▲This photo, provided by KBS, shows scenes from 'If You Wish Upon Me." (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

 

 

SEOUL, August 11 (Yonhap) -- South Korean drama airing every Wednesday and Thursday “If You Wish Upon Me” by broadcasting service KBS featuring stories of hospice hospital and those preparing for the last moments in life, started off its journey with over 3 percent viewing rate.

According to the Nielsen Television Audience Measurement provided on Thursday, premiering episode of “If You Wish Upon Me” featuring Ji Chang-wook and Choi Soo-young which aired at 9:50 p.m. on Wednesday recored 3.6 percent of viewing rate.

First episode of the drama featured the first encounter of Yoon Gyeo-rye acted by Ji Chang-wook who gets released from prison sentence and a hospice hospital’s nurse Seo Yeon-joo, acted by Choi Soo-young.

Protagonist Yoon Gyeo-rye successfully finds 320 million won which he hid before he got incarcerated, however the suspense increases throughout the show as members of the criminal organization chases after the protagonist for the missing money.

Female protagonist of the drama Seo Yeon-joo, who knows everything about the hospice hospital gets on an ambulance with the leader of the volunteer group in order to make Mr. Yoon acted by Jung Dong-hwan’s last wish come true. Mr. Yoon’s last wish was to spend the last moment of his life next to his wife who has passed a while ago.

On their way to Mr. Yoon’s wife’s cemetery, the ambulance gets in a car accident with Yoon Kyeo-rye’s car, due to the accident, Kang Tae-sik gets injured so he makes Yoon Kyeo-rye drive to the cemetery in order to help out Mr. Yoon, that is how Seo Yeon-joo and Yoon Kyeo-rae’s first encounter went down.
After the accident, Yoon Kyeo-rae is sentenced with volunteer hours at the hospice hospital where Seo Yeon-joo works, which tapped into audience’s curiosity. Moreover, fabulous acting skills of actors were seen throughout the episode.

By portraying harsh colloquial words with very sharp look in his eyes Ji Chang-wook provided audience with an assumption that Yoon Gyeo-rye lived a harsh life. However by showing his empathy with sentimental look on his eyes, towards a terminally ill dog and his lonesome facial expression he shows in front of cake made out of stacks of cash while celebrating his birthday by himself Ji Chang-wook showed various expressions through his facial expressions throughout the drama.

Sung Dong-il and Gil Hae-yeon acting the role of building cleaner Choi Deok-ja, Yang Hee-kyung who acts out Yeom Soon-ja, a volunteer who cooks, and veteran actors experienced acting helped the drama to be well balanced. Choi Soo-young blended into her role naturally as well.

Since the drama heavily deals with hospice hospitals patients it touched a lot of viewers heart.

The desperation shown by Mr. Yoon on his death bed throughout the first episode of “If You Wish Upon Me” left the audience with sore hearts.

However some have pointed out the settings such as how the protagonist Yoon Gyeo-rye’s dog is terminally ill and how Mr. Yoon’s offspring never showed up to see their father in his death bed nor pick up their phones, to be pushing things little bit too far.

 

(This article is translated from Korean to English by Joonha Yoo)

 

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