Lee Hyeri's New Drama Hits Its Lowest Ratings Yet: Right as the Romance Gets Good

ENA's Give It to You hit a series-low rating of 2.0% (Nielsen Korea, national household basis) with its seventh episode, which aired on the 3rd, a drop of 0.3 percentage points from the previous week's 2.3%. For a show that has hovered in the low 2% range since its premiere, the timing stings a little: the dip came precisely as the two leads were finally getting together on screen.

The show stars Lee Hyeri and Hwang In-yeop as Joo Yi-jae and Woo Su-bin, a reunion romance between a scrappy TV reporter and the genius film director who was her first love. It generated real pre-air buzz on casting alone, but that interest hasn't translated into the ratings Hyeri's name might suggest. Her most famous role, the lovable Deok-seon in Reply 1988, peaked at 19% nationwide, a number that now feels worlds away from where Give It to You is sitting.

The ratings picture doesn't tell the whole story, though. Viewer responses online have been genuinely enthusiastic, with comments like "it feels like watching a proper film" and "I can't stop watching" circulating across platforms. It's one of those situations where a show builds a devoted, vocal audience while the broader numbers quietly trend the wrong direction.

Episodes 7 and 8 delivered the emotional payoff the show had been building toward. In episode 7, Yi-jae finally says out loud what she's been holding back for over a decade, telling Su-bin that what she felt at 18 and 19 was love, and still is. The confession leads to a kiss, one that lands cleanly because the show has earned it through the slow accumulation of small moments. Su-bin, for his part, had quietly arranged to cast a difficult actor just to protect Yi-jae's position as director, and when she finds out, the barrier between them collapses.

Episode 8 pushed things further. Su-bin is slapped by his father Woo Cheol-gyu in front of Yi-jae, a harsh, humiliating moment, and when Cheol-gyu turns on Yi-jae with a cruel remark, she doesn't back down. Her response, that Su-bin is the one who put her life back together, doubles as a character statement and a turning point for the relationship. The morning-after scene that follows is lighter: Yi-jae waking up beside Su-bin and quietly apologizing for being unaccustomed to having someone there, while Su-bin responds with a mild, endearing sulk. It's a good scene, the choreography of the two actors in that domestic, unhurried space is where the show's chemistry is most visible.

The episode ends on a more complicated note, with a figure believed to be Yi-jae's ex-boyfriend appearing on set and signaling the arrival of a potential love triangle.

On the production side, the casting of Oh Ha-na (played by Lee Yeol-eum) is also reaching its resolution. Ha-na decides to break free from her controlling mother, An Su-hee (Park Ji-young), and commit to the period drama Gyeongseong Romance, connecting to the sincerity of a character she shares something with. Meanwhile, Shim Yu-geon (Baek Seong-cheol) tells Ha-na that there was nothing between them, a cover to protect himself under the terms of his contract with An Su-hee, which lands as one of the episode's harder moments.

Director Yoo Seon-dong spoke about the casting at the show's production press conference: "Reading the script, I knew it had to be Hyeri, no one else. She's the only actor I could picture carrying Yi-jae's realistic anxieties alongside her unstoppable positive energy, and she said yes right away." Hwang In-yeop described his character as someone who grew up doing only what his parents demanded, until Yi-jae gave him permission to dream, and who returns 15 years later to give that dream back to her.

Give It to You airs Mondays and Tuesdays on ENA at 10 p.m. KST, with episodes also available on KT Genie TV and Tving. Episode 9 is scheduled for the 10th.