Song Kang and Lee Joon-young's Four Hands Is Winning Ratings, Buzz Charts, and Netflix at Once

The moment episode 8 of Four Hands landed its long-awaited reunion scene between Kang Bi-o and Choi Jeong-yo, the numbers confirmed what fans had been feeling for weeks: this drama had turned a corner. Airing on the 20th, the episode drew a 7.9% national rating according to Nielsen Korea, a new series high, and locked in the show's fourth consecutive week at #1 on GoodData Corporation's combined TV-OTT drama buzz chart.

What makes that trifecta more impressive is where it sits in the broader landscape. Netflix Korea has kept Four Hands at #2 in its non-English TV show rankings for three straight weeks, and the same week it held globally at #10 with 11.8 million hours viewed and 1.4 million views counted. That global figure uses total runtime (8.2 hours) as the denominator, so the view count reflects sustained, full-episode watching rather than clip traffic.

A slow start, then a gear shift in episode 5

Four Hands is set at an elite arts high school where gifted students push each other toward and past their limits. Song Kang plays Kang Bi-o and Lee Joon-young plays Choi Jeong-yo, rivals whose competitive friendship defines the show's emotional core. Early episodes drew some criticism for deliberate pacing, dialogue that felt dated, and a narrative that read more as bromance than anything with higher stakes. Viewers willing to hold on were rewarded: episode 5 changed the atmosphere sharply when Choi Jeong-yo is kidnapped, and episode 7 brought the two leads back together after nine years apart.

Episode 8 completed that arc by reversing the dynamic. Where Choi Jeong-yo once pulled Kang Bi-o toward greatness during their school years, here it is Kang Bi-o who reaches back and draws a slumping Choi Jeong-yo onto the stage. Hidden secrets that reframe earlier events also surface in this episode, and the show's storytelling shifted decisively from coming-of-age music drama toward something with real thriller elements: kidnapping, revenge, and buried histories woven through what had been a story about two pianists growing up.

Buzz rankings held against Hyun Bin, Son Ye-jin, and Seo Kang-joon

GoodData's Fundex survey covers the week of September 14 to the 20th, and Four Hands topped the combined TV-OTT drama ranking for a fourth consecutive week. The cast rankings told the same story: Lee Joon-young held #1 among all drama performers for four straight weeks, with Song Kang directly behind him at #2. Both achieved this while competing against new projects from Hyun Bin, Son Ye-jin, and Seo Kang-joon, which makes the sustained grip on the chart more notable than the individual week would suggest.

Early doubts that the show's slower build would drag its buzz scores never materialized. The ratings and discussion metrics climbed week by week rather than peaking on premiere night, which is the kind of word-of-mouth trajectory that tends to age well.

Netflix trajectory and what comes next

On Netflix, Four Hands first appeared in the Korea Top 10 during the August 30 weekly chart at #10, then jumped eight spots to #2 the following week and held that position through the September 20 chart. Globally, it previously reached #5 with 2 million views in its opening weeks, and even as those early numbers settled, it still maintained #2 domestically and #10 worldwide.

The drama carries extra weight outside the story itself. Four Hands is Song Kang's first project after completing his mandatory military service, and it is Lee Joon-young's last before he begins his own. Both actors are doing some of the most textured work of their careers here, and the show's second half, which is expanding roles for supporting cast including Jang Gyu-ri, suggests the writers still have room to run.

Whether Four Hands can hold its current pace without losing the musical seriousness that grounded it in its early episodes is the real question heading into the final stretch. Episode 9 airs on the 26th at 9:10 p.m. on tvN.