Castaway Diva (2023)
10/10
Loved this beautiful, heartwarming story
17 February 2024
Warning: Spoilers
10/10 is my rating. This is a 2023 South Korean Romantic Comedy with 12, 80 Minute Episodes.

First I provide a Unique Synopsis then Review.

Synopsis

Seo Mok ha (Park Eun bin) is a girl on a mission. Her dream is to meet her female idol who made it huge and came from her very same small hometown. If she can just impress her idol with her singing enough, she might get a chance at fame herself and be able to escape her physically abusive father. Kang Bo geol/Jung Ki ho (Chae Jong Hyeop and Moon Woo jin actors) at first thought Mokha was just a frivolous girl without a care. But her happy exterior holds that dark secret and he finds out she is suffering from abuse just as he is. With that common everyday horror, and no adults who believe and support them, he decides to help Mokha realize her dream by videoing, editing and even submitting her work to her idol for a competition. It works and Mokha has an appointment with her idol which is sure to change her life. To get to Seoul, the two plan to run away together but they are separated when their plan is discovered. One battered child is forced to remain on the island and Mokha makes a desperate leap off the ship to escape her abusive father. She comes to on a deserted island and spends 15 years as a castaway who is presumed dead before finally being rescued. She is now a 31 year old who has the social skills of someone in their teens. Is it too late for her to find her lost love and finally realize her dreams?

Review

This goes down as one of my all time favorites. My preference is happy ending, heartwarming romances and this checks all those boxes. I will rewatch this and highly recommend it for anyone that likes happy ending romance, idol stories, and friends to more. It has a dark beginning, with some severe domestic violence so a caution to anyone that might feel trauma from that. Those that do evil in this either get karma served or see the error of their ways.

Spoilers

I have seen other cases where the abuser is a police officer and that makes it really difficult for victims. I felt no sympathy when her father drowned after trying to get to her on the ferry. He may have led a sad life up to that point but others do and they do not abuse other people. I understand why she still felt sad but I was glad she quickly moved on.

I felt like her separation from Yoon Ranjoo (Kim Hiyo Jin) was unnecessarily long. I get that Ranjoo had trust issues but I thought it was unreasonable for her to not even listen.

The dynamics of the boy's family and how sweet those relationships were made the show even better. A mother or father or other close family member is so much more than just the biology. I was glad the Prosecutor did not prosecute them for identity theft. They really had been through enough being abused and then hiding from, that monster.

I lobed that it showed her finally with Kiho and singing for a huge audience.
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