Castaway Diva is a romantic comedy about a girl (Park Eun Bin) who was dreaming of becoming a singer that is in an accident and ends up stranded on a deserted island. After 15 years, she is finally rescued and still hopes to achieve her dreams.
Park Eun Bin plays Seo Mok Ha. As a teenager, she dreams of being a singer, but an accident results in her being stranded on a deserted island for 15 years. After she is rescued, she tries to put her life back together starting with helping her idol.
Chae Jonng Hyeop is Kang Bo Geol. He works as an entertainment PD and is one of the people who rescues Mok Ha. He comes off a bit cold at first, but he begins to get closer with Mok Ha.
Cha Hak Yeon plays Kang Woo Hak. He is a reporter and another one of the people who rescues Mok Ha. He takes an interest in her story and soon develops feelings for her.
Finally, we have Kim Hyo Jin as Yoon Ran Joo. She was a top singer 15 years ago, but now she is washed up and all but forgotten. With the help of Mok Ha, she works to gain a second chance.
Castaway Diva comes from one of my favorite writers Park Hye Ryun who penned Start-Up, While You Were Sleeping, and Pinocchio. So, I was definitely hopeful with this one. And thankfully, I thought it was a wonderful drama!
Something this writer does well is first episodes, and sure enough, this one pulled me right in. It was such a heart-wrenching and engaging story as we followed Mok Ha and Ki Ho and all of the trials that they faced. The drama deals with a difficult subject matter, child abuse, so it can be hard to see. Emotions were running high, and I found myself fully invested in these two.
Then we move to the adult portion f the story. This writer also creates wonderful characters, and that was the case here. They always feel like they are fleshed out and have depth, so it’s easy to care about them.
Park Eun Bin was absolutely fantastic as Mok Ha. She is such a bright soul filled with so much passion and energy. She was both charming and adorable. She’s a country girl who in many ways still acts like a teenager, but she has a certain maturity to her that comes from her challenging life experiences.
She has a personal journey to go on as she has to adjust to the modern world and pursue her dream of becoming a singer. She also wants to reconnect with Ki Ho which brings additional challenges.
Mok Ha is an interesting and lovely character, and I loved how the narrative of the story paralleled her journey on the island to what was happening in the present. A lot of care went into telling her story.
I also loved seeing her devotion to Ran Joo play out. She’s one of Mok Ha’s main connections to her past, and her love for Ran Joo is still strong. She does everything in her power to help Ran Joo succeed.
There were so many funny interactions between these two as well as difficult ones. Their friendship was lovely to see. Ran Joo is a complicated character, and it was great to see her evolve through her encounters with Mok Ha.
There’s a bit of a mystery going on as Mok Ha hopes to find Ki Ho. Where is he? Who is he? Could he be Bo Geol or Woo Hak? We get a bit of a love triangle here as both guys become invested in Mok Ha.
She quickly builds a relationship with Woo Hak who becomes very protective of her. He was always very sweet, and I appreciated is caring and devotion towards her. Bo Geol was a bit more standoffish, but we see him slowly open up to her and build their relationship. The romance feels like more a subplot in some ways, but I really liked watching both of these relationships grow, and both were very important to the overall story.
The drama has a lot of beautiful relationships including the ones involving Bo Geol and Woo Hak’s family. From the parents love for each other, their love for their children, and the brotherly love, it was all meaningful. I loved how supportive they were of each other. They go through a lot, but their love for one another was strong and was lovely to see.
We have a variety of villains in the show. Some are a bit more grey like Seo Joon (Kim Joo Heon) who is the CEO of Ran Joo’s agency. He has quite a complex relationship with Ran Joo.
I found him to be an interesting character, but I do wish we could have went a bit deeper with him as some of his actions are kind of glossed over. Nonetheless, I still thought his story was interesting.
Other villains are just plain terrible like Ki Ho’s dad, Bong Wan (Lee Seung Joon). He’s angry, possessive, and will stop at nothing to get what he wants while harming his family in the process. He inflicts a lot of damage on everyone around him.
The drama has wonderful music. We get some fantastic songs sung by Mok Ha and Ran Joo. I loved that they actually used full length songs, performed them, and tied them into the overall story. Well done!
Castaway Diva was an amazing drama for me. The writing was both fun and entertaining, but also beautiful. A lot of thoughtful wisdom was woven into the story and delivered in such lovely ways.
There was a powerful message about finding a way to continue on and having hope during very dire circumstances. I experienced so many emotions ranging from joy to heartbreak. I shed some tears for sure.
The drama had great pacing throughout, and I was interested in everything from the main story down to the subplots. A nice mystery ran throughout with reveals coming at appropriate times.
It allows the audience to stay engaged as some questions are answered while new ones are presented. Everything ties together nicely. And the drama even delivers an engaging and thoughtful last episode and ending.
There was heart, comedy, romance, family, friendship, and some intensity. Mok Ha was a shining light of a character, and her journey was a joy to watch. Castaway Diva was a wonderful series that definitely left an impact.
My Rating: 9/10
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