Joo Won and Kim Tae-hee are bringing viewers to the TV. Their SBS drama “Yong-pal,” with its suspenseful, fast-paced plot, is keeping the viewers hooked to the TV. It recorded 14.1% viewer rating (Nielsen Korea) in just two episodes, the highest among dramas (mini series) that aired this year. What is more notable is that the drama has only just started, so people are waiting to see what other records it will set until the last 16th episode airs.

The drama that had the highest viewer rating before “Yong-pal” was “Mask.” The last episode that aired on July 30 recorded the highest with 13.6%. The series fluctuated in the 10% range and finally hit the highest rating with its final episode. SBS drama “High Society” also did relatively well and ended with a 10.1% viewer rating. The highest for its rival MBC drama “Splendid Politics” was 11.8%. “Yong-pal” rival “The Scholar Who Walks the Night” is lingering around the 7% range while “Assembly” is low at 4%. It has been a long time since the average viewer ratings dropped so that just surpassing 10% is considered a success. However, “Yong-pal” is drawing viewers in their 40s as well as 20s to the TV, which is why anticipations are running high.   

In the second episode that aired on the 6th, the scene where Joo Won tries to save his patient despite the risk of exposing his identity to the police that are after him received the highest viewer rating of 19.7%. Compared with the previous day, 30% more viewers in their 20s tuned in to the drama. Although it still has a long way to go, the first two episodes revealed the strength of the series: the fast pace. It wastes no time in introducing the characters, who all come alive on the screen nonetheless. There are no additional explanations as the plot unfolds. In just two episodes, the drama quickly revealed why Joo Won is forced to treat patients clandestinely outside the hospital and why Kim Tae-hee is in a coma state and the situation binding the two characters. 

“Yong-pal” also emphasizes the strengths of a medical drama. Regarded as a fail-proof genre in the past, medical dramas have recently been shunned for being reduced to “a love story set in a hospital,” but “Yong-pal” incorporates the suspenseful elements of a medical drama, such as the nail-biting life and death situation. “Yong-pal” intends to keep its focus not on romance, but on dramatic emergency scenes and life-or-death medical situations.