Hi everyone!

I hope you guys enjoyed my episode 1-2 notes on A Virtuous Business (here!) and my episode 1-2 notes on Family By Choice (here!).

Today I’m sharing my episode 1-2 notes on Jeongnyeon: The Star is Born, because I am taking to it very well, and I was wondering if you’d like to join me? 🤗

These are my episode 1-2 notes, exactly as they appear on Patreon, ie, without screenshots (I’m saving those for the actual review).

I hope you all enjoy, and I hope you’ll consider joining us over on Patreon, for the rest of the discussions! ❤️

Episode notes:

E1-2. I’m invested in this one, and right away, my friends. 🤩

To be honest with you guys, I hadn’t been too sure of what to expect, because Show had looked like it would be good in the trailers, but part of me had wondered if it might turn out to be too highbrow for me to appreciate.

After all, I know nothing about pansori, and I don’t have a special interest in this time period either.

I was hopeful that I would like it, regardless, because of the amazing cast, but I was also a little concerned, y’know?

Well, I needn’t have worried.

I am taking to this very well, and right away. It’s not highbrow like I’d worried; it actually feels very accessible, to my eyes.

In fact, if I had to pinpoint the thing that’s really grabbing me the most, it would be the underdog part of our story, because I do love me a good underdog story. 🥲

And this is a very solid one, from the looks of it.

Immediately, I love Jeongnyeon, our protagonist. In Kim Tae Ri’s hands, she’s so earthy, spunky, expressive and full of heart.

I love that she loves to sing, not because she has a gift and wants to show it off, or make use of it; she just loves how it feels.

Yes, she does see the practical upsides to being able to sing well, because when she sings, she sells fish a lot faster at the market, and she sees that as a good thing, even though Mom is constantly making her promise not to sing.

On this point, I think it’s clear by the end of these episodes, that Mom must be Gongseon, the gifted singer who opens our story in that flashback, who’s mentioned by several characters in wistful, curious terms, because she’d suddenly disappeared.

And when Jeongnyeon insists that Mom give her a reason to explain why she can’t sing, Mom simply says that she will get hurt.

Clearly, Mom had gotten hurt herself, because of her singing, and she doesn’t want her children to have anything to do with that scene, in case they get hurt too.

We don’t know how Mom had gotten hurt, but perhaps it has something to do with her being treated like she was a courtesan? Because Mom does say that at one point, when Jeongnyeon wants to sing; that she’s not a courtesan.

This isn’t hard to piece together from a drama perspective, and I would be verrry surprised if the truth is different from what I’ve just deduced.

However, I am actually glad to have that context settled (or so I think), because now I feel like I can just focus on Jeongnyeon’s journey.

The moment that changes the direction of Jeongnyeon’s life, is the moment that star Gukgeuk performer Moon Okgyeong hears her singing at the market, because that’s what convinces Okgyeong to seek out Jeongnyeon, and scout her.

On a tangent, I must say it’s a little trippy seeing Jung Eun Chae dressed in such an androgynous manner, and being called the Prince of Maeran, after seeing her be such a feminine beauty in The King: Eternal Monarch.

I’m impressed by her range!

Also, I believe that this drama has opted to omit the lesbian loveline that’s in the webtoon source material, but it does feel like Show’s giving Okgyeong a bit of a male lead flavor, almost?

It’s in all the little ways that Okgyeong is, towards Jeongnyeon, like how she’s jaded with life, but brightens once she encounters Jeongnyeon, and then how she seeks her out, and always seems to have a little twinkle in her eye, when she looks upon Jeongnyeon.

It’s all the things that I would expect a traditional male lead to do, and I’m curious to see how Show manages this, going forward.

Honestly, despite Jeongnyeon’s love for singing, I’m pretty sure that she wouldn’t have gone to that performance, if she hadn’t heard that Okgyeong had become wealthy from singing.

Because, at the heart of it, Jeongnyeon wants to take care of her family, and it’s because she sees that glimmer of hope, that singing could be the thing that she could depend on, to lift her family out of poverty, that she goes to that performance.

