Baek Jin-hee, premarital pregnancy with twins, KBS weekend drama Vitality collapses?

Actress Baek Jin-hee returned to weekend dramas after 7 years with ‘The Real One Has Appeared!’ Attention is being paid to whether KBS's weekend dramas, which fell apart with 'The Present Is Beautiful' and 'Three Brothers Bravely', will be able to revitalize them.

'The Real Thing Appears', starring Baek Jin-hee, Ahn Jae-hyun, Cha Joo-young, and Chung Eui-je, is a work about the fake contract romance between a single mother and an unmarried man surrounding the real baby in her stomach. It is a humanistic family drama that depicts the ups and downs of a family's growth as they become Avengers through pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare.

‘The real thing has appeared!’ was first broadcast on the 25th. Was it the influence of the previous work ‘Three Brothers and Sisters Bravely’ and its predecessor ‘The Present Is Beautiful’. 'The real thing has appeared!' Episode 1 started with a viewership rating of 17.7%. For a KBS weekend drama, this is a disappointing performance.

The viewership rating for the first broadcast of ‘Now is Beautiful’ was 24.5%, and ‘Three Siblings Bravely’ recorded 20.5%. Of course, 'the real thing has appeared!' The first broadcast's viewership ratings were probably influenced by previous works. 'The real thing has appeared!' The audience rating for episode 2 rose by 3.1% to 20.8%, thanks to the quick plot from the first broadcast and the familiar but end-of-the-line plot.

In episodes 1 and 2, Oh Yeon-doo (played by Baek Jin-hee) portrayed a happy future with her lover Kim Jun-ha (played by Jeong Eui-je). For a moment, I felt happy about his surprise proposal, but then I realized that the person proposing to me was not me, and I was shocked.

Oh Yeon-du also started a relationship with Gong Tae-kyung (played by Ahn Jae-hyun). Oh Yeon-du mistook Gong Tae-kyung's car for Kim Jun-ha's car and scribbled it with red marker. Gong Tae-kyung questioned this, and Oh Yeon-du suddenly fainted and was taken to the hospital. Afterwards, Oh Yeon-du found out that she was pregnant with twins. Oh Yeon-du visited Gong Tae-kyung and decided to have an abortion, and Gong Tae-kyung coaxed her to see the ultrasound first.

'The real thing has appeared!' After episodes 1 and 2 were broadcast, reactions are slowly appearing in online communities and SNS. Unlike previous works, it is mainly evaluated as being like a KBS weekend drama. At the center is Baek Jin-hee. Baek Jin-hee made a comeback with a weekend drama 7 years after 'My Daughter, Geum Sa-wol'.

In the play, Baek Jin-hee plays Oh Yeon-du. Oh Yeon-du is a super rookie in the internet lecture world and a specialized Korean language instructor. A person who is on the verge of becoming an instructor, but gets caught up in a shocking incident after breaking up with her ex-boyfriend.

Previously, Jeong Kyung-ho gained popularity by depicting the image of a one-hit lecturer through 'One-hit scandal'. Baek Jin-hee said, "I saw all of Jung Kyung-ho's acting in 'One-hit Scandal'. Oh Yeon-doo experiences a big problem right before becoming a 'one-hit instructor' and quickly quits. I tried to focus on the emotional vortex of the character rather than the 'one-hit instructor' character." revealed.

Director Han Jun-seo, who was in charge of directing, was aware of the recent low viewership ratings for KBS weekend dramas. He said, "Viewers have very picky tastes, so if you go too hard, they say you're a jerk, and if you go nice, they criticize you for being boring. What's desirable is to pursue fun that doesn't get criticized and isn't boring. We're trying to have that tone in our drama, too, obviously. “I might get criticized,” he said.

Baek Jin-hee chose ‘The Real Man Has Appeared!’ as her weekend drama comeback after 7 years. ‘The real thing has appeared!’ got off to a good start. At a time when word of mouth is important these days, it is curious whether Baek Jin-hee will be able to regain the reputation of KBS weekend dramas that fell after leading 'The real thing has appeared!'

Kang Min-kyung, Ten Asia reporter kkk39@tenasia.co.kr