[HanCinema's Drama Review] "My Love from the Star" Episode 16

It's all about the romance at this point as "My Love from the Star" moves into the territory of explicit love confessions. Starting now, Song-I and Min-joon are a couple. Not exactly right away, but the interplay they have with each other turns explicitly playful. It's not just a matter of context or only one person being serious / silly at a time. They're on the same wavelength now, and it heightens the contrast of some of the gags.

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Note, for example, that it's no longer necessary for them to play games where the first person who makes the confession is the loser. Now that mutual liking has been clearly established, they can choose to listen freely without having to mess around with subterfuge. It's surprising how well the comedy works even without this element anymore- just goes to show how unnecessary all of that prancing around was in the first place.

Meanwhile, on the actual plot end of things, Hwi-kyeong is once again the only character doing dramatic stuff as he comes up with a fairly clever scheme to avoid appearing as threatening as he really is. I like how conflicted Hwi-kyeong is- at this point it's on just about everything. He even appears ambivalent on Song-I. I'm quite curious what the next stage of his plan is- Hwi-kyeong doesn't appear to be just thinking in the moment. I don't know- the guy just has this sense of resolve that I really like.

Other characters...well, they're in or around but for the most part nothing serious happens. Almost the entire focus is on Song-I and Min-joon and this is time well spent. Who cares about Song-I's brother, really, except to the extent that he's an obstacle to his older sister's relationship? Also he can keep the situation grounded by just being blunt. Song-I's wardrobe choices this episode are rather odd. I feel comforted knowing I wasn't the only one who thought that.

Essentially, this episode has all the strong points that have been keeping viewers engaged here so far. It's fun and cute and romantic. Is there anything here that particularly needs Min-joon to be a superpowered alien, or the murder plot? Well not really. It's a vehicle for a couple of fun jokes basically. There's no apparent fallout from Min-joon using his powers explicitly in public recently, even if the police trudge on forward the same as ever. But so the drama's not perfect, so what? It's finally sold me on the chemistry between the two leads, and that was the main essential goal anyway.

Review by William Schwartz

"My Love from the Star" is directed by Chang Tae-you, written by Park Ji-eun and features Jun Ji-hyun, Kim Soo-hyun, Park Hae-jin and Yoo In-na.