In bizarre ratings from South Korea, the excellent fantasy romance drama Love Song for Illusion saw a huge ratings drop last night.
According to the latest data from Nielsen Korea, Love Song for Illusion, Episode 2 grabbed just 2.8 percent of the audience share nationwide.
That is a big drop from its first episode’s 4.3 percent, and a drop that put the drama in 20th place on Korean TV.
A bizarre drop, I say, as the first two episodes of the Korean drama have been extremely enjoyable to watch, as well as standouts from much of the other new series currently premiering.
International viewers and Love Song for Illusion
As far as international viewers are concerned, so far at least Love Song for Illusion seems to be well-liked and popular.
Users of IMDB are currently rating the drama a 9.0 out of 10, Drama Beans users (although, granted, only 11 people so far) are rating it an 8.8 out of 10, and over on My Drama List, Love Song for Illusion is currently at an 8.1 out of 10 (high for that site) from almost 450 people.
My Drama List users are also commenting overwhelmingly positively about the drama, and specifically about the lead actors’ performances in it (especially Park Ji Hoon).
And sure, Park Ji Hoon has had a career as an idol for a few years now, so fans of the singer/actor are likely to be more positive than a typical K-drama fan.
But that doesn’t take away from Ji Hoon’s acting performance here — which has been skillful so far.
Meanwhile, the Korean drama is also going gangbusters on Viki, where it is streaming for international viewers, and where it is currently rated a very high 9.7 out of 10.
Love Song for Illusion stars Park Ji Hoon, Hong Ye Ji, Hwang Hee, and Ji Woo.
The next episode of the drama will air later on tonight on KBS2 every Monday and Tuesday at 22:10 (KST).