Why did Song Hye Kyo agree to star in a drama with such flat writing like Now, We Are Breaking Up? 

Now, We Are Breaking Up is coming to an end but the storyline is still not getting any more interesting. 

Now, We Are Breaking Up has aired 11 episodes and there are only 5 more episodes left until the finale. Despite having Song Hye Kyo as the female lead, Now, We Are Breaking Up has been witnessing an underwhelming performance in terms of viewership ratings, earning around only 6-7% each episode, much lower than Penthouse 3 or One The Woman. So what is the reason for the drama’s disappointing results? It’s not fair to put all the blame on Song Hye Kyo’s controversial acting skills, because her biggest mistake is why did she say yes to a script with such flat writing?

Introduced as a drama that is set against the backdrop of the fashion industry, but over the last 11 episodes, apart from Song Hye Kyo’s outfits, Now, We Are Breaking Up barely gives off a convincing fashion atmosphere. All viewers know about The One are a few superficial fashion shows, followed by confrontations between the female lead Ha Young and the company’s president, and seemingly tense meetings between a few employees. Before discussing the storyline, the setting is the first and most obvious problem of Now, We Are Breaking Up.

In the case of ratings, “Now, We Are Breaking Up” started with a good rating number, which was not really high but also not low. In fact, it was said to be quite disappointing for a drama with Song Hye-kyo’s appearance. However, the rating numbers kept decreasing after the next episodes, making it harder to reach the 10%. It is the boring storyline that should be blamed for the poor performance of the drama. Drawing attention because of its opening with a 19+ scene that showed the main couple’s one-night stand, “Now, We Are Breaking” later lost its appeal as there was no climax in the story. The motif of lovers who almost became in-laws of each other is not really old-fashioned in K-Dramas but the love that is disagreed by families is already too familiar. Throughout the whole 11 episodes, “Now, We Are Breaking Up” kept presenting long conversations between the main characters and arguments between their parents, repeating the same boring stories from time to time.

“Now, We Are Breaking Up” focuses too much on lines. Every problem was solved by conversations and this made 10 episodes all begin with some romantic scenes and then end when the main couple worry about whether they should be together or not. The story is not only old but also boring. That’s why audiences have started to drop in the middle of the drama broadcast. Moreover, Song Hye Kyo didn’t leave any impression on the viewers as she only did the same thing in every episode, such as crying, arguing, sometimes “finding ways to fight against her fate”, and fighting for her passionate love. In this era, when K-Dramas are expanding with diverse genres, “Now, We Are Breaking Up” decided to follow the old romantic material. Therefore, its poor performance is quite understandable.

Now, We Are Breaking Up airs every Friday and Saturday on SBS.