A story about a young woman who dreamt of becoming a diva.
The idea of the story itself is very unique in my opinion. Though there are some illogical point (regarding her survival in the deserted island), but the whole visual is super great. And the story is not merely highlighting the romance between the main leads couple. But it showed us friendship, hope, resilience, and persistence.The actors and actresses really did a great job in portraying their character. Park Eun Bin with her quirk, Chae Jong Hyeop with his talking eyes, Cha Hak Yeon with his wit, and Kim Hyo Jin with her clumsiness. I really enjoyed their acting here. So did the supporter character. Everyone was equally doing their best to portray their character.
Though the focus of the series itself is not romance, but I can feel a great chemistry between the ML and FL. They portrayed pure love. And it feels so sweet and sincere.
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Plucky, down on her luck girl makes good.
The premise is so wildly implausible that it seems like there is no way they could make it work, but Castaway Diva is a very pleasant surprise. It is every bit a showcase for Park Eun Bin and she pretty much knocks it out of the park--and this right after her star turn in the remarkable Extraordinary Attorney Woo. (Kudos to her management team!) The supporting cast is quite good too--especially Kim Hyo Jin as mentor Yoo Ran Joo. The plot has some pretty glaring holes, but just go along for the ride. It's worth it. Good, not great, but definitely worth a watch for fans of "plucky, down on her luck girl makes good" kind of dramas.Was this review helpful to you?
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"You were my ice cooler box."
A really great slice of life that could've done without the mystery side of things. The overall story hooks you and has you hooked throughout. I was at the edge of my seat every episode watching Mok-Ha's journey from island to stadium. There are a few downs towards the end, but it picks up in the last 2 episodes for a really perfect ending.The one thing I really enjoyed in this drama were all of the relationships between all of the characters. The friendship between Mok-Ha and Ran-Joo was my favorite and I couldn't get enough of it. I was honestly looking forward to their scenes more than I was the romance. Their blossoming friendship of fan to mentor is really beautiful and I loved the character development it gives Ran-Joo. The romance and overall mystery of who Ki-Ho is was worth it, but wish it could've been resolved a little earlier to get more scenes of the two of them. There are a lot of little details that you can miss with them if you don't pay attention and it really adds to their relationship. Ki-Ho keeps all of his promises.
The music is really great and just helps add to the already amazing story. A feel good drama that has you emotionally invested until the last minute.
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Very shiny but without much charm
Honestly, I think 7.5 might be too generous?? idkI genuinely had so many hopes for this drama. I’m a big fan of PEB and was holding my damn breath until this drama would be released because it sounded soo interesting. Unfortunately, at least in my opinion, this drama ended up giving too much screen time to subplots that I did not care about whatsoever (RJ shares, Ran Joo’s mother, and most of all the stupid abusive dad storyline) and not nearly enough to the parts that actually mattered and most of us came here for (helloooooooooo? romance? literally where).
This is a drama that genuinely had so much potential and had all the right tools to become successful, but it completely fumbled the execution and left me feeling quite disappointed. Couple of upsides: love love LOVE the SML, honestly he had more chemistry with PEB than CJH and was honestly just the best boy all around. So devoted to Seo Mok Ha from the very beginning, was literally fantasizing about being her childhood first love to have an excuse to be with her like cmon the flag doesn’t get any greener than that. Music was simply amazing, no doubt about that. My Spotify playlists will be blessed with many new additions. Park Eun Bin slayed as always, I will always watch her in anything and everything.
Now for biggest pet peeves: Although I enjoyed the character development of the ML, they just didn’t give him enough time to develop as an individual and then as a love interest for Seo Mok Ha, they just kind of slapped them together at the end and called it love (even when we get past how insta-lovey their childhood story was). Because of this the chemistry was just so off and I couldn’t root for the main couple since they gave them nothing to work with besides a crush from 15 years ago. Like I said before, the inclusion of many uninteresting (to me) plotlines made the plot drag so much and genuinely just made for a very dull viewing experience. I quite frankly didn’t come here to watch a batshit crazy police officer chase his family across all of Korea, I came to watch Park Eun Bin become a singer and maybe fall in love, so the fact that such a large portion of the story was focused on stalker daddy disappointed me pretty immensely.
