“Now We’re Breaking Up” Song Hye-kyo, it’s high time she says goodbye to the melodrama genre
“The Melo Queen” Song Hye-kyo has fallen into a trap of cliché.
MBC’s Friday-Saturday drama “The Red Sleeve” recorded 8.8% in the fifth and 9.4% in the sixth episode, beating SBS’s Friday-Saturday drama “Now We’re Breaking Up” (7.0% and 7.6% respectively). “Now We’re Breaking Up”, which broadcasted its first episode on Nov 12th, surpassed “The Red Sleeve,” which started at the same time, by 1.55%. However, the gap narrowed down to 0.35% on Nov 19th and 20th, and eventually allowed a reversal in last week’s broadcast.
“The Red Sleeve”, which started its first broadcast with less attention than “Now We’re Breaking Up” as everyone was attracted by Song Hye-kyo’s return to the home TV screen, finally shows its potential to surpass “Now We’re Breaking Up” thanks to its fresh story despite being a historical drama and the chemistry between Lee Jun-ho and Lee Se-young.
Viewers also had mixed views about Song Hye-kyo’s leading role. There are compliments that she is indeed Song Hye-kyo, the “Queen of Melo,” but some also say that her image, which had not changed at all since her debut, is holding her down.
In particular, viewers pointed out that Song Hye-kyo’s character in “Now We’re Breaking Up” is a cliché from the beginning. In the drama-related community, Song Hye-kyo’s appearance is said to be boring, and the story is also said to be lacking originality.
Some viewers suggested that Song Hye-kyo should break away from the melodramatic image she built and play a different role. Many have evaluated that Song Hye-kyo’s image and the story of her drama seem off beat.
On the other hand, the combination of Lee Jun-ho & Lee Se-young in “The Red Sleeve” and its historical background are complemented to be fresh. People also praise the fact that King Jeongjo and Seong Deok-im were rearranged from a new perspective as well as the cast’s chemistry that melted into the tense development from the beginning.
Viewers’ mixed reactions came out as a result of the reversed ratings of “Now, We Are Breaking Up” and “The Red Sleeve”.
Some viewers also focused on the poor ratings of tvN’s “Jirisan“, which featured Jun Ji-hyun as the female lead like Song Hye-kyo in “Now, We Are Breaking Up”. They claimed these female actors may have actually faced a generational change.
JTBC’s “Reflection of You” starring Go Hyun-jung, tvN’s “Melancholia” starring Im Soo-jung and JTBC’s “Inspector Koo” starring Lee Young-ae all fell into a slump as their ratings cannot exceed 2%.
Fans and the industry are paying keen attention to whether Song Hye-kyo will be able to escape from the swamp of stagnation and banality and end her drama series with good reviews.
