Reunion and Death Hits Legend of the Blue Sea as Drama Breaks 20% Ratings
I’ll go out on on a limb and share that I’m only hanging with Legend of the Blue Sea to see evil step-mommy and spineless selfish sonny get their comeuppance and the handcuffs of justice served with a side of slaps. This is gender-reversed Cinderella with a twist courtesy of drugs and a needle rather than waiting for clueless and cruel daddy to die of natural causes. Joon Jae’s familial saga is center taking stage while Shim Chung’s story moves to the sidelines for these two episodes 16-17, which makes sense since her arrival integrates her into his world and the people in it. The drama ratings have been gradually inching up from 16% to 17% and into 18% in recent episodes, but with both Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo and Oh My Geum Bi ending on Wednesday, this Thursday’s episode of Legend surged to 20.8%
I breathed a sigh of relief that Joon Jae reunited with his mom at the beginning of episode 16, but the ending of episode 17 with the reverse with his dad made me sad for him even as I thought his dad totally deserved it. It was laughable how the two useless cops let the baddies execute their plan even with them just outside wiretapping the place, but I guess daddy needs to be offed so Joon Jae fully unleashes the can of whop ass on the stepmom and stepbrother.
Lee min ho was so great in these two episode. Especially the confrontation with his water was too good. I can feel his emotion
No he wasn’t. During the reunion with his mom he was like a bare wall. His counterpart was acting her soul out and he emoted nothing. I was disappointed how bad he was, because I really like him. But his acting is simply not good as I am sorry to say.
@Newbie I strongly disagree with you,this episode proved how much he has improved so much as an actor especially with the scene he lost his father you can feel his pain and suffering, he has done so well in this drama and deserve honour when it is due,it is very unfair how some people attack Lee min ho’s acting while he is not horrible at all and he is getting better and better with his craft.
Kudos to lmh and jjh even with all the hate being thrown at this drama they have managed to hold it together and prove their star power.
tbh I was wondering why he didn’t do the over emote and then when I saw the confrontation scene with his father I realized it’s intentional.
From childhood he was always looking for his mom, when he couldn’t find her his worse thoughts was that she might be dead. Towards her there was relief and disbelief. But look at that scene with dad he was desperate, hurt and angry, and those red eyes. To a certain extent, joon Jae was more scarred and hurt by his dad abandonement and much more gentle towards his mom.
Looking at the whole range to emotions, LMH picked adequate ones for the scenes (imagine bawling out for everyone which would be an overkill) and I commend him for that.
Say what you want abt the drama but LMH acting is not one of the negative parts. He’s pretty much holding up the entire show. At times creating chemistry ALL by himself!
such a newbie. His acting is great, he doesn‘t overact like some idiot who shouts and cries all the time. LMH shows different emotions in each scene.
@deadnewbie What a creative nick you chose. There, there, are you feeling better now?
Its father
These werent even the best episodes of the drama. Just goes to show you that ratings and quality can have no correlation
There was no competition since both Kim Bok Joo and Oh My Geum Bi ended their respective run on Wednesday. I have finally…finally had enough and dropped the show and not tuning in anymore this week. Was holding on to the faith that may be the show will get better but the plot was draggy and with less substance, they stretch out the show with all too many unnecessary fluff. I think they can still continue to enjoy the 20+% ratings now that they are at the tail end and up against 2 new competing shows again with not much starpower. I am sorry that I have wasted so much time on this show.
I am proud of Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo and Oh My Geum Bi both. Going up against giants, it was an unfair fight for them but till the end they managed to keep their followers coming back and had a wonderful start to finish. Bok Joo especially has a special place in my heart, it had flawless writing, acting, directing and was a joyful, endearing ride from start to finish. LOBS is good but I doubt without the star power it’d draw the numbers it has so kudos to Lee Min Ho and Jun Ji Hyun, this is primarily their win more than the script or direction in general.
Quality wise, both the underdogs shows are more superior than LOTBS. Glad that those shows managed to find small audiences who actually love the show to pieces especially WF Kim Bok Joo. LOTBS championing mainly relying on the two star powers.
i disagree with OhMyGeumbi is better but Weightlifting Fairy is not… First it was miscast as hell…they casted the skinniest model and then they were asking you to believe she was ugly, a weightlifter and also fat and trying to loose weight without telling her coach and jeopadizing her career.
