Behind Every Star: Episodes 5-6

by DaebakGrits

Everyone is mad at someone this week, as both platonic and romantic relationships hit potholes and go skidding off into ditches. While many find reconciliation, others aren’t as lucky, and they end up either the sleeping on the couch or ugly crying tears of regret.

 
EPISODES 5-6 WEECAP

We jump right into our celebrity cameos this week and join actor PARK HO-SAN and actress OH NA-RA (as themselves) on the set of (what I imagine to be) a Mr. Sunshine spin-off — I see you iconic Glory Hotel. Unfortunately, the ill-fated love story between a wealthy heiress and a rickshaw driver may never see the light of day because Ho-san and Na-ra’s constant bickering is delaying the filming schedule and driving the director bonkers. Je-in and Joong-don arrive on set to diffuse the situation, but their placating, babysitter-like methods don’t work on the actors, whose beef with each other apparently originated during the filming of My Mister.

Hee-sun is also on set, cast as a maid who shares a scene with Ho-san’s character. When Ho-san agrees to run lines with her, she suppresses her inner fangirl and stuns him with her no-holds-barred interpretation of the character. But after her scene is cut from the filming schedule, she worries that she failed to impress Ho-san with her acting abilities. Joong-don assures her that it’s common for scenes to get cut — sometimes even during editing — but honestly, with the way she got up in Ho-san’s face, I was half expecting Ho-san to have requested the scene be axed because he feared being upstaged by a newbie.

Je-in and Joong-don stay overnight near the filming location so they can coach Ho-san and Na-ra through their (hopefully) passionate kiss scene the next day, but Je-in finds an unexpected guest in her hotel room: Sang-wook. The man jumped through some crazy hoops to locate Je-in and gain access to her room, and while he waited for her to arrive, he helped himself to a bubble bath — like a freaking serial killer.

WTF, y’all? Last week, Je-in’s sexual harassment was portrayed as humorous flirting, and now Sang-wook’s stalking and invasion of privacy is being romanticized as overzealous puppy love. Would I be giving the writers too much credit if I assumed that this gender-reversed portrayal of toxic traits is actually an intentional commentary on romantic tropes? Or are we simply supposed to take their courtship at face value?

I’m going to guess it’s intended to be more of the latter because Je-in decides that she’s mostly copacetic with his behavior. And that must mean he’s special. I mean, a willingness to tolerate someone’s presence in my life is certainly a yardstick by which I measure my affection, so I can sort of understand her logic — but come on. Take away the bubbles, and this scene is a gender-swapped YouTube parody of Swimfan.

At least Joong-don objects, rightfully concerned that Je-in is shacking up with the enemy. Even if she believes she can trust Sang-wook to not use their pillow talk against Method Entertainment, the shiitake mushrooms will hit the fan if anyone else finds out that they’ve been canoodling. But do I also detect a hint of jealousy mixed in with Joong-don’s distrust? Either way, Je-in reacts negatively to Joong-don’s cautionary advice and extremely vocal opinion, and the two friends have a massive fight over Je-in’s new relationship.

Back on set, the lingering tension between Je-in and Joong-don is mirrored in Ho-san and Na-ra’s continued feuding, which doesn’t bode well for the dreaded kissing scene. Squished in the back of an old-timey car, Na-ra and Ho-san’s squabbling and stiff embrace are enough to make the director threaten to step in and show them how it’s done. But then a spider makes a surprise cameo appearance.

The very arachnophobic Na-ra screams and thrashes about, which sends the car a-rockin’ and inadvertently mimicking some very X-rated activities. Their backseat tussle is just as effective at steaming up the windows — LOL at the Titanic-like spider smash — and the director likes what he sees. So do Na-ra and Ho-san after they watch the playback. They declare a truce and strive for on-screen perfection — which turns out to be just as annoying and schedule-delaying as their previous fighting.

Back at Method Entertainment, actor YOUNG-TAK (as himself) is about to be dropped from his drama because of his atrocious fake-crying. Hyung-joo cleverly leaks the rumor — and some carefully crafted graphics — to her mother, the vice-president of the Busan chapter of the Young-tak fan club, and her plan to rally the fans in Young-tak’s support works so well that even Tae-oh commends her.

To celebrate her success — and her birthday, which Tae-oh forgot — he grants her a wish, and she asks to have a drink with him because it looked so sophisticated when she saw Tae-oh and Myung-ae do it. Unfortunately, to outsiders Eun-ha and Eun-gyul, who unexpectedly show up at Tae-oh at his office, it looks like they’re having an affair. To clear up the misunderstanding, Tae-oh comes clean: Hyun-joo is his illegitimate daughter. (Dangit, my ship has sunk.)

