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| JTBC series "More Than Friends" ended with a 1.3 percent viewership rating. Courtesy of JTBC |
By Lee Gyu-lee
JTBC drama series "More Than Friends" wrapped up Saturday amid far lower-than-expected viewership ratings.
The series, which started at an unimpressive 1.5 percent viewership on Sep. 25, dropped to 1.3 percent for its final episode.
Considering the previous series that aired at the same time slot ― "The World of the Married" that ended with 28.4 percent, and "Graceful Friends" with 7.1 percent ― the latest series' performance was a big disappointment to the network.
"More Than Friends" revolved around two high school friends ― Lee Soo (Ong Seong-wu) and Kyung Woo-yeon (Shin Ye-eun) ― navigating through their complicated relationship that spans 10 years.
Soo has been more than just a friend to Woo-yeon since high school, but he rejects her advances several times before he starts to develop feelings for her years later.
The first few episodes followed Woo-yeon's one-sided love, which resulted in a slow-paced narrative. But even after Woo starts falling for her, the two constantly find themselves having misunderstandings.
The self-centered character of Soo, who strictly ignores Woo-yeon's feelings but suddenly turns jealous of her new relationship, did not seem to help viewers endure the sluggish storyline.
"They were dragging the story out too long ... it would have been good for just a two-episode series," a user wrote in an online community.
Another user wrote, "Personally, I thought it started to get interesting from episode 7, but it should've been watchable from the beginning … I didn't even understand what the story is about from the first part (of the series)."
But some viewers praised the actors' performances.
"I started watching because the cinematography was beautiful in the first episode then I fell in love with the lead actors' performances," commented a viewer online.
Another viewer wrote, "The storyline was a bit disappointing, but I feel like the actors made it interesting enough ... I liked the chemistry that the lead and supporting characters had as friends."
