Castaway Diva

Starting off this show, I thought that the child actors were just going to have a few scenes. I was a little annoyed when I realized that it was more than that, until they stole my heart with their earnest and heartbreaking performances. It was impossible to not be rooting for them so hard after that.

Of course the premise of the show is a little ridiculous and the show really leans into the absurd nature of her past rather than what would actually be an extremely traumatic experience. I feel that this choice was made because of the already very bleak and upsetting depiction of domestic violence and the show wanting to still have some lighthearted moments.

I think what worked best in this show was Ki-ho and his dedication to Mok-ha. Every choice he made in his life revolved around her. His unwavering devotion to her was so beautiful. I really wish they had shown more of their romance. His family was so precious and I would watch an entire show based on the backstory of the mom and dad running away together.

What worked the least in my opinion was the music industry bit. The show spent so much time focusing on the shares when that storyline not only didn’t really make sense but also was uninteresting. Ran-jun could be pretty frustrating to watch and her romance plot line was tiring. The show would have been better with less focus on the music industry.

The portrayal of domestic violence was definitely meant to show how deeply unfair the legal system was towards victims. This was a very important message but it felt like even the show was giving their bio dad too much grace. It felt crazy that fighting back against someone who is attacking you and your family was shown as almost equivalent to being abusive? Just let the guy punch his dad, he deserves so much worse.

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Barf

When I watched Memories of Alhambra, I truly thought I’d seen the very bottom of the K-drama barrel. Little did I know there were even more idiotic shows waiting to be discovered—shows like Castaway Diva. I’ll keep this review relatively short.

The main plot of this show follows the rise to stardom of a crude, poorly written, poorly acted, and thoroughly unlikeable protagonist, guided by her unbelievably pathetic mentor. Obviously, there’s nothing interesting going on there. The secondary plot centers on characters hiding from a villain who has absolutely no power over them—a villain who could easily be apprehended with a single phone call to the police.

It’s already evident by the end of episode 2 that the writers have used up what little plot they had, yet they stretch the whole thing needlessly into 10 more episodes. And what a drag it is. Conflicts that could’ve been resolved within minutes end up taking months, while problems are exaggerated into something much bigger than they actually are. This just might be the worst Korean drama I’ve watched to date.

To be fair, the cinematography and music are actually good—but that only makes the rest of the show more frustrating. It’s like wrapping garbage in pretty packaging: it might look polished and sound pleasant, but it doesn’t change what’s inside.

The characters are shallow, with their motivations and decisions switching in an instant. The plot depends entirely on these characters being the dumbest, most inefficient versions of themselves—and so they are. The actors, meanwhile, are either doing too much or not enough, and they seem unbothered either way.

Clearly, the writers of this show have no basic understanding of the entertainment industry, law, human psychology, pop culture, geography, memory, survival, or even the fundamentals of storytelling. Now, these aren’t things I expect the average person to be an expert in, but when you’re writing a show that deals with such concepts, you at least owe it to your audience to do some research.

I say this in all seriousness: the writing and character work in Castaway Diva makes Hierarchy look like a masterpiece. Some people simply weren’t born to be storytellers. The writer of Castaway Diva is one of them.

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"그러니까... 나 좀 구해주세."

There have been fewer dramas about solo K-pop singers with a truly moving and outstanding screenplay. Until now! This drama shows how the performers not only have to compete with each other but fight their own fears and regrets as well.

🔸The wide scale of an ocean with myriad stranded islands and of Seoul seething with individuals aspiring to become someone is the ultimate metaphor for the show about breaking free to pursue your passion. The theme combination of domestic violence/not being allowed to dream and performing arts makes it even more impactful and relatable, as for me. Abusers don't deserve to be remembered, passionate artists do.

🔸It is definitely a terrible exaggeration to imagine 15 to 10 years for Mok Ha to stay in great physical and vocal shape on the deserted island. It's so much more effective to demonstrate how fast the world - specifically, the K-entertainment industry - changes if the period of Mok Ha's isolation lasted 7 or even 5 years. In addition, it would be great if the story included Mok Ha's attempts to preserve her voice, practice guitar chords on some bamboo stick and composing songs with the sounds she could imitate with improvised tools. As we all know, it is art and creation that helps you cope with difficulties and heal your traumas.

Said that, Castaway Diva is still the most wholesome and inspiring story that takes its place in my heart forever. Thank you, amazing actors and the crew! Park Eun Bin's saturi sounds so cute, and the young actors did an incredible job!⚡

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Good acting from Park Eun Bin, but mediocre script.

