Song's new K-drama draws high ratings

SEOUL • South Korean actress Song Hye-kyo made a triumphant return to the small screen last Friday with her first television drama in two years, SBS' Now We Are Breaking Up.

The first episode had the highest viewership rating of all Friday-Saturday dramas that aired over those two days. It also marked an average nationwide rating of 6.4 per cent and a peak of 8.4 per cent in South Korea.

The ratings improved the following day, with the second episode scoring nationwide viewership ratings of 8 per cent and a peak of 10.5 per cent.

The 16-part melodrama series, directed by Lee Gil-bok, centres on the love story between a fashion company design team leader Ha Young-eun, played by Song, and a renowned freelance photographer Yoon Jae-gook, played by actor Jang Ki-yong.

It kicked off with an R-rated episode in which Ha and Yoon have a one-night stand.

Though the two characters do not know each other, fate keeps bringing them together.

For Song, 39, it was not a straightforward decision to return with another melodrama just two years after tvN's Encounter (2019).

"Many fans have been waiting for my return to the small screen with another beautiful romance story, but I am certain that there are some viewers who already feel tired of watching another melodrama by Song Hye-kyo," she said in an online press conference released last Tuesday. "This made me think a lot before choosing the series."

The actress, who starred in the hit military romance Descendants Of The Sun (2016) with her former husband Song Joong-ki, decided to take the plunge as fresh life experiences meant she would approach a new romantic drama differently.

The press conference was pre-recorded in the summer because Jang, 29, was scheduled to begin his mandatory military service in late August.

The actor had most recently appeared in the fantasy drama My Roommate Is A Gumiho (2021).

He said: "I was a big fan of Song, but I never expected to meet her as a partner in a drama. When we were shooting the scenes, I think we played a lot with making silly jokes. But Song surprises me every time with how she suddenly switches to Ha Young-eun when cameras are around and makes me concentrate on my acting."

THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK