum – and we get a flashback to high school Tae-sung when he tearfully begged Ji-woo to make him into a bigger star than his mother. So that’s really how he accepted Ji-woo’s scouting to become an actor!

Si-woo runs into the suspicious housekeeper when she visits Tae-sung at home and recognizes her as the rich madam from the mall. They get into a fight but Tae-sung takes his housekeeper’s side and tells Yoo-sung, who’s rushed over, to get his mum out of the house.

Meanwhile on her way out, the suspicious housekeeper runs into Han-byeol and takes note of her necklace – a gift from Tae-sung. She recalls seeing it in Tae-sung’s closet and realizes he’s dating someone from work. Then she gets into a fancy car and is driven off. Okay, who is this woman? And why is she an active member of a Tae-sung anti-fan site?

Whoever she is, she’s definitely up to no good, and Si-woo shares the same sentiment as she tells Yoo-sung about her encounter with the housekeeper at the mall. This gets Yoo-sung and Han-byeol to dig into the housekeeper, and they eventually find out that she’s a crazy rich and obsessed fan who for some weird reason enjoys buying expensive gifts for celebrities.

Three years ago, the housekeeper had bought a limited edition wristwatch for Tae-sung, but he had it sent back because he doesn’t accept fan gifts. Offended by the rejection, she had wormed her way into becoming his housekeeper and fed him salty food so as to become special to him. What in the twisted logic is that?

She even sends all the PR staff the same type of necklace that Tae-sung gave Han-byeol with a note to Han-byeol telling her that she’s not that special. Aigoo! And it’s not like they can sue her because technically, she didn’t do anything illegal.

Unfortunately, the best they can do is file a restraining order after all the trauma she has put Tae-sung through. Ugh! What happened to suing her for emotional distress or some other legal jargon? Soo-hyuk should be able to come up with something!

While Yoo-sung understandably feels bad for not catching on to the housekeeper sooner, his actor counterpart – who cleans up really nicely by the way – harbors a crush on Ho-young, and he even gives her the same head pat Yoo-sung gives her. Does “Yoo-sung” = head pat? It definitely has to be something in the name.

Anyway, another head pat from Yoo-sung leads Ho-young to blurt out her feelings for him, and she ends up running away leaving a confused Yoo-sung behind. It feels like the end of the main love triangle has signaled the beginning of another one with the Yoo-sungs and Ho-young standing on each of the edges. Heh.

Over dinner with Si-woo, Ji-woo – who happens to be her former manager – mildly scolds her for barging into Tae-sung’s life, and tells her Tae-sung will need time to open up to her again – if he ever does.

While Tae-sung and Han-byeol enjoy a morning together, a new character now stands at the gravesite they once visited to pay respects to their friend LEE YOON-WOO (Lim Sung-kyun). The young man swears to avenge Yoon-woo by making Tae-sung pay for whatever it was he did. He then sends a cryptic message to a Tae-sung anti-fan site, and soon afterwards, Tae-sung and Han-byeol’s phones begin to vibrate ominously…

Tae-sung really can’t catch a break, can he? Just when we think we’re done with the housekeeper from hell, another problem pops up. A part of me thought the housekeeper had something to do with their deceased friend, but the only connection she seems to have is being a fellow (deranged) member of the creepy anti-fan site.

I won’t call it a disappointing twist, because the subplot highlights fan gifting, which is a popular aspect of fan culture. I think it’s one of the reasons some fans are very obsessed and feel entitled to the lives of their favorite celebrities – which again, is one of the downsides to being a celebrity.

While I didn’t find this week’s episodes as funny as last week’s, I got a lot of giggles from watching Han-byeol and Tae-sung act all giddy with a slice of awkwardness, like two teenagers newly in love after fighting all the time. I found the awkwardness pretty realistic.

One of my favorite scenes was where Han-byeol sent selfies to Tae-sung and conveniently realized that her skin was dry. Cue some skincare PPL, which was hilariously filmed like an actual commercial. It’s one of those things that shows the drama doesn’t take itself very seriously, and I hope they keep up with that momentum till the end.

