[HanCinema's Drama Review] "You Came From The Stars" Episode 21 Final

The drama wastes no time getting right to the essential conflict that defines the final episode- Min-joon's departure, and the emotional turmoil that follows for Song-I. This episode as a whole is very moody and angst-stricken. Basically, all of the emotional thrust is on making a persuasive pitch to the viewer that this drama really is going to end on a sad note, with Min-joon and Song-I permanently separated.

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The twist ending that finally resolves this question permanently...leaves something to desired. It's basically technobabble. Yes, that's right, the drama that has spent so much energy avoiding exploration of its sci-fi elements decides, at the last minute, to pull some science out of nowhere to resolve the storyline. We even get a subtitle at the bottom verifying the legitimacy of this latest technofact, virtually identical to the blurbs from earlier in the drama where Min-joon was discussing medical terms.

I want to be annoyed by this, but honestly, this is just more of the same from "You Came From The Stars". Maybe if we stretch the definition of foreshadowing really far, past events could be construed as an explanation for what happens in the ending here. What it boils down to is how you, personally, have been engaged by the romance. If you've been willing to tolerate all the stupidity this drama has gone through so far for the sake of the Song-I / Min-joon pairing, this isn't really going to be that much more of a leap.

What's been continually frustrating for me is that there was plenty of space in this drama for actual sci-fi elements, logical deductions, and serious emotional exploration and preparation for separation anxiety. But we never got any of that. Most of the oxygen was sucked out of the room by the ridiculous murder storyline. It's finally resolved here without wasting too much screentime, but I am continually annoyed by the way this drama has insisted on taking swipes on Jae-kyoung instead of dealing with more relatable problems.

Especially since even that much was fairly underdeveloped. Yeah, Hwi-kyeong's tension with his older brother has been a big part of the story. But their dad? And what kind of courtroom is this where the defendant's own attorney apparently doesn't work for the defendant? About the best compliment I can give this episode is that it's not the worst one of the set, and tonally speaking, it's about the same level of dumb we've gotten everywhere else so it's not like it ruined a perfectly good drama. That's still not much to write home about though.

Review by William Schwartz

"You Came From The Stars" is directed by Chang Tae-you, written by Park Ji-eun and features Jun Ji-hyun, Kim Soo-hyun, Park Hae-jin and Yoo In-na.