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[HanCinema's Drama Preview] "My Love from the Star"

Nuna romances are nothing new in Dramaland and given the main audience for romantic series is slightly older women, this will not be changing anytime soon. Since the type is used so often, it is necessary for each show to add a different spin on things. "My Love from the Star" offers one with some very intriguing potential. It begins airing on December 18th.

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Premise

Do Min-joon (Kim Soo-hyun) is an alien. Nope, not an immigrant. An actual space alien who crash landed at Joseon 400 years ago. Having lived on Earth for 400 years and into the present, he has developed a cynical view of humans. Cheon Song-i (Jun Ji-hyun) is a top actress and all around diva that will develop a romance with Min-joon, whom she seems to have a past involvement with already.

The Worrying


My Love from the Star - Min-joonMy Love from the Star - Song-i

Old soul in a young body

While good writing and a good performance can definitely sell the unrealistic concept of an old alien in a young man's body, it takes a very special combination of things for it to be convincing. Kim Soo-hyun is definitely a talented young man, but does he have what it takes to be a believable otherworldly creature and will the series emphasize that in his character? It would be a shame to get another typical kdrama lead who is only unique on paper.

Fate

While Fate is a concept that sells well in romance and Korean dramas, it can also become an obstacle for emotional investment in the story. If Fate becomes too much of a focus, it will feel like the leads have no choice but to fall in love, which is simply not everyone's idea of romance and true love. Since we have a 400+ year-old alien with superhuman powers already, bringing Fate into the picture is one fantasy element too many.

Romance melo with a gimmick?

The biggest question is how the fresh premise will be used. Will they actually feature it a lot, or will Min-joon's nature and abilities only be used when convenient and just as frosting on the love story? Will it all turn overly melodramatic or will we get an interesting plot out of it?

The Reassuring

My Love from the Star - Flying ObjectMy Love from the Star - Couple

SBS

A channel is never a sure bet, but SBS does seem to place more value on cinematic quality, diversity of plots and good presentation of its series. Having had a few popular series this year already and generally being a channel that produces some good quality works, this is something to be happy about.

The chemistry

Kim Soo-hyun and Jun Ji-hyun starred in the box office hit "The Thieves" together, which means they already have a rapport and a confirmed good chemistry. Given that Min-joon is essentially older than Song-i, it is interesting to see how the actors' chemistry will work when their characters' power dynamics are the reverse of what their real age would suggest.

The premise

Assuming it will not only be there for the sake of being there, it can offer interesting things to the plot and character development. If age difference is explored for how it can affect a romance, age difference of a few hundred years plus a difference in species is pretty out there. It will be interesting to see how all this is handled and if the two leads can have a happy ending.

Final Thoughts

The teasers and promotional material out so far are mostly going for a fantasy melo tone. While the presentation and narrative style have an air of seriousness around them, they are not looking melodramatic or soapy, which might mean we are in for a powerful odd fairytale. If they make most out of the cast and premise without dropping the ball on how they use the fantasy element, this might end up a very entertaining fantasy romance series.

Mi-joonCoupleSong-i

Min-joon Character PosterSong-i Character PosterJae-kyeong Character PosterSe-mi Character Poster

Written by: Orion from 'Orion's Ramblings'

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