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| ▲ These photos, provided by JTBC, show scenes from the final episode of 'Interest of Love.' (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ These photos, provided by tvN, show scenes from the final episode of 'Poong, the Joseon Psychiatrist.' (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
SEOUL, Feb. 10 (Yonhap) -- JTBC’s Wednesday-Thursday drama “Interest of Love,” which tells the realistic love story of youths who also hesitate and give up chasing after their loved ones due to social discrepancies in academic background, positions, and economic power, ended with the view rate in the range of 3%.
The final episode of this romance drama, starring Yoo Yeon-seok and Mun Ga-young, aired at 10:30 p.m. Thursday, and ended with a rating of 3.6%, according to Nielson Korea Friday.
In the final episode, Ha Sang-soo (Yoo Yeon-seok) falls into despair as Ahn Soo-young (Moon Ga-young), the co-worker whom he adores, disappears without warning, surprising everyone around her. The drama then moves on to scenes featuring four years after her disappearance. Ha, who transferred to another branch of the bank he works in, sees a loan document from Ahn, who was unexpectedly running a cafe nearby.
The two, who had unfortunately parted four years ago, miraculously reunite and confess their longing and lingering feelings toward each other as they take a walk together. The couple leaves behind their past where they had not been honest with each other and their feelings.
Park Mi-kyung (Keum Sae-rok), a daughter of a rich family who does not hesitate in love, sees Ha Sang-soo moving on and settles her own feelings about her past relationship with Ha. Meanwhile, Jeong Jong-hyun (Jung Ga-ram), to whom love was burdensome due to his economically challenging background, also passes the police exam and prepares himself to live a new life.
Based on the novel of the same name, “Interest of Love” drew sympathy by portraying love as a complex emotion that is not as beautiful or perfect as it seems – the drama highlights how in love, there is permanent suffering and more to consider other than the feelings towards one another.
Ahn Soo-young, Ha Sang-soo, Park Mi-kyung, and Jung Jong-hyun are colleagues at a bank, where there are excruciating discrepancies in social status. The employees were divided into general and service jobs depending on whether they have graduated from university, and were also segregated into office workers sitting on chairs and security guards working on their feet all day. Outside the bank, this segregation becomes even more pronounced depending on the economic power and financial ability one is born with.
The drama portrays a love that cannot easily go over those social boundaries, which was also why Ha Sang-soo hesitated for a while due to the social and economic circumstances of Ahn Soo-young. Disappointed, Ahn leaves him.
Meanwhile, Park Mi-kyung is always honest with her feelings toward Ha, but Ha feels overwhelmed by her adoration. Jung Jong-hyun also gradually loses his self-esteem due to the love where he only receives and cannot give anything back.
The appearance of people with different interests being entangled and getting hurt drew a response that it was more heartbreaking and relatable than the passionate love that many romance dramas portray where the protagonists leave everything aside for their love. In the meantime, the drama left a deep imprint by conveying how to understand the various types of love that exist in the world.
However, with the main characters’ situations only getting worse due to their dishonesty, the plot did somewhat seem to be too frustrating to follow, which was witnessed by the view rate that could not go over the range of 3%.
Meanwhile, tvN’s Wednesday-Thursday drama “Poong, the Joseon Psychiatrist Season 2” also wrapped up with a 2.4% rating. Its highest record was 3.7%, lower than that of season 1 (5.2%).
In the final episode, Yoo Se-poong (Kim Min-jae) clears himself of all the false charges and becomes the best doctor in Joseon, while Seo Eun-woo (Kim Hyang-gi) regains her status before marriage.
The period romance drama solved mysterious events in each episode and touched the hearts of those who were hurt. However, some insisted that the plot became less interesting with the villains being caught too easily and the cases being handily solved.
(This article is translated from Korean to English by Ha eun Lee)
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