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▲ This photo, provided by JTBC, shows the Wednesday-Thursday drama "Green Mothers' Club." (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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▲ This photo, a screen capture from the drama, shows JTBC's "Green Mothers' Club." (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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▲ This photo, provided by CJ ENM, shows the CPI report of the first week of April. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
SEOUL, April 20 (Yonhap) -- JTBC’s Wednesday-Thursday drama “Green Mothers’ Club,” saw a rise in viewership as the show went viral.
According to the CJ ENM’s CPI·Content Power Index for the first week of April (Apr. 4 ~ Apr. 10), “Green Mothers’ Club” ranked No. 6 in the drama category with the CPI recording 217.9.
“Green Mothers’ Club” is set in Sangwi-dong, a virtual neighborhood that boasts a passion for education. The drama continues to show the secrets, competition, and solidarity among mothers who have children in elementary school.
The series shows mothers with different styles who live intertwined with each other's past and desires, including Lee Eun-pyo (Lee Yo-won), who just moved into the community, Byun Chun-hee (Choo Ja-hyun), the most powerful woman among parents in the town, Seo Jin-ha (Kim Gyu-ri), who nurtures her child in her way, Kim Young-mi (Jang Hye-jin), who thinks of herself as an ‘awoken mother,’ and Park Yun-joo (Ju Min-kyung), who is the modern version of Mencius’ mother.
The show reminds viewers of the previous Korean dramas “Sky Castle” and “High Class” as it portrays the story of parents with the topic of educational struggle in Korea.
The drama gives viewers a sense of deja vu as it shows the private education community around Byun Chun-hee, depicting her followers and also parents who stand against her in the matter of education. The secret past behind the characters and the conflicts that arise also bring back the previous dramas.
Drama critic Gong Hee-jung analyzed, “‘Green Mothers’ Club’ can be seen as a cliche for viewers because it portrays educational problems that are already dealt with in previous dramas,” adding, “This can be a factor that doesn’t interest the audience.”
However, what sets the drama apart is that the series sheds light on the characters’ ambition as a mother or a person, rather than the competition in Korean education.
Gong explained, “The show, which focuses on mothers compared to ‘Sky Castle,’ portrays double-sided women and raises the question ‘What does a person pursue?’”
This can be seen in Eun-pyo, who seemed to share different views from Chun-hee but later stands with her against Jin-ha and Young-mi after finding out her son is a prodigy.
Eun-pyo, like Salieri who always looked at Mozart, tries to fulfill her suppressed desires through her son and this shows how parents project their aspirations into their children.
However, it is uncertain whether this characteristic of “Green Mothers’ Club” will reach out to viewers.
Gong advised, “The show presents various factors like the desires in the past and present and children’s educational struggles, but they don’t seem to connect as one,” adding, “The drama should create suspense with each family’s problems that turn into a plot twist while showing the characters’ psychology.”
☞ The CPI measures the consumer behavior of dramas, entertainment, music, and infotainment programs on 29 channels including terrestrial networks and cable channels, during prime time. Through RACOI, program-related viewer data (video views, posts, and comments) are collected every week and converted into a standard score based on 200 points to calculate an average.
(This article is translated from Korean to English by An Hayeon.)
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