When the Stars Gossip: Episodes 11-12
by DaebakGrits
The love triangles on this drama are so interconnected and convoluted that they’ve fashioned one big love pyramid. And this week’s episodes are filled with that pyramid drama as our characters resort to white knighting, bodily violence, and ingesting contests to air their grievances — and spotlight the truth that this story has misplaced its method now that our characters are again on Earth.
EPISODES 11-12
We open this week’s episodes with Eve returning residence and checking her mail. Apparently she’s been looking for her organic mother and father, and there’s a letter ready for her that explains there isn’t a identified details about her mom and father, as she was discovered — seemingly deserted — in a taxi as a child. Now, should you’ve been paying consideration, you possibly can most likely see the place this little plotline is headed, however for these of you who’ve been quick forwarding by means of the boring elements or completely studying together with these recaps, you’re going to have to attend just a few extra paragraphs as a result of extra is revealed later.
As a substitute, let’s proceed sifting by means of Eve’s mail, and — oh, look! — there’s {a magazine} that includes an article about her and Ryong’s house rescue. The photographs of them collectively set off a flashback and we see extra of Ryong’s response to Eve’s rejection. Not going to lie — I felt a little bit sorry for him at this second. He assumes she’s rebuffing him as a result of he’s not ok for her. I imply, yeah, he doesn’t deserve her, in my view, however not for the explanations which have him feeling so insecure. He believes she’s ashamed of him, and as a way to keep away from arguing and drawing out the dialog longer than wanted, Eve agrees that she’s embarrassed by their “one evening stand.”
It’s at this level in our story that our author decides to tease us a little bit bit by having Eve present up for her post-spacewalk gynecologist go to, and I believe, “Oh boy, right here it’s!” But it surely’s nonetheless solely been just a few days since Eve and Ryong forked of their thermal sleeping bag, so despite the fact that Eve complains of pregnancy-like signs (recognizing, irregular interval, and so forth.) which might be completely regular for her physique, it’s too quickly for a doable being pregnant. A part of me wonders if my house child prediction is perhaps fallacious and the writers are simply teasing us with this scene, however for probably the most half, this scene nonetheless appears like a cheeky little bit of foreshadowing — particularly since there may be undoubtedly a heaping dose of foreshadowing occurring concurrently within the different examination room.
You see, whereas Eve meets along with her physician, Seung-joon accompanies Mina to her gynecological appointment with Ryong. Now, this ship hasn’t formally set sail but and Seung-joon is barely there to personally thank Ryong for giving them the lottery ticket, however there’s little question that this scene is hinting at their relationship to return. And I’m right here for it as a result of none of those different pairings on this drama are chatting with me — effectively, aside from, as I discussed final week — Go-eun and Kang-soo.
And talking of my different favourite ship, Go-eun and Kang-soo received fairly a little bit of display time this week, and plenty of it has to do with the truth that Kang-soo moved into MZ Group’s resort to be nearer to Go-eun. Now that he’s again on Earth and awaiting his disciplinary listening to, Kang-soo has entered his “I don’t give a fork” period. Or perhaps he simply has a lot cash that he doesn’t care if individuals have a look at him bizarre for strolling across the resort wearing his gown and pajamas. Both method, the person is pining for Go-eun, and his longing triggers a flashback to when Go-eun and Kang-soo first met. He fell first and arduous.
They met on a blind date — not shocking for 2 chaebols — however one which Kang-soo had organized. Though, one thing tells me it was his father and Chairman Choi that chosen the situation: a Buddhist temple. Kang-soo had all the time objectively admired Go-eun from afar, and after the passing of her brother, his curiosity grew as he watched her step into her brother’s sneakers and excel within the position. Now that they’ve met and he’s capable of observe her in individual, it’s apparent he likes what he sees regardless of them disagreeing over whether or not her ringtone (“Stand by Me,” the tune her brother used to sing to her) is offensive to Buddha.
