Even with Uhm Ki-joon’s appearance, “7 Escape” suffered a sharp decline in ratings due to the Chuseok holiday
This year’s Chuseok holiday was longer than usual but there were fewer TV programs due to the 19th Hangzhou Asian Games. In addition, the number of TV viewers also decreased significantly since many people took the opportunity of this long holiday to go traveling.
This naturally led to a drop in viewership. The drama “7 Escape”, which was aired 20 minutes late because of the Asian Games, was also affected by the Chuseok holiday.
In particular, episode 5 of “7 Escape” was highly anticipated with the first appearance of Uhm Ki-joon. The reason he had to wait until episode 5 to appear even though he’s the main character was also revealed on the broadcast. Matthew Lee (Uhm Ki-joon) was actually Lee Hwi-so (Min Young-gi), the adoptive father of Bang Da-mi (Jung Ra-el). He severely burned his face in prison and underwent plastic surgery while Bang Da-mi’s grandfather Bang Chil-seong (Lee Deok-hwa) entered the prison to replace him.
With the appearance of Uhm Ki-joon, writer Kim Soon-ok’s unimaginable stories were also unveiled. 33 people were trapped on an uninhabited island and died one after another after getting attacked by bats and wild pigs. The development was somewhat ridiculous but that’s Kim Soon-ok’s creativity. Since the episode was restricted to viewers over 19 years old, she did not hesitate to show cruel scenes.
However, the drama reached its lowest rating record. “7 Escape” started at 6% in episode 1, rose slightly to 7.7% in episode 4 then plunged significantly to only 5.6% after releasing episode 5. The decline was understandable since the broadcast was in the middle of the Chuseok holiday, but it is a little sad to see a decrease amid the rising streaks.
“7 Escape” has been controversial since the airing of the first episode. Viewers’ protests against provocative content, such as child abuse, teenage pregnancy, bribing teachers, etc., are still pouring out. Many even filed complaints to the Korea Communication Standards Commission and demanded an apology for the false depiction of teachers in the drama.
Previous works of Kim Soon-ok also faced similar controversies but their ratings even soared to 29%. On the other hand, “7 Escape” is facing both criticism and rating declines.
“7 Escape” has reached a turning point and raised the tension with Uhm Ki-joon’s earnest performance. Attention is focused on whether the drama would be able to overcome the Chuseok holiday crisis and show improvements in the next broadcasts.
Source: Daum