Cast Away is the story of a young girl who dreams of becoming a singer but is lost and stranded on an island for 15 years until she is found by her high school friend, who helps her fulfill her dream.

My Reviews:
1. The entire cast, especially Park Eun Bin, performed exceptionally well. She is a good actress. I loved her in Extraordinary Attorney Woo and the King's affection.
2. The plot of the drama is decent, but nothing special.
3. Predictable ending.

I am giving it a 7.5 rating for good acting and mediocre script. I wonder if she did her own singing, if so, she sings well.

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Sadly I'm not impressed by Park Eun Bin this time.

I gave 1 star for acting, only because of Park Eun Bin. Although I love her as an actress and she is great at what she does, this time I'm not impressed by her. Everyone else in the cast did a great job with their given role.
While Park Eun Bin delivered a commendable performance as an attorney with Asperger's syndrome in "Extraordinary Attorney Woo," her portrayal in "Castaway Diva" seems to reflect a lack of versatility. Despite the distinct premise of the new drama, her character appears to carry over the traits of her previous role, making it challenging for viewers to connect with the intended narrative of a woman stuck in time on a deserted island. The persistent portrayal of Asperger's syndrome in a completely different context may hinder the authenticity of the character and impact the overall viewing experience. It would be interesting to see Park Eun Bin explore a broader range of emotions and character dynamics in future projects.

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PURSUING DREAMS with DRIVE and PERSISTENCE

Dreams can take us in many directions towards a goal. Sometimes, along the way, there are obstacles: Jealousy, Greed, Self-Destruction; Self-Discovery, Survival, Triumph! “Castaway Diva” is that story. It deals with the struggles of family, and how they interact on a scale of imperfection and dysfunction, to unity and joy. It shows how misunderstandings, low self-esteem, selfishness, and loss of confidence can hamper one’s professional growth and development. It highlights surpassing those defeating thoughts, by undergoing introspection, towards survival and success. I liked the show’s definition of family-whether it be biological, career, components of the wilds, or whatever. In the end, it’s about feeling whole. I thought the initial episodes had an element of goofiness. I debated if it was the English dubbing, or simply the role of the characters. It just appeared incongruous. In the end, I was enlightened by the show. And although extended minutes to each hour, I liked that there were only 12 episodes.

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cute..

Castaway diva is a coming-of-age Korean drama. It deals with heavy topics such as domestic abuse but pursuing dreams despite such hardships. While it only has 12 episodes, each episode is about 80 minutes long amounting to a standard drama.

What I liked:
• character development- Most characters seemed to go through a character development. Both Woo-hak and Bo-geol (Kiho) learned to express their emotions and not take people for granted. Mok-ha matured and stopped running from her problems. Yoon Ranjoo started trusting others and became less concerned with money and fame. And I could go on.
• solid acting- I had relatively high expectations for the acting performances, since I knew all the actors are fabulous. I think it is safe to say that they didn’t disappoint though the real applause goes to the child actors, who did an incredible job.

what I disliked:
• highly unrealistic- This drama tries to be somewhat relatable and showcase various obstacles one has to overcome. However, it fails to do that because of the situations that are just way too difficult to imagine. Additionally, this results in several plot holes as well. The idea of someone surviving on an abandoned island for 15 years in it of itself is already absurd, but the fl is shown wearing various kinds of clothes. Where did she get them, when she jumped in the water without any things on hand? Personally, I found the plotline with the male lead’s father a bit over the top, too. This is a shame, since it discredits aspects of the drama that were actually really well done and relatable.
• the murder attempt (ep 11)- I thought this was so unnecessary, cliché and unrealistic. I understand that it was supposed to be a way of giving the characters’ development, but neither did I find it interesting nor touching.
• Yoon Ranjoo- I just found her really annoying a lot of the time.. In my opinion, she was even more reckless and immature than Mok-ha..
• low rewatch value- This isn’t a huge setback, but I don’t really see myself ever rewatching Castaway diva, as it feels like a one time watch. I don’t think that rewatching it would give me anything new.


Overall, Castaway diva was a nice watch full of both emotional and cute moments. Having said that, I don’t think it was too memorable and there are better kdramas out there.

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good core story but a bit dragged out

I wasn't sold on the title but PEB’s acting in recent projects(TKA & EAW) influenced me to start this. She is that good.

