John Master
Orange County
To My Star Season 2: Our Untold Stories
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by John Master
The rare sequel to surpass the original...but is it still BL?
Sequels in any genre seldom please fans at the same level as the original. BL sequels enjoy no immunity from this spotty track record. Usually, a lack of freshness accounts for a sequel’s dimmer reception. Something in their formula goes stale. To My Star 2 avoids the staleness trap because TMS2 abandons the original recipe that made the first season a winner. First, by opening the series with the Kang Seo Joon and Han Ji Woo having broken up, the latter now living in a rural village hours from Seoul. Then, in case this off-screen break-up failed to alienate loyal viewers enough, TMS2 also abandons the genre formula of what makes BL BL. Viewers with the patience to stick around despite these disappointed expectations will be rewarded with a series that works on its own terms. To My Star 2 is a well-acted, well-written character study about two people who must reckon with the legacy of emotional trauma in their past to move forward with their present love.
The BL genre’s signature qualities include depicting two men falling in love with another, sticking to fairly standard rom-com tropes, and understanding what the core audience for the genre wants to see. A typical BL series wraps those elements into a fluffy storyline geared to elevate the viewer’s serotonin levels. The first season checked all three boxes and charmed in the process. To My Star 2 strays from that tried-and-true formula. Rather than light-hearted rom-com, the series delivers angsty drama. Rather than depict two men further the romance established in season 1, season 2 opens several months after the couple de-coupled. In early episodes, they scarcely interact. By departing so markedly from the original’s feel-good mood the creative team behind TMS2 boldly carves out a new formula for success.
If TMS2 does not clearly read as BL, it also cannot easily be classified as LGBTQ+. None of the drama or emotional angst revolves around anyone’s sexual identity. If the script swapped out the same-sex couple for an opposite-sex couple, no modifications to the storyline would be required. Neither the past emotional trouble nor the reasons presented for the premature end of the pair’s relationship depends on internal or external homophobia or on sexual identity. In true BL fashion, these two guys just like each other without worrying about the pesky ramifications of being gay that distinguish LGBTQ+ fare. What remains, then, is a study in the fragility of human emotion, and a story with universal overtones. Pegging any series’ entire story arc to emotional traumas that took place in the distant past is a risky endeavor, and one might fairly complain that the writers fell short of concocting a story that fully explains the behavior and reactions of either Seo Joon or Ji Woo. Nevertheless, TMS2 delivers a compelling story about two people in pain. One because he considers himself unworthy of receiving love from his partner; the other because he cannot let his partner go.
With 10 episodes approaching 30 minutes each, TMS2 has a total running time nearly double the original’s. The writers invested the extra time into world building. Support characters are more fleshed out than is possible during the curtailed runtime of the mini-BLs Korea is famous for. As with the original, the president of Kang Seo Joon’s talent agency plays an outsize role, both in his star actor’s messy personal life as well the messy professional life. With many episodes set in the rural village to which Han Ji Woo has retreated, various neighbors and villagers turn up to influence events. When Ji Woo rebuffs Seo Joon’s overtures for reconciliation, a subplot about a reality series that showcases struggling rural restaurants provides a convenient device by which the writers can inflict Seo Joon’s presence on the reticent restauranteur. To My Star 2 will never be confused with arthouse fare, but rather than simply trot out a fluffy story guaranteed to please BL fans who look for that, the creators instead developed a serious drama that allowed the two leads to become more than stock characters. The gamble was rewarded with a compelling piece of television drama.
The BL genre’s signature qualities include depicting two men falling in love with another, sticking to fairly standard rom-com tropes, and understanding what the core audience for the genre wants to see. A typical BL series wraps those elements into a fluffy storyline geared to elevate the viewer’s serotonin levels. The first season checked all three boxes and charmed in the process. To My Star 2 strays from that tried-and-true formula. Rather than light-hearted rom-com, the series delivers angsty drama. Rather than depict two men further the romance established in season 1, season 2 opens several months after the couple de-coupled. In early episodes, they scarcely interact. By departing so markedly from the original’s feel-good mood the creative team behind TMS2 boldly carves out a new formula for success.
If TMS2 does not clearly read as BL, it also cannot easily be classified as LGBTQ+. None of the drama or emotional angst revolves around anyone’s sexual identity. If the script swapped out the same-sex couple for an opposite-sex couple, no modifications to the storyline would be required. Neither the past emotional trouble nor the reasons presented for the premature end of the pair’s relationship depends on internal or external homophobia or on sexual identity. In true BL fashion, these two guys just like each other without worrying about the pesky ramifications of being gay that distinguish LGBTQ+ fare. What remains, then, is a study in the fragility of human emotion, and a story with universal overtones. Pegging any series’ entire story arc to emotional traumas that took place in the distant past is a risky endeavor, and one might fairly complain that the writers fell short of concocting a story that fully explains the behavior and reactions of either Seo Joon or Ji Woo. Nevertheless, TMS2 delivers a compelling story about two people in pain. One because he considers himself unworthy of receiving love from his partner; the other because he cannot let his partner go.
With 10 episodes approaching 30 minutes each, TMS2 has a total running time nearly double the original’s. The writers invested the extra time into world building. Support characters are more fleshed out than is possible during the curtailed runtime of the mini-BLs Korea is famous for. As with the original, the president of Kang Seo Joon’s talent agency plays an outsize role, both in his star actor’s messy personal life as well the messy professional life. With many episodes set in the rural village to which Han Ji Woo has retreated, various neighbors and villagers turn up to influence events. When Ji Woo rebuffs Seo Joon’s overtures for reconciliation, a subplot about a reality series that showcases struggling rural restaurants provides a convenient device by which the writers can inflict Seo Joon’s presence on the reticent restauranteur. To My Star 2 will never be confused with arthouse fare, but rather than simply trot out a fluffy story guaranteed to please BL fans who look for that, the creators instead developed a serious drama that allowed the two leads to become more than stock characters. The gamble was rewarded with a compelling piece of television drama.
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