'Sacred Divorce' ends in decline despite Jo Seung-woo's passionate performance

Actor Cho Seung-woo's passionate performance and the bromance chemistry between the three men did not shine. The controversy over actress Han Hye-jin's acting ability, which arose from the beginning of the broadcast, was a drag. This is the story of JTBC's Saturday-Sunday drama 'Sacred, Divorce'.

‘Sacred, Divorce’ is about to end today (9th). 'Divorce Shin' is a delightful human drama that depicts the unimaginable divorce requests faced by artist-turned-divorce lawyer Shin Seong-han (played by Cho Seung-woo) and the passionate chemistry between three friends who are perfect friends. It is based on the webtoon of the same name.

Shin Seong-eun, played by Cho Seung-woo, lived as a pianist and music professor before taking the bar exam and becoming a divorce lawyer. Cho Seung-woo received favorable reviews for his sly portrayal of a completely different character from Hwang Si-muk's character in 'Secret Forest'. He is a pianist who pours soju into a wine glass and plays Schubert's 'The Devil' in a stylish manner, but at home, his singing along to Na Hoon-ah's 'Tess Hyung!' was responsible for the laughter of the play. Shin Seong-woo, who appears to be extremely simple but also possesses the sharpness and eloquence of a lawyer, was able to be completed because of Cho Seung-woo.

In addition, the bromance with Jang Hyeong-geun (played by Kim Sung-gyun) and Jo Jeong-sik (played by Jeong Moon-seong) is also a fun point of the play. Each person has sadness, but the way they comfort that sadness is warm and pleasant. It played an important role in conveying the message of the work by focusing on the relationship between people by taking the potentially heavy topic of divorce into a cheerful atmosphere.

However, Han Hye-jin's acting skills held her back. Han Hye-jin's problem was her vocalization. Lee Seo-jin, played by Han Hye-jin in the play, is a weather caster and radio DJ. Unable to endure her husband's emotional abuse, she commits an affair and is sued for divorce. However, with the help of Seung-Woo Cho, she succeeds in securing custody, and then gets a job as a consulting manager at Seung-Woo Cho's law office to defend custody.

Despite being a character with strong maternal love and wanting to instill support, Han Hye-jin's stiff acting made it impossible for viewers to fully focus on the character. I don't know if he wanted to act like a radio DJ, but unlike other actors, he couldn't permeate the play with his theatrical tone of dialogue. All the actors are acting in their daily lives, but it feels like I am acting on stage alone.

As a result, controversy over Han Hye-jin's acting skills arose from the beginning of the broadcast, which naturally led to a decline in viewership ratings. The reason is that Han Hye-jin's acting breaks the immersion of the play.

It was expected that it would succeed at the box office following 'Agency', recording a viewership rating of 7.3% in the first episode, but it plummeted to around 4% in the third episode, and failed to rebound, recording 5.4% in the 11th episode, which was about to end.

Above all, Cho Seung-woo had never achieved good results in JTBC dramas such as 'Sisyphus: the Myth' and 'Life', so expectations for 'Sacred, Divorced' must have been even higher. This is why I am disappointed by the lonely ending of 'Sacred, Divorced', in which Cho Seung-woo's passionate performance was not properly evaluated.

Taeyuna, Ten Asia Reporter youyou@tenasia.co.kr