Shooting Stars: Episodes 7-8

by Unit

We reach the halfway mark this week and as our characters arrive at their midpoint, feelings are realized, confessions are made, and some mysteries deepen.

EPISODES 7-8 WEECAP

Tae-sung’s newfound realization that he likes Han-byeol comes with the desire to confess his feelings to her, and he begins “operation confess to Han-byeol.” He tries to win her over with various tropes – tying her shoelaces, bringing her coffee – but Han-byeol is not having any of it thanks to PTSD from all the pranks he’s pulled on her over the years. Ha! Serves his petty ass right.

An observant Yoo-sung finds the situation amusing – which is funny because he doesn’t see that Ho-young has a crush on him. Or does he? Han-byeol sees it though, and teases Ho-young. But she can’t see how bright Tae-sung’s green light has been shining lately. Why are people this clueless when it comes to themselves?

Actor Yoo-sung gets a favorable reaction from viewers, and the StarForce team celebrates their new signee. I’ve never seen Ji-woo look so excited! Unfortunately, when he is pressed by some ahjumma fans to drink, Yoo-sung ends up sleeping in his underwear, drunk at a playground, and the pictures circulate the internet.

The PR team cleans up the mess at the expense of a good night’s rest, and they wrap it up the next day with Yoo-sung’s handwritten apology letter – which of course, is the day Tae-sung decides to give a grouchy Han-byeol his own handwritten confession letter. He tears up the letter upon her rant that she never wants to see one again, but she chews him out regardless. On a happy note, actor Yoo-sung lands an underwear ad, and all is well with the world again.

In their unrelenting effort to come up with the perfect confession, Tae-sung and Jung-yeol do all sorts – from hilariously recreating famous drama confession scenes to going over Han-byeol TMI in the hopes of finding a common ground between Tae-sung and Han-byeol – and I just love how eager Jung-yeol is about the whole thing.

A sulky Tae-sung tries to eavesdrop on Soo-hyuk’s housewarming party through the wall, but the party is quite lifeless with just Jung-yeol and the PR staff — minus Han-byeol. Even with Tae-sung eventually crashing the party, the vibe is still nonexistent until Han-byeol, the life of the party, arrives.

While the others busy themselves with games, Soo-hyuk and Han-byeol have a moment alone and she realizes that he likes her. Things get slightly awkward and he tells her he’ll wait for an answer.

Yoo-sung encourages Tae-sung to hurry up with his confession because Soo-hyuk has already beaten him to it. But Tae-sung’s eventual confession to Han-byeol sends her screaming and running for the hills. Lol.

Wanting to know if he has other competitors beside Soo-hyuk, Tae-sung asks Yoo-sung if he likes Han-byeol, and he gets a firm NO. Apparently, Yoo-sung doesn’t see colleagues in a romantic way, and it makes me wonder what that means for Ho-young’s crush.

Meanwhile, with the knowledge that Tae-sung and Soo-hyuk are interested in her, Han-byeol wryly thinks she has hit the jackpot. *googles how to be Oh Han-byeol*. But seeing how awkward the situation makes her feel, I can’t say I envy her.

Han-byeol is present on set for Tae-sung and Da-hye’s kiss scene, and he starts to explain that the kiss is just for work. It’s amusing how he acts like she caught him cheating on her or something. Han-byeol acts like it’s no big deal, but as we see later on, she is clearly affected by the kiss scene.

Speaking of kisses, Yoo-na and Jae-hyun!!! Those two adorable idiots are definitely up to something. They fight their own kiss scene tooth and nail, but when the director says, “Cut!” they can’t seem to detach from each other.

Tae-sung almost has a heart attack when he runs into Yeo Ha-jin – his ex-girlfriend from back in the day – and belatedly realizes the girl he likes (Han-byeol) was the one who officially confirmed his dating rumor with another girl (Ha-jin). But in reality, Tae-sung and Ha-jin never had a relationship and only “confirmed” it to keep the media quiet.

While we’re learning about the un-couple, we get a cute scene between Ha-jin and her current boyfriend (cameo by Kim Dong-wook as his character in Find me in Your Memory), and this has to be my favorite cameo appearance/meta moment yet.

Even though his confession is still in limbo, Soo-hyuk tries to play the cool guy and doesn’t want to rush into getting an answer from Han-byeol. But he can’t help picking up on the awkwardness between them and asks her out for dinner.

But while Han-byeol is being asked out by the competition, Tae-sung is lovesick at home and has his meal spiked with excess salt by his suspicious housekeeper with a limited edition diamond watch, KWON MYUNG-HEE (So Hee-jung).

To one-up Soo-hyuk, Tae-sung also asks to meet up with Han-byeol, and the poor girl – and we, by extension – are left to wonder whose invitation she will honor, and the episode ends with her running out hurriedly to meet someone…

For some reason this halfway point signaled the funniest week in Shooting Stars for me, and I laughed a LOT. But it wasn’t all fun moments, as there’s still the mystery surrounding Eun Si-woo – the divorced actress, who just so happens to be Tae-sung’s mom. And we see that apart from Yoo-sung, the suspicious housekeeper seems to know her as well.

Speaking of which, is that woman even a housekeeper? Considering her sodium poisoning attempts on Tae-sung, and her rich madam behavior at the mall, she gives me the creeps, and I don’t understand what her deal is.

Another thing I don’t understand is Ki-bbeum’s character. It’s like she’s just there to interact with cameos and hangout with Han-byeol and Ho-young. It’s not exactly bad, but I feel like they can do more with her character – or maybe they’re setting her up to be the one to break Tae-sung and Han-byeol’s eventual dating scandal?

Finally, per K-drama rules, we know Soo-hyuk is not likely get the girl, but can he get some more screen time at least? It’s almost like he’s just there to be the mandatory second lead and stoke the fire for our hero. But Lee Jung-shin is cute, and he makes the flat-ish character really likable, so #JusticeForSoohyuk!

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Shooting Stars: Episodes 7-8