All in all, not a terrible drama and may be a worthwhile watch, just maybe not for me. Blame my sky-high expectations or the marketing, but this drama just didn’t live up to what I had imagined in my head. If you must, at least stay for Park Eun Bin’s music. Or find the Spotify playlist, that works too lol.
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Overall bland
Should have been story of stranded girl finding her own way into stardom. But viewers got all the other things instead.Cons:
1) Drama has too many plotlines and almost each supporting characters had a backstory. As a result, i wasn`t invested in each story.
2) Character consistency or logic
Characters changes suddenly without much logic or explanation.
3) It was supposed to be Rom Com but it didn`t do both of these well. Romance was not swoony and comedy was not funny.
Pros:
1) I loved Park Eun Bin`s performance. She sold this endearing character
2) OSTs were good.
3) I loved some of the messages writer was trying to tell
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Wait, who is the main lead here?
Castaway Diva stars one of my favorite K drama actresses Park Eun Bin as Mok Ha. However, I am a "story first" kind of watcher. The fact that one of my favorite actors is included is just a bonus to me.When I initially envisioned Castaway Diva, I envisioned it as a story about overcoming trememdous odds. Overcoming enormous mental and physical suffering intertwined with loneliness and personal suffering, while still maintaining the vision, persistence and inner drive to pursue your dreams of becoming a famous singer/diva. It is possible to achieve one's goals even when facing the most adverse circumstances, with determination. Even with the psychological effects of years of isolation and loneliness, and how having a dream can help keep a person motivated even in the most difficult situations.
In reality, we got a story about child abuse on two fronts, one involving Mok Ha, and the other with Kang Geol. Both grew up in hardship caused by their fathers. Mok Ha escapes on a ferry. But after her father miraculously appears on the ferry she jumps off not far from the mainland and ends up on a deserted island where no one finds her or the island for 15 years.
In her now adult years, the time quickly passes past her teenage years (where many definite trials of survival were omitted). An abundant supply of washed up trash, combined with a variety of items that are good enough to get her by, eases the perceived hardship. She looks a little dirty and her clothing is worn. That's all the evidence we have of 15 years. A flashback shows her attempt to end her life, only to be saved by seeing a floating...cooler. Her mental state is worn a bit.
I'm not being overly critical here, these are things that actually happened. In EPISODE 1, she is rescued. My first thought was that they might be able to fill in many things through flashbacks. Furthermore, I felt the studio did not want to lose audiences to a drawn-out survival story and it would press Park Eun Bins' range once again, but I think her fans would like to see her in a different, more fairytale setting. Anyhow...
Adopting back into society is a breeze. The doctor has marked her health as good. Her skin, hair, and teeth are all in excellent health. In terms of body weight, she is in proportion to any other woman her age. It's all going well! It would have been better to just have her run away instead of having her be a castaway. With an abusive father and his death, her isolation and loneliness on a deserted island at 15, Mok Ha has been through a lot mentally. Despite this, she immediately finds strength to support her idol, Ran Joo, and launches a campaign to encourage HER comeback. It's not the other way around. In this story, Ran Joo takes center stage with Mok Ha supporting her as Ran Joo overcomes odds.
Wrapping up, overall it was a good production. Of course we have Bo Geol and Wook Hak's loving friendship and the psychotic father story. The main disappointment for me was not all the little issues as mentioned, but the fact that the ML took the role of the support person. Those who think otherwise would be fooling themselves. I just wish most of the focus was on ML.
