Where Stars Land is a 2018 SBS drama 32 episodes long. Set primarily at the Incheon Airport, the main story arc is that of the love story between 2 airport employees, sprinkled with the depiction of how some airport issues are solved, how an employee with a 1st degree disability fitted with futuristic prosthetics tried to not draw attention to himself and the attempt to privatize the Airport.
Even at a whopping 32 episodes, the drama could not finish completing all the story arcs and some threads were left unanswered and hanging. Eventually, the drama tried to be a bit of everything and ended up making me feel like I'm watching a Truman Show.
Still I must say setting the drama at the Incheon Airport is rather liberating, especially when I am watching the drama 3 years late during the pandemic. I've never been to Incheon Airport, but I would think some of the scenes were shot in the Airport itself. The staff's offices, I would think, were built-up sets. And so were the staff's housing and the Fox Bride Star Restaurant. I really appreciate that the production teams for korean dramas do take into consideration the budget for building sets that are not shabby. It is definitely easier to shoot indoor scenes in built-up sets, but the quality of the furniture and the lightings are important things that require budget. I have been quite distracted by dramas where a character slams a door in the Chairman's office and the walls and the door wobbled! Or where the light streaming into a room appears way too unnatural.
The cast of Where Stars Land is a mixture of faces familiar and unfamiliar to me.
Lee Je-hoon's character is most unbelievable. How could a person confined to a wheelchair for 11 years be so muscular? And why did he fall in love with Chae Soo-bin's character? Perhaps this arc was fleshed out in the drama, but it didn't come out strongly for me. And why the obsession with keeping his condition a secret from her? She would eventually have to know if she returned his love, no?
I kept thinking that Chae Soo-bin somehow looked familiar and that distracted me a bit from her performance everytime she came on screen. So I googled and discovered that I did indeed see her in Love in the Moonlight - as the Crown Princess. I remembered thinking then that she ought to have more screen-time because her character was more likeable than Jung Hye-sung's in the drama.
The other actors/actresses did not leave much of an impression, except Ahn Sang-woo and Hong Ji-min who provided the comic relief in the drama.
The decision to cast Lee Dong-gun seems to be underwhelming, and the attempt to privatize the Airport was baffling. I didn't quite understand the opposition to the privatization. Is privatization is bad thing in Korea? And what of the hard-disk drive that resulted in Lee Je-hoon's character's disability? It was mentioned and not followed up with. Another loose thread there.
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