 
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stuff that was meh this week:

we were moving at a slow unbothered pace before; being sort of slice of life. now that we've added this seemingly random drama into it? i'm not really sure what to think yet.

house keeper plot point felt bland for me even though i'm sure there's some rich anti fans out there who do exist.

that other anti-fan? ehhh. feels sort of late to introduce them now.

non-meh stuff:

i wasn't sure about the main couple originally but they were just too cute this week! all the kisses omg!

i sort of love the contrast between the actor character that taesung plays. like him as that character kissing dahye's character vs taesung kissing hanbyeol. the little kisses all over were so so so cute!!

taesung driving 3 hours to get a hug is stupid silly lool

i honestly wasn't really buying hoyoung and yoosung (the og) at first but hoyoung's confession was so funny!

also i didn't know i'd like them together but i thought kibbeum and soohyeok's flirting was pretty cute

speaking of soohyeok, the stairwell meetings with taesung to really show off their pettiness and i'm here for all of it!! would love to see more of dahye and jungyeol next ep~

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I kinda loved how awkward HB and TS were at first as a couple, although it’s mildly tiresome that her girlfriend role is almost immediately to provide the personal service equivalent (comforting and soothing him) of her professional service to him (protecting and running interference).

The crazy rich sasaeng housekeeper subplot was absurd and, yeah, what kind of motivation is it that he simply refused a gift? But when the housekeepmakjangamajig told TS that he’ll remember her whenever he eats salty food, it reminded me that real-life sasaengs have stated that their purpose in excessive attention to the point of attacking their idols or their families was to “make them know who I am” or “make sure they remember me.” Giving HB a taste of that kind of crazy by sending of her special necklace to all her staff is a good way of bringing home to her the dangers of getting involved with a celebrity and probably to spoil that gift for her forever.

I loooooooooved the staircase flirtation/dick-measuring contest! More of that, please! But the mysterious threat to “avenge” the friend’s death, I can’t even. I want my clever silly fun back!

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@elinor: Loved your points. Specifically, I would up the ante, and say it is really tiresome for the care giving and emotional support to be allocated to her in their nascent but long-simmering personal relationship. This is highly gendered in straight relationships and KDramas are not the only shows being this reductive. Yes, he is cute and they are cute together but it would be refreshing to see a dude depicted as being willing and able as well as cognisant of the need to do equal if not more emotional heavy lifting in a relationship.

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@dncingemma Although I love kdramas' generally strong depiction of women, this has long been one of my pet peeves. As in this rom-com, women are shown being really competent and good at their jobs, which is good to see accurately portrayed, but then as part of that competence they have to be shown as somehow nurturing.

Whereas men, good or bad, are always having trauma, generally with their Moms, for which their female love interest is therapeutic.

I know this stereotyped gender role reflects the reality of many couples, (with the exception of Mom trauma.) But speaking anecdotally, most of my male friends in long term relationships at least appear to be the supportive, caring partner in the relationship (maybe because their wives are the main breadwinners (?)) so it would be good to see more of that reality portrayed in rom-coms!

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One other comment on this, which will prove my tendency to ramble on tediously, but which is not completely irrelevant given Tae-sung's Mom issues.

I remember the only psychology class I took in college, where the professor argued that the boy's compulsion to separate from and deny the importance of their mothers was the source of male difficulties with women. This was in the early days of what I understand is the now complete rejection of Freud and his argument that an Oedipal desire to sleep with their mothers is what drove male psychological development.

Perhaps in upcoming episodes we'll see which theory the writers are pushing for Tae-Sung!

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@hacja: You ramble on delightfully.
Ps - I wish we could edit our comments to remove typos, etc !

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@dncingemma You are way too kind. So many times I kick myself about my inability to shut up.

Fortunately for me, there are some wonderfully vivid writers on this site--the recappers, of course, and then the commentators. I'm always surprised and impressed to find out some of them have English as their second (or even 3rd or 4th?) language. I know I'm not alone in looking forward to reading DB reactions to each episode.

I too wish there was an easy way to edit comments--it would save some embarrassment, that's for sure!

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One drama where the guy does a lot of the emotional caregiving is Nam joo-hyuk in Weightlifting Fairy....

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I think right now my replay button is tired of me because that kiss brought out all the squeals!!!! and replays!
Then the twist about the housekeeper from hell, i did not see that coming, i would have bet a million bucks she was related to the friend but she was angry because he rejected her gift?? wow, Talk about crazy.
Also how many love ships/Triangles/Octagon/Hexagon are we getting?
It seems the writer has decided to play a game, let someone fall in love weekly and i am not complaining, as long as the drama does not take itself seriously, i am here for the kisses and hopefully bed scene. I mean a gal can dream right?

