"High Society" ended on a high note with a double happy ending and double-digit ratings. The finale's ratings of 10.1 percent were the highest ratings enjoyed by the drama, which starred Uee, Sung Joon, Park Hyung Sik and Lim Ji Yeon.
The finale also offered happy endings for the two star-crossed couples. In this drama, Uee played Jang Yoon Ha, an heiress who pretended that she was poor so she could find true love. What she found was a man who initially wanted to marry her for her money, but who truly loved her nevertheless.
One of the recurring themes in this drama was that arranged marriages don't work. The drama started out with Jang Yoon Ha on her way to meet a blind date arranged by her family. That date was Yoo Chang Soo, played by Park Hyung Sik. She did not want an arranged marriage. None of Jang Yoon Ha's family did well in arranged marriages. Her siblings didn't and her parents didn't. Her mother was miserable.
She decided to pretend to be poor to meet someone who would love her for who she was.
Jang Yoon Ha meets the hardworking Choi Joon Gi, played by Sung Joon. And Yoo Chang Soo meets her charming poor friend Lee Ji Yi, played by Lim Ji Yeon. Both couples struggle with economic differences and the opposition of their families. But in the end true love wins out.
Choi Joon Gi sacrifices his position to help Jang Yoon Ha and that convinces her that he loves her for more than her money. Loving Li Ji Yi transforms the superficial Yoo Chang Soo.
Viewers did not really get to see what might happen to the rest of Jang Yoon Ha's family, whether they could overcome the crippling effects of their wealth and live happy lives. Did her parents divorce? Could her sister ever be happy? But their struggles were secondary to the fate of the couples.
Lim Ji Yeon made an impression playing the very charming Lee Ji Yi. Also noteworthy was the relationship between Yoo Chang Soo and his doting mother, played by Jung Kyung Soon. Despite her initial determined stance that he would marry within his class, she was obviously easily charmed. She starts out totally opposed to her son dating let alone marrying a poor girl. But in the end Lee Ji Yi so charms his other that she insists they marry. In the history of interfering k-drama moms, this interaction was refreshingly different.
"High Society" did not earn the top spot in ratings for the week, but it only barely missed that. "Splendid Politics" remained at the top with 10.3 percent. "Remember You" reached 5.0 percent.
Kim Hee Ae's "Mrs. Cop" follows "High Society" on Aug. 3.