Penthouse 2 caught in viewers’ ratings even less than 29%

SBS Friday and Saturday drama’Penthouse 2’recorded 29.2% (Nielsen Korea standards) on the 27th. It exceeded the highest viewership rating of 28.8% recorded in the last episode of Season 1, leaving one ending on the 2nd of the following month. The result of the topic survey in the drama section of Good Data Corporation has been at No. 1 for 5 consecutive weeks. The cast of the cast is also about 7 out of the top 10, including Lee Ji-ah, Um Ki-jun, Kim So-yeon, Kim Hyun-soo, Yujin, Yoon Jong-hoon, and Kim Young-dae. It is a record that surpasses the previous work’The Dignity of the Empress’ (2018~2019ㆍ17.9%) by writer Soon-Ok Kim and PD Joo Dongmin, and is comparable to the work of Kim’s representative work’The Temptation of the Wife’ (2008~2009ㆍ37.5%). I was paginated.

However, it seems difficult to like it if you carefully open the side. If Season 1 (21 episodes), which aired from October last year to January this year, succeeded in absorbing even the younger audience with the rapid development of various events and three-dimensional characters in Hera Palace, which is counted as the number 1 house and education number, last month. This is because season 2 (13 episodes), which started, suffered from negative reactions throughout the broadcast. In line with the rise of online video service (OTT) and the new broadcasting environment, the season system was challenged for the first time, and new changes were attempted, but the reputation that the loss was greater than the gain is dominant.

The biggest problem is that viewers saw the pattern of artist Kim Soon-ok. If the unpredictable development of the future was Kim’s long-term, viewers went one step ahead of him. Only Shim Su-ryun (Lee Ji-ah) died in Season 1, as well as his daughter Joo Hye-in (Na So-ye), who was replaced with his real daughter Min Seol-ah (Jo Su-min), but there weren’t many people who thought they really died. In season 2, the person who pretended to be Na Ae-kyo (Jia Ji-ah) was actually Shim Su-ryun, and even Bae Ro-na (Kim Hyun-soo), who thought he was dead, returned alive, but everyone responded, “I knew it,” rather than being surprised.

Gong Hee-jung, a drama critic, pointed out, “There are already many people looking forward to the fun of the reversal, putting down the probability, but repeating the pattern of Season 1 and the previous work has not been able to satisfy this.” “In the development of violent incidents such as murder and body abandonment that appear every other time, the viewers must respond when something stronger comes out. However, the more intense and more stimulating directing for this resulted in greater dissatisfaction.” Added. Season 2 viewership also started at 19.1% once and steadily increased to 26.9% in the sixth episode, but fell by more than 3% in the second half and fell into a stalemate.

It was produced with the season 3 in mind, but there is also an analysis that the gradual adjustment failed. Normally, seasonal dramas are unfolded in the background of different events or times, and have continuity and disconnection with the previous season at the same time, but’Penthouse 2’2 years have passed since Season 1, but the previous story continues. The airing interval is also about a month or so, so it’s okay to see it in the same season. Professor Yoon Seok-jin of Chungnam National University pointed out, “In Season 1, tension was maintained as various incidents raged, but as season 2 passed, breathing stopped and my pulse fell out.” The most decisive revenge is to postpone all of them to season 3, so they will repeat their steps.

The suddenly changed character also bought the originality. Cheon Seo-jin (Kim So-yeon) took the place of chairman of the Cheong-A Foundation after a lot of hardships, but Logan-ri came to Korea to uncover the truth of the case with her younger brother Min Seol-ah, who lived without even trying to properly rebel against the evil behavior of Joo Dan-tae (Um Gi-jun). (Park Eun-seok) became a sad lover with revenge behind him. Professor Yoon said, “Even a character like Cheon Seo-jin, who was well received in Season 1, had too much change, making it difficult to sympathize. “Does it make sense for a person who is so toxic?” He said, “there was a side effect of distracting and distracting the core story.”

The scenes of school violence and domestic violence, which are increasing day by day, also became a problem. In the second episode of Season 1, students abducted and assaulted a tutor to a junkyard, and received a’caution’ from the Korea Communications Standards Commission, which corresponds to legal sanctions, but did not stop there. In Season 1, 3 out of 21 episodes were viewers over the age of 19, but in Season 2, it increased to 8 out of 13 episodes. In particular, in the 10th episode of Season 2, the scene where Ju Dan-tae slammed Barona’s head with a trophy and killed him, confined and whipped Cheon Seo-jin, and so on. The contract that forced him to marry Cheon Seo-jin as a housekeeper and forced him to sleep also incurs controversy.

However, with the prolonged vacuum of the guard, it is difficult to control it properly. Although the term of office for the 4th term of the Guards Committee ended on January 29th, the appointment of the 5th term is delayed. Popular culture critic Kim Heon-sik said, “The’penthouse’ is more about a worldview that runs for desires regardless of means and methods than for a specific scene. He pointed out that because there is a sentiment that any crime is okay throughout the work, it cannot be solved by adjusting the viewing rating of some episodes to 19.” He added, “When the 19-year-old grade is used as a marketing tool, more fundamental considerations are needed.” Season 3 (12 episodes) is known to be broadcast once a week in the first half, but SBS said, “The specific schedule is still being discussed.”

Reporter Min Kyung-won [email protected]