Monstar

Monstar

5/10

Monstar

Genre:                            Episodes: 12                          Year: 2013

School

Melodrama

Synopsis:

After creating too many scandals, famous boy-band member Yoon Sul Chan must lie low while attending school. While in school, Sul Chan joins a band of outcasts that includes Min Se Yi- a transfer student who knows nothing about K-Pop, and Jung Sun Woo- a student with a past connection to Sul Chan.

Cast:

Yong Joon Hyung (Yoon Sul Chan)

Ha Yeon Soo (Min Se Yi)

Kang Ha Neul (Jung Sun Woo)

Kang Eui Sik (Park Kyu Dong)

Da Hee (Kim Na Na)

Kim Min Young (Shim Eun Ha)

Park Kyu Sun (Cha Do Nam)

General Thoughts:

Sadly, this drama did not live up to expectations. Sure, it was a sweet, easy watch about first love- but it wasn’t the emotional (yet fun) ride it seemed to promise to be. 

Not nearly as heart-tugging as I expected

In the beginning, the plot took small, baby-steps forward. Which of course meant that by the end the drama was rushing through storylines to ensure that all plot points were brought to a close. Unfortunately, not all plot points were brought to a satisfactory close, which left you feeling like the writers had spent too much time on irrelevant plot developments.

All kinds of musical interludes. All kinds.

And musical numbers. Boy were there a lot of musical numbers. Most were fantastic and enjoyable, giving us some insight into the abundance of musical talent in the cast, but occasionally I was left wondering at the relevance of it all. In regards to the cast, they were all pretty fabulous- both in acting and singing. Yong Joon Hyun was magical and wonderfully loveable as the confused, often stroppy young star. Ha Yeon Soo had wonderful straight-faced humour and channelled Se Yi’s feistiness perfectly. Unfortunately her character did take a bit of a dive towards the end there. And then there’s the character of Jung Sun Woo. Who was drastically and completely underdeveloped. The only upside of Sun Woo is that he has Kang Ha Neul’s amazing talent (and face) backing him. 

What Was Great:

Individual Characters:

It was wonderful that each the characters in the group were explored outside of their involvement with the band.

It's always nice when your characters have...you know...character

Kyu Dong definitely had the most attention and was the most developed of the bunch. It gave our support characters a great sense of self, rather than simply being recurring extras. Sadly, Eun Ha did get left out of the spotlight a lot, with her story arc being brushed over quickly in the last few episodes in order to actually wrap up the series’ main storylines.

First Love:

Cuties

The drama gave an interesting and adorable look at first love from several angles. We had Sun Woo who had loved Se Yi since childhood. Then there was Sul Chan and Se Yi who were confused and caught off guard by their first experiences with romantic feelings. And we were also given Na Na- who silently loved Sun Woo from a distance, and Eun Ha- who loved Sul Chan as a celebrity by putting him on a pedestal and treating him as a God rather than a boy. And we can’t forget the embarrassed, bashful bromance between Kyu Dong and Do Nam. Awesome. Much of the enjoyment of the series came from  the tangled, yet completely innocent mess of feelings from our young characters. 

Music:

The cast was insanely talented, and most of the musical numbers were delightful. I do wish we’d had a little bit more of the band as a whole as opposed to individual highlights, but oh well. 

More songs with the whole band would have been nice

What Wasn’t:

Poor Time Management:

The writers did not accurately divide up their time for the different story arcs at all. We had several episodes devoted to set-up and character introductions- and that’s a lot of time considering that it’s not a very long series.

You're just going to introduce yourself for three episodes? Alrighty then...

The middle portion dragged (focusing mainly on Sul Chan vs. Sun Woo), which left very little time to actually address the bigger mysteries of the series.

I'd be sad too if I was the only character without a story arc

Eun Ha’s segment was left far too late, and was swept under the rug in order to give enough screen time to Sul Chan and Se Yi actually developing some kind of relationship that went beyond snarky comments and small acts of kindness. And while Kyu Dong and Do Nam got the beautifully repaired bromance, there was no such collusion for Sul Chan and Sun Woo. I was actually left feeling quite confused as to why the two had ever had such a huge falling out, as it was never adequately explained. It felt strange to have so much crammed into the last couple of episodes, and so many unsatisfactory conclusions when a lot of the episodes had actually felt unnecessarily long (sitting at about 80 minutes). The drama had enough time to answer all its questions. It just chose not to.

Sun Woo’s a Butt:

All the best parts of Sun Woo were definitely Kang Ha Neul, so he managed to remain a likeable character for most of the drama. Until, oh wait, he becomes a giant prick. 

What. A. D*ck.

He treats Na Na like trash- all while being well aware of her feelings for him and her difficult situation. Not to mention he’s feeling the pain of unreciprocated feelings himself. Yet he apparently has no qualms about treating Na Na like she’s invisible. I mean really. What a butt.

Re-watch?

Nope.

It had promise, but kinda failed to deliver