K-drama Land!

Analysis of Characters from You Who Came From the Stars - Do Min Joon

Korean dramas, atleast some of them, explore the depth of a character like no other english drama (to my knowledge). There are some dramas where you feel like hitting your head against the wall because of their stupidity and nobility. In the case of You Who Came from the Stars (my latest addiction) the writer got it right for some of them while the others I find myself wondering what the hell are they even doing on screen. 

In this post, I will be talking about Do Min Joon cause I feel he deserves a blog post of his own just for being that hot and adorable.

Do Min Joon : Where do I even begin to start describing this character. On a totally irrelevant note,  if all aliens looked like him, I wouldn't mind alien invasion :P


An abandoned alien, waiting to go home, surviving on earth taking one day at a time. In the beginning of the series, our hero is good at heart and not the brooding, soulless guy he becomes as Do Min Joon. We don’t really know his real alien name but by the time he is “Do Min Joon”, he is cynical and grouchy. Unfortunately, It’s sad knowing that it's human behaviour that made him the way he is. He wanted to help people but all that lead to was betrayal of various forms. The small faith in humanity was restored thanks to Lawyer Jang, who supported and cared for him like the way DMJ hoped for. 

One scene I find fascinating is in episode 1/2 where the alien clan is collecting samples and he moves away from the crowd and wanders by himself. He was different even among his own people. He didn't just want to explore and discover, but he wanted to feel as well. That was showcased well, when he stopped time to see the people in the village and even tried playing the game. 


And that whole levitation thing has made me curious. Why did he float into the air when YW introduced herself. Does that scene mean something or was it a standalone scene?

He essentially wasn’t too cynical though as he hoped to be, else he would not have wanted to help out SY and why in god’s name would he make a deal with the maniac of the century. But he learns from his mistakes though, which is probably why he blended into the crowd for 400 years. When pushed to the edge, he can fight back which is what he did to JK. Which I like!I like very much! But that does not negate the fact that he is one Naïve alien, like taking SM for her word. And one who is always in denial of his feelings.

For all his talk about wanting to know if she was the girl whom he saved 400 years ago, he
helped SY even before he knew her. Like breaking the phone when a student wanted to post the video of him giving her a zero for her assignment and staying with her in the hospital, letting her stay over in his place, covering her bare shoulder with his mind, though that was more cause of jealousy than being a good citizen.

The reason for his actions, according to him, was curiosity. This is total bullcrap! (Just look at his awestruck face) And though he may have forgotten, he came to the realization that she was not YW from 400 years ago in episode 3. He was attracted to her for who she was. Just admit it DJ. You fell for her like all the other men in Korea, you just don’t want to be in that lot.

He did not require to eavesdrop on the conversation of drunk SY and HK. He caught himself laughing over her behaviour and immediately realised that would not do. For someone who wanted his own privacy, he evesdropped a little too much.



I was not surprised that Do Min Joon started having feelings for her. He always was sentimental. He cared too much about people and their relationships which is why he closed himself away so he wouldn't get hurt. So he truly is not grouchy, but just a very hurt and disappointed alien. 

I was over the moon when he told Lawyer Jang he liked SY and wanted to have a future with her. But.. there is a big But here. I was initially surprised that the writer put that into the storyline so early into the series. For someone who was running away from humans for 400 years, he fell for SY in less than a month?  I would have liked to see more scenes between them before the declaration. To me it just seemed like he went from bickering to loving her. There was no bridge in between that. Buying her food, eating together was all nice. But that just made me feel like he was now realizing what being human means. There was no real scene where I could pinpoint and say "Yes! That is when he changes." Looks like I can't have everything, can I?

It was refreshing to see DJ moaning over and getting jealous over her. For being a noble idiot he was rewarded in possibly the best way. I wish more dramas followed this method. Though his intention was to push her away, heart of heart, he dint believe that she would move away from him. He almost seemed surprised by her curtness afterwards, even though that was what he wanted from her. He selfishly knew she loved him and only him. As long as he was on earth, he knew he had her love. It was only when she started moving away from him did he wake up from his noble dream and realize WTF. It is very childish of him. Its more like she can't be anybody else’s but his. I mean, you are going to be leaving the planet in a month unless you have a backup plan to stay back. If you really were a noble idiot, which you are not, you would have just let her be. For an advanced race, you certainly act very very human. No matter what faults I see in the character, I love the jealous DJ to such a point where I actually feel sorry for him.




There are aspects which I have not covered yet such as his relationships with others in the drama. I plan to cover that when I talk about the others characters in the drama. 

Do share your thoughts on my analysis. I know many of you might disagree. Let the fun begin.





1 comment:

  1. I always felt the moment he moved from just being curious, to actually liking her was right before he saved her on the boat. When he saw that clip of her saying how she was always waiting the meet the guy who saved her 12 years ago or whenever.. When he heard that, he immediately headed of to save her and after that he pretty much decided to protect here, where before he only felt burdened by her

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