Review: I Picked Up a Star on the Road

Posted on by Juveriya

Genre: Romantic Comedy, Thriller, Suspense

RATINGS

  • Cast: 10/10
  • Plot: 8/10
  • Acting: 10/10
  • Ost: Major 10/10
  • Overall: 9/10

REVIEW SUMMED UP( NO SPOILERS)

You know, the dramas that start like okay…OKAYYY…this just keeps getting weirder..I am kinda into this but umm idk and then bam! you’re in it, twenty feet down and can’t get back up.

I am the kind that can get through the drama happily if the characters are enjoyable and the plot is eh. For this one, I’ll have to give them production team kudos for experimenting with dark humor in the korean drama realm and to be honest, it did kind of work out well.

Talking about the plot, it was well, different. Major plot was predictable but the way it was executed made it unique (again, dark humor). They took their risks, made the characters quirky and eccentric which played out extremely well in the background of all the things that were happening. A romantic comedy with kick ass humor. I laughed a lot while watching this drama.

PLOT SUMMARY

To sum it up, the plot revolves around “Stockholm Syndrome” which is romanticized.

Lee Yeon soo (Kim Ga Eun) is a contract worker who plans to teach her manager a last lesson before she leaves ( after being fired). Seeing him in a dark alley, she attacks him with her heel only to find out that the person lying on the ground is not her manager but the Hallyu star Kang Joon Hyuk (Sung Hoon). She thinks she has killed him so she plans to dispose off the body only to find him alive the next day. Terrified, that he will now report her to the police, she tries to keeps him hostage through all means.

MAIN CHARACTERS (MINOR SPOILERS)

 1) Lee Yeon Seo -Female Lead

Someone once told me, if you like and at the same time hate the characters at different points, the director has done a good job. I started with not liking her at all. She was absolutely selfish and well, a kidnapper. I found myself rooting for Kang Joon Hyuk to escape from her evil clutches. I hated her for using her neighbor, the guy who gave girls all over the globe major second lead syndrome.

I wont say I gradually developed a liking for her, because I didn’t but the characters felt human, crazy human but human nonetheless. There was no, “omg I secretly like him but I can’t tell him that.” When she had kidnapped him, she was not soft at any point( my prediction going wrong in this case that she will let him go because of an overnight realization that she’s a good person).

So, as far as that is concerned, there was consistency with her character. You could tell she was not an evil person but had found herself in complicated circumstances and was just scared which made her do evil things.

Kang Joon Hyuk – Male Lead

A LOT of people had second lead syndrome while watching this drama. NOT ME. I loved, LOVED Sung Hoon in this one. He tends to be dramatic in his characters and that’s exactly where his charm lies. Most of my out loud laughs owed to his and the second male lead’s characters.

He is not a tsundere. Nope. Not a haughty rich celebrity who acts cold in the beginning and then turns soft for his woman. He is a crackhead from the very beginning and his weirdness gets intensified ( along with the rest of the characters) as the plot moves forward and I absolutely loved it.

Hwang Nam Go- Second Male Lead (Minor spoilers)

omg, OMG before I start, please just watch this video once. I almost cried when I heard his voice. This boy is absolutely, utterly pure and if someone could give me the full version of this song in his voice, I will be eternally grateful to you.

He is the male version of the innocent, pure female leads in most Asian dramas only his purity or naivety isn’t annoying. He is crackhead 2.0. Comes from a rich family but lives in the hood, why? because he is noble…NO….because that’s just how his mind works and you as an audience don’t try to understand him, you only fall in love with him. He is simple minded- no drama , no complications and his love is as pure as him.

This was my first time seeing Kim Jong Hoon in a drama and boy am I a fan of him and his voice now. That is the essence of this whole drama. The characters are absolutely CRAZY yet somehow seem normal, to me at least. The two male leads are my last two brain cells trying to figure out their way in life.

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OTP CHEMISTRY

OTP chemistry matters a lot. It can lift the drama and make an incredible drama drown. No fish-eyed, mannequin kisses; dramatic reactions to touching fingertips, toxic relationships romanticized. I mean, we sometimes would love to watch those cliched dramas but a natural chemistry has no competition.

Now, this otp obviously had many challenges at appearing natural. After all , it’s a relationship between a kidnapper and the hostage. But, wrapped up in humor and banter, I think it was more natural than I had expected it to be. No dreamy, fluttering heart moments they had between them-it was more of a gradual increase in “i care about you” moments and we enjoy hanging out with each other( as you can see in the video, if you did watch it, PLEASE JUST WATCH IT).

The struggle is real with the male lead because he finds himself doing things for his kidnapper, even at times missing the opportunity to escape which honestly did drive me crazy at times, but with a dash of humor, it’s all good.

Her mom is his major fan, lol

WOULD I RECOMMEND?

I would say, give it a shot. If you don’t find yourself getting into in the beginning, it’s better if you drop it because the tone is more or less consistent throughout. If you are looking for a light romcom with amazing characters and acting, this is it. Don’t put too much of your heart into it and it’s a light, fun, breezy walk.