"The Village - Achiara's Secret" rose in the ratings this week but that may have had something to do with the cancellation of previous frontrunner drama "She Was Pretty."
The SBS mystery thriller rose 1.2 percent to 7.1 percent. The drama tells the story of a school teacher, played by Moon Geun Young, who moves to a seemingly peaceful village. There seems to be no crime in the village until a body is discovered. The schoolteacher helps the village's newest police officer, played by Yook Sung Jae, solve the crime. In the latest episode the corpse was identified. One possible victim luckily turned out to be alive and dental records finally confirmed the identify of the body. The killer remained at large. Although there is a likely suspect, he may not turn out to be the killer. There's more than one suspect who might have committed the crime.
The drama also stars Shin Eun Kyung, On Joo Wan and Jang Hee Jin.
The KBS drama "The Merchant: Gaekju 2015" achieved first place this week with 11.1 percent of the ratings. The drama is based on "Gaekju," Kim Joo Young's ten-volume novel which was serialized in daily newspaper The Seoul Shinmun from June 1979 to February 1983. During the October 14th episode So Sa, played by Han Chae Ah, and Bong Sam, played by Jang Hyuk met for the first time.
Bong Sam was looking for his older sister So Rye, played by Park Eun Hye, and in the process wound up saving So Sa from an attack. He was smitten by her beauty. He was also surprised when she begged him to take her with him and rescue her from the innkeeper that her father sold her to.
"She Was Pretty," last week's ratings frontrunner was cancelled due to a long baseball game and fans were none too happy. Because the playoff semi final between the Doosan Bears and Nexen Heroes teams ran to ten innings, the program had to be cancelled. The game was followed by the News Desk and Radio Star programs. According to the Korean media outlet TV Daily, more than two thousand complaints were posted on the station's viewer message boards. Drama fans sought an apology for the cancellation.
"She Was Pretty" stars Park Seo Joon, Hwang Jung Eum, Choi Si Won and Go Joon Hee. The cancellation was especially rough for the drama's fans as the last episode ended with a surprise makeover and no back story to say how it happened. The next episode should reveal all.