After finishing her assigned 108 prostrations, Go-eun is curious sufficient to ask Kang-soo about his profession as an astronaut. He seems to the sky and directs her consideration to a number of constellations earlier than pointing to a void — a void that he claims was left by her brother. He gives to fill the void. She calls him out on the utter cheesiness, however Kang-soo is fairly rattling easy on this scene. Regardless of the pace with which he declares his curiosity, there’s a frankness to his phrases that implies he means what he says however can be rational sufficient to know the ball remains to be in her court docket and she will reject him. Total, I really like their dynamic, and it makes me much more curious to understand how their relationship ended. (Fortunately, I didn’t have to attend lengthy, however extra on that later.)
Within the meantime, all our characters (MCC workers + astronauts) come collectively for a celebratory yay-everyone-made-it-back-to-Earth dinner at Ryong’s moms’ restaurant. This scene is filmed as one lengthy steady shot, making the environment really feel further cozy because the digital camera and Ryong transfer concerning the crowded restaurant and pop in on completely different characters and conversations. Regardless of the combination of personalities — and a few ongoing hostilities and awkwardness between sure people — the environment stays jovial. It could be a disgrace if somebody ruined it. (Enter: Dong-ah.)
You see, after rejecting Ryong, Eve additionally dumped Dong-ah, and he was about as gracious as one would anticipate of a cheater who believes he’s owed a relationship with the house princess commander he rescued. Dong-ah, seated at a desk between Eve and Tae-hui (who’ve absolutely embraced the sisters-before-misters philosophy whereas navigating the entire Dong-ah state of affairs), drinks an extreme quantity of alcohol and decides he must be Eve’s white knight. Below the guise of defending Eve’s honor — which is seemingly in query as a result of individuals can’t cease gossiping about how intimate Ryong and Eve’s frozen cuddle session appeared — Dong-ah lays into Ryong, elevating his voice till the entire restaurant stops to look at the trade. I hate to interrupt it to you, Dong-ah, however you’ve simply made issues a complete lot worse for Eve along with your jealous tirade.
Simply if you suppose Ryong goes to quietly settle for Dong-ah’s punch and step away to keep away from fanning the dumpster hearth, he downs a shot of soju, and comes again with one thing alongside the traces of, “Yeah, I is perhaps a loser, however are you able to blame me for falling for Eve when she’s so kindhearted that she swooped in and rescued my dumbass like she was freaking Marvel Lady?” Dong-ah punches Ryong, and when Ryong will get again on his toes, he admits he deserved it as a result of he did develop emotions for Eve. Nonetheless, he’s emphatic that his emotions had been one-sided and denies any implication that Eve was sexually interested in him whereas they had been bare and sharing physique warmth. (Dong-ah, take notes, as a result of that is the way you defend the lady you declare to like.)
At this level, I actually, actually wished the digital camera had lower to a really confused Santiago who hadn’t understood a single Korean phrase of what was occurring. Sadly, once we subsequent we see our favourite Spaniard, he’s arguing with Seung-joon outdoors the restaurant over whether or not they need to erase the very recognizable “Stand by me” message written on the lottery ticket. Sadly for them, they fail to spot Kang-soo come up behind them, and he snatches his lottery ticket from their palms. Evidently, Dona is not comfortable, and he or she proceeds to beat Santiago and Seung-joon along with her purse on the bus cease, the place a poster of astronaut-chaebol Kang-soo mockingly watches the trade.
Along with all of the drama I’ve talked about above, there’s been an ongoing plot about Ryong and Eve needing to every write up their accounts of what occurred through the house station catastrophe. It’s a report that Ryong — a lot to Eve’s annoyance — has been dragging his toes on. After the chaotic dinner from hell, Eve exhibits up on his doorstep — to encourage him to work on it, after all. The truth, although, is that Eve’s resolve is waning, and when confronted with Ryong’s unabashed affection for her, she stops being indecisive and admits that he received below her pores and skin and he or she’s been preventing her attraction to him ever since he stitched up her toes.
