While this was a semi cute/fun premiere I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at the portrayal of ‘Africa.’ It gave me major ‘white saviour’ vibes and it seems korea still has a stereotypical understanding of the continent of Africa. Other than that, I wasn’t super impressed by the drama or the pairing but I hope we can build on it as the episodes go coz nothing is better than a drama improving.

I like the drama, it’s cute. I’m putting on my rose-tinted glasses for this cos sometimes you just need a break fr world issues.

@unit You seem to be new recapper! Welcome :)

I did not like the first episode even on omitting the Africa parts (The little kid who kept giving up his shoes seemed sad that they were depicting the entire continent in a lousy way 🙄🙄)

The drama has a lovely supporting cast who impressed me right off the bat, but I'm not sold on the leads. I do wonder if any other actor would have made the script work because at this point, I do not care for the leads backstory or even their work (which the drama comveniently pointed out as pointless).

After 2 episodes, I care more about the dynamic of the agency than the main couple, I didn't really like any of them. Kang Yoo-Sung is clearly the smartest in the agency and seems to know everything.

I was happy to see Lee Seung-Hyub (leader of N.Flying), excited to watch him as a futur rookie for the agency!

Kim Seul-Gi's cameo was so fun to watch. I miss her!

First of all, thank you for using "O" instead of stars on the title because I always read it as something else.. like a bad word.
Kinda disappointed with the first two episodes usually shows that involves idols/actors are pretty entertaining at the beginning, but this is just meh.

I'm still not feeling the story entirely, maybe because of the sad, SAD acting? The bad 'CGI' version of Africa doesn't help either! xD ....but will try to keep watching for the Kim Young Dae 'pretty'. From certain angles, he really reminds me of the actor Lee Sang Yi , when he's being a good-boi. Please somebody cast the two as brothers soon! <3

I went into this drama very blind. Looks like it's going to be a 'drama within a drama' kind of a romance plot? After 2 eps, I really thought they missed a chance to be the unofficial korean-remake of this absolutely iconic French series called 'Call My Agent!'

I enjoyed the premiere. There’s a fun bickering dynamic that seems like it’ll turn romantic sooner rather than later and I just got off a rewatch of Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo so I’m in full Lee Sung-Kyung mode.

Our ML seems a bit one note so far, but I’m hoping he’ll be fleshed out. The actor playing him is new to me, though I know he hit it big from Penthouse (which I haven’t gotten around to watching yet) so I’m curious to see how he does going forward as well.

I’ve heard a lot of folks mention the distasteful portrayal of Africa, but aren’t there whole charitable organizations still doing exactly what was going on here? Digging wells and the like for clean drinking water? It didn’t seem like they were portraying the entire continent as this way to me, but just where this particular celebrity went to help/seek publicity. I could be wrong of course, maybe I missed something obvious?

I was about to watch this and then I saw clips on twitter of the "Africa" scenes with the soundtrack and yellow filter 🥴🥴... It just put me off.

I might eventually give it a shot

So far I'm liking all of our characters as individuals, I'm also glad the show made the effort to show that our FL is highly competent at her job to the point where she provides an unofficial 'guidance counsellor' hour like she's giving career advice at high school.

ML is bit of a man-child but that's essentially the character description, however, I do appreciate the glimpses of empathy and vulnerability we see of him in the first ep (his new manager resigning) that usually doesn't get developed until later in the series with this sort of character archetype.

Seems like he's just a dude with a diva-complex rather than a god-complex which is a great deal more palatable.

And I'll not lie - I cackled my way through the whole 'impotence' saga.

I loved this drama and I thought it was very funny. I live in Kenya and have done for 53 years. The well-digging scene IS a stereotype and with 54 countries in Africa they might have picked a real one, instead of referring to "Africa" as if it was a country. It reminds me of my grandmother, who, when asked where she was going on holiday would replay "abroad". That simply meant going out of England, period, no further information necessary.

However, living in Kenya, I am reminded that the top ten countries in the world who lack adequate drinking water are all located in the continent of Africa. And even though Kenya is a beautiful, peaceful and prosperous country with the best game viewing in the world (i.e. more wild animals per acre than anywhere else), it would certainly not turn it's nose up at donations to bring in water supplies to some of the more remote parts of the country. Our rains are very late coming this year, although thank God they have arrived at last. Five inches of rain in three days isn't a lot of fun, but like all the peoples on this vast continent, water is the difference between life and death, crops failing, and cattle and livestock dying. So yes, the portrayal of the well-digging was extremely superficial but there was an element of truth. It would have meant the world to that village in real life. Hmmm.......actually.........it didn't look like a very "dry" area, did it!!

