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| ▲ These photos, provided by MBC, show scenes from the final episode of 'Kokdu: Season of Deity.' (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
SEOUL, Mar. 25 (Yonhap) -- South Korean fantasy rom-com “Kokdu: Season of Deity,” starring Im Soo-hyang and Kim Jung-hyun, has wrapped up with a relatively low average national rating in the range of 1 percent.
The finale of MBC’s rom-com series, aired at 9:50 p.m. Friday, scored a rating of 1.6 percent, according to data released by Neilson Korea on Saturday.
The last episode featured the grim reaper Kokdu (played by Kim Jung-hyun), who faced death, miraculously revisiting Han Gye-jeol (Lim Soo-hyang) after five years. Their love, which has been ongoing since their previous lives, finally meets a happy ending.
The series follows the story of a cold, cruel grim reaper, who comes down to this world to punish humans every 99 years, encountering a doctor with supernatural powers. This Friday-Saturday series kicked off with a rating of 4.8 percent but soon fell to the range of 2 percent only on its second episode with a rather unoriginal and obvious plotline.
The ratings then fell to the range of 1 percent on its sixth episode and since then struggled to go past the threshold of 1 percent until the very last episode. Kim and Lim’s chemistry and acting skills to fluently go back and forth between comedy and melodrama were never the problem. However, the characters they played were often criticized for their lack of charm.
The protagonists -- the feisty yet warm-hearted Kokdu and the high-spirited and cheerful Han Gye-jeol -- were portrayed as typical, rather dull, lead roles in rom-com series. Even their love story, which has been continuing on from their past lives, was not riveting enough to keep the viewers on the edge of their seats.
Some even pointed out that the plotline of the immortal male protagonist with supernatural powers being born into a human body and coming to obey the female protagonist’s order as well as his curse of immortality being lifted with true love reminds them of tvN’s mega-hit 2016 television series “Guardian: The Lonely and Great God.”
(This article is translated from Korean to English by Ha eun Lee)
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