Korean Drama Review: You Who Came from the Stars

When you think about science fiction and fantasy TV shows, you might think about series like Star Trek and Doctor Who, or Adventure Time and Game of Thrones. You might not, however, think about Korean dramas. Yet there are many Korean dramas with science fiction and fantasy elements. Most of these shows might be more accurately classified as paranormal romances due to their focus on a relationship between the main characters, but that focus certainly doesn’t take away from the fact that there are cursed goblins, comic book heroes coming to life, and aliens from another star galore in these Korean dramas.

You Who Came from the Stars is one such Korean drama. It ran from December 2013 to February 2014 (Korean dramas typically only run for one season) and garnered success both domestically and internationally. The series influenced fashion and food trends in Korea as well as China, and in 2014 ABC announced that there was an American remake under development. Arguably, it was in large part the actors who propelled the drama to fame: Kim Soo Hyun was already a heartthrob due to his previous drama roles, and Jun Ji Hyun was a veteran actor returning to the small screen for the first time in 14 years.

But the drama’s premise also played an integral role in capturing audience’s imagination. You Who Came from the Stars is about a famous actor named Cheon Song Yi (Jun Ji Hyun) who finds her popularity suddenly plummeting after a series of PR failures, including, but not limited to, tweeting her ignorance of the fact that garlic bread contains garlic. She hits rock bottom when a rival actor seemingly commits suicide and her fans accuse Song Yi of driving her to it with her bullying. Of course, things are never as they seem: the rival actor’s death is actually a murder, and the killer soon ensnares Song Yi in his machinations when he begins to suspect that she might have been a witness.

Luckily for Song Yi, the next-door neighbor in her new apartment building is not only a brilliant university professor named Do Min Joon (Kim Soo Hyun). He’s also a centuries-old alien with powers like telekinesis, telepathy, and time freezing. Through a series of events, he realizes the danger that Song Yi is in and works to protect her, all without alerting her to the fact that he’s not quite of this world and that his time on Earth is coming to an end.

You Who Came from the Stars’ SFF element shines most when Min Joon uses his powers or when he hilariously fails to understand human beings (he teaches philosophy and his lectures are a paragon of bitter male cynicism). Otherwise, the show doesn’t so much talk about him being an alien so much as it shows what it’s like when someone who happens to be an alien gets embroiled in a murder/mystery plot. I think that’s the fun of paranormal romances though: you get to see otherworldly people and creatures caught up in mundane human happenings. It means you get moments of humor like when Min Joon kisses Song Yi and comes down with a debilitating fever because contact with human saliva makes him ill.

The drama’s main strength, though, is the actors. Jun Ji Hyun and Kim Soo Hyun have sparkling chemistry—so much so that fans who were convinced their fictional personas translated to a real life relationship were genuinely disappointed when Jun got married to a businessman—and Jun in particular brings a lot of dimension to a character who probably wouldn’t have been as interesting otherwise. In another actor’s hands, Song Yi might have been a one-dimensional portrayal of a bubbly female lead. With Jun’s skillful rendering though, she becomes a flighty, shallow, self-absorbed and charismatic star with a streak of vulnerability. Her public persona isn’t a mask hiding secret depths. She really is as ignorant and petulant as she appears to be (Jun makes it endearing), but that doesn’t mean that her loneliness and desire for someone to love her for herself is any less poignant.

The plot itself is, at the very least, riveting. If there’s one thing Korean dramas know how to do, it’s ending episodes on cliffhangers that make the audience want to come back for more. And there’s certainly plenty of intrigue and tension, from the series’ scheming killer to the revelation that Min Joon’s powers and health are fading due to his long stay on earth. Everything is backed by a catchy soundtrack featuring snappy remixes of classical music and dreamy piano pieces.

But the plot’s biggest stumbling point is the fact that as it progresses, it slowly edges Song Yi out of the action. She’s supposed to be one of the main characters, yet she’s barely even aware that there’s a killer after her until the very end of the series. At no point does she become involved in figuring out who killed her rival; her concerns remain entirely wrapped up in her career and her blossoming attraction to Min Joon, who’s determined to keep her at arm’s length. Rather than making things happen in the plot, things happen to Song Yi—courtesy of the killer, who’s trying to off her to tie up loose ends—and mostly so Min Joon can sweep in and save her.

Every time Song Yi comes close to realizing that the killer is someone she knows very well (in fact, the older brother of a childhood friend), the series ushers her away from it. As if that’s not bad enough, in a bid to protect the secret that he’s an alien, Min Joon borderline gaslights Song Yi every time she picks up on something unusual about him. When Song Yi finds shattered pieces of car headlights, for instance, and surmises that Min Joon was the person who saved her the night her car almost went over a cliff, he tells her that glass could come from a dozen different places and that she’s simply being delusional. Yes, he had used his powers to save her, and no, he can’t go around announcing that he’s an alien. But that doesn’t mean that making her feel crazy is acceptable.

Overall, You Who Came from the Stars is a fun drama with enough humor and cliffhangers to keep an audience going for its 21-episode run. The acting and chemistry between the leads certainly carry a lot of the show, but the relationship itself is frustratingly regressive, with the man taking all of the action and the woman left to pine for him on the sidelines. Still, Jun Ji Hyun is a delight, and one could almost watch the series just for her antics as a woman who, for once in her life, wants to be truly happy.