Stars Falling From the Sky is about a selfish and immature woman (Choi Jung Won) whose life is turned upside down when her parents are killed and she is left to care for her five younger siblings. Their situation goes from bad to worse when they lose their home. With no where to go, she takes a side job as the live-in housekeeper of an attorney (Kim Ji Hoon) and attempts to keep the kids hidden from him in his home. (Flower Boy Next Door)
Choi Jung Won plays Jin Pal Kang. Pal Kang works at an insurance company and is the eldest of six siblings. She is frequently frustrated by her family always getting in the way of her life. But we see a huge transformation in her throughout the drama as she matures while doing whatever it takes to take care of her siblings in the midst of tragedy.
Kim Ji Hoon is Won Kang Ha who is an attorney at Pal Kang’s company. He is very stern, grumpy, and emotionally withdrawn from everyone. He’s quite unhappy as he has some difficult issues in his past that trouble him. And it sure does take a long time to get a window into his pain and see him soften up.
Then there’s Shin Dong Wook as Won Joon Ha. He’s our kind and dependable second lead who is Kang Ha’s brother and also lives with him. He’s a conflicted man who gets to do plenty of pining in this drama.
Finally, there is Jung Jae Young (Chae Young In) as that second female lead that is completely unlikable. Her sole purpose is to make everyone around her miserable and repeatedly interfere and force herself into their lives. I got tired of her really fast. And don’t get too hopeful, she stays annoying for almost the entire drama.
Stars Falling From the Sky is another one of those dramas that isn’t really bad, it just didn’t do it for me at all. Which is sad because this drama has been on my watch list for years, and I was really excited to finally watch it.
The first few episodes were kind of cute, but they just didn’t grab me. I liked the premise a lot, but it didn’t feel like the story was really moving forward. And that problem lasts a long time. Mostly, the plot is just all over the place.
The situation for this family is downright terrible. Their parents die, they become homeless, and no one will rent them a room because one woman with five children is just too much. It’s also winter, and they are hungry. It’s just bad!
There are kids crying left and right. They miss their parents. They are forced to hide in one room. They feel bad for Pal Kang and everything she is going through to take care of them. It’s a desperate situation for everyone.
I know the way I’m describing it makes it sound really heavy, but it’s not that bad. The serious is mostly well balanced with the comedy. There are plenty of cute and fun moments involving the kids throughout the show. The drama does get heavier as it goes along though.
Some other things I didn’t care for: Kang Ha just walked around as a Mr. Grumpy Pants for the first half of the drama. He’s one of those leads that just seems unlikable. He also actually felt more like a supporting character during this time which I found quite strange.
He didn’t have a ton of screen time or much progress in the relationship department. It takes almost half the drama for a major increase in screen time and for those first tiny sparks to begin with Pal Gang. And they aren’t much.
Our love triangle really emerges in the second half, and it throws our adults into an angsty mess. It’s just too bad we took so long to get around to it. Though I felt like Pal Gang had more of a relationship with Joon Ha despite never reciprocating his feelings. But at least they interacted a lot and you knew he liked her.
I just never got on board with the romantic relationship between Kang Ha and Pal Gang. They are practically in a state of dislike for half of the drama and then suddenly he starts to soften, but only a tiny bit. He does the whole brooding on his own thing as he struggles with his personal issues and thinks about Pal Gang.
But I kept thinking, “When exactly did he start liking her?” I just didn’t feel it. And their relationship doesn’t really kick in until the last quarter of the drama in the midst of all kinds of problems involving the second leads and everyone’s pride. Too little, too late. And definitely don’t expect lots of couple moments.
I still think that the story itself was interesting, and I liked seeing Pal Gang’s growth and the challenges the family had to overcome. But the overall direction of it was lacking. And with the love triangle being such a prominent part, I didn’t feel like it was developed properly or handled well at all. Quite a few other plot lines were pretty weak too.
Again, it’s not exactly bad. It just didn’t do much that I like in dramas and felt lacking and messy overall. But I can definitely see why it would appeal to some, so maybe give it a try and judge for yourself.
My Rating: 5/10
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