@unit, I haven't seen any recap from you previously so hiiii

First episode was awesome as long as i can ignore the whole Africa troupe and our star is basically a Man child because what on heart is that trousers pulling stunt, hopefully i will hear less of Africa as we continue.

Although the trailer didn't really convince me, I was nevertheless curious about SHOOTING STARS, so I watched both episodes yesterday. Now I want more, preferably right away.

The ML reminds me a bit of a schoolboy who can't tell the girl that he's in love with her, but instead prefers to pull her braids.

This would have been far cuter if they had picked a country in the continent of Africa. This is giving "Asian savior," it is gross and disgusting. I guess I should be glad the little black boy's name was Luca instead if Blackey. SIGH, also the shoes thing, SIGH. As for the rest of the drama, it was cute, but I really hope the kill the "Africa" thing, I flinch every time they mention it. It is racist.

I enjoyed the primere eps a lot. There is a lot of back story to our main leads. They are very informal with each other, and if the ending of ep two and the picture is anything to go by, they have a history. Either they were good friends or dated in college, then broke up badly which lead to animosity, that was compounded by her article mistake. and being in the entertainment industry it all has to be hidden.

Was excited for this show but the Africa thing put me off and I'm not going back. Once again they just choose "Africa" as a whole as though its a nation and not a continent that is just lazy. Yes there are places in need of help but you have to be specific, "the second well of life" the heck is that supposed to mean ? They attempted to speak an African language (dint know if its legit) but if they researched that why not state the country? Also that intro using the lion king soundtrack followed by shots of wild animals is such a stereotype I couldn't even digest it. They also added that yellow filter which is usually used only for developing countries which I find insulting. They might not revisit the Africa plot but they've put me off enough not to go back

White saviour piece aside, which we can definitely do without in this day and age (if they were trying to be ironic, they failed), I enjoyed the first two episodes. ML has enough chinks in the armour to be interesting, and the FL looks to have a backstory also. Want to see more of that lawyer too :)

Welcome to the DB community, @unit, and thanks for your recap!

Ep 1-2 is not a bad start. The biggest asset thus far is the supporting cast with their personalities quite clearly laid out and each is distinct, adding much texture to the story. It helps that they are all likeable, no obnoxious boss/colleagues - but the competitive streak is fun to watch.
Yet to see the chemistry between the two leads beyond the mandated bickering.

Doesn’t Kim Dae-young look like the young Gang Dong-won?

I liked the first two episodes - actually I liked the first episode so much that I watched the 2nd one without subtitles because I just couldn't wait (and my Korean is sort of nonexistent, well with the exception of some words, sentences and intonation I know from my k-drama watching). As to the depiction of Africa I believe it was intentional - this is exactly how it is portrayed in the news about idols so in my view it followed the tone set by different scenes poking at the differences between the reality and the life of stars on the Internet.

I am an African and precisely, a Nigerian.
Africa is a continent and there are countries in it. The motive might be good but the way it was portrayed was wrong and insulting. We have basic amenities and In my country, we are doing well.

Nevertheless, I will continue to watch the drama. I laughed during the flashback. I had to re-watch it again. So, I am looking forward to the weekend.

I love this drama! It is light & so funny! The Africa part reminded me of the days I'm involved in social responsibility programs. This drama shows me that behind a kdrama actor (or K-pop idol too?) there's a massive team managing that one person. Both parties are in need of each other to gain success. It's not one man show.

I LOVE the lead couples. Lee Sung Kyung didn't disappoint! I wonder what makes them break up. On the final scene of episode 2, I can feel like as if I'm to say on behalf of both them “보고시포..."

I may continue watching this because Kim young-dae looks like Kang Dong-won and Kang Dong-won doesnt do drama anymore.

This was unexpectedly a fun show, and I am a huge fan of Lee Sung Kyung. I am not familiar with the ML, but feel like I have seen him in small parts on other shows. But after those photoshoot scenes......haba!haba! I can't wait to see all the back-stabbing, duplicitous, pyramids of love that will be thrown into the show!

So far im very unimpressed by the scenes of "Africa" as a native African myself. Im not even sure what language they were supposed to be speaking....LOL i died trying to listen & catch a word or two to look it up / understand by some rare chance. I think its all made up gibberish?? Which is such a shame when theyre so many beautiful languages they couldve pretended to know for like 6 lines. ALSO which country are they in? THE WHOLE OF AFRICA? lol people forget Africa has like 54 countries and it causes me physical pain...

Other than that i cant rly tell where this story is going, there seems to be more focus on the office / work dynamic and its not.....interesting? (so far) So im not even sure ill get to ep 2 tbh. Id be able to keep up if the Africa scenes didnt make me cringe. I hope it gets better! When i read the summary i was so excited no im sitting here like :|