Highly anticipated (by me at least) Hyde, Jekyll, Me arrives today and finally ends my worry about similar themes and crowded competition and whatnot. I’m not going to look gift horses in the mouth so there won’t be any complaints from me about one too many Wed-Thurs K-dramas to follow. I love both Hyde, Jekyll, Me and Kill Me Heal Me and having both male leads suffering from dissociative identity disorder doesn’t feel redundant since the two dramas are night and day in stylistic execution and approach. The ratings shake out is the point of this post and I’ll leave the substantive drama discussions for recap time.
Kill Me Heal Me is already a solid offering, rising steadily in each of the two weeks on air and garnering decent feedback made all the more reassuring since it looked like such a hot mess. The ratings is flip-flopped with KMHM for the premiere episode of HJM, starting off basically neck-in-neck at this point. Today’s episode garnered in AGB nationwide 9.5% for KMHM and 8.6% for HJM, with The King’s Face pulling up the rear at 8.2%. The rankings switched for TnMS and HJM led with nationwide 10.2% and KMHM with 8.6%. The bigger surprise was TKF getting a bigger ratings bump than KMHM with the departure of Pinocchio but it won’t help as much since that drama is almost over.
I totally still miss Pinocchio but that drama had such a satisfying ending it’s not hard to move on without the feeling of something left hanging that mars so many K-dramas wrap ups. With that said, it does help that both KMHM and HJM are fascinating to watch and deliver different morsels of satisfaction. I don’t see the need to pit the two against each other since as an international viewer I don’t control the remote to make a pick. I can happily watch both and recommend the bounty to anyone looking for potential crack dramas. I think both have a good chance of getting there for me.
Heard that Hji didnt have good feedback for its first ep from the viewers…
Hyde, Jekyll, Me underwhelmed for it’s first episode. It was kind of expected, judging from the trailers and all. I was actually thinking that KMHM would be a total train wreck but it’s really quite interesting and Ji Sung is killing it in the role. My opinion doesn’t matter at all, but I think even without comparison HJM isn’t really looking good. That being said, it’s just the first episode, but still I’ll probably just shelve it for the moment.
KMHM definitely my drama crack of choice. I was laughing so hard through the first 10 minutes of Ep 5 that I had to hit the pause button several times to catch my breath. Looking forward to checking out HJM. Some good dramas airing these days!
OMG I’m so excited to watch! I’ll give HJM 4-5
oops, I meant to say I plan to give HJM 4-5 episodes before deciding to drop it. Who knows, it might get better.
I’m really surprised Hyun Bin’s drama comeback couldn’t get a double digit debut against two dramas with weak ratings. The promo for it has been rather lackluster though.
These days anything near 10% is considered good… We have to forget the 20-25% that dramas did earlier!! Either way KMHM rocks and i cant help but compare the two dramas and with some snippets of HJI that i saw it seemed (dont kill me) kinda boring… But i will watch later again the whole ep…
Except there are still dramas that pull in 20-25% ratings so why should we forget it? I wonder what excuse people are gonna find when a drama in Wed-Thur slot hits 20 again and everybody are left gasping.
HJM got really bad reviews so I think KMHM will definitely rise more next week.. Since a lot of people said they regretted watching HJM over KMHM.
Still can’t move on from pinocchio..sigh..plan to watch HJM but i think i will wait for a few episode airing, and its also surprise me that pinocchio watcher not watch KMHM after pinocchio end based on the rating
Reasons KMHM has the chance to surpass ratings in the future.
1. It premiered earlier.
2. It has more identities.
3. The leads have amazing chemistry.
4. The main identity in KMHM is a warm and clever rich boy in opposed to HJM,cold and controlling boss.
Couldn’t agree more with you!KMHM killed it! especially for their amazing chemistry!HJM kinda of boring,imho..
I COMPLETELY AGREE! Sorry to HJM’s fans, but KMHM really killed it this time round in terms of story plot, chemistry, amazing acting of both main leads, and it’s super duper funny. 😀
HAHAHAHA
While I understand why you’re recapping HJM instead of KMHM, as it’s Hyun Bin’s comeback drama, I’m disappointed that I once again won’t be able to hear your commentary on a Ji Sung-Hwang Jung Eum drama. While Secret was incredibly melodramatic, the chemistry was probably some of the most intense I’ve ever seen. I think those two actors compliment each other rather well.