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Forgot to add this @unit, Thanks for the awesome recap
I think Yunaaaa and her partner (dunno his name) reel to real romance is going to end in the Rocks and the managers will probably suffer the more!!! cant wait for that, also the stairway scene?? pure gold....... those two are just one scene away from a bromance.

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😊😊

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Has Tiffany changed their iconic packaging or are the subs just wrong?

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I got confused by Tiffany too. But that skincare ppl was stg else 🤣

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I was wondering about that as well, but the necklace definitely had the traditional Tiffany mark on the back, and the product placement was so obvious and frequent that I don't think it was a subtitle mistake.
Looking it up on the Internet, I see Tiffany launched a major "rebrand" last year, in its perennial pursuit of younger customers, so we could be seeing the results of that.

Thanks Kdramas, for helping me keep up with trends in consumer culture and products I'll never buy! (Well--I have been tempted by Dyson vacuums, but they are so darn expensive.)

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I’m really curious now! That big “T” is not their mark unless they’re launching something new starting in Asia, which would not be at all surprising! Color me 🤔🤔🤔

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I CAN’T, WHEN JAEHYUN STARTED BARKING LIKE A DOG I QUITE LEGITIMATELY THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO CRACK A RIB and then I straight up ascended with the all the adorable GTS x OHB post kiss chaos that ensued.

This week was an absolute riot, felt like I needed to be jacked up on caffeine to keep up with everything that was going on at some points. From the 92384983 new love lines, 1 fake love line (I died at the stairwell scene), and the OHB x GTS 180 going from being at each other’s throats to heart eyes and skinship 24/7, there was just so much going on. And that’s not even touching on the whole the Evil Housekeeper Auntie and return of The Mum thing (and whatever the heck is going on between them). Loved every second though, this show gives me all the sunshine I’m not currently getting because we’re edging into winter where I am!

P.S Yuna, girl, lend me your confidence sometime 😍

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I can't with the cute! This show is so fun, I'm enjoying it so much! Love that everyone is falling in love with everyone else and they're all so awkward: it's like everyone in the show is 14!

I hope the housekeeper drama is done, and I hope revenge guy is wrapped up equally easily: they're only interesting as excuses for the PR team to leap into action and our leads to hug each other.

Totally shipping the Tae Sung/Soo Hyuk bromance!

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Why the OTP is so childish? I meant if this highschool drama, I wouldn't comment. The only mature one is Yoo Soong.

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I also find them more ridiculous than cute. It's 2022, they are adults and even with no experience in dating they should want more than burst of small kisses.

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Everytime a drama has a celebrity as a lead, there are creepy stories with stalker... I think they should more adressed the daily stuff like online critics...

At least, the main couple is cute! I was kinda tired by their fights.

For Jae-hyun and Yoo-na, why? For now, she's just a rich girl with no manners.

Ho-young with Yoo-Sung Senior and Yoo-Sung Junior (whose ad was great), not a love triangle I was imagining but both Yoo-Sung are good people. It's funny like Yoo-Sung Senior spends more time with the CEO of a rival agency than his own CEO. :P

Soo-hyuk and Ki-Bbeum had a nice dynamic but not as funny as Soo-hyuk and Tae-Sung.

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What a turn of events. Ep 9 had me giggling like a nutcase throughout. I have hopes that they will go along with a healthy relation if the writenim does not throw a noble idiocy track in the future episodes. I knew there will be love triangle soon between the two Yu-Sung’s and Ho young and was unsure which side I am on. They all are too adorable. Ho young’s confession and the run was sooo cute !!!!
I couldn’t stand the housekeeper’s creepy smile and even creepier sound modulation in ep 10 that I ended up fast forwarding most of her scenes. I knew that the dead friend might come as a plot in future episodes. Hopefully questions regarding it will be answered next week. KYD really is a good actor. I loved how expressive he was throughout this week’s episodes. Especially in portraying the awkwardness and shyness. I was squealing when Gong tried the things Byeol likes even though he hated them all. That mint Choco ice-cream selfie was so damn cute. I have my doubts about the fan girl in Da Hye taking a dark turn if she knows about his relationship. Also loved Gong’s mother’s reaction when she finally got to know about Byeol. She has a long way to go as a mother but loved how she gave that little naughty smile instead of plotting maliciously to separate them. Or is it too early to put that statement???

