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| The crime series "Inspector Koo," starring actress Lee Young-ae, ended with a 2.3 percent viewership rating, Sunday. Courtesy of JTBC |
By Lee Gyu-lee
The JTBC series "Inspector Koo," starring star actress Lee Young-ae, ended with a disappointing viewership rating in spite of its star-studded cast.
The comedy crime series, which started with a 2.6 percent viewership rating in October, sputtered with a 2.3 percent rating for its finale on Sunday.
Lee's return to the small screen after "Saimdang, Memoir of Colors" in 2017 garnered high hopes, especially because she took on the quirky role of a reclusive game addict.
However, since starting off with a much lower viewership than expected, the series failed to win the hearts of viewers and saw its ratings slip to 1.8 percent by the fifth episode.
Directed by Lee Jeong-heum, who led the mystery series "Nobody Knows" and "Falsify," the suspense series follows a former detective named Koo Kyung-yi (Lee), who left the force after her husband's death.
Blaming herself for his death, she lives a reclusive life, locked in her apartment playing computer games. When her former colleague offers her a job as an insurance investigator to look into missing people, she puts her skills and instincts as a cop to use.
As she digs deeper into her cases, she realizes that they are linked to a serial murderer and finds herself in a cat-and-mouse game to catch the killer, Song Yi-kyung (Kim Hye-joon), who goes by the name K. It was written by newcomer Seong Choy.
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| Scenes from "Inspector Koo" / Courtesy of JTBC |
Despite the series' disappointing performance, Lee shared her affection for her latest work and said it was a meaningful challenge in her career.
"This is the work that I came across just when I was looking for ways to change my career as an actor, after getting married," she said through the network, Saturday. "The character of Kyung-yi was special and there was something about the series that was unique."
The actress, who rose to stardom with the period series "Dae Jang Geum" in 2003 and the thriller film "Lady Vengeance" in 2005, expressed that playing a comic role that gives a twist to her classy and serene image helped her gain confidence in acting.
"Not a lot of younger audiences know much about me so I thought it would be nice just to grab their interest with my acting. But I didn't expect this much feedback," she said. "I was so happy and thankful that the younger viewers responded to my role. And I felt that it helped me to boost my confidence in taking on any role in the future."
Adding that her favorite part of the series was the action scenes, she thanked her castmates.
"(Among the scenes,) the action scene that Kay and I did was most memorable because I felt like it was a refreshing action sequence done by women," she said. "I didn't realize how many great actors were out there. I learned a lot. Especially with Kim Hye-joon, I would invite her to my home to discuss the roles and we would talk a lot… I'm grateful to work with such wonderful actors. I've become their fans."
"Inspector Koo" is also streaming on Netflix.
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