When The Stars Gossip takes off in a tense direction at the end of the last episode, Commander Eve Kim (Kong Hyo-jin) is grasping onto a damaged solar panel for life with a small cut in her glove depressurizing her suit and dropping her oxygen levels. Kang Kang-su (Oh Jung-se) and Lee Seung-jun (Heo Nam-jun) have no choice but to wait in the airlock until pressurization completes. When The Stars Gossip Episode 4 picks up immediately in the middle of the drama, setting the stakes for the audience with Gong Ryong (Lee Min-ho) reading the will that Eve left him.
When The Stars Gossip Episode 4 is dedicated to saving Eve and the fallout from the spacewalk, with the former taking up a solid 30-minutes of its runtime. While Mina Lee (Lee Cho-hee) and her found lottery ticket do come into play, and the Choi family’s women find independence, it’s hard to see past the growing tension, romantic and otherwise, between Eve and Ryong. Especially with the reveal of her will.
Only, it’s not a will. It’s a note about her views on life. It tells Ryong how she views every life (even a weed) as a miracle thanks to her American astronaut father, who died on a spacewalk. In addition to the personal note, she also tells Ryong exactly what he needs to do while she’s on the spacewalk.
She recommends an exercise routine, tells him about her stash of gochujang, and, funnily enough, the importance of needing to poop while in space. Yes, it’s funny, and it’s adorable. It shows exactly how close the two have become, even if Eve hasn’t been able to show it directly. This is her love language.
Lee Min-ho drops the clumsiness and embraces his bravery in When The Stars Gossip Episode 4.
The choice to take the audience through Ryong and the note and then to Eve in space works to ramp up the tension. But it also dials into the emotional connection the two have been able to form in their short time together.
Then, Ryong sees the alert that tells the International LEO Station (ILS) that someone is in danger, and it clicks that it’s Eve. While the Seoul Mission Control Center with Chief Kang Taei-Hui (Lee El) and Park Dong-a (Kim Joo-hun) try their best to help, no one has any real ability to help.
When Ryong sees Eve through the port, it’s immediately recognizable how much Ryong cares for her. The audience had seen the crush growing since his first day on the ISL when he dressed her wound. It’s been in how Ryong looks at her, his attempt to use informal speech, and his very clear want to be respected by her. Commander Eve slowly comes around to respect him, and with the note she left, she cares for him.
In the last episode, Eve’s situation seemed like one of the most dire I’ve seen in KDrama yet. It felt like Gong Ryong couldn’t magically save the day. Yet, he does. Only I’m not annoyed by his divine intervention. Instead, Ryong’s status as a space tourist meant that as much as he was brave to step out of the airlock, he was also stupid.
Leaving without undergoing the pressurization process, Ryong has minutes to unclip and save Eve. Only he has to do so while struggling to orient himself. On the verge of tears and knowing that if he fails, the Commander will die, Ryong is a mess. Lee Min-ho is courageous and heroic, but he’s also terrified. As much as he’s trying to save Eve, he also needs her now. She is the only one who can see the latch and guide Ryong to success.
The way the two talk to each other in this moment is deeply emotional. The chemistry between Kong Hyo-jin and Lee Min-ho has been beautiful to watch evolve, but it deepens in When The Stars Gossip Episode 4. The two of them are in a traumatic situation, and at that moment, Eve sees that Ryogn, in all of his idiotic bravery, means something to her. And for Ryong, he risks death to save his Commander.
When The Stars Gossip Episode 4 makes one thing very clear: Gong Ryong and Eve Kim care deeply for each other. While Ryong shows this by risking his life, Eve shows it through her anger. After the two recover from their near-death experience, Commander Eve slaps Ryong.
Since the beginning, Eve has been unyielding in her profession and her protocol. When she first sees Ryong after the event, she doesn’t know how to respond to the breach of protocol other than to be angry. In this scene, Kong Hyo-jin is at her best as our lead. Commander Eve is happy that Ryong is alive, that she is alive, but her responsibilities as Commander and her care for Ryong contradict that.
Kong Hyo-jin’s performance as a conflicted Eve Kim is absolutely stunning.
