Jeongnyeon: The Star is Born

Park Cho-rok

Melanmole

The drama crammed a 100+ chapter webtoon into a just 12 episodes, and it shows. Important characters and arcs such as buyong and her exploration of said ideas were straight-up tossed into the abyss. The narrative feels like a highlight reel of a better imaginary story, with emotional payoffs you never earn because, surprise, they skipped the setup! Instead, you get filler subplots galore: misunderstandings, random theft, and a catty rival who might as well twirl a mustache while cackling. The result is a tonal rollercoaster that swings from captivating to cliché faster than you can say pansori. Speaking of which, the production values were admittedly solid. The gukgeuk sequences are decently staged, and the performances by limtaeri and jungeunchae were serviceable. But serviceable acting can't save bad writing. Let's not even get started on the editing; entire episodes feel like they were cut with a chainsaw, leaving arcs half-baked and emotional beats dangling awkwardly. It's not a terrible show, to be fair. For unaware newcomers into Kdrama, it's a passable at best, sometimes poignant tale of a scrapppy underdog making it big. But for those with a healthy set of eyes, watching this drama is like finding out your favorite cake recipe has been turned into a soggy biscuit on a rainy day. It's fine, but you'll spend more time thinking about what's missing and what could've been than enjoying what's there. Anyway, the drama had all the ingredients for something good but chose to play it safe and bland, like most of its predecessors. Watch it if you're desperate for a drama about K-theater, but don't expect anything substantial. It's just another case of recycled empty fluff over substance.