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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.
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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