Then it didn’t help that it was as cliche’ as hell. for a drama talking about girls who didn’t fit in , they were afraid to cast someone who didn’t fit in
be serious, WFKBJ is a light-hearted uplifting drama with young actors… the whole production is superb & actings are good! who believes a weightlifter would look like LSK should tune into Sports Channel instead of K-dramaland. On the same note, people watching LOTBS truly believes mermaid exists & looking like JJH?!??!.. gimme a break… lol…
If we believe that people by and large look like the actors who portray them we might as well believe in unicorns and fairies.
I guess you didn’t get past the show after she gave up on that? Shame
Weightlifting Fairy KBJ is a great drama, I follow it from the beginning to the end. Now that it has ended, I can check out LOTBS off & on after I have left after episode 2… lol…
sourgraping idiot ?
Why am I a sourgrape? WFKBJ has a happy ending, my favourite couple lives happily forever after… I am one happy candycane ? Trolls go away & be dead ??
His father was a POS up until the very end. He destroyed his marriage by having an affair with his wife’s friend. He separated a mother and her son for almost 30 years. He abandoned his son and failed to repair their relationship. When Joon Jae was pleading with his father to escape the house, his father belittled him. Of course he regretted everything in his final moments. He’s a selfish person who desperately needed his estranged son to save him. Forget about the emotional trauma I inflicted on you. I’m sorry that I made bad choices so please hurry and save me. I trust you now, even if you’re a conman. *eye roll*
Let me start by saying this… These drama became a rating hit not because of the story but mainly because of the leads both lmh and jjh acted even out of what the writer wrote down if it were not both who acted in this it would not reach 10% in rating but their acting save this drama and also their chemistry which felt so natural and then maybe because both are hallyu stars this drama reaching 20% is credit to both leads and some of the supporting actors… The writer is only good not great about her writing skills even though heirs was thrash it more interesting to watch for me than mlfs which was so boring thanks to jjh crazy antics that drama would not have been popular the difference between Kim eun sook and her is that Kim tries to bring something interesting to the table even though she too is only good not great seriously this writer needs to thank the two actors that made it a rating hit she has the idea but she did not know how to write it in an intresting way but anyway kudos to lmh you are a very good actor at least you prove it to those people who think you are all about pretty face
Wow. Your writing is so impressive that you can ramble on and on without needing any full stops… lmao ?
what she said is very true though. as long as I understand she was trying to convey… i’m fine
now idiot candycane is jealous candycane
Rating hit???
Yes you are right LOTBS is not a rating hit considering there is no competition with another network.they only get 20% rating coz the two dramas was finished.
Break 20% because no competitor at all…..I wonder why this drama leading soompi award for best drama with that quality
your first problem was expecting “soompi award” to be fair and reasonable
what no competition? all shows close down? asshole Chelsea and stupid Filipina Garcia ?
ep 0 missing 9 and ep 1 mini drama i think can’t be considered as competitor drama…let’s see if next week LotBs can keep the rating above 20%
asshole deadnewbie
the fact is Lotbs can break 20 % ONLY when oh my geum bi and weightlifting fairy end….
This drama is lots of fluff and lack of substance. Breaking 20% because of no competition. I wasted so much time watching the drama that lead to nowhere. I wanted those time back for me to marathon Hwarang.
only proves you are first rate idiot Nana
I got to give Lee Min Ho credit for trying. After Heirs, I had thought he ‘gave up’ acting and just enjoy being a superstar. Frankly, I watched LOTBS just to see if I can strike him off for good. Glad to say that he has improved and shown effort in acting. He even held his own against JJH who I had expected to outclass him and didn’t.
This drama has good ratings and miles ahead of its competitors because of the star power of LMH and JJH. In terms of story or acting, Oh My Geum Bi and Weightlifting Fairy are way ahead.
Wow abt the hate
The drama is not a A class act but it is way above average
Just for visuals in terms of the underwater scenes and overall cinematography plus OST – and its cute at times and very easy to watch. it’s terrible to discount the work just because it has top stars.