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Very well made and perfectly balanced series
I just loved that fact that I never felt any shortcoming (or atleast prima facie I could out my finger on it), usual each series has something that it lacks, but this doesn't!! No loose ends and scene whihc makes you think that 'oh, why could the character do this or that' (there are a few scenes where you might get confused ans to why this happened, but the justification of that lies in the complexity of the character and the situation...you just need to think it thro)The story is good and is developed very well. The casting I really loved (especially the ML when she was young n the older one) and the acting as well. Here was romance and a little bit of mystery as well, just enough to keep you hooked.
This is one of the best examples of series which decided to go for a 12 episode series which fits appropriately to the story. It would have lost its charm if it was a 16 episode series.
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Their relationship / friendship is the main plot, but their romance is a subplot
==Breakdown==Background plot- 70%
Romance - 15%
Misc comedy - 15%
Background plot - Good
Romantic chemistry - Excellent
Misc comedy - Good
Production value and direction - Good
The relationship of the FL and ML was the main story, but their romance was not part of the main story The FL and ML sold the romance, but the writing of it felt a bit forced , like the writer originally wrote it with no romance, but was forced to add a romantic relationship because they were told to do so. (You'll see what I mean if you watch it).
Basically, if you're wanting a romance, this is not it. You could have replaced the romance with a deep friendship and the story would have been exactly the same. Since I went into this drama expecting a romance (because it's labeled as such) I was left disappointed with this element of the story, which is why I rated it 9 instead of 10.
However, if you're wanting a fun, entertaining, and sometimes suspenseful story about two people who are fated to be in each other's lives as good, loving friends, this is definitely the show for you.
Things that are fantastic about this drama: the music, the child actors (THEY WERE AMAZING!!), the overall message and how the story was both fantastical and realistic, and the adult leads (FL and ML) both separately in their own stories and together as deep, close friends.
The writing and direction were also very good.
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Could be better but still great nonetheless
Story:
The story revolves around Seo Mok-Ha, a 31 year-old who's pursuing a singing career and just got stranded on a deserted island for 15 years. As she goes to Seoul and settles there, she faces many hurdles to reach her dreams. There are several main problems in the story, but as the story progresses, those problems become more and more intertwined.
The story shows the complicated nature of humans' interactions in which a lot of clashes between the main protagonist and other casts are shown. I personally love the relationships between Mok-Ha and Ran-Joo, her childhood idol and later becomes her mentor, as it shows that two people with different "ideology" can still be as close as they are. For me, it is the main highlight of the story. On the other side, she also has "familial" issues, especially regarding her love interest's family (Ki-ho's).
Surprisingly, even though the story seems to have two main plot lines, they're blended well. My main criticism is the lack of main protagonist's "character moments", whether they are about her and her love interest, her and rising fame, etc. Especially about her as "diva", unfortunately, we only get those at the end. This would be better as 16 episode series.
Cast:
Park Eun Bin can never cease to amaze me with her act. Her expression and mannerism brought Mok-Ha as a character to light. Also, as the "prodigy" diva of the series, she must ensure that her singing is up to standard and she delivered big time. It also helps that her smile is full of charm, so it perfectly fitted the cheerful nature of Mok-Ha.
Kim Hyo Jin's Yoon Ran-Joo was also great. Her acting as the once-loved-by many-but-have-fallen veteran diva was surely one of the hightlights of the story. Especially her complicated thought as someone that has been betrayed couple of times, she ensuresd that Ran-Joo doesn't come up as a shallow person.
Other casts also did well. Cha Hak Yeon did amazingly well as Woo Hak and the character was well-written. Chae Jong- Hyeop seemed to have the weaker performance amongst the main casts, but I'm pretty sure it must be because his character. The supporting casts also did tremendously well.
Special mention to the young actors of Mok Ha and Ki Ho, Lee Re and Moon Wo Jin. Their early presences, while short, was memorable. They did well to establish the bond that Mok Ha and Ki Ho had in the past.
Music:
As a story about diva, they must deliver well in this part and fortunately they did. The songs are great and easy to listen. Eun Bin's soft voice also match perfectly with all of the songs she sings. I've put them on my playlist.
