My Love From Another Star

Hello there.  Greetings and salutations to you all.  I would like to welcome back those that have been with us before as well as welcome any who may be finding us for the first time.  New dramas often bring new readers and if that is you, well, then we're glad to have you here and hope you enjoy your stay.

Now, those that are experienced with us will probably recognize that the format for this first review will be slightly different.  Why?  Well, because the drama is nearly halfway over already of course.  Nothing like starting late, huh?  The worst part is that I had actually gotten a real good start prior to this posting and then accidentally deleted it all and was unable to recover anything that I had written.  Devastating as anyone who has gone through similar can, I'm sure, attest to.  I'm working on a laptop for the first time (yay! I so needed this for my blogging needs) and let's just say that there is a bit of a learning curve involved for an old one-trick pony such as myself.  I'm crossing my fingers and toes and eyes this time around and hoping that I don't screw up again because then I just don't know what I would do.  But enough of that, let's talk drama!

I've been mulling over the best way to do this since I decided over a week ago that I was going to make the attempt, despite being already 6 episodes behind.  Now at 8 episodes behind, I'm going to have to break from the mold a bit in order to jump in and play catch up.  Instead of episode-by-episode for those first 8 episodes, I'll just be giving a quick synopsis/review and then start in on the episode-by-episode after that.

So, My Love From Another Star, aka You Who Came From the Stars, Man From Another Star, or a handful of other options.  Some also just call it Alien for short.  It's, obviously, a show about an alien living on Earth.  Our hottie resident alien, Do Min Joon, landed on Earth back in 1609 during the Joseon Era.  He's been here ever since.  For those that don't like math, that translates into just over 400 years.  For 400 years he has roamed the Earth alone, learning and observing and collecting.  He has managed to collect quite a bit of knowledge and experience, yet he has done so with minimal human interaction.  He doesn't get involved in human issues, despite having what can only be called super powers.


He currently has one friend that knows who and what he is, a friend that ages while he does not.  A friend that is helping him tie up loose ends in these, his final 3 months on Earth.  That's right, our ET friend is finally going home.  And, after 400 years of not getting involved or tied down in human issues, would you know it, he now finds himself wrapped up in some "complications".

Meet Miss "Complications".  Our female lead, Cheon Song Yi, is a top actress at the height of her career.  She's the nation's treasure.  And she's a brat.  A total, egotistical, self-absorbed, clueless brat.  As luck (or fate) would have it, she ends up being our alien's neighbor as well as university student.  We quickly discover that there's something about this girl.  Something funny is going on here between the two of them.  When he first landed in 1609, he saved a young 15 year old widow from plunging to her death.  Only fitting since it was his space craft that blew her over the edge of the cliff in the first place.  Let me just say that that scene was the one that hooked me on this drama from the get-go.  I loved the cinematography of it all from when he stopped time (one of his super powers) and pulled her back.  The visual and the music and everything was stunning.  Anyway, so he saves her life and she in turn ends up saving his.  And, you know, dies in the process.  Right before she died, she had told him that she wished he could see her when she was a few years older.

Well, fast forward 400 years.  He's about to go home.  Since that first episode back when he was fresh on Earth, he has managed to not get involved in human affairs.  Purse gets snatched on the street?  Thief gets away.  He has learned not to muck around with life on Earth because it can change fates.  Then things get interesting.  12 years ago he sees a girl.  A girl that is the spitting image of the first girl from Joseon days.  She is about to get creamed by a truck.  He does what he normally wouldn't do and saves her.  This girl becomes our heroine.  Suddenly they are thrown back in each other's path.  Fate?  I think it's safe to assume that yes, there is some sort of fate behind all of this.  We don't know the why of it all at this point, but it's too coincidental to leave it up to just chance.  The first human he encounters and saves suddenly reappears 400 years later in his final 3 months on Earth.  Definitely not coincidence.  Even if her personality this time around is a bit altered.  He can't stand her at first.  He certainly doesn't recognize her as the girl he saved 12 years ago.  At least not at first.  By now he knows that it's her, and he's also starting to warm to her.

Here's the rundown as far as plot goes.  We have a classic love triangle.  Our lead actress has two friends from her school days - Hee Kyung and Se Mi.

Hee Kyung has forever been in love with Song Yi.  Song Yi does not reciprocate.  Se Mi, always playing second fiddle to Song Yi, of course has been wildly in love with Hee Kyung from the beginning.  Hee Kyung has an older brother, Jae Kyung, who turns out to be this evil murderer dude.

When actress and rival of Song Yi, Han Yoo Ra, gets too close (as in she wants to marry Mr Psycho), he kills her and frames it as a suicide, to which Song Yi is then blamed for causing, thanks to the bad blood between the two women.  Confused yet?  Well, it gets better.  Se Mi has an older brother who is the prosecutor for the case.

You know, because apparently the whole concept of "conflict of interest" holds no weight in dramaland.  Song Yi's life has fallen apart thanks to the death of Yoo Ra, and now she is in danger herself as she gets too close to accidentally uncovering bits of the truth.  She has already survived a couple of attempts on her life, thanks to the heroics of her alien neighbor.

Granted, all this is just the tip of the iceberg.  A lot has happened in these first 8 episodes, but this should get us up to speed, generally.  Now, why am I loving this drama so far?  Well, aside from the drop-dead smoldering gorgeousness of Mr Alien (seriously, why couldn't he have looked this good in most of Dream High?), my biggest draw is in the characters themselves.  I love the interaction between Do Min Joon and Cheon Song Yi.  They are really good together.  There is humor.  There is sexiness.  There is mystery and intrigue.  There's a psycho that's close to the main characters, yet goes unnoticed as the psycho.  There's just so much to love.

I got some screenshots from the last little bit of ep 8 because I couldn't let this one go without at least something.  The end of episode 8 gave us a wonderful kiss scene all in the name of chemistry.  And chemistry they have!  Wow!  And this isn't even their first kiss. Nope, not this one either.

I finally finished watching the movie The Thieves that just so happens to star these two main leads in it as well.  Chemistry - they had it then and they have it now.  Wanna see?  Duh, of course you do.  What kind of silly question is that?

From The Thieves

15 Second Chemistry Challenge from MLFAS

Double swoon, right?  I adore these quirky characters and what is happening between them.  These first 8 episodes have been a very awesome ride so far and I eagerly look forward to the final 12.  Who's with me?

Thanks for sticking with me.  I know this first review is kind of lame-o.  The next ones should be better.  I hope.  I swear as soon as I say that I always end up jinxing myself, so I won't make any promises, except that I have every intention of improvements from here on out.  ;)  Two more days until episode 9!  Woohoo!  At least that is one thing we can all anticipate together!