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Pierce Conran

This article contains spoilers.
3.5/5 stars
Lead cast: Park Eun-bin, Kim Hyo-jin, Chae Jong-hyeop, Cha Hak-yeon
Latest Nielsen rating: 9 per cent


After spending 15 years alone on a deserted island, Seo Mok-ha (Park Eun-bin) has come a long way in a short amount of time: upon her return to society she immediately becomes best friends with her childhood idol, singer Yoon Ran-joo (Kim Hyo-jin), and by episode nine she has signed her own contract as a new musical idol.
Given her singing skills and her guileless ability to charm everyone around her, that leaves her future all but assured. However, with almost a third of the series remaining, Castaway Diva needed more drama before the curtain could fall on Mok-ha’s story.
Castaway Diva midseason recap: thrills as Park Eun-bin saves her K-pop idol
The drama is provided by the complicated and unresolved history of the family Mok-ha has been staying with. Brothers Kang Bo-geol (Chae Jong-hyeop) and Woo-hak (Cha Hak-yeon) found Mok-ha on her island and brought her to stay with them and their parents Song Ha-jung (Seo Jung-yeon) and Kang Sang-doo (Lee Joong-ok).
But none of them is using their real name. Bo-geol is actually Mok-ha’s childhood friend Jung Ki-ho, and Sang-doo isn’t even their real father.
Sang-doo met Ha-jung while he was a civil servant and she was trying to escape her violent husband Jung Bong-wan (Lee Seung-joon). Sang-doo abandoned his own life and took her family away, moving to Seoul, where they assumed the names of another family that had disappeared.

Thanks to Mok-ha’s return to society, which thrusts her into the public eye, Bong-wan, as violent as ever, finally tracks the family down.
Seeking to reclaim his family and exact his revenge, Bong-wan exposes the family’s lies. However, Sang-doo has beaten him to the punch, preemptively confessing to his crimes.
Bong-wan has been one of the weak links through the series. He is an easy-to-hate character but he is also an arbitrary villain. Many people in Mok-ha’s orbit had the potential to become believable antagonists, but relying on a caricature like Bong-wan takes the focus away from where it should have been – on Mok-ha and her rapidly growing music career.

Ultimately, the family win out against Bong-wan in the court of law, but he attempts to get the last laugh by stabbing Sang-doo in the street and committing suicide. Since Sang-doo and Ha-jung were never officially married, Sang-doo’s death would allow Bong-wan to reclaim his family, albeit in name only.
This sudden interlude is emotional and effective but only if you do not stop to think about it.
The strangest part is that the family appear to be far more grief-stricken at having their names associated on paper with that of a dead man than at the prospect of the death of Sang-doo, a figure who abandoned his life to save them and has always been by their side.
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Thankfully, Sang-doo does not die and we can quickly carry on without thinking too hard about where this family’s priorities lie.
We jump back into Mok-ha’s side of the story, as she releases her first single and finally makes her true debut on stage, at the same event where she sang backup vocals for Ran-joo on the song “Someday” for the first time at the beginning of the series.
She debuts with “Fly Away”, a pleasant song, but like every other tune in the show it fails to live up to the early high of “Someday”.
Brought to life by the gregarious Park, Mok-ha is a delightful screen presence, but most things came a little too easily to her. Welcomed and tenaciously supported by the people around her, she seldom had to struggle in her new life.

She becomes Ran-joo’s saviour and mentee and is given several free places to stay, including a fully furnished studio from Ki-ho. Her few rivalries, such as the one with K-pop superstar Eun Mo-rae (Bae Gang-ree), quickly melt away
This may not seem to be a fair thing to say about a character who almost died out at sea and spent half her life fending for herself out in the wilderness, but the focus of the story was not on her time as a castaway, it was on what happened after that.
Even though a lot of it felt like an extended happy-ever-after coda, Castaway Diva was, from start to finish, a very enjoyable series. Park was a delight, as was her relationship with Ran-joo, and there are many little satisfying beats along the way.

Yet, given the strong ingredients on offer, the show ends on a wistful note, not for its characters but for its audience. It feels like there could have been a better show somewhere. Perhaps we’ll find it, “someday”.
Castaway Diva is streaming on Netflix.


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Netflix K-drama review: Castaway Diva – Park Eun-bin drama closes on satisfying note but leaves viewers wanting more

Park Eun-bin in a still from “Castaway Diva”.

Park Eun-bin as Mok-ha in a still from “Castaway Diva”. The K-drama comes to an end – but not before an element of thrill is introduced through the unresolved history of the family Mok-ha  has been staying with.

Cha Hak-yeon as Woo-hak in a still from “Castaway Diva”.

Kim Hyo-jin as idol Ran-joo in a still from “Castaway Diva”.

Chae Jong-hyeop (left) and Park Eun-bin as Bo-geol and Mok-ha in a still from “Castaway Diva”.

Park Eun-bin as Mok-ha in a still from “Castaway Diva”.

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The final run of episodes in Castaway Diva sees an element of thrill in the unresolved history of the family Mok-ha (Park Eun-bin) has been staying with
Given the strong ingredients on offer, it feels like more could have been made of them – the show ends on a somewhat wistful note for its audience


Castaway Diva, starring Park Eun-bin, comes to an end – but not before an element of thrill is introduced to the K-drama through the unresolved history of the family Mok-ha (Park) has been staying with.


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