This was a hard drama for me to get into and pretty easy for me to start losing interest in, but if you like romance dramas with plenty of couples to ship this may be the perfect drama for you. "Sh**ting Stars" is about the drama industry behind the scenes, and as a non-Korean, a lot of the drama behind entertainment scandals seems either ridiculously exaggerated or boring. If you are invested at all in Hallyu Star life then you may like the premise more than I did. The idea of keeping up a pristine image for Actors who aren't doing more than dating bores me pretty quickly. Still, I liked and could empathize a lot with Lee Sung Kyung as the overworked and always-on-call-to-help Oh Han Byul. However, It took 3 tries to finally give this drama a chance.

It was the frenemies banter between the two leads that kept me watching when I was ready to drop this drama. Kim Young Dae as the arrogant and childish Gong Tae Sung was fun to watch. His character is pretty basic and some of his storylines, like volunteering in "Africa" to be a mentor, are super cheesy, and one-dimensional. Eventually, the romance plot takes center stage and that's when I started looking forward to episodes. The leads have cute although often immature chemistry. Many of their scenes are also played up for laughs, at times extra silly and childish on purpose. The entire cast has a sense of silliness about them. I could also appreciate that if you don't ship the main couple there are quite a few other side couples to ship. For me, the couples ranged from slightly cringy and forced to satisfyingly sweet. It helps that the majority of the characters are likable. I definitely grew to like many of the characters over time, and the way they all overlap made for a strong ensemble.

I only lost some interest because of how repetitive the plot became.

There are also emotional storylines that although they logically tie the stories together just never made me feel anything. It normally doesn't take much for me to cry but I stayed dry-eyed throughout. I think it just took too long to reveal these parts of the story and then they were rushed through so I didn't have time to care. The idea that attractive people are recruited into acting without having any acting ability also seemed super offputting. Like that casting process, this is not a drama with much depth or substance. Soon we were back to secret crushes, and secret couples being the main focus, which I preferred.

Would I watch this again? Probably not. Even with all the cute moments, I'm not sure there are enough to hold my attention for a full second viewing. This drama could have easily been shorter too. I did like the cast enough to keep watching but none of the characters stood out as favorites that I would want to watch again. The last episode gave me more than enough closure.

I will also admit that a lot of the obvious drama cameos and drama references went over my head because they were dramas I haven't watched. In a similar vein, I did think the self-aware product placements were funny.

Overall, if you're in the mood for a light romcom with many ships, this one is imperfect but good enough. If you get nauseated in a room full of couples then this might give you a more annoyed feeling which I can understand too. This drama is great if you're in the mood for a romcom and can't decide on what kind you're in the mood for. It's a little like a romcom sample pack. You can tell the cast enjoyed themselves and working together and that's what shines through in "Sh**ting Stars" the most.