REVIEW: ‘When The Stars Gossip Episode 12’

“If everyone’s against it, there must be a reason.” If there’s a quote that sums up a lot of the energy of When The Stars Gossip Episode 12, this is it. Much of this episode focuses on different people within Eve Kim (Kong Hyo-jin) and Gong Ryong’s (Lee Min-ho) circles, telling Eve that the two shouldn’t be together. It’s an annoying series of conversations, with the responsibility placed squarely on her shoulders, and the annoyance never truly lessens until the episode’s final moments.

For Eve and Ryong, When The Stars Gossip Episode 12 takes up immediately where they left off. They are in a good place before Choi Go-eun (Han Ji-eun) shows up on Ryong’s doorstep. The gal truly can’t take a hint and pulls Eve away from Ryong to discuss things over drinks. Go-eun sinks to new cringe lows and challenges Eve to a drinking game. The prize? Ryong, because nothing says true love more than childish competitions.

It’s genuinely painful to watch, with Eve having more of the upper hand. Go-eun wears her insecurities on her sleeve and attempts to convince Eve that Ryong wants the CEO over the astronaut. However, the bulk of her arguments focus on the material things she can offer Ryong rather than actual emotion, and it shows how little Go-eun actually thinks of herself and what kind of relationship she actually has. Comparatively, Eve is more secure, and despite everything verbally thrown at her in this episode, she never wavers.

The conversation between the two women doesn’t go anywhere, but each conversation to deter Eve uses different tactics. When Eve meets with Ryong’s moms, they try to appeal to her sense of womanhood. Men don’t think straight. Whatever happened in space was just a temporary thing. A fluke. They are more than willing to absolve their son of his misdeeds if it means he’ll inevitably marry Go-eun. It’s another example of the women in Ryong’s life who are willing to look the other way, and yes, I am including Eve in this statement.

Eve is a target of everyone’s discontent, while Ryong continues to get away unscathed.

The only character who talks with any modicum of sense is Chief Kang (Lee El). “Have you forgotten that there are more people who want you to fail and take your position than there are who support you?” She asks Eve in a private session. As a woman in a high position, Kang understands how precarious Eve’s position actually is. As her boss and peer, she knows how badly the relationship would look for Eve, especially if anything else comes out. It’s a moment of camaraderie and carries over to when they bully Dong-a together. But Eve is undeterred.

Speaking of unwavering hearts,  Kang Kang-su (Oh Jung-se) can’t let go of his love for Go-eun or his growing resentment toward Ryong. A confrontation with Mina Lee (Lee Cho-hee) and Lee Seung-jun (Heo Nam-jun) in a hotel lobby over the attempted theft of his lottery ticket leads to further adding to Go-eun’s negative impression of Kang-su. Things in When The Stars Gossip Episode 12 don’t improve for him. His failure in space leads to MZ Group breaking their deal with Kang-su’s family’s bank, and puts Kang-su in a terrible decision to win it back.

But Kang-su can’t win anything so long as Ryong is in Choi Jae-ryong’s (Kim Eung-soo) and Go-eun’s favor. So, he reveals Ryong’s infidelities to Jae-ryong. It’s a moment where maybe, just maybe, Ryong gets some sort of backlash. And he almost does as Jae-ryong lists all the things he will take away from Ryong if this news turns out to be true. But Go-eun, in yet another embarrassing display, goes to bat for Ryong, even though she tells him in the parking lot that she’ll break the news to her father at another time. She knows he doesn’t love her, and still, she keeps holding on.

Kang-su arguably is the audience surrogate at this point and rightfully blows up. Objectively, he’s not a good person. He’s selfish and underhanded, but he literally did the same thing Ryong did up in space. The difference is that Ryong didn’t get caught, and he succeeded, whereas Kang-su failed. It’s an impossible situation, particularly when up against the self-obsessed, narrow-minded Jae-ryong and Go-eun. All they care about is the next heir. With everyone so incredibly unlikable in this situation, it’s hard to feel sympathy. It’s just dumb.

When The Stars Gossip Episode 12 fails to convince Ryong (Lee Min-ho) is actually worth it.

This Netflix series makes me question whether the writers hold women in any sort of esteem. The conversations are ridiculously old-fashioned in how the blame is shifted, with Eve continuing to be dismissed for her association with the man. Ryong continues to be absolved of wrongdoing except maybe from Kang-su, and even then, it’s because of his connection to a woman. The character is not perfect. He’s been downright irredeemable at points in the series, yet the people in his circle refuse to address it.

But Ryong has moments where he shines as a partner. Despite his continuous allusions to being better than the mice they used for reproductive experiments up in space (seriously, who talks like this?), his care for Eve in When The Stars Gossip Episode 12 is a highlight of the character. Lee Min-ho’s charisma lights up his interactions with Kong Hyo-jin’s Eve Kim. When her character is not on the defense, Hyo-jin also gets a chance to show Eve’s happier side.

Their little dates before she’s due to return to space offer moments of levity but also give us insight into Eve’s mentality. She doesn’t care whether or not she dies, but she does care about being happy. With her return to space on the horizon, danger looms in her future. But when she’s with Ryong, she can focus on the now. For someone who doesn’t worry about death, it’s clear that mortality isn’t far away from her mind, and showing how she contradicts herself in some ways shows the vulnerable woman underneath the strength she normally projects.

Danger also seems to be barrelling toward Ryong. The ending scene of When The Stars Gossip Episode 12 may finally present some much-needed comeuppance for the character, and it honestly has me giddy. While analyzing footage, Chief Kang and a colleague discover the location of another incubator placed in a strange location on the ship. Signs initially point to Kang-su, who’s already up for a disciplinary session. But Chief Kang puts two-and-two together and realizes that Ryong may not be as blameless as he seems, placing him at the scene of the crime.

What When The Stars Gossip Episode 12 sets up proves to be the episode’s minor saving grace. The episode itself proves to be a lesson in patience as we watch and endure with Eve the many people who tell her not to be with Ryong for a multitude of reasons. Honestly, the guy is not worth it, and with the series entering its final stages, it remains unclear why anyone would ride or die so hard for him.

When The Stars Gossip Episode 12 is streaming now on Netflix, with new episodes every Saturday and Sunday in February 2025.

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