They Don't Kiss Until Episode 16

I see Park Eun-bin, I watch.

I’ve only seen her in Extraordinary Attorney Woo. Still, she was so amazing in that show that when I saw the Netflix preview clip of Castaway Diva, despite thinking the concept was silly, I knew I would watch it.

The premise of the show, according to Netflix:

Fifteen years after being stranded on a remote island, an aspiring singer reenters society, stopping at nothing to pursue her dream of becoming a diva

As I said, this seems like a novelty concept. Initially, when started the first episode, I thought I was going to get a Gilligan’s Island type of vibe: a novelty day cruise turns into a shipwreck situation. But that is not what I got at all.

Brief Recap (exit now if you don’t want spoilers)

The show begins with the main character Seo Mok-ha, as a middle schooler desiring to enter a singing contest held by her favorite pop artist, Yoon Ran-joo. Well, there are two contests, one is for her favorite artist to call her on the phone, except she didn’t charge her phone and her phone has died. When the radio station calls her, she won’t get the call. She desperately looks around for someone who has the same phone as she does so she can swap out their good battery to use in her phone. She finds Jung Ki-ho who has the same phone and it’s charged. She begs to use his battery, and he offers his phone battery for $1. Ki-ho is known to sell everything; he does no favors, if you want something from him, you have to pay for it. He is pretty miserly for a kid. Mok-ha cries, begs, and pleads. Ki-ho starts to feel guilty that maybe Mok-ha really needs to use the phone, so he lets her use his battery.

Right as she pops the battery in, the radio station calls and Yoon Ran-joo is on the phone! Of course, like many of us would do if we get a chance to speak to our idol or if I personally got a chance to have a one-on-one phone conversation with Beyonce, Moh-ka is awestruck and is crying and doing the whole thing. Ki-ho realizes this call is frivolous and takes her phone, hangs up the call, and takes his battery out.

Mean little boy, you think, but it is his phone battery.

Another contest. Yoon Ran-joo wants video submissions to select a talented few, to sing in front of her with and the chance to sign to a record label. But here is the problem: Mok-ha doesn’t have a digital camera, but she hears through another student that of all the kids, Ki-ho does. In fact, he filmed the kid’s grandmother’s birthday and made her look like a star. After cussing him out for hanging up the phone on her, Mok-ha musters the courage and $10 to pay for Ki-ho’s services, which includes filming in different locations and editing the video to look like an authentic music video. 

We see the kids filming, and we see the seeds of Ki-ho liking Mok-ha. For her part, Mok-ha can sing, and she can play the guitar. But there is one thing that Ki-ho just doesn’t like about Mok-ha…she is too happy, she doesn’t seem to have any pain she is carrying with her. He tells her so. Your singing is alright, but it lacks that spirit of pain.

Why is this middle schooler so grouchy?

We learn between the phone incident and Mok-ha hiring him to be her videographer that Ki-ho is an abused child. Severely. His mother is alive but doesn’t live in the house, and whatever frustrations his father has, he takes it out on him.

The acting is truly amazing because the actor who plays the father Lee Seung-joon is also in another show I’m currently watching Strong Girl Nam Soon really has range. In Nam Soon he plays Nam Soon’s emotional and loving father. In this show, he is a terrible, horrible man; I mean, the shift. This is one thing I really like about K-dramas (and other non-American shows), actors don’t stay on one show for long, so they can expand their chops and try all different roles. Okay, back to the recap.

So Ki-ho works all sorts of jobs and hustles every dollar he can so he can save up enough money to run away from home and, I presume, move with his mother. Ki-ho takes the footage and makes a mean music video, but while making the video, he can’t help but be annoyed at how happy-go-lucky Mok-ha is.

Except she isn’t.

It turns out she, too, is severely abused. Mok-ha’s love for Yoon Ran-joo is escapism. It’s what she has to hold onto to survive the harshness of her life. Her mother has passed, and her father, an alcoholic who runs a fresh fish restaurant, gets drunk and then takes out his frustrations on his daughter disguised as fatherly concern. The day Ki-ho is supposed to deliver the edited video to Mok-ha, she doesn’t attend school. When Ki-ho goes to her place to investigate, he sees that Mok-ha has called the police on her father, and Ki-ho learns that Mok-ha is just like him. 

Realizing that this singing competition is Mok-ha’s way out of their seaside town and out of her misery, he submits her video before the deadline, leaving his contact information.

Superstar Yoon Ran-joo is not only looking for the next superstar, she also needs a new company. Her contract with her current recording company is set to expire. Her luck, her manager wants to start his own recording company. It has no name or money, but he presents Ran-joo with a contract. She will be his first artist and will not worry about pay. She will help him start the company, and when she sells 20 million albums, she will be a majority shareholder in the company. Her manager is ecstatic and agrees. You think this is a pair right here.

Mok-ha wins the competition, and Ran-joo plans to make her the next big artist of her new recording company. She calls Ki-ho, and Ki-ho runs to Mok-ha to tell her the good news: She will get to go to Seoul and sing in front of Yoon Ran-joo. But Mok-ha turns it down. Fear is real, and turns out one of those police officers that came to “help her” that day was Ki-ho’s father. Ki-ho’s father gaslights the girl, and Mok-ha feels that she is alone. The best thing to do would be to avoid her father’s wrath and lay low.

That day, after school, Ki-ho gives Mok-ha the map to his house and tells her that if her father attacks her again, to come to his house, no matter what the time of day is, he will be there to help her. It happens. But Ki-ho is ready. He had a bug-out bag ready to go. He takes his tin can of all his cash and contacts Yoon Ran-joo’s manager to let him know that Mok-ha has changed her mind and they will be heading to Seoul.

You really root for these kids. But it isn’t meant to be.

Some noisy neighbors notice the kids waiting for the ferry and alert Mok-ha’s father, who is looking for her. The kids make it onto the ferry, but the ferry doesn’t leave fast enough. Ki-ho gives all his money and the bug-out bag to Mok-ha when he notices her father pulling up to the ferry, trying to keep her from realizing that her father is fast on her trail. Ki-ho deboards the ferry and tries to block Mok-ha’s father, and of course, the man beats the boy to a pulp. He gets on the ferry and tries to force Mok-ha off. Her father chases her around the boat, and in desperation, Mok-ha flings herself over the boat’s edge, and her father follows. 

Mok-ha does not make it to Seoul.

Ki-ho recovers in the hospital and searches as much as he can for Mok-ha, but eventually gives up. Mok-ha washes up on an abandoned island, and her father’s body washes up there as well. He did not survive. And there Mok-ha lives until a drone spots her.

Wow, what an opening!!

This is why I love K-dramas, here I started watching the show thinking this would be a cheesy concept, but the show has meat. It has depth. It has N! I am really looking forward to following this show.