And it’s that performance, that really gets under Jeongnyeon’s skin in a whole new ways, which eventually leads her to seek out Okgyeong, to pursue the idea of singing.

I do really like the mentor-mentee relationship that we see growing between Okgyeong and Jeongnyeon, as Jeongnyeon spends days on end, training with Okgyeong.

It really feels like Jeongnyeon is a duck taking to water, as she learns from Okgyeong; she isn’t fantastic at every single thing right away, but you can tell that she really enjoys it, and is passionate about it.

I love that scene where she’s practicing her dance steps, while putting out the laundry; it encapsulates so well, just how much passion she has for it. 🥲

I knew that it was coming, but when Mom finds out about it and locks Jeongnyeon away without food or water, I felt crushed on Jeongnyeon’s behalf.

What a terrible thing to happen, just when she’s making progress!

The scene when Unnie Jeongja begs Jeongnyeon to tell Mom that she’ll never think about gukgeuk again, is so heartbreaking and so poignantly delivered by both actresses.

Unnie’s fear for Jeongnyeon is so real, and Jeongnyeon’s breathless, tearful conviction is so raw, that I found myself choking up at it all.

And then even more so, when Unnie sets Jeongnyeon free and takes her to see Okgyeong, despite knowing that Mom would likely punish her severely for it, and that this would mean sending Jeongnyeon away, likely for a very long time. 😭

Their tearful goodbye scene had me by the heartstrings; I felt like I could taste their sacrifice, made so that Jeongnyeon would be able to pursue her dream, and thereby save her family from poverty. 💔

Afterwards, our setting shifts to Maeran Gukgeukdan’s headquarters, and I find myself immediately immersed in rooting for Jeongnyeon to prove herself as the underdog.

It’s a little predictable that the others would look down on Jeongnyeon for being a country girl, and also, be suspicious of her because she’d been brought in by Okgyeong, but I’m lapping it all up anyway.

I love how unabashed and fearless Jeongnyeon presents herself to be, even when she is sometimes scared.

I also love that Jeongnyeon is quick to admire talent in others, instead of taking pride in her own.

She always defaults to approaching others in a friendly manner, and only becomes competitive when others throw down the gauntlet and challenge her. I like that about her.

I like that Jeongnyeon makes a fast friend in Jooran, who seems like a genuinely nice person.

But I do think that the bigger friendship to come, will be the one between Jeongnyeon and Yeongseo.

Currently, Yeongseo’s full of disdain for Jeongnyeon and they’re kind of at loggerheads, but I expect that this will eventually give way to a deep friendship, where they’ll be able to respect each other as worthy rivals.

At least, that’s my hope. 🥲

Right now, it looks like Jeongnyeon’s got the odds stacked against her, with this bet that she’s got going on with that Mean Girl, which has her suddenly playing the main role in the upcoming student performance, when she’s barely been an understudy trainee for a few days.

But, like Okgyeong says, Jeongnyeon’s destined for bigger things, so I’m confident that she’ll figure it out somehow, in our next episodes.

Also, I have no idea whether everyone is doing their own singing, but it sounds like it, to my ears?

As in, to me, it does sound like their own voices, although I wouldn’t be able to say for sure.

But consider me impressed either way, coz I find it all very convincing.

And, even to my untrained ears, I feel like I can appreciate it when characters look on in wonder, at someone who’s got an amazing voice.

Even though I know nothing about pansori, I feel like I can hear that the alleged amazing voices do sound better, richer and more expressive, than average.

All in all, I genuinely enjoyed these episodes, and am even a little sorry, that I have to wait, for the next episodes to drop. 🥲

Edited to add: Yes, they are indeed doing their own singing! Behind-the-scenes pansori training video here!

*This show is being covered on the Ultimate Early Access (US$25) Tier on Patreon*

To view episode 1-2 notes in Patreon, along with everyone’s comments, you can go here!

You can find my Patreon page here, and for all future episode notes for this show you can click here.

Episodes 5-6 notes will be out very soon! I hope you’ll consider joining us!

It’ll be a way to have fun, and support me at the same time? 🥲❤️

PS: For more information on what the Patreon experience is like, you might like to check out my Patreon update post for October, which you can find here!