Bitter Sweet Hell, Ep 9 earns solid ratings rise after last week’s all-time low

Lee Hye Young in Bitter Sweet Hell — photo courtesy MBC

With the ongoing MBC drama Bitter Sweet Hell coming to an end on June 29th, it is nice to see the ratings for last night’s episode of the black comedy thriller bouncing back after dropping to an all-time low for Episode 8.

According to the data from Nielsen Korea, Bitter Sweet Hell, Episode 9 grabbed 5.50 percent of the audience share nationwide on Friday night.

That is a solid ratings rise from Episode 8’s all-time low rating of 4.8 percent and, hopefully, indicates the Korean drama may earn well-deserved higher ratings for its final three episodes.

Something it has struggled to do throughout its run, as it airs in the same time slot as the even more successful K-drama Connection.

International viewers’ opinion of Bitter Sweet Hell

Outside South Korea, however, viewers’ ratings for the MBC drama have been mixed.

My Drama List viewers, for instance, are currently rating the K-drama a low 7.7 out of 10 (warning as usual, MDL viewers are notorious for voting drama lower than those on other platforms due to a substantial contingent of trolls).

However, when you look at the comments, most people are calling the show “excellent” or “interesting”, which tends to suggest the usual trolls that use the platform may have down-rated it for some supposed “grievance”.

Especially as, on Viki where the K-drama is streaming, viewers are currently rating it a high 9.3 out of 10 with almost all the comments so far highly complimentary about the writing and the performances of the female leads.

In both cases, however, most of those currently watching the drama have not yet rated it.

That means a more accurate rating, on both platforms, will likely appear after Bitter Sweet Hell’s final episode airs.

Bitter Sweet Hell stars Kim Hee Sun, Lee Hye Young, Kim Nam Hee, and Yeonwoo, and airs every Friday and Saturday evening.

About Michelle Topham

Brit-American journalist based in Austria, former radio DJ at 97X WOXY, and Founder/CEO of Leo Sigh. I've covered K-drama, K-pop, J-pop and music news for over a decade.