I enjoy the drama and liking LMH or JJH alone will NOT sustain me to finish a drama if it totally sucks.
For example : for the life of me I couldn’t finish moon lovers for Lee Jun Ki or K2 for Ji Chang wook
So no need to be nasty – it is not easy to maintain #1 in time slot and hit above 20%. A lot of people behind the scenes work hard and it’s sad if people dismiss their work just because they can’t stand the top stars.
+1000
@Sd, on the contrary, i see more people credit the ratings due to star power and Lee Min ho improvement tho. the script is not terrible but they definitely does not reflect the performance of the lead star. this is exactly like Heirs. they only break ratings when their competitors finish airing.
Oufff.. was gonna check out the comments to see if this is worth the watch after I ditched it after watching episode 2. Hmm, I guess this is a pass then. Will just wait to see if the dramas after Weightlifting fairy and Geum Bi will be great.
Funny how some people claim weightlifting is better than LOTBS. I dropped weightlifting after episode 3.its so boring and childish. probably for kindergarten kids.
At least LOTBS kept me interested till now.
BTW, I am laughing so much here reading some comments.Jealous people!LOTBS had more ratings than your favorite dramas, deal with it.
hehehehe.
So much hate for Lotbs in the comments section,some of this people actually dropped this drama between 1-4th episode but always here to remind us all the time about how horrible they found it,very annoying…if wlf or omg is your best fine, no need for all the complaining,lotbs was 18.9 on Wednesday and it is not surprising it broke the 20percent Mark even though some naysayers on this site said it will keep dropping till 10percent, with or without the other dramas ending it was bound to break 20 at a point and a drama that passed 20percent in viewers ratings is a HIT no matter how much you say it is not not.
Congrats to JJH and LMH every success this drama achieved was because of your amazing acting and owning your roles,not just anybody can achieve this kudos.
I watched up to episode 15 and then I decided….I am SO DONE. I clung on till this far because I thought and was hoping it will get better. But there are just too much nonsense. So definitely I am entitled to comment because I don’t think LOTBS deserve a high rating with that poorly developed story. But I commend JJH n LMH especially for carrying this whole nonsensical drama.
JJH shortly after giving birth had to train for hours in the swimming pool so I commend her professionalism ??
So far, I’d watched this drama until ep 9
I like the quality of the entire props! But i expected from their kissing part. LMH from his other dramas, the kiss scenes were touching
But this one is abit lacking- there’s no life nor the feel good expression.
Other than that, the acting quality of LMH and JJH is good
Even it hit 20% now there is barely any buzz about the drama. It’s all about Goblin in Korea.
15% in cable is like 30% in big 3- the kind of ratings we were expecting from LOBS as well
Lucky SBS had RDTK to save their a**es
Shoo haters
In any case, let the people who enjoy the dramas – the solid 18% (and now 20%) – these numbers are consistent each week and not like they spike up out of nowhere because of no competition – let us enjoy what we enjoy. And if you don’t, then don’t WATCH it for goodness sake. It’s a drama – I’m sure you have better things to do than to flake something u drop. Or make yourself miserable by watching something you don’t enjoy duh..
Fans of the show or of LMH and JJH don’t need to feel offended! They are the reason why the show is doing above average, with an average script. Both dramas have the typical kdrama cliches but LOTBS suffers from a lack of good character development of the supporting cast. And many ‘why did this character do this stupid thing’ moments. This show had more production money than Goblin if im not wrong. The international sales (according to industry rumours) was way higher than Goblin. Many of us had really high expectations.. And the script completely wasted JJH in this role imho. LMH is carrying the show. for the last few episodes now.
Goblin is something else though, the lines have more meaning when you rewatch the earlier episodes. Also Gong Yoo is on a roll this year with 3 movies so a lot of attention (and stress since his prev drama was a flop) are on him. GY, LDW and KGE are not huge hallyu stars but I’m so happy they are getting more international recognition for their acting.
Weightlighting is really sweet and easy to watch but its low ratings show that this type of shows have a limited demographic. It’s not necessarily a bad thing if it can capture that particular demo for sponsors.
I don’t think it was sold for China in that price it was asked though.
And KES is know for her lines and good supporting character where PJE was tried to copy of her own work.