Behind Every Star (Review)

(연예인 매니저로 살아남기; aired from November 7 to December 13, 2022; 12 episodes)

Behind Every Star is a comedy drama about a celebrity agency managing TV and movie stars. In a sort of fourth wall breaking the show features real Korean actors who play themselves. The show is scripted as a procedural drama where each episode focuses on particular actor(s) and their problems.

There are four leads of the show: Ma Tae-oh (Lee Seo-jin), who is a director of Method Entertainment, the talent agency in question. His arc is connected with another leading character, So Hyun-joo (Joo Hyun-young), his out-of-wedlock daughter who works as an agent in the agency. Ma Tae-oh hides the existence of Hyun-joo from his wife and son, nevertheless he reconnects with his daughter, and much of the show is devoted to their relationship, and how the whole situation is affecting them. It seems that for Joo Hyun-young it’s her second role in K-Drama after her acclaimed debut in Extraordinary Attorney Woo, although both her performance and character in Behind Every Star are much different from Geu-ra-mi in Extraordinary Attorney Woo.

In addition to these two, there is Chun Jane (Kwak Sun-young), a manager at the agency, who tries to navigate between work and her personal life, with not much success regarding the latter. She is later involved in a sort of secondary romance arc. And finally, Kim Jung-don (Seo Hyun-woo), a team leader at the agency, who is infatuated with an actress under his care, which leads to some predicaments.

Among guest stars there are: Claudia Kim as herself, an actress who tries to return to acting after having a child; Oh Na-ra as herself, an actress who is conflicted with a co-star on a film set; Daniel Henney as himself, an actor who finds himself in a misunderstanding leading to a conflict with a film director, and many others.

The main plot of the show revolves around financial problems of Method Entertainment, and how our main characters are dealing with that. The agents deal with the problems and quandaries of the actors under their care, at the same time trying to rescue their company.

Despite the show is framed mostly as a comedy it attempts to show the real work of celebrity agents and actors behind the scenes. As such, it provides some insight into the inner workings of the Korean entertainment industry. The viewers can learn about some specifics of how that looks in Korea, although, I presume, it’s not that much different from anywhere else. I guess the biggest advantage of the show are the star appearances from real Korean actors. Nevertheless, you have to be well versed in the Korean entertainment industry to recognize everybody.

Besides that, the show doesn’t have much else going on: in general, it is a sort of soap opera focused on the talent agency, where the agents employed there deal with their work and everyday problems. So, unless you’re here for all the cameos and guest appearances, there is not much else excitement in this show. Nevertheless, the show will have a second season, so let’s hope it’s going to be more engaging.

Behind Every Star on Wikipedia and MyDramaList