In this week’s review we are talking about a rom-com about fame, love, friendship and the tough reality of the entertainment industry. Let’s talk about the 2022 tvN drama ‘Shooting Stars’.
Written by Choi Young-Woo and directed by Lee Soo-Hyun, ‘Shooting Stars’ tells the story of a PR team leader in a management company and a top actor who is signed with this company.
Oh Han-Byeol (Lee Sung-Kyung) has worked in PR for years. Now all her hard work has paid off, she’s become the team leader of the public relations team. She does great at her job, dominates many aspects of the industry, and has a great relationship with her co-workers.
Gong Tae-Sung (Kim Young-Dae) has worked his way up in the entertainment industry, he is now a top actor and is known for being a candid and nice person. However, he is also rather competitive and can be difficult to manage sometimes.
Han-Byeol and Tae-Sung have known each other for years. Even before he became a top star, they have had their fair share of ups and downs, but outside work they are also good friends who bicker a bit too much but still care for each other.
Friendships and Love
Han-Byeol’s best friends Jo Ki-bum (Park So-jin) and Park Ho-young (Kim Yoon-hye) also work in the entertainment industry. The former is an entertainment reporter always looking for an exclusive, and the latter is a bodyguard turned artist manager.
Ki-bum is constantly struggling at work, trying to find exclusives but also wanting to keep the news in line with her ethos. Ho-young is a natural when it comes to being an artist manager, she is able to spot raw talent easily and helps them work their way up in the entertainment industry.
Tae-Sung on the other side is a rather lonely person, his few friends are his managers Kang Yu-Sung (Yoon Jong-hoon), and Byun Jeong-yeol (Jin Ho-eun), and his recently found frenemy Doo Soo-hyuk (Lee Jung-shin).
Despite all the years they have known each other, Han-Byeol and Tae-Sung have never been involved romantically despite the obvious romantic tension between them. However, everything changes once he finds out that his frenemy Soo-hyuk invited her on a date.
Tae-Sung decides to confess his feelings toward Han-Byeol, but his career, past, and current circumstances are likely to become a challenge in his chance to love.
A peek into the industry
When it comes to the entertainment industry ‘Shooting Stars’ shows a glimpse of how it works, and the difficult parts of it, including malicious comments and artists being constantly followed by tabloids.
It touches on how all of these actions affect the artists’ mental health, and how they can deal with PTSD, among many others mental illnesses caused by the constant pressure they are put under.
At the same time, this production balances out the positives and negatives of being a star, and shows viewers what people working in entertainment companies go through once an artist is involved in a scandal.
With great secondary couples, and awesome cast chemistry ‘Shooting Stars’ is definitely an easy to watch production, the characters are well rounded, and the story development well-paced.
You can watch the trailer below.
