Shooting Stars: Episodes 13-14

by Unit

Regrets and acceptance are the themes of our penultimate week, and the major issues are wrapped with a rather unflattering bow as our characters take steps to move past their hurt and walk towards the light at the end of the tunnel.

EPISODES 13-14 WEECAP

To nip an upcoming illegitimate child rumor about Tae-sung in the bud, Han-byeol pushes Si-woo to hold a press conference where Si-woo admits that Tae-sung is her son. This puts Tae-sung’s career back on track, but at the expense of his birth secret now out in the open.

Speaking of secrets, it turns out that a few years ago Yoon-woo also had a dad secret which had to be outed by Han-byeol. And while she felt bad about it, Yoon-woo understood it was part of her job, and did not blame her for it.

But Tae-sung is a different story, and he’s initially not pleased with Han-byeol for masterminding the press conference. However, he comes around after learning the reason behind the press conference, and all is forgiven. Phew!

After smoothing things over with Han-byeol and Yoo-sung, Tae-sung’s next step is to make up with Si-woo. And while things aren’t exactly 100% okay between them yet, they at least take baby steps towards mending their relationship.

Ho-young learns that her current team leader position was partly due to Yoo-sung’s recommendation. But rather than get all up in her feelings, she chooses to ask Ji-hoon about it, and gets much needed validation from the boss that she is indeed deserving of the position.

Ho-young also gets to have dinner with Yoo-sung, where he reminisces on his rookie days as a manager. (And we get a Penthouse reunion in the form of Eom Ki-joon and Bong Tae-kyu cameos). But the icing on Ho-young’s cake (and mine) is Yoo-sung finally returning her feelings. Yessss!!!!

While Si-woo takes half of the drama’s gloom with her as she leaves Korea, the other half is tied to Yoon-woo whom we learn committed suicide. But as his death anniversary draws close, Tae-sung is sent threatening letters to remind him that he “killed” Yoon-woo. Sigh!

It’s then revealed that Yoon-woo’s manager was YOO GWI-NONG (Heo Gyu), who runs the bar where Han-byeol and the girls frequently drink. And as it turns out, he’s also a member of the creepy anti-fan site, and the one behind the letters. Double sigh! I honestly did not see this coming.

As Tae-sung explains to Soo-hyuk, he and Yoon-woo met as roommates in high school, and eventually bonded over Tae-sung’s absence of a family and Yoon-woo’s entitled family. But when Soo-hyuk asks Tae-sung why Gwi-nong thinks he killed Yoon-woo, Tae-sung has no idea.

To seek answers, Tae-sung cajoles Soo-hyuk into coming with him to Gwi-nong’s bar, where they run into Da-hye outside. It’s a full house at the bar, and as the trio walk in together, the PR ladies gleefully note that Tae-sung seems to have chemistry with both his drama partner and his tabloid partner. Lol.

Tae-sung and Soo-hyuk join Han-byeol and Ki-bbeum at their table, and this quartet totally gives off double date vibes. Tae-sung also spots Jung-yeol who was supposed to be meeting his girlfriend, and when asked if said girlfriend is present at the bar, Jung-yeol issues a very suspicious denial. Hmmm… is she who I think she is?

The double date is cut short when Ki-bbeum and Soo-hyuk leave for another round of private drinks. Ki-bbeum worries, as she seems to do each year, if a promotional article she wrote on Yoon-woo contributed to what happened to him. But Soo-hyuk says she was just doing her job and assures her that her article had no effect on Yoon-woo’s decision.

Ki-bbeum derives comfort from Soo-hyuk’s words, and he gives her space to cry her feelings out. But she is not the only one with regrets when it comes to Yoon-woo, as the other people he left behind are still dealing with the impact of his death. Han-byeol was down with a cold and didn’t get to answer Yoon-woo’s last call, and this is what drives her to compulsively pick up all her calls now.

As for Tae-sung, he blamed himself for not picking up on the signs and the pain his friend was in, and he went on his volunteer trip to try to get over Yoon-woo’s death. And on Ji-hoon’s part, he became obsessed with making money for his stars in case Yoon-woo died because of money.

But as for Gwi-nong, while I understand his regret for scouting Yoon-woo and thrusting him into the celebrity world, the transferred aggression to Tae-sung is a reach. How does a random online comment that Tae-sung was the first choice for Yoon-woo’s lead role equal Tae-sung being responsible for his friend’s death? Even if the transferred aggression was Gwi-nong’s coping mechanism, it’s still not okay to inflict pain on Tae-sung to lessen his own pain.

Anyway, Tae-sung doesn’t press charges against Gwi-nong for sending the threatening letters to him. Instead, Gwi-nong closes his bar and takes time off for self reflection, taking the other half of the drama’s gloom with him.

We return to clear skies as Tae-sung and the others successfully wrap up their shoot, and Jae-hyun and Yoo-na get back together. Meanwhile, Yoo-sung and Ho-young are absolutely cute together with their exclusive head pats. And as for our potential couple, Ki-bbeum admits to Han-byeol that she likes Soo-hyuk. But at the moment, we don’t know how Soo-hyuk feels about her.

As for our main couple, Ji-hoon suspects Tae-sung is seeing someone and Han-byeol denies any knowledge of it. But minutes later, he catches them right in the middle of a hug, and the cat jumps out of the bag. Heh.

Sadly, I mentally checked out of the entire Yoon-woo subplot as it felt like conflict for the sake of conflict, rather than to improve the story. And I still don’t understand how exactly Tae-sung contributed to Yoon-woo’s death, which makes Min-kyu and Gwi-nong’s blame game totally unreasonable.

Anyway, it feels good to finally be done with all the “everybody hates Tae-sung” drama as we head into the final week. I need more cute couple scenes, I need to confirm my suspicion as to who Jung-yeol’s girlfriend is, and I need Ki-bbeum and Soo-hyuk to officially sail along with the other ships to happily ever after land.

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Shooting Stars: Episodes 13-14