On last note I did find a good amount of chemistry between the lawyer and Byeol’s journalist friend in ep 10. Will there be any future for that ship ??
Friday!! Why can’t you come quicker???

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@unit Great recap. Helped me get things back in perspective. I was loving the low key domestics alongside the romance but felt it was too big a leap from the usual fun to the nasty housekeeper storyline and the revenge intro. However you highlighted the fun that was still hiding in plain sight.

I think the excitement of new relationships especially first relationships is like being a teenager because of the effects of happy hormones. We just see too much of kiss and then hot steamy sex scenes on tv that’s why I love the slow pace of most the K drama rom coms.

The need for secrecy and calling it a scandal when celebrity couples have relationships is ridiculous and I wish someone would call it out. They sign up to do a film, sing or dance but it’s a job they receive a payment for and what they do in their off duty time should be their business. None of the fans would want to be on duty in their jobs 24/7 so not sure why the obsessive nature or the controlling behaviour is seen as acceptable.

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Thank you 😊

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Everyone couple moves differently. Some do a home-run even before the first date. And sometimes you have more evangelical christian couples who hold off on kissing (yes, kissing!) until marriage.

I think it's even more ridiculous when k-celebrities are like in their 30s and 40s and then having dating be a scandal. That would be the age when their parents are strongly suggesting that they settle down and get married.

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So true on the age issue. Dating is such a normal part of life and when you are as good looking as the celebs are it makes no sense for them to live as if they are monks or nuns during their prime years. Not sure why a relationship effects the fans love for their Oppa or Unni it is ridiculous like they are suffering from the second lead jealousy trope - if I can’t have you no one can!

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I love the confession scene a bit too much. It's a perfect blend of hilarity, awkwardness, sweetness and even vulnerability. I love how TS becomes a very uncool guy, miles away from his top star persona, in front of the woman that he really adores. I melted and screech through my fingers when he says "Because I am nervous" when HB pointed him trembling. I think this is one of my fave confession that have ever graced dramaland.

I am loving all the bromance and how supportive all TS's managers towards him pursuing HB. I am glad he has great support system, because he will need it in the coming storms. Now, if only we can get bromance between him and lawyer Do. Their "secret" rendezvous in the stairwell is pure gold. I need more of these two petty souls in the same space.

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I agree - up there with top “get together” moments!

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I loved it when Jeong Yeol left after interrupting them and TS hopped behind the couch to join HB instead of her coming out of hiding. The giggles they had afterwards, so cute.

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Although it wasn't as funny as episodes 2-8, episode 9 still had its moments especially with "the nation's boyfriend has a boyfriend" rumor. Also what romance lover couldn't like the arrogant stars confession, which revealed what previous episodes had shown, how insecure and how much in love he was, and this made him actually pretty appealing.

But, I'm a little worried about what episode 10 portends for the series, which not only made a big deal of the creepy rich housekeeper (who as @unit pointed out, was not necessarily out of place, since crazy fans are part of every idol's life) but also brought in an out of nowhere revenge plot. This in addition to a Mother trauma!

Why? Wouldn't the dating "scandal" brought by the reveal of Tae Sung and Han Byeoul have been enough to temporarily break them up, before the last couple of episodes brought a joyful reunion? And what about all the other secondary romances, which deserve some time as well? You could easily fill the next 6 episodes by 1)resolving the mother trauma. 2. settling the secondary love triangle 3. Developing the Ki-bbeum--Soo Hyuk relationship, 4. temporarily breaking up and then reuniting the leads ending with a parody of the elaborately covered "stars" weddings which we've already had a sample of in real life this year. Plus all sorts of other industry shenanigans would keep this one light and fun.
But no, there has to be a revenge plot!

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I agree with you 100%. This is a great light hearted drama so the random shift on mood was unnecessary and unwanted. Your options on other avenues that it could go to for adding ‘drama’ are already there and fit with the feel of the drama so far. They don’t even need to split up they just need to endure some difficulty that could lead to attempts to do the noble idiocy trope but gets headed off by the other managers rallying round to protect their relationship against the odds.

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I fully agree.
The revenge plot is totally unnecessary and the drama could do well with just all the fun love storylines (the whole nation's boyfriend has a boyfriend and the stairwell scene are hilarious) and eye candy (by the way, were is the weekly fan service ? small kisses are no substitute for hot photoshot !)

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Haha so true!

