The finale of the KBS drama "Advertisement Genius Lee Tae Baek" has been aired.
February 4, the first episode of the KBS drama "Advertisement Genius Lee Tae Baek" began to air. The 16th episode that aired yesterday, March 26, marked the end of the drama. The drama is based on an actual person named Lee Jae Suk, who won the most honorable award at a worldwide advertisement competition.
Throughout the journey of Lee Tae Baek (Jin Goo) in the drama, he faces realistic hardships in the society. The drama contained a pessimistic message about the society expressed through various situations in the drama.
In the first episode for example, Lee Tae Baek goes to an interview for a job. However, the interviewers refrain from asking him any questions because of his lack of experience in the field. This portrayed the realistic process of getting hired in our society where people will not even be considered if they don't have any background experience.
The actors in the drama were able to draw attention for their impressive performances. Viewers were expecting a lot from Jin Goo since it was his first time portraying a main character in a drama after his debut. Through his role as Lee Tae Baek, Jin Goo was praised for his convincing act that was far above what people expected. Other actors like Jo Hyun Jae, Park Ha Sun and Han Chae Young also played a crucial part in the drama's success. Girl group members Han Sun Hwa of Secret and A Young of Dal Shabet also drew attention for their bubbly characters in the drama.
The last episode featured Eddie Kang (Jo Hyun Jae) breaking up the engagement with Baek Ji Yoon (Park Ha Sun) by saying, "I have continuously loved you. I'm confident that I will continue to love you in the future but I'm not confident that I will be able to make you smile." Meanwhile, Lee Tae Baek changes President Baek's mind about him after creating an impressive advertisement for a zoo and gets permission to date Baek Ji Yoon. Ma Jin Ga (Go Chang Suk) announces his engagement to Lee Eun Hee (Hong Ji Min) and So Ran (Han Sun Hwa) becomes a member of a girl group. Eddie Kang and Go Ah Ree (Han Chae Young) also seemed very friendly with each other foretelling the blooming of their romance. Everybody in the drama got their happy ending.
Regardless of all the happy endings in "Advertisement Genius Lee Tae Baek", there seems to be some disappointed fans. Instead of focusing on the creation of new ideas and advertisements, the story concentrated too much on the love lines and twists in the story. With a story that could be easily predicted, "Advertisement Genius Lee Tae Baek" received 3~4% viewing rates for all of its episodes, unable to go higher.
The drama would have been better if the story's main focus was Lee Tae Baek and his process of overcoming hardships to finally succeed. Regardless, the viewers applauded for the actors and the production crew that provided them with laughter and tears.