The plot was pretty original. At its core this is just a story about a girl with a dream and an unexpected friend who helps her achieve that dream. You could say some aspects were unrealistic but the whole “I survived on an island alone for 15 years” thing was done rather well imo. The plot with Kiho’s dad and LRJ dragged out a bit longer than they should have. Ideally this show could've been 8 eps with far less filler but then it would've run the risk of rushing the finale. The writer did her best to subvert expectations about which brother was Kiho but it was obvious early on. I did second guess myself a few times. I'm sure others did too.

The characters were fine. Younger Kiho and Mokha are the story, and they beautifully set the tone for the story going forward. It's a shame the momentum they set up faltered. I wasn't impressed with the progression of RJ’s character. Her motives towards MH were selfish but I don't blame the FL for puting putting up with it. She was too pure in that sense. I don't like how they ended Bong Wan’s arc. I understand him not being seperated from his family but his last actions were a bit much.

The acting was good from everyone. PEB really immerses herself into her characters. Shout out to those kid actors. They really set the emotional tone and brought so much weight to the story with their heavy performances. N surprised me with the few emotional scenes he got. He had a bit more to work with than in Mine. As much as I dislike their characters, the actors depicting Kiho and MH’s dads played their roles really well.

The finale was ok. The longer the show dragged on the worse it became. This was 12 eps and yet I felt even that was too long. This felt similar to Start up. Both shows have the same screenwriter and it shows...Strong start but rocky finish. And waaaaay too much filler. At its core this is about a girl with a dream and an unexpected friend who helps her achieve that dream. In the end we got to see Mokha stand on stage and make it as a star, which was a bit emotional. PEB did a phenomenal job with the singing. She's in her idol era here and I love to see it.

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Only the first episode is good, the rest is mid (derogatory)

The first episode has a TON of rewatch value. It has such a different sensation from the rest of the drama that you'd think it was from another series. The child actors played their challenging roles extremely well with so much heart. In comparison, the rest of the drama has an unserious attitude coupled with a weighty plot making it unenjoyable and difficult to finish. The younger versions of everyone also had 1000x better chemistry/synergy than the main cast had. Mok Ha's circumstances weren't acknowledged properly by the story, I know the other characters got their own problems too but selfless FL surrounded by selfish people (the idol industry ppl ESPECIALLY including her bias) will always be extremely unentertaining and unoriginal. The worst of the supporting characters got more screen time than the actually supportive supporting characters. The adult leads' chemistry lacked charm but at least the mystery wrapped up decently. 5 stars because the first episode was THAT good. It carried. AGAIN, the first episode was amazingly fresh with the rest of the series being uncreative to say the least.

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chaotic and cheerful family abuse story

this story is about children overcoming abuse from their father. I know a lot of people loved it so much, but I didn't (not as much). why?

1st: 12 episodes seems to be a few, but the duration is 1:20 hour. that means the show has 14 episodes lasting 1h. it's not so far from the usual 16;
2nd: there is a lot of things happening during these 12 episodes: a music star being born, an old music star surviving the decline of her career, 2 families getting rid of their abusive father (this alone should have been enough), and how a young girl got lost on a remote island and how she got rescued, and how she adapted again in the society (this also alone should have been enough). the result is a little bit overwhelming. I really think that the quality of the show would have been better if they chose to focus on less main subjects.
3rd: the music was nice, but I didn't LOVE any of them.

what I loved: the actors were really good, especially the young actors. the atmosphere of the show was very well transmitted. the writer did a very good job sharing his views about the complexities of relationships. you are sometimes very mad at some characters then understand that they had their own reasons and it's forgivable. I think that it can be very interesting to re-watch the show.

audience: not under 15 because there is some violence
when to watch: it's a dense story, watch it on week-end so you'll have some time process it.
even if it's mostly cheerful I didn't find it relaxing.

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Empty plot and waste of time , she gained three life lessons in her 15 years of solitude. Two of which she kept repeating over and over again
Near the end she repeated those again and mom was like skiiiipppppppp

And worse are the crazy fans saying “is thinking a luxury” whenever someone criticizes this flat writing, it’s funny even writers are “excused” like the foot actor oppas
Of course if the plot sucks, it’s the writers fault
It’s not my fault for not being smart enough to see something that’s not there, which is a well written coherent plot🫥

They had zero plot and made it worst with their stupid conflicts
The dad better not die, the abuser should tho

Beside that stupid angst, how the heck did they not see him coming from the front, especially if he got close enough to stab, and the way they filmed it to not show how it was done is cuz they knew they were being illogical

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