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Yeah absolutely! There’s really no need for all this weird makjang stuff to be thrown in. I’d prefer more fake scandals, side character development and work issues - at least they’re funny!

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I suspected a revenge plot when the dead friend was first shown but then they focused on other stuff so I thought I was wrong.. alas revenge is still in the books! I really hope this doesn’t affect the show’s humor, i already miss the lack of Tae Sung - Jeong yeol this week.

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These two episodes were a roller coaster of emotions. First a lot of heart fluttering, then the villains made their public appearance. Unfortunately, they will keep us busy for at least the next episode, but I hope that it will continue as easy-going as I love it in this series. I definitely don't need psychotic antifans.

I didn't expect Han-byeol and Tae-sung to become a couple as early as episode 9. Heck, they're both really cute, even if they act like teenagers with a crush. The first kiss and the awkward phone calls were really sweet.
And it's nice that the misunderstanding caused by Tae-sung about his alleged relationship with a co-star is cleared up.

At first, I found the lawyer as interesting as a dry piece of toast, but during his cockfights with Tae-sung, he was definitely very entertaining. I almost felt sorry for him that he was involved in a dating scandal with his love rival, of all people. Kudos on how he managed to use the elevator again. It's just too bad we won't see any more confidential meetings in the stairwell.
But he seems to get quickly over the fact that his heart has been broken twice (lol) in such a short time, because we can already see slight attempts to flirt with the reporter.

As feared, the housekeeper has evil in mind and unfortunately this was the main theme in episode 10, so the levity was lost. Episode 11 will probably have a similarly serious tone, I just hope the matter is resolved quickly because I love SHOOTING STARS mostly for the humor.
It probably boils down to Tae-sung breaking down in public, trigger could be a flurry of flashbulbs. We had already seen in the previous episodes that flashbulbs cause him stress.

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Yes I am liking we get the relationship early enough to get some ups and downs.

I was ready to abandon ship and start rewatching when it was done so I could fast forward through the annoying diversion plots but have decided after a few days of reflection to try one more week of live watching. I am hoping there is a shift away from the clouds raining on the parade after this week as this drama was excelling in the rom com genre it’s in. It seems the writer has decided to use it as a vehicle to test out their skills in some other genres however I wish they had left those experiments for some other drama. We all need to have some light entertainment in our lives no one is expecting this to get any Oscars but for me it was leaving Business Proposal in the shade for bringing joy until episode 10 came along.

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@reply1988: I’m with you. The early execrable ‘Africa’ subplot and frankly, - at least to me - unbelievable lack of due diligence in hiring the unhinged rich woman, are the lowlights.

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Thanks @unit for recapping as I thought episode 10 had gone off the rails a bit, but you put the perspective back for me. I loved the main couple in these episodes, but also the set up of so many other potential couples. Squealed my way through the kisses, my husband thought I'd finally lost it.
I hope the writers don't go too crazy with the anti fan plot. I don't think the extremes are needed for the audience to get the point.

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You're welcome 😊

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the guy at yoon woo's grave is not a new character - he's min kyu - tae sung's former manager who ran his car into tae sung's ad at the bus stop and then quit. refer to episode 2.

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also -- soo hyuk's fuzzy purple sweater in this ep - it looks like the one tae sung wore a couple episodes ago

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Haha, that's what I thought as well. Boyfriend of the nation's boyfriend confirmed. 😂

Also, great observation in your other comment. I absolutely didn't connect the dots.

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it is such a lovely shade of purple!

he also works for ds actors now, in this episode he is the one who told yu sung and dae soo that yoo na and jae hyun aren't speaking to each other. i really want to know what his grudge against tae sung is 😶

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I wonder if he's another deranged fan. Like maybe he was a fan of yoon-woo and he thought tae-sung benefited from yoon-woo's death or even caused it.

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couple sweaters. So many clues!

Someone better check out their instagrams for lovestagrams.

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😂😂😂

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I saw the purple sweater and could see nothing else, so I have no idea what happened while SH was wearing it but I kept yelling "that's Tae-sung's, give it back!" at my screen. I seriously wondered if we were meant to think SH is either consciously imitating him or sneaking into his apartment.

There have been more purple sweaters in this show than mere coincidence could account for.

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Another possible explanation is that they're really more similar in taste than they both would like to think.

