Castaway Diva is that particular case where even if a drama doesn’t match the expectations and potential it showed in the beginning, it is still a good ride with sporadic shining moments.

ABOUT

The story centers around Seo Mok Ha (Park Eun Bin) and Jung Ki Ho — both are school students who live in a coastal town. They both suffer from domestic violence by their fathers and decide to run away to Seoul when she gets an opportunity to become a singer. But circumstances separate them and Mok Ha gets stuck in an unknown abandoned island. She stays there for 15 years before being found. The story then follows her journey of becoming a singer and reuniting with Ki Ho.

REVIEW

Castaway Diva has a solid start with its childhood portion. The characters and their dynamics is established amazingly — you want to root for their success and happiness. Once we come to the present timeline, the drama fails to reach that magic. But it is still a delightful watch for the most part.

The show isn’t good in displaying the “fish out of water” hijinks when Mok Ha sees the new world after 15 years. Her stories from back when she was stuck in the island, don’t always land with desired feels or lessons. Mok Ha’s accent has been exaggerated a lot, as well as her expressions at times are more annoying than funny or adorable. She shines during emotional moments. I loved her optimism, perseverance and ebullient nature but she is also kind of one-note.

Mok Ha meets her childhood idol Yoon Ran Joo (Kim Hyo Jin). I enjoyed the funny banter between Mok Ha and Ran Joo, as well as their growth in each other’s company.

I loved both the brothers, Kang Bo Geol (Chae Jong Hyeop) and Kang Woo Hak (Cha Hak Yeon). Both have different personalities but both have heart full of warmth and compassion. Especially Ki Ho, during childhood portion and during adulthood, is a scene stealer and provides the drama with lots of heart.

The drama teases with annoying “who is Ki-Ho” mystery. The answer was very clear to me from the start but that precious time could have been used for giving us adult development of characters and the couple instead. Sigh. I’m glad they did not take all 12 episodes to reveal the secret though. And thankfully, we did not have any tension between the brothers as they both fell for Mok Ha.

I’m so happy the guy I wanted to be Ki Ho turned out to be Ki Ho and my OTP was together in the end. I loved how Mok Ha figures it out herself and what happens next with them as they confront each other. What’s disappointing is once the secret is out, we don’t get enough romantic moments between the two as the drama decides to spend time on tracks involving boys’ abusive psycho father and uninteresting dynamics between Mok Ha/ Ran Joo, Ran Joo/ Seo Joon and Ran Joo/ her mother.

I did love what we did get between Mok Ha and Ki Ho as adults — so cute, understanding and lovable. That rooftop kiss has all my heart!

I also loved the found family of the brothers, their mother and stepfather and Mok Ha — they filled my heart with so much warmth and gratification. Their dad is my favourite character on the show.

Music is one of the highlights of this story and the songs are beautiful.

THE MINUS POINTS

It is understandable that Mok Ha is ready to help Ran Joo in whatever way she can as she has been her die hard fan (but sometimes it’s irritating when Mok Ha doesn’t point out Ran Joo’s faults). But we as viewers don’t get enough reasons to care for Ran Joo. The person standing against her, her former manager and agency partner Lee Seo Joon (Kim Joo Heon) — the show is never clear if he is a good person or bad and the relationship between him and Ran Joo is confusing as well — as if the drama wants us to fill in the blanks. It is very jarring to see random, changing vibe between them.

Castaway Diva asks us the suspension of disbelief at certain occasions. The drama sometimes gets random where it’s not clear what it wants to show for a certain character or relationship. The motivations are not always lucid. It also suffers from tonal shifts as it runs like a sweet, feel-good tale on one side and as a thriller on the other.

PERFORMANCES

Park Eun Bin is bubbly and lovely. I’m definitely surprised with Cha Hak Yeon — he gives a solid performance. Chae Jong Hyeop is outstanding in every frame. It’s Moon Woo Jin who steals the limelight with his amazing talent. Kim Hyo Jin is pitch perfect. Lee Joong Ok is absolutely adorable with his endearing performance. Lee Re excels as childhood counterpart of Mok Ha..

IN A NUTSHELL

Castaway Diva comes with missed potential and multiple tracks with vibes that don’t match, but the feel-good and heartwarming plots and characters make it a worthy and enjoyable ride.

MY RATING: 8 out of 10