Nam Goong-min's 'Marriage Completion' Ends with Record Ratings and a Divorce

KBS 2TV's Saturday-Sunday miniseries Marriage Completion closed its 12-episode run on August 9 with a nationwide household rating of 8.5%, according to Nielsen Korea data released on August 10. That figure set a new benchmark for KBS 2TV weekend miniseries in 2025, edging past the previous slot record of 8.1% held by the Ma Dong-seok vehicle Twelve, which posted that number on its first episode back in August of last year.

The series had started quietly, launching in early July with a 4.4% premiere rating. From there it built steadily, climbing to 7.5% in its penultimate episode before the finale added another full percentage point. It also surpassed Eunae-haneun