Even Yeo Jin-goo couldn’t save it: “Link” ended up in the 1% rating range with a failed complex narrative

“Link” dropped to 1.5%, which is its lowest rating ever. Even Yeo Jin-goo’s passionate acting can’t save the story.

The series tried to show a combination of fantasy, romance, mystery, and humane, but it got lost along the way without focusing on any of those. Although Yeo Jin-goo, a trusted actor, tries to save the series, its rating is on the decline. It fell to 1.5% after seven episodes, humiliating Yeo Jin-goo with the lowest ratings ever in his career. This is the current situation of tvN’s Monday-Tuesday drama “Link: Eat and Love, Kill” (hereinafter referred to as “Link”). 

“Link” is is a fantasy romance drama about a link phenomenon that started again for the first time in 18 years, which makes a man connects and feels all sorts of emotions of a stranger woman. Yeo Jin-goo, who challenged a fantasy romance three years after the success of “Hotel Del Luna,” and Moon Ga-young, who is drawing attention as the next-generation romantic goddess through the drama “True Beauty,” drew expectations to the series even before its first broadcast. 

Above all, Yeo Jin-goo not only showed his explosive acting skills, which range from historical dramas, modern to fantasy dramas, but also showed off perfect chemistry with his acting partners. Expectations were high for his new charm that was predicted to be different from what he showed in his previous work, “The Host.” 

But is it because they were too greedy? The viewers were expecting a “sweet” romantic comedy between Yeo Jin-goo and Moon Ga-young, but they got met with thriller elements such as stalking and abandoning bodies from the first episode. On top of that, the disappearance of Eun Gye-hoon (played by Yeo Jin-goo)’s sister, the relationship between Roh Da-hyun (played by Moon Ga-young) and Eun Gye-hoon, who lost her memories as a child, was deleting the “humane” side and filled the series with mystery elements. 

Eun Gye-hoon, who shares Roh Da-hyun’s feelings, is mostly feeling scared, anxious, and sad. During the sixth episode, “Link” only repeated the appearance of Noh Da-hyun, who is struggling with her stalker, and Eun Gye-hoon, who is running to look for her after receiving this feeling. 

Yeo Jin-goo and Moon Ga-young focused more on external factors, not romance, so the development became distracting and stretched. The audience expected a humane healing story, but there were only unrealistic actions of the local people, such as threatening with a knife, dumping bodies in the refrigerator, and trying to hit people with a car. 

As a result, the ratings continued to decline. It started at 3.1%, but fell to the 2% level in the 3rd episode and fell to the 1% range in the 5th episode. The 7th episode recorded its lowest viewer rating of 1.5%. Above all, this figure is Yeo Jin-goo’s lowest ratings since “Absolutely Boyfriend” among his starring titles since his debut. “Absolutely Boyfriend,” which was released three years ago, also had the lowest viewer rating of 1.5% in the 29th episode. 

Of course, Yeo Jin-goo’s acting is impeccable. As Yeo Jin-goo said at the production presentation, “I want to hear through this work that I’m good at acting,” he properly expressed Eun Gye-hoon’s feelings through the “link” phenomenon. He portrayed his character in complex emotions, and the scene where his emotions continue to change made the audience feel his solid acting skills. 

Yeo Jin-goo and Moon Ga-young succeeded in linking with each other but failed to “link” with the public. Attention is focusing on whether “Link,” which has reached a turning point in its plot amid distracting and slow developments and inconsistent settings, will be able to rebound and convince the audience.

Source: Daum