They kiss, however they’re interrupted by Go-eun knocking on Ryong’s door, carrying Ryong’s turtle and her personal excuse for casually stopping by. After all, there’s nowhere to cover Eve in his studio condo, and when Go-eun sees Eve, her smile drops. She stoically invitations Eve out to a bar and challenges her to a spherical of let’s-decide-who-deserves-Ryong-the-most-by-who-can-drink-more-liquor. Surprisingly, their confrontation — should you can name it that — is extraordinarily civil. Go-eun says what she has to say, and Eve apologizes, explaining that she tried actually, actually arduous to not like Ryong. In the long run, each ladies get so drunk that they stumble again to Ryong’s home and share his mattress with out him.
If I needed to reward one factor concerning the varied love triangles depicted on this present, it’s that every one the ladies concerned are performing maturely — extreme alcohol consumption apart. They permit themselves to really feel the ache and sting of rejection, however they don’t let their feelings management their actions or have an effect on the individuals round them. The best way Eve and Tae-hui comply with forgive and overlook the entire Dong-ah matter for the sake of their friendship and careers is particularly commendable, however what’s extra attention-grabbing is how uncomfortable Dong-ah is with their dynamic.
It’s like each ladies have bonded over the shared trauma of relationship him, and he can’t deal with the truth that they now overtly make jokes at his expense as a solution to ease their awkwardness. It’s a transparent signal they not have romantic emotions for him, and Dong-ah’s ego can’t stand it — which is why he insists on becoming a member of Eve when she returns to the house station. Oh, he places an expert spin on his causes for desirous to return to the house station, nevertheless it’s clear he’d be part of the 254-mile excessive membership if Eve would let him.
Eve and Ryong, nevertheless, have entered their secret relationship period, which is why she willingly accepts Ryong’s moms’ invitation to dinner at their restaurant — below the guise of thanking her for rescuing their son. Clearly, it’s a low-key interrogation, however they’re simply so gosh darn well mannered about it. They flatter Eve and inform her to disregard Ryong’s confession as a result of she’s too good for him, however they’re equally curious concerning the girl who captured Ryong’s consideration (despite the fact that they’re nonetheless Workforce Go-eun). They pepper her with questions, which is how they uncover that she was adopted. It’s at this level, Pricey Beanies, that we get affirmation that considered one of Ryong’s moms, Na-mi, is Eve’s beginning mom.
Our characters nonetheless haven’t figured it out but, however the bread crumbs are there for the viewers who’ve paid consideration. A number of episodes in the past, for instance, Ryong’s moms visited a shaman, who, in passing, talked about that “just one” of Ryong’s moms had given beginning. On the time, I took this to imply the shaman was a fraud, as none of them had been Ryong’s beginning mom, however as quickly because it grew to become obvious that Eve’s adoption was going to be a serious a part of our story, I noticed the place the author was going. Positive sufficient, as Eve offers extra particulars about her abandonment, Na-mi grows silent, and later that evening, Na-mi has bother sleeping as a result of she retains replaying Eve’s phrases.
In the meantime, Ryong and Eve go on dates like regular, earth-bound {couples}, and for the primary time, I can sort of really feel some chemistry between them. Do I, like Ryong’s moms, nonetheless object to this couple as a result of Eve is just too good for Ryong? Completely, however there was one thing charming about the way in which Ryong took Eve to her first Korean sauna after which mentioned along with her the easy issues astronauts miss about Earth whereas ready for a bakery to open for enterprise.
Ryong asks Eve if she’s terrified of going again to the house station and probably dying, and he or she responds that she doesn’t concern dying. It’s inevitable, and he or she doesn’t care when she dies so long as she’s comfortable when it occurs. She admits that she wasn’t afraid of dying on the house station as a result of, for the primary time in her life, she wasn’t alone. Contrastingly, Ryong’s ideas in these moments had been about surviving to make it again to Earth and reside the rest of his life with Eve. Ignoring the truth that Ryong was head over heels in love after solely ten days, I like that their dialog held a deeper which means and spoke to the great thing about Earth and the human expertise.
