First Impressions: "My Troublesome Star" Is An Intriguing Story Connecting Past And Present
Every person is the main character in their story, but some people with particular gifts and talents are born to shine as the brightest stars, even in the darkest of nights. However, is stardom as amazing as it seems? Is living under the spotlight as a top star worthy of being constantly scrutinized and criticized at every step you take? And after 25 years, will everything remain the same? That is what we will discover in ENA’s newest K-drama, “My Troublesome Star”!
Warning: spoilers from episodes 1-2 ahead!
“South Korea’s first love” is only one of the many titles given to 25-year-old top actress Im Se Ra (Jang Da A). Throughout her promising career, she has consolidated herself as one of the best in the industry, turning every ad and every show she stars in into an instant success. However, behind her pretty smile and apparent perfect life, there’s more than meets the eye. She not only has struggled to stay at the top in the fierce battle for popularity, withstanding jealousy, hypocrisy, and sly games, but she has also had to endure being constantly taken advantage of by her family and company.
When being the target of so many people starts to take a toll on her to the point she thinks about giving up her career, she coincidentally meets young detective Dokgo Chul (Lee Min Jae), who is tasked to contact her after someone accuses her of fraud. To say their first impression is bad would be an understatement. To her, he is only an annoying detective who constantly harasses her with phone calls, while in his eyes, she is a bratty actress who is making his work all the more complicated. However, this strange connection will prove to be more important than they would ever believe.
After a brief encounter in which Dokgo Chul clearly falls in love at first sight with Se Ra, they clear the air between them and are able to make a strong impression on each other. That same night, she wins a prestigious award as Best Actress, which she dedicates to several people, surprisingly including Dokgo Chul. However, what could have been the beginning of a particular love story ends up being a tragedy when Im Se Ra gets into a car accident. From then on, the mystery begins because all of a sudden, we are transported from 1999 to 2025, at least from the female lead’s perspective, and that’s where the story really kicks off.
Im Se Ra wakes up in a hospital room, only to discover she isn’t a young superstar anymore. On the contrary, she is a middle-aged woman with no memories from her past who now goes by her birth name, Bong Cheong Ja (Uhm Jung Hwa). In the face of such a bizarre reality, Cheong Ja has the most normal reaction anyone could have in said situation: going totally berserk. She cannot believe the country that once loved her has completely forgotten about her. Even worse, she cannot believe she has lost everything she worked so hard for.
But neither she nor we have a way to know exactly what happened in all those years since she has no recollection of them whatsoever; in a sense, she has traveled in time from her past to the present. That’s something that sets this show apart from other dramas that feature some sort of time jump in their plot. It isn’t like she stayed unconscious since her first accident and was held back to keep on acting, but rather that she recovered and something kept her from returning to her stardom, thus changing the course of her life completely. That is the biggest mystery so far.
And as if it were meant to be, she meets a mature Dokgo Chul (Song Seung Heon), who sadly hasn’t been that lucky when it comes to his professional life either. Though now he seems to be an experienced and keen detective, he has been transferred from the criminal investigation department to the traffic police department after getting into trouble. What’s funnier in all of this is that no matter how much time has passed, Dokgo Chul and Bong Cheong Ja (formerly Im Se Ra) end up bickering in their first encounter.
Even when she claims to be Im Se Ra, Dokgo Chul cannot believe that his first love has turned into someone so different. After all, not even she can believe it, but there’s definitely something about that woman that intrigues him. Admittedly, there’s not much romance going on at this point, given that they are practically strangers; however, the comedic chemistry between the leads is so incredible and natural, it makes you crave more and more interactions between them. Whether it is physical comedy or impromptu sketches, they are able to give a more enjoyable and lighthearted vibe to the story, despite them being in quite a saddening situation.
Although the beginning of this K-drama may appear a little slow-paced, it remains interesting because it thoroughly presents every character who will play an important role in the story. For example, at first, you may not take a second look at Se Ra’s manager, Kang Du Won (Oh Dae Hwan), except for the fact that he is terrible at his work, until they show us that in the present time, he has become the CEO of the top entertainment agency. Furthermore, that same agency is the one managing Go Hee Young (Lee El), the rival who once lived under Im Se Ra’s shadow but who is now a well-recognized star and is apparently tied down to Du Won by a dangerous secret.
So far, her lost memories, her rocky relationship with her family, and even the hints about the real villain of this story, together with the future relationship with Dokgo Chul, are only some of the things awaiting Bong Cheong Ja. Although this story may appear as a simple, classic comedy on the surface, perhaps underneath, there’s an intriguing and complex plot that might surprise us in the near future. It is still uncertain if this situation will help her to let go of a past that won’t return, or if it will give her a second chance to have a brighter future as the star she once was. But what I am sure of is that you cannot miss the next episodes of “My Troublesome Star”!
Watch the first episodes of “My Troublesome Star”:
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Andy zar is an avid drama watcher, from K-dramas to C-dramas, she believes any weekend is a good weekend to enjoy 12 hours of binge-watching dramas. She loves romance, web comics, and K-pop. Her favorite groups are EXO, TWICE, Red Velvet, and BOL4.
Currently watching: “My Troublesome Star”
Plans to watch: “Summit of Our Youth“