K-drama midseason recap: Sh**ting Stars, romcom starring Kim Young-dae and Lee Sung-kyung, has lots of nods to fans

This article contains spoilers. While Korean romantic dramas come in all shapes and sizes these days, the Cinderella narrative remains the default of the industry – stories of rich, handsome and desirable young men falling for hard-working and long-suffering ordinary girls. With casts featuring idols from one of the most fan-driven markets in the world, these dramas juxtapose relatable women characters with idealised male leads. The current peek-behind-the-curtains drama Sh**ting Stars ratchets up the vicarious pleasure by being set in the celebrity industry, where demanding star Gong Tae-sung (Kim Young-dae) falls for his overworked publicist Oh Han-byul (Lee Sung-kyung) at the Star Force agency. Beyond its obvious appeal as a colourful workplace dramedy and bubbly opposites-attract romcom, the show feels tailor-made for avid Korean drama fans, with several Easter eggs strewn throughout the series. In the background of the romance is the full production cycle of a new drama from a hit writer. We get to see many facets of the life cycle of the show, which is called Star World, as it comes together, from all the agency wrangling that happens to get it cast and the various things that keep happening to its various cast members, most of whom are clients of Star Force. Sh**ting Stars: love brews behind the scenes in romcom K-drama Naturally, the story of the series mirrors the one we are watching. But the K-drama fan service goes a lot further than that – it permeates every corner of the show, and the more dramas you’ve seen, the more you’re likely to get out of it. For instance, when Tae-sung finally decides he wants to confess his love to Han-byul, he practices various styles with his manager Byun Jeong-yeol (Jin Ho-eun), each of which feature famous lines from other hit K-dramas. In episode eight, we get cameos from Moon Ga-young and Kim Dong-wook, reprising their roles as the actress (who is falsely linked to Tae-sung) and anchor protagonists of Find Me in Your Memory, which Sh**ting Stars director Lee Soo-hyun also directed. Then there are the obstacles thrown up to block the characters, most of which involve the highs and lows of Korean celebrity culture. Han-byul is a publicist and one of her best friends is Jo Ki-bum (Park So-jin), an entertainment journalist. Trouble for Han-byul means getting a call about a brewing or just released scandal involving one of Star Force’s clients. Careful to maintain the clean-cut aura of Korean idols – Sh**ting Stars is after all not a verité exploration of celebrity culture – the show stresses that most of the scandals are fabricated and stem from simple misunderstandings by the internet users who amplify them online. These include drug abuse claims against an actress who merely posted that she was addicted to tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes) or Tae-sung being accused of being a nightclub rat after being overheard enthusiastically talking about frequent trips to his gym club. Han-byul is invited to speak at her former university but, instead of inspiring the students, she spends a lot of time talking about these false rumours. Though well-meaning, the show sometimes teeters close to a curious form of didacticism in which it defends the image of Korean stars while placing the blame for scandals elsewhere, including on the kinds of fans that the show was surely designed to attract. One scandal that isn’t fabricated involves the rookie actor Kang Si-deok (Lee Seung-hyub), a handsome young cook wooed to the agency by the determined manager Park Ho-young (Kim Yoon-hye). 8 new Korean drama series to look out for in May 2022 Now going by the stage name Kang Yu-sung – borrowed from the Star Force manager of the same name played by The Penthouse’s Yoon Jong-hoon, who is so popular he has his own fan club – the usually teetotal young star accepts a drink from a new fan on the street and winds up drunkenly exercising in his underwear in a playground. Video of the incident quickly spreads online and Star Force undertakes damage control. Not only do they manage to put out the flame, but soon a major underwear label offers Kang a lucrative endorsement deal. Several other Star Force clients also appear, including former bank clerk Ahn Jun-ho (Lee Ki-woo), who is so sensitive that he appears sickly even when he’s not filming his currently airing terminal illness drama. Other clients, such as an arrogant star played by Lee Sang-woo in a cameo, drift in and out without adding anything to the story. Back in the main story, Han-byul is eventually forced to choose between Tae-sung and lawyer Do (Lee Jung-shin), who both confess to her on the same day and happen to live across from each other in the same luxury residential block. When Han-byul makes her decision she becomes a different person, embarrassed and awkward in the first throes of romance, during which she hides under her sheets and yelps and hangs up the phone when her new beau calls. Beyond romance, Tae-sung has other problems to deal with, including his suspicious housekeeper (whose real identity and motivations are a bit sloppily handled), the return of a secret mother he despises, and a new scandal that’s about to explode, linked to the death of a close friend, that someone else clearly blames him for. Sh**ting Stars is streaming on Viu.