However you realize who isn’t having the very best human expertise proper now? Kang-soo. His unsanctioned experiments on board the house station haven’t solely probably price him his job however his household’s enterprise with MZ Group. Chairman Choi doesn’t like quitters, and he’s displeased that Kang-soo gave up whereas Ryong persevered regardless of the poor odds. Kang-soo, pissed off that he’s been solid apart, spills the (very open secret) that Ryong is in love with one other girl, and Chairman Choi summons Ryong to unravel all the pieces.
Earlier than Chairman Choi can blacklist Ryong (once more), Go-eun intercedes and tells her father that Kang-soo is mendacity as a result of he’s jealous. To distract her father from the matter at hand, Go-eun airs out her soiled laundry, explaining that she dumped Kang-soo as a result of she was bored with enjoying second fiddle to his rattling flies. That’s proper, Kang-soo was hyper-focused on his analysis, and after spending all day within the laboratory he’d come residence and, effectively, the implication is that Go-eun felt an excessive amount of emphasis on the bodily features of their relationship whereas neglecting her emotional wants. (Rattling, Kang-soo, I used to be rooting for you.)
Together with her father again to considering Ryong shits gold, Go-eun drags each males to the parking storage. Kang-soo, nonetheless itching for a battle, threatens to take Ryong and the remainder of Workforce Regular Legs down with him at his disciplinary listening to. Go-eun breaks them up by whacking Ryong over the pinnacle with a site visitors cone. Though it seems like Kang-soo is able to go scorched earth on everybody, I nonetheless suppose he’s all scorching air at this level. As Ryong instructed Workforce Regular Legs earlier, Kang-soo gained’t do something to harm the lady he loves, and because the morula hasn’t been implanted in Min-jung’s uterus but, exposing Ryong’s involvement would threat the success of Min-jung’s future being pregnant and drastically upset Go-eun. (Oh, hey, it was good of the drama to lastly point out Min-jung since she wasn’t seen in both episode this week.)
However Kang-soo is the least of everybody’s worries proper now as a result of Tae-hui and her colleague noticed Ryong and Eve having a romantic second within the rain — however that’s only the start. That very same evening, after combing the CCTV footage for clues to assist them paint an image of what occurred on board the house station, Tae-hui notices — uh-oh — that the incubator wasn’t the place it was imagined to be, and the logs affirm it was powered on previous to the house station getting hit by particles. So, how did it find yourself in a wholly completely different a part of the ship? Effectively, that’s a query that’s simply answered by extra CCTV footage, which reveals that Ryong and Kang-soo had been the final identified individuals to be within the room with it.
Tae-hui summons Ryong and Kang-soo to the MCC, and he or she doesn’t beat across the bush. She seems them useless within the eye and accuses them of being in cahoots collectively. Kang-soo manages to maintain a comparatively straight face, however Ryong’s expression clearly says, “I went towards house legislation and carried out unsanctioned experiments on a human egg.”
Sarcastically, the final 5 minutes of Episode 12 had been most likely my favourite a part of this week’s episodes as a result of it was, for me, the one unpredictable and suspenseful plot level. I caught onto Eve’s beginning secret as quickly as she opened that letter. And it appeared fairly apparent when Mina and Seung-joon arrived on the resort to attempt to persuade Kang-soo to present them a finder’s payment for the lottery ticket that they had been going to finish up reserving a room and sleeping collectively. (Yeah, that occurred, by the way in which, and that ship has formally set sail. Whoop whoop!)
That isn’t to say there weren’t different pleasing scenes blended in with all of the filler, however for each Kang-soo and Go-eun second, there was — ugh — like two extra scenes that includes Dong-ah. He has usurped Chairman Choi as my least favourite character, however not less than it’s clear now that his hero second wasn’t imagined to magically erase the truth that he cheated on Eve. We aren’t supposed to love him, and the writing is extra clear on that truth. Our story has actually leaned into the truth that he’s a jerk with an inflated ego who’s interested in profitable ladies, however jumps at any alternative to disrespect their boundaries and authority. He would moderately imagine within the impossibility of house intercourse than belief Eve’s phrases when she tells him that she and Ryong didn’t cease at spooning — they forked. So, in spite of everything that, did I cheer when Tae-hui deliberately drove over the puddle and doused Dong-ah in rain water? You betcha.
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