All and all, the story is well presented, just a tad disappointment in my part regarding some things that seems to be missing. The acting is just almost perfect.
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Should have been 16 episodes but I will forgive them since they gave us a good ending.
Since the first episode, there hasn't been a moment that I have not been in love with this drama. I watched every single episode within hours of release which is a feat for me who likes to watch both of the week's episodes at once.No character was twisted to fit the plot or their circumstances. Everyone lived to their wishes even the villains of the story didn't just serve the purpose of the villain but were their humans, from Mok-ha's father down to Ki-ho's.
My favorite part has to be the siblings. In all K-dramas with a love triangle, not a single "brother couple" was as beautiful as Wohak & Bogeol. Love isn't everything, sometimes some things are more important, and some confessions can be left unconfessed.
If you like picking flaws in dramas, I am sure you'll find a couple here and there. In my case, I can turn a blind eye to the unreal things as a favor to all the beautiful emotions they showed me. Great acting on everyone's part (besides a few very minor characters). I wished that Mok-ha's accent became a little lighter at some early point but it was inevitable given the short time the drama covers.
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Drama not what I expected... and that's not a good thing
When you watch the trailer, or even read the title "Castaway Diva" - you expect a drama about a plucky and talented teen girl dreaming of stardom who gets crash landed on a deserted island. You expect to see her adjust to modern life after being rescued and all the ups and downs that come with that.Unfortunately, that is not at all what we get.
Mokha's story is sadly placed on the backburner completely in favor of Kiho and Ranjoo. She is nothing but a background character. We get hardly anything about Mokha "adjusting" to life off the island. She seems to do miraculously well, despite having only a 10th grade education and being emotionally stunted at age 15. She is able to essentially become Ranjoo's manager immediately (again, despite having nothing but a middle school education) and seems to have no problem with modern technology. If she has trauma from the experience (which, frankly, she SHOULD) this isn't shown to us and plays no part in the story. After being alone on an island, she should be a little quirky and odd and unable to interact with other people well, but she has absolutely no problem whatsoever. I was looking forward to seeing all of those things portrayed on this drama but we got none of it.
So let's talk about what we did see.
The drama really wanted us to question, "Which brother is Kiho!?" but it was pretty obvious from the start. It also got pretty convoluted in the explanation of a certain brother losing his memory and not knowing about them changing their identities and so on. I was also so frustrated by their father. Of course, that is the point. But good god, it dragged on.
A positive note on this - the found family aspect with their step dad was magical. Truly, the greatest dad in kdrama award goes to him! What an absolute gem. We love to see it.
The other thing we saw - Yoo Ranjoo and company, which was arguably the worst part of this drama. No aspect of her story was interesting to me and there was absolutely NO resolution. I'm not sure if we are meant to view the CEO as a villain or if he was meant to be redeemed, because they didn't go 100% on either end. Especially the storyline at the end of them finding the receipt of album purchases (I won't get too into it), he gives us some complete bologna excuse that has no evidence or backing and we're just supposed to be like "Oh, OKAY!" and it is never brought up again.
All in all, the drama wasn't BAD. It was enjoyable for the most part. I just can't shake that this drama was not advertised correctly and that hindered my enjoyment tremendously. In fact, anything that was supposed to make this drama unique wasn't even there, and instead was just cliche.
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mokha is a special character. the most generous and wholesome.
amazing cast and great, memorable characters. from mokha, to kiho, to ranjoo to woohak to their father. the pilot was the best part of the show. with this and startup - the writer really has a knack for it. although it's not an all time fav, the quotes and life lessons in this drama fr. it will stick with me.and eun bin is tremendously talented. what's that voice and singing range! wow!
even the domestic violence was handled in a very realistic way. with all the hatred and revenge and everything we see in life, sometimes forgetting and moving on is the biggest punishment and revenge you can give to someone who has no consideration for your life and feelings.
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