High buzz, low ratings: 'My Bias, My Boss' viewership drops to 3%

The start wasn't bad. The new tvN Monday-Tuesday drama 'My Bias, My Boss,' starring actors Kang Hun and Kim Hye-jun, caught eyes from its first broadcast with the refreshing atmosphere typical of romantic comedies and an intriguing setting involving an idol fandom. It even climbed the buzzword rankings, raising expectations early on.

However, the viewership rating did not follow suit as expected. After starting at 4.2% in the first episode, the viewership rating dropped to 3.1% by the second episode. This is a decline of 1.1 percentage points in just one episode.

This is an especially disappointing report considering that its predecessor, 'Going to Work Tomorrow Too!', exited with viewership ratings maintaining the 4% range until the very end. As the successor takes over the baton with lower numbers than the previous work, attention is focused on whether 'My Bias, My Boss' can achieve a viewership rating rebound in the future.

Of course, it hasn't lost buzzword interest. 'My Bias, My Boss' ranked 10th in the TV drama buzzword rankings for the fifth week of July announced by Fundex. This means interest in the work itself exists. The problem lies in the fact that this interest is not being sufficiently converted into actual viewership.

In the second episode, the significant change in relationships began, centered around Kang Hagi (Kang Hun) and Nam Da-reum (Kim Hye-jun).

Kang Hagi is a 'cold on the outside, warm on the inside' type of character, possessing a warm interior despite his cold and stern exterior. As the CEO who successfully led the fashion brand Apello, he shows impeccable judgment and delicacy in his work, but begins to experience unexpected cracks following the appearance of new employee Nam Da-reum.

Nam Da-reum is a person who gave up entering a large corporation to join Apello in order to support her favorite idol, Dino (Cha Woo-min), for the 11th year. Having achieved her first goal as a long-time fan by greeting Dino directly in an elevator, she now sets a new goal to be selected as an excellent employee for overseas training.

In the process, Nam Da-reum misunderstands that there is a subtle relationship between Kang Hagi and Dino.

With Kang Hagi's gaze in a group photo, a letter and banner with the phrase 'I love you, Chan,' and the sight of Kang Hagi looking at Dino, Nam Da-reum becomes convinced that Kang Hagi has a one-sided crush on Dino. Ultimately, Nam Da-reum decides to keep his secret.

However, Kang Hagi was actually looking at Nam Da-reum through a completely different lens. He harbored suspicions that she might be an industrial spy because she was from the competitor, SE Mulsan.

What is interesting is that this misunderstanding does not end as a one-sided suspicion. Watching Nam Da-reum devote herself silently to her work, Kang Hagi begins to accept the possibility that his judgment might be wrong.

In particular, his attitude changes after learning through his senior, Kim Mi-young (Kim So-ra), that Nam Da-reum is working more diligently than anyone else to be selected as an excellent employee. The scenes where he drives Nam Da-reum home after she works late and offers encouragement to her when she loses confidence suggest that new feelings are budding between the two.

The scene where Nam Da-reum, trying to avoid a motorcycle, pulls Kang Hagi and they end up face-to-face also follows the typical grammar of a romantic comedy. The process of a relationship starting from a misunderstanding turning into affection is familiar in terms of genre, but the key moving forward is how much persuasive power the chemistry between the two actors can secure.

On top of this, another variable, Dino, appears.

There was a past between Nam Da-reum and Dino that went beyond a simple star and fan relationship. The owner of the necklace that Dino gave to a fan around the time of the group D.N.X's disbandment was none other than Nam Da-reum.

Meeting the fan who remembered and supported him for a long time, Dino reaches out to Nam Da-reum directly with a welcoming heart.

Dino is a person who has grown from an idol to an actor, and again to a representative icon of an era. While he appears to have grasped both success and fame on the surface, he harbors a loneliness inside that he cannot easily reveal. He also possesses his own philosophy and sense, enough to work as a fashion director for Apello.

However, another conflict exists around him. While the obsession of his ex-lover Yoon Choi (Shin Yu-na) continues, Nam Da-reum discovers a card while delivering the gift Dino gave, leading her to once again misunderstand the relationship between the two.

Dino has also begun to be conscious of Nam Da-reum. Having accidentally encountered Nam Da-reum while she was working late, he expressed sincere gratitude for her not forgetting and remembering him, and subsequently showed signs of waiting for Nam Da-reum.

As such, 'My Bias, My Boss' is rapidly building a love triangle centered on Kang Hagi, Nam Da-reum, and Dino.

This is precisely where the problem lies.

In romantic comedies, a love triangle can act as a powerful driver, but if multiple conflict devices—such as misunderstandings, secrets, past connections, an ex-lover's obsession, and workplace competition—are all introduced at once in the early stages, there is a risk that the central axis of the story will become blurred.

In particular, the strongest weapon of 'My Bias, My Boss' is the setting of 'a fan who joins a company specifically to be close to her favorite star.' The process of the distance between a fan and a star collapsing within a workplace, and discovering the actual persona of an idealized being, can itself be a sufficiently interesting narrative.

However, as the relationship between a CEO and a new employee, suspicions of industrial espionage, the love triangle, and an ex-lover's obsession overlap, there are moments where the story's center of gravity becomes somewhat unclear.

Ultimately, for 'My Bias, My Boss' to survive, it is more important to provide reasons for the audience to emotionally invest in each character rather than just creating numerous incidents.

The original work is the webtoon 'My Brother is an Idol' by author Seong Eun. It recorded 660,000,000 cumulative global views, was serviced in 8 languages, and holds a Naver Webtoon rating of 9.2. It began serialization in September 2017 and concluded with 124 episodes in January 2020.

Since it already possesses a solid original fandom and high buzzword interest, there is plenty of potential for the drama to rebound. The key will be how quickly the initial setup can converge into a single emotional line.

The figure of '10th in buzzword rankings' certainly shows potential. However, the 3.1% viewership rating is a cold indicator that this potential has not yet translated into mainstream viewership.

Can 'My Bias, My Boss,' which fell from 4.2% in its premiere to 3.1% in its second episode, recover to the 4% range?

With 12 episodes in total, there is still time. However, before the initial curiosity fades, the relationship between Kang Hagi, Nam Da-reum, and Dino must be elevated into a clearer emotional narrative. Otherwise, it is difficult to rule out the possibility that the drama, which set out to find its 'bias,' may lose its way without capturing the hearts of viewers.