Revisiting Jun Ji-hyun’s My Love From The Star with Kim Soo-hyun: An absurdly lovable fever dream

While Jun Ji-hyun has an admirable list of credits to her name, it’s the show My Love From The Star that really established and cemented her position as a top Hallyu star. It’s a pity not much is made of it today, even though it topped the ratings at the time and she received numerous accolades for her performance. It definitely had more story and substance than the shows that released at the time, including the dragged-out Heirs, which somehow spurred the Hallyu wave further.

My Love From The Star didn’t possess rich CEOs and warring families that condescended middle-class women, but instead, gave equal attention to the woman, as well as the man. In a time when K-drama women were relegated to a certain set of traits, Jun Ji-hyun was almost like a breath of fresh air. She couldn’t completely break free of the damsel-in-distress tropes (let’s be real), but she brought such a flourish to her characters that she didn’t seem like many other hapless heroines in K-Dramas at the time. It’s her greatest strength, which was seen in the marvellous fever dream, Legend of the Blue Sea with Lee Min-ho as well.

My Love From The Star is a delightfully mad and absurd dramedy, about an alien, Do Min-joon (Soo-hyun) who has spent over 500 years on Earth and really wants to go home. Except, there’s one small hitch in this plan — he falls in love with his eccentric neighbour, an irritable actress, by the name of Song-yi (Jun Ji-hyun). He’s stoic and expressionless; she’s just the opposite. She’s loud and vivacious and has the tendency to drive him over the edge. She lands in life-threatening situations on several occasions and he has to find a way to save her, every time.

It isn’t quite a straightforward love story; there is mystery, action and bizarre comedy mixed into it, stretched over a span of 20 episodes. It gets wearisome at times, but Jun Ji-hyun’s antics somehow pull you further into the story. She brings a whole new definition to quirky in My Love From The Star, as evident from her barbed exchanges with Do Min-joon and the comical scrapes she finds herself in. She isn’t only about the quirks; Jun Ji-hyun hits hard with emotional punches when you’re least expecting it. Song-yi isn’t completely likable, but strangely, Jun Ji Hyun brings out a rather realistic female character in a 2013 drama. She is almost annoying to the point of being loathsome sometimes, but somehow, you still want to watch the story of this character unfold.

However, My Love From The Star isn’t just about the peculiar relationship between an alien and an actress. It focuses on Song-yi’s interpersonal relationships, the fragile bonds with her mother, school-friends who might even be traitors, and a man who has always been in love with her. There is a gradual softening that happens throughout the show, and her armour slowly cracks as she falls deeper in love with Do Min-joon.

While there are many memorable scenes from the show, including the touching final kiss between them, the most heart-breaking one is when he explains that he needs to leave for good, as they watch the skies. He tries to tell her not to engage in any excessive melodrama, and she silently cries upon listening to his instructions. As she turns to tell him that she can’t forget him, he’s gone. She keeps calling out to him in anguish and says that she didn’t say what she wanted to, but realises she is just screaming into oblivion as he’s already long gone.

It’s always a joy to watch Jun Ji-hyun in her shows, because she plays such wonderfully unpredictable characters, that you never know quite what you’re in for. In her entire list of credits that include thrillers and romantic comedy, My Love From The Star continues to have a peculiar shine, even ten years on.