Eve feels two things at once, and anger is the only way to let it surface. The slap is loud, it’s meaningful, and it’s followed by Eve saying the word that if Ryong had died, it would have been like killing her twice and that she won’t forgive him for it. Her resolve to anger and punishment is extremely understandable and very clearly a way for her to protect herself. Keeping Ryong out of her sight means that she won’t have to grow any closer to him, he won’t cloud her judgment, and hopefully, she can protect him.
At that moment, Ryong could be frustrated, but instead, he grovels, apologizes, and tries to do what he can to ease her anger. He puts aside his feelings to give in to hers. And to be honest, it’s clear that none of that matters because Eve is still alive, and that’s all he cares about.
When The Stars Gossip Episode 4 also takes the time to highlight that while Ryong is falling in love with Eve, he isn’t planning to have a life with Go-eun (Han Ji-eun). In the last episode and this one, even after almost dying, Ryong doesn’t call Go-eun. He calls his best friend, and he catches up with his moms, but he doesn’t even give Go-eun a passing thought.
Even when it comes down to talking about his goal on the station, it has never been about getting Chairman Choi’s (Kim Eung-soo) blessing, just about helping people become parents. Outside of one picture, Go-eun is absent from his life at the station. I mean, even when he’s scheming to help the Choi family’s mission, it’s not about Go-eun. But Go-eun hasn’t gotten the memo. Instead, she calls a press conference, announces her engagement to Ryong, and unilaterally puts a timeline on when they’ll tie the knot.
While When The Stars Gossip Episode 4 features both of the Choi family women, Na Min-jeong (Baek Eun-hye) and Go-eun, standing up to the chairman, the situation we see Ryong falling into is a precarious one. Still, at just four episodes in, seeing the women have agency, speak for themselves, and break out from the family fist holding them down is much needed. Only the timing, well, it’s the worst.
Sad that the Commander has told him to stay out of her sight, Ryong reaches out to Santiago (Alex Hafner) and Lee Seung-jun (Heo Nam-jun) to join them in their quarters. With the guys, he finally finds people who appreciate his bravery. Not that he was looking for it, but the two men are able to console Ryong while also thanking him. And, of course, they thank him with illegal booze. Ryong gets drunk, talks a lot to everyone, and then winds up entering Eve’s quarters while she’s already zipped up to sleep.
While he groveled when Eve slapped him, he stood in front of her full of liquid courage and told her that he would do it again if given a chance. He was right to save her and even accepted that his ignorance saved the day. He just wants her to pat his head and tell him he’s good (his words, not mine) or, at the very least, acknowledge him.
When The Stars Gossip Episode 4 gives us the Kdrama confession early, in the best way.
But more importantly, in When The Stars Gossip Episode 4, Gong Ryong confesses. Lee Min-ho’s performance is sweet, frustrated, and earnest. He likes Eve, and he wants her to know that. Their conversation while Eve’s suit was losing pressure was moving and emotional. His earnest confession makes your heartache. He saw Go-eun’s video before he drank. He knows that there is a life waiting for him on Earth if he chooses to take it, but that drink with Eve a year from now is what matters. She is what matters to him.
When The Stars Gossip is slated to run for 16 episodes, and in just Episode 4, things seem to be moving fast. However, when things move fast, miscommunications are bound to happen. How do you break off an engagement you didn’t agree to in the first place? How do you pursue another woman while you have a picture of your current girlfriend in your room?
Ryong is someone to root for, having come a long way away from his more unlikable qualities in Episode 1. But Commander Eve is stalwart in her morals, which makes it hard to see how quickly this will resolve and how open she will be to not seeing Ryogn as a cheater. When The Stars Gossip Episode 4 has a lot going on. It’s tense, it’s thrilling, and it’s deeply emotional. With its signature style of comedy coming out, it’s showing why this series is one you need to watch.
When The Stars Gossip Episode 4 is streaming now, exclusively on Netflix, with new episodes every Saturday and Sunday in January, February, and March.
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When The Stars Gossip Episode 4
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9.5/10
TL;DR
When The Stars Gossip Episode 4 has a lot going on. It’s tense, it’s thrilling, and it’s deeply emotional. With its signature style of comedy coming out, it’s showing why this series is one you need to watch.