Jung Hae-in seems unable to shine without an “older sister,” from low rating of 1% to a drama that was ended early

After “A Piece of Your Mind” was ended early after 12 episode, Jung Hae-in’s “Snowdrop” is stuck at the 1% rating range after the history distortion controversy.    

Actor Jung Hae-in is being humiliated with a minimum viewer rating of around 1% from the drama “A Piece of Your Mind” to “Snowdrop.” Jeong Hae-in became a romance master as a younger man leaning on the “older sister” Son Ye-jin and Han Ji-min. However, as he works with Chae Soo-bin and Ji-soo who are younger than him, Jung Hae-in is not using his proper strength.  

“A Piece of Your Mind” remains a painful work for Jung Hae-in. This is because at the time, he was already a popular actor after playing a younger lover through “Something in the Rain” and “Spring Night,” and even though “A Piece of Your Mind” was ambitiously introduced as a romantic work, the drama ended up in an early end with low ratings.  

Jung Hae-in and Chae Soo-bin’s emotional melodrama “A Piece of Your Mind” fell to 1% in the first three episodes and fell to 1.2% in the 6th episode. In response, the production team of “A Piece Of Your Mind” announced on after the 6th episode that the drama would end in 12 episodes instead of the announced 16 episodes, saying, “We decided to reorganize the drama’s tension to speed up the work.” Although it was said to be for the drama’s tension, this move was inevitably seen as an “early end” due to sluggish ratings.  

Jung Hae-in and Chae Soo-bin’s romance chemistry also did not create much attention as the unfamiliar subject of artificial intelligence (AI) contrary to the warm visual beauty. The lack of heart fluttering moments, which is a must for emotional melodramas, is also considered factors of “A Piece of Your Mind” failure. In the end, “A Piece of Your Mind,” which had barely survived after each episode, even received the harsh criticism that “its rating is the same as its title, which is only a piece.” The series ended with a minimum rating of 1.2% even in the last episode.

Accordingly, Jung Hae-in’s next TV drama “Snowdrop” had no choice but to become an important work for him. However, “Snowdrop” faced a big challenge named “controversy over historical distortion” even before its airing. Despite endless explanations from the production team, advertisements and sponsorships were cut off one after another.

The drama’s ratings were poor compared to its popularity. Starting at 3%, “Snowdrop” fell to the 1% range after 3 episodes. It was not easy to attract new viewers because “Snowdrop”, which is exclusively provided by the global OTT Disney+, could not be viewed as VOD on TVing, as well as the main broadcast through JTBC’s on-air service. As a result, it is still in the 2-3% range even now.

On top of that, even without the historical distortion controversy, the work’s slow development as well as Jung Hae-in & Jisoo’s hard-to-empathize romance also failed to attract viewers’ attention.

Fortunately, Jung Hae-in’s OTT performance is good. In Netflix’s series “D.P” released last year, he received favorable reviews for showing a great bromance chemistry with Koo Kyo-hwan, and the production of Season 2 was confirmed. His upcoming drama “Connect“, which is directed by Miike Takashi, is also in discussion about the OTT service.

It is noteworthy whether Jung Hae-in can prove the value of his name in the next work, and whether “Snowdrop” will make a final rebound.