It goes without saying, Eun-ha and Eun-gyul are not happy with this revelation, but they handle it better than most K-drama characters when an unexpected birth secret rocks their world. Neither of them place blame or lash out at Hyun-joo — yay for maturity — but they’re none too pleased with Tae-oh, who tries to defend his past infidelity by explaining the affair occurred during the period of time when he and Eun-ha were on a break. (Ross Geller, is that you?)

Aside from the implications this outed secret has on his marriage, it also has a direct impact on the fate of Method Entertainment. Prior to all of this going down, Eun-ha had convinced her wealthy father to loan Tae-oh the money he needed to buy the company shares and seat himself as the new company president. So after he and President Hwang’s widow meet with Sang-wook to hear the final total of President Hwang’s embezzlement, Tae-oh has to drop the added bomb that he will have to delay the company buy-out because he and his wife are currently separated.

Eun-ha and Tae-oh aren’t the only romantic relationship sailing through troubled waters, though. It should come as no surprise that Je-in and Sang-wook are not on the same page as a couple, but the boat isn’t being rocked by Sang-wook’s stage-five clinginess. Instead, Je-in’s work-life balance is causing friction. She’s constantly canceling plans with Sang-wook to tend to her clients’ whims, and the majority of the time he’s left waiting endlessly on her because she doesn’t even bother to message him that she has to cancel or will be late. He does well to communicate his disappointment, but Je-in struggles to meet him halfway.

She continues to put work first, and she quickly finds herself in the middle of a feud between actor KIM SOO-RO (as himself) and KIM HO-YOUNG (as himself), the director of his latest play. Ho-young added an aquatic twist to his modern retelling of Dom Juan, not knowing Soo-ro has an aversion to water that stems from a traumatic experience as a child. And because Soo-ro has given a public TED Talk on how actors should overcome their fears for the sake of their acting craft, he doesn’t want to become a hypocrite who asks Ho-young to cater to his phobia. So instead of admitting he’s afraid to go near the pool, Soo-ro tries to convince Ho-young to deviate from his artistic vision, which doesn’t go over well.

In an effort to get the two men to resolve their differences, Je-in tricks Soo-ro into attending Ho-young’s poolside birthday party, hoping they will apologize and move forward. When that doesn’t work, she tells Ho-young about Soo-ro’s phobia — which Soo-ro explicitly asked her not to do. Instead of making Soo-ro embarrassed or angry, his exposed secret leads to a peaceful resolution for this particular celebrity cameo. Unfortunately, things start going downhill for Je-in from this point on.

Instead of joining Sang-wook and his friends after briefly attending the pool party like she promised, she lingers to celebrate with Ho-young and Soo-ro — who has cured himself of his phobia with self-imposed immersion therapy. Sang-wook, however, used his stalker skills to once again locate Je-in, and he’s not thrilled to find her waist-deep in the pool with her arms around Ho-young. She tries to explain that the skinship is entirely platonic, but Sang-wook has had enough — he breaks up with her.

Je-in spirals into a post-break-up depression that is entirely uncharacteristic for her, further emphasizing the fact that she fell hard — and for the first time — for Sang-wook. Call me a cynic, though, but I suspect part of her emotional response stems from the novelty of being rejected. Plus, Sang-wook may have been clingy in a way that she normally wouldn’t have put up with, but he also knew when to pull away — either because he was respecting her boundaries or establishing his — and that push-and-pull dynamic intrigued and challenged her.

Je-in and Sang-wook’s dynamic is toxic, but — I’m somewhat ashamed to admit — it’s a trainwreck that I enjoy watching in the context of this drama. So I’m hoping that the middle-of-the-night shadowy figure that sloppy drunk Je-in found standing in President Hwang’s old office is Sang-wook. Do I want Noh Sang-hyun to stick around for a few more episodes because he’s just so dang charismatic? You betcha! But I’m also not very enthusiastic about the Je-in and Joong-don pairing that the writers are now dangling in front of us.

I like Je-in and Joong-don better as platonic friends, but it seems Joong-don has been harboring some romantic feelings for Je-in that he’s wisely kept to himself. When Hee-sun picks up on his emotions, suggesting he should go and comfort Je-in after her very public office rejection — scandalous! — he explains that he shouldn’t mix personal feelings with his professional life. Is that a sign that he’s never going to pursue his feelings and that Sang-wook isn’t down for the count? Or are we gearing up for a rebound relationship disguised as friends-to-lovers romance?

I can’t say that I’m fully on board with any of the possible love-lines in this drama, but overall I’m enjoying the story for its platonic relationships and random moments of office comedy. Sure, if I sit down and really think about it, I can find flaws with the writing and characterization, but in the moment, while I’m watching it, I get sucked in. Time flies, and I enjoy the ride — well, except for that bubble bath moment. That was definitely WTF.

 
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