However, personally, I wouldn't mind them teaming up and sharing clothes intentionally just to troll the fans and general public. 😈

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There was a lot of great stuff in this week's episodes:

- The OTP. Pure sugar. Judging from the very first episode, I honestly didn't expect to like them as much as I do but both actors won me over with their chemistry and their portrayal of these two awkward idiots in love. Also, on a superficial note, they are very, very cute together.

- Soo-hyuk being the absolute dreamboat that he is. He's attractive, successful, open about his feelings, mature and professional enough to accept that they are not being returned *and* he even gets to joke about Tae-sung not being his type even if he were into guys. If nobody claims this man for themself, I will gladly take one for the team and volunteer to marry him.

- Soo-hyuk, again. This time, in combination with Ki-bbeum because they both crack me up so badly. And yes, I'm already shipping it super hard. This show has enough minor couples I don't necessarily care about, so please make it happen. If not as lovers, let them be platonic pals because I'm sure they'd get along like a house on fire.

- I was kind of hoping that Ho-young would refuse the head pat in order to emancipate herself from this dongsaeng role she seems to have slipped into with Yoo-sung. That said, I thought the confession was very cute and I'm honestly curious about Yoo-sung's feelings on the issue. There is obviously no doubt that he likes and respects her, but is he willing and ready to accept her as a woman and as an equal?

- Da-hee. I liked that she noticed the small changes in Tae-sung's behavior. Is it too much to hope that she will respect his private life and not use the situation to her advantage somehow (i.e. offer to fake-date Tae-sung with the intention of making him fall for her)?

Things I didn't like so much:

- The superfan. Didn't really work for me. She was sneaky enough to work as his housekeeper all this time but she cannot stop herself from openly commenting on Han-byeol's necklace? And while her motivation for sending the necklaces to the PR team made sense to me, I would've loved the idea so much more if it had been a deliberate agency tactic to curb rumors about it being a special gift from Tae-sung. After all, if the entire PR team wears necklace presents from him, Han-byeol cannot be that dear to his heart. Tae-sung could've said that it was a gift for their hard work in last week's episode.

- Our mystery man at the end of episode 10. I already don't care. Just give me more wacky agency and on-set shenanigans.

- Eun Si-woo. I hope the show won't force a reconciliation between her and Tae-sung. He's been through so much and she left him there to grow up alone. He deserves to heal on his own terms and in the company of people who have consistently cared about/chosen him. Give him time and space, woman. Then we can talk. Maybe.

- Jae-hyun and Yoo-na. So far, the show hasn't really put in any work to make me feel that this is more between them than pure and simple,...

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- Jae-hyun and Yoo-na. So far, the show hasn't really put in any work to make me feel that this is more between them than pure and simple, superficial "slap, slap, kiss" attraction. It doesn't help that, in my eyes, Yoo-na remains the caricature of a spoiled, Hermès bag-obsessed princess. At this rate, I'm guessing, at the end she will choose Jae-hyun over one (or all?) of her precious bag(s) and it will be treated as the greatest gesture of love in modern history.

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I like that both the ceo and Yoo Sung didn’t force TS to talk to his mum, but just asked her to wait or back off.

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I guess it makes sense ssaesangs would come into the picture, but it was super abrupt. I feel like they brought it in just to disrupt the beginning of the romance. That is silly, give us time to live in the relationship, it has only been about a week.

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The housekeeper thing was over the top, but the rest of these episodes were great fun.

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The first half of the show I was confuse, but now everything is clear.

1. I was so wrong about the main couple, they are cute as hell. I guess I just needed them to be in sync. No more kid in love with his babysitter dynamic, now they're both cute kids.

2. I was so scare Ho Yeong would end up with actor Yu Seong.
The first episodes made me believe they were one ship and Yu Seong with Tae Sung's fan were another, but nope my ship was always right. They are my favorite couple.

3. I don't have to feel bad for our second lead, he's also building a ship.

Maybe it's because I skipped everything with the housekeeper and the mom, but for me these two episodes were 100% cuteness and fun and I loved them.

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The show looks to be flipping from focusing on FL to ML which never bodes well. Could just be my dislike with the creepy housekeeper thing. Maybe because the humour is the best part of the show that getting stuck with non-humour bits feels like its not playing to its strength (more Ep10 than 9). Plus the notable Jung-Yeol absence.

Side characters remain awesome. Non-actor Yoo-Sung is officially favourite. Plus, Ki-Bbeum and Soo-Hyeok look cute together. (Can't deny Soo-Hyeok and Tae-Sung would also look good together...)

