Now Watching: You Who Came From the Stars

You Who Came From the Stars is still on its sixth episode as of the moment, but it had already surpassed the 20% ratings mark, making it one of Korea's successful dramas. The leads, Gianna Jun and Kim Soo-hyun are both popular and respected. They have previously been together in the movie The Thieves, which only made this drama a must-watch as their on screen chemistry had been noticeable. It's no wonder the drama went off to a good start and steadily gaining supporters

Plus, when its broadcast rights was sold to China, it was at the highest price ever of all Korean dramas. Whoa man, that is amazing. This was in truth, the main reason why I decided to watch this. Now I'm hooked and I don't know how to let go.

The drama uses en medias res, a narrative that begins, not at the beginning of a story, but somewhere in the middle: We see an alien Do Min-joon, who landed on Earth 400 years ago during Joseon Dynasty period. He is still living in modern times but his looks remained unchanged. As the plot progresses, we got to know his story through a series of flash backs. Apparently, Min-joon is kinda stranded on Earth, but during his early days, he helped save the life of a 15-year-old girl newly-widowed girl named Yi-hwa and eventually fell in love with her. However their story ended in a tragic way as the girl was first betrayed by her in-laws and eventually her very own parents. HER OWN PARENTS. Why was that? Because of culture and reputation and shit. Humans are not to be trusted.

Due to his experiences, Min-joon, despite having superpowers c/o his alien origins (stopping time, enhanced vision, hearing and speed) he chooses to ignore the problems of the world  since he believes that there is this thing called fate and whatever he does, he won't make a difference anyway and that intervening would only makes things worse. Plus, humans are not to be trusted.

Now back to the present, Min-joon met a new neighbor, the popular Hallyu star Song Yi. She's bitchy, proud, stubborn, cunning, rude and beautiful. But deep down inside, she is lonely. Doesn't stop her from being mischievous and adorable though. Min-joon was at first, is (not surprisingly) annoyed at this noisy neighbor of his. Turns out, she is also his student at the university too, and he was able to save her in various instances. Really adorable, these two.

However, as far as I could see that it's still a one-sided love story as Min-joon was only one who is conscious with his deepening emotions for the actress, while on the other hand, the beautiful Song Yi is still quite busy with being drunk, problems with her failing career, and her broken family (which includes a lovable father, a hopeless brother and a social climbing leech for a mother). It might take time for their love story to become mutual it seems.

Now back to Min-joon, as he is slowly, and reluctantly becoming part of her life he made a surprising discovery: The younger Song Yi looks very much like his first love, Yi-hwa. It turns out they've met a few years before as a younger Song Yi was saved by Min-joon himself. It is also good to take note that Song Yi hates doing historical dramas set in the Joseon Era, and feels emotional towards a certain crystal hairpin in a museum which apparently was once Yi-hwa's. The two are as different as the moon and sun but it seems there is a possibility of reincarnation. Min-joon put the pieces together and bam! Too late, he's already in looove. It's not about Song Yi's resemblance anymore, it's there time together in the past two weeks. In fact Min-joon finds himself missing her once in a while, saying he's unwilling to do her favors but ends up doing them anyway. Aww you are so falling for her dude.

In the last episode, matters are getting sadder with Song Yi's childhood best friend Hwi-kyung proposes to her in a ferris wheel, with Min-joon on the grounds. As Song-Yi was about to answer, he stops time temporarily as he walks away.

“There is a moment I wish I could stop forever.
And even if I must do this to prevent it, there are words I don’t want to hear.”

Ouch. It was truly comical how the events worked, it's kinda predictable but Kim Soo-hyun and Gianna Jun's performances were amazing, bringing to life characters you could relate to (even if one is a 400-year-old alien)

There is more to the drama of course, and a lot of good characters. It's not usual to find a drama where the minor guys are actually decent and memorable. Take Jae Kyung for example, some of the YWCFTS fans don't like him much, but I kinda loved how he is supposed to love animals but is very much OK with killing people. Sounds like Hitler eh? Another favorite is Se Mi, played by Yoo In Na, who by the way is her third time to play an actress. Compared to the past two dramas however, Yoo In Na's Se Mi is the best friend of all ages, unrequited love, the supporting character, you name it! She has her own dreams too, that's why I couldn't really blame her actions as she proceeded to take Song Yi's place.

I'd like to on and on, but I guess I'll stop here for now.
It's a really good drama and I am praying so fucking hard that they will continue to be one in the next episodes, God knows how disappointed I was with Gu Family Book and how bored I became with The Heirs (which is is essentially OK, but I found myself skipping a lot of scenes in the later episodes, so I was disappointed in a way), I hope this one will end well. In the meantime, waiting for episode is a torture, my impatience isn't helping either =_=)!