From the get-go, a noticeable gap has formed between the new Friday-Saturday dramas MBC’s The Story of Park’s Marriage Contract and SBS’s My Demon.
According to Nielsen Korea, the second episodes aired on the 25th, showed a viewership rating of 5.9% for The Story of Park’s Marriage Contract and 3.4% for My Demon, marking a 2.5% point difference. Notably, The Story of Park’s Marriage Contract experienced a 0.3% point increase from its first episode, while My Demon saw a significant drop of 1.1% points, highlighting the diverging fortunes of the two shows.
The Story of Park’s Marriage Contract tells a contract marriage story between Park Yeon Woo (Lee Se Young), a 19th-century woman who leaps over death to land in South Korea of 2023, and Kang Tae Ha (Bae In Hyuk), a 21st-century man devoid of emotions. The first episode featured the fateful repeated encounters between Yeo Woo and Tae Ha in the Joseon era, leading up to Yeon Woo losing her husband on their wedding night and falling into a well, thus transcending time and space.
My Demon is a fantasy rom-com about the contract marriage between a chaebol heiress Do Do Hee (Kim Yoo Jung) and a demon Goo Won (Song Kang) who loses his powers suddenly. The first episode captured the fateful encounter of the two, where Do Hee, in a crisis, asks Goo Won for a soul-collateral contract, only to realize that his powers no longer work.
Both dramas, marking the comebacks of Lee Se Young and Kim Yoo Jung, both used to be child actors, had generated early expectations due to the competitive setup. However, the actual competition has yielded polarized responses. The Story of Park’s Marriage Contract has been receiving praise for its actors’ chemistry and good adaptation, while My Demon has garnered mixed reviews, with comments about awkward acting tones, cringing lines, and a childish plot.
Although The Story of Park’s Marriage Contract is currently ahead, considering that only two episodes have aired so far, there’s still ample opportunity for My Demon to rebound.
>> Kim Yoo Jung and Song Kang Discuss ‘My Demon’ Characters and Dream Wishes for a Devil
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