KMHM IS AMAZEBALLS!! THEY KISSED AND WE FIND OUT THAT THE ADULTS ARE PLAIN EVIL AND hidden sons and hidden rooms and NANA and first loves
I think KMHM had so much possibility of being a train wreck, the fact that it isn’t is leading to a sigh of relief (at least from me). But HJM has more expectations and of course Hyun Bin.
I’m going to watch both (both leading men are my fav).. I don’t care much which one leads in ratings. But I wonder why all of them are barely 10%… Are Koreans not watching dramas anymore?
Some OTPs are overrated but the chemistry b/w JS and HJE is undeniable.
The ratings will come back to its normal range when the big budget dramas come, because one of the reasons for the fall is the relentless drama production with no break. so the audience have learned to chose carefully.
If LMH and KSH come out with big budget dramas the 20% will be reached fairly easy
Sigh if only they did not compete together. If I had nothing to compare it with it would have been fine. Now I am stuck with this funny feeling of an underwhelming episode 1.
However if I didn’t have KMHM to compare HJM would be ok.
By the way I think some of my enjoyment is tempered by what I understand from the subs. Ji Sung is so good that Goo Seo Jin is kind of bland at present.
Oh please!enough with KSH breaking 20%.even hyun bin’s drama couldn’t break 10% in its first ep.the viewers has change.they prefer real quanlity drama than their oppas in it.so if KSH or LMH are coming back to dramaland,they better comeback with something better than their last dramas or else they will be suffering the same ratings the dramas are pass through…
I believe YWCFTS and Heirs sat the par high and after that we have not seen one single ratings success.
I also think it has something to do with them being big budget dramas but if they return with a strong cast and big budget dramas the koreans will definitely tune in to watch and reach 20%
Misaeng was arguably a bigger hit than YWCFTS and The Heirs. It had lower ratings cause it was on cable drama but in terms of impact it was more popular.
Also Yang Bori is Here was super popular in Korea and had 35% ratings in it`s final episode.
Agree with the comments on Ji Sung being awesome. I’m sure future directors will be looking at him differently after this.
Some actors show the same thing over and over in different roles and you get bored because you don’t believe what he/she is selling anymore. They all look the same! (Example: Jackie Chan)
But a good actor will change his whole being to make you believe that he is the role he is playing, being so immersed in it (Example: Daniel Day Lewis)
Me too.. Still can’t move on from Pinocchio. Will try to choose either of these 2 dramas to watch next..
kill me heal me all the way for me … i don’t know why i still can’t warm up to han ji min though she’s quite a good actress…something about her presence in dramas just don’t really interest me…she’s pretty though … ji sung is really rocking his characters in kill me heal me … i really love how he portrays shin se gi, cha do hyun and ferry park differently … i don’t know how he does it so well … even his voice , his eyes gazes and the way he walks , he stands etc are different for all those different characters ….that man is sure very talented, hot and charming . and it’s undeniable that he has brilliant chemistry with hwang jeung eum.
The numbers of HJM must be considered something of a disappointment, considering that we are talking about Hyun Bin’s comeback drama. In view of HB’s massive paycheck somebody stands to lose a lot of money – either the broadcaster or the production company – if the ratings don’t rise.
First ep. of HJM didn’t drop me of my feet like KMHM did but it was nice so i understand why many people are dissapointed . let’s watch ep. 2 and see how it goes either way i’ll stick to it since i missed HB very much and i want to see if him and HJM will have good chemistry together.
as for KMHM, it’s my new love after Pinocchio ended (i love healer too but not addicted to it). from watching Secret, i already knew JS and HJE together will be a killer and the interesting plot is a bonus.
Heal Me Kill Me all the way! i love the actors ,the execution of the plot and the hilarity that goes with it all.Ji Sung is playing all the personalities to the hilt and his chemistry with Hwang Jeung Eum is a killer.Luv it to the max!!!