Recap Korean Drama "To My Star 2: Our Untold Stories" Episode 3

As Ji-woo waits for Seo-joon to complete his advertisement filming schedule, episode 3 of To My Stars 2 catches up with Sung-yoon. The two talk about how she is still in touch with their mutual friend, Da-kyung the mother of Yoo-ha. Sung-yoon states that Ji-woo is the only one she lost touch with but that she hopes to reconcile with him now that she is back from the states.

Ho-min overhears their conversation and informs Seo-joon that Sung-yoon and Ji-woo have been long-time friends. The actor and his manager barge in as Ji-woo and Sung-yoon are still conversing as Seo-joon informs the brand’s design manager that he would be leaving with Ji-woo.

She thanks him for his work and tells Ji-woo that she will catch up with him later. Seo-joon and Ji-woo go back to their house and the chef starts collecting his belongings from the house. He forces Ji-woo to take away their pictures and throw them out himself.

The actor then hands over Ji-woo’s toothbrush and other daily items including the shirt that Seo-joon had taken with him from Ji-woo’s house. Seo-joon states that the shirt had started smelling like Ji-woo which is why he wanted nothing to do with it anymore. Ji-woo takes the leave but Seo-joon stops him in his tracks leading him to the basement.

A flashback shows that Seo-joon had gifted Ji-woo a car for his birthday that the chef was surprised about. Ji-woo does not accept the gift but Seo-joon states that the car would make the chef’s daily commute easier.

Present-day Ji-woo points out that since the car did not belong to him or was not accepted by him, he would not take it. Seo-joon asks him if Ji-woo was really going to leave him after all. The chef states that a gift that should make one’s heart flutter had flustered him in the past.

Ji-woo adds that neither Seo-joon nor him were in the wrong in this situation. He points out that the two were just very different from each other which is why they just did not fit together. He calls Seo-joon out for still wanting to date him despite knowing this and takes the leave with his belongings.

That night Seo-joon is having drinks with Ho-min and Pil-hyun when the manager states that throwing out belongings from one’s ex is the first step to healing after a breakup. Pil-hyun asks Seo-joon to delete Ji-woo’s photos from his phone but the actor states that he had already done so.

Seo-joon promises to dedicate all of his attention to work as he plans on becoming a workaholic. The next day, Ji-woo is back in his hometown as he gets to work on a bicycle. That day, Sung-yoon too returns to her hometown and gets praised by the village chief for being generous towards the villagers in the past.

At his shoot, Seo-joon is filming an intense scene with his co-star. The director asks Seo-joon to start crying on cue but the actor is not able to deliver without using a tear stick. He is upset about the actor being angry and states that Seo-joon had been disrespectful towards him.

Seo-joon is in his car with Ho-min when he gets a call from someone familiar. Meanwhile, Yoo-ha is back from school at Ji-woo’s restaurant when the village chief pays him a visit. He informs the chef that they were holding a welcome party for Sung-yoon and wanted Ji-woo to take care of the food for the feast.

Yoo-ha helps Ji-woo as he prepares a menu for the upcoming feast when Da-kyung comes back from work to pick her up. The mother is overwhelmed at work and cannot give Yoo-ha enough attention and time as she struggles to make ends meet by overworking herself.

Da-kyung gathers Yoo-ha’s belongings as Sung-yoon drops by to greet them. She will be staying over with Da-kyung for her stay in the village. When Ji-woo informs her that he was going to stay up for the night to cook for the upcoming feast, she offers to stay back to help him.

However, Da-kyung asks her to join them on their way home. Over the next few days, Ji-woo, Sung-yoon, and Yoo-ha prepare for the feast as the two adults catch up with a young Yoo-ha lingering. On the day of the feast, the villagers are complaining about the international dishes prepared by Ji-woo.

As the villagers chomp down on the food, the village chief raises a toast to Sung-yoon. He then invites a special guest who is none other than actor Seo-joon who makes a grand entry with a performance that bags him big cheers from the villagers.

The prologue has a flashback that shows Seo-joon sitting at his desk after having drinks with Ho-min and Pil-hyun. On his computer, Seo-joon opens a folder that has multiple sub-folders with names that warned him from opening them.

When he gets to the final folder, it is named ‘Han Ji-woo’ which opens up to all of his memories with Ji-woo. Turns out, Seo-joon had made a backup of all the photos and videos before deleting them from his phone. Seo-joon gets emotional and cries cherishing his old memories with his ex-boyfriend.

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The Episode Review

The show is now getting to the point where it is obvious that Ji-woo loves Seo-joon and that there is another reason that is making him stay away from the latter. This also seems like a half-hearted effort to save a show that had a stellar start with its first season as the makers are set on giving it a new season to tell fans “more” about the characters when there already was a perfect ending in Season 1.

There are no labels which is why it is interesting to see the entry of a potential threat to Seo-joon’s relationship with Ji-woo in the form of Sung-yoon, a female ex of Ji-woo. It will be interesting to see how Sung-yoon approaches her feelings for Ji-woo that are still there, and how Ji-woo will address the change he had when he fell in love with a man – Seo-joon.

One thing I really notice about Korean BL’s is that they are directed to show the internal battles that the main leads are fighting. They are not questioning the society or the circumstances the homosexual community is dealing with – something that is mildly being explored by Thai BLs off-lately.

With Seo-joon’s character adamant to win back the man he loves, we know that the couple will get together in the end and the show to end with a happily ever after. However, it feels like Korean BLs need to start addressing major issues in the Korean society about the stigma around same-sex relationships.