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Much as I like the FL/ML pairing, it would not have bothered me a lot if they capsized and everyone climbed aboard the TS/SH-ship for the rest of the journey. The face-offs between those two have been the funniest thing in the past few episodes, and at least it would be different from the predictable course we seem to be on now.

I wish we had a special magic beanie channel to watch the alt-dramas that play in our heads.

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A magic beanie channel would be awesome. (Though at this point it may be hard to handle another subscription service ;p)

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I enjoyed all the light-hearted stuff, and didn't mind the housekeeper so much: I always thought the over-salted food was weirdly petty and didn't fit a vengeful mother storyline.

I'm a bit concerned about the overall arc now, though. I thought there were fairly clear indications in the early episodes that there was a big redemption theme coming, probably something with Tae-sung's past. But the show's now claiming he never wronged Han-byeol beyond failing to take her into his confidence re Moon Ga-young's character, so it's kind of putting the early (ie Ep 1-2) edginess between them on her. And Min-kyu is coming back as a belated villain when I saw his move from Starpeace to DS as a foreshadowing of more important characters getting second chances. And Yoo-sung (manager) is now looking like he won't have any skeletons in his cupboard despite ample room for them, collapsing his character into no more than general do-gooder and fixer.

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That terrible housekeeper better watch out - Yoosung is a mama bear and she had just hurt one of his baby cubs. She may be rich as hell, but he's the polite maniac. Look at what he did to get his Jae-hyun a supporting character role.

I wish they had gone lighter with the housekeeper story. Even more than revenge, the lady was deranged and sick to purposely traumatize Taesung. Eun Si-woo was a crap mom, but I'm glad she grabbed that lady's hair.

Please keep the funny for the next 6 episodes!! I find myself thinking about shooting stars a lot when reading up on k-celeb/kdrama news.

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Agree, the crazy housekeeper/obsessed fan subplot is overdone. I just realized that she not only has a photo of TS's mother hugging him - she also has one of the drawing Tae-sung's child friend Luca 2.0 from his volunteer trip sent him, with TS labeled "Papa." I smell another fake scandal emanating from the anti-fan site, and this one will be harder to dismiss than a handsome "boyfriend."

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i guess there is just no escaping "the deranged fan turned anti-fan" plot in a storyline like shooting stars. "sasaeng" topics are frightening after all.

my complaint is that too many things are suddenly happening at once. crazy rich lady obsessed fan, ex-manager harbouring a grudge, upcoming dating scandal with han byeol, upcoming picture of him hugging his mom the famous actress exposed. not sure they can tie all of those things neatly in 6 eps.

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@unit, I wondered if perhaps actor Yoo-sung patted Ho-young’s head to see her reaction. To see if a pat from him also made her put her hand to her heart. When she didn’t react the same, I think she said something about having washed her hair that day, actor Yoo-sung looked disappointed.

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Awww. Unfortunately, there is only one Yoo-sung that can make Ho-young's heart to skip a beat.

But hey, maybe actor Yoo-sung can try fixing a bandaid on her. Isn't that how she fell for manager Yoo-sung in the first place? 😃😃😃

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I couldn't stop smiling. They are so cute. Han-byul is such a spaz screaming and hanging up, it's endearing. She should've asked when he started liking her, but she asked how much. Though she really should ask why he lied about dating Yeo Ha-jin. Tae-sung, please at least tell Jung-yeol after all that he's done to help. Aww at him trying Han-byul's favorites, then Da-hye realizing his preference changes as a fangirl.

Jae-hyun and Yoo-na are cute too. Ever since Ho-young had tried to scout Si-deok, I thought they would fall for each other, so was disappointed that she liked Yoo-sung. Oh, Soo-hyuk and Ki-bbeum were the ship.

The housekeeper was a sugar mama? Not even an anti-fan, but just a psycho who coveted Tae-sung. He trusted imonim who played the long con.

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That sugar mama is very much an anti-fan. Now that she has been found out, she cut and ran with whatever personal stuff she could steal and manipulate into anti fan fodder.
Her story is so odd and such a violation of privacy that I wonder if it is based on some celebrity's real life experience.

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Why does the new character by the grave looks alot like Tae sung former manager the one working for yoo naya

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i see a lawyer and reporter ship sailing soon!

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Episode 9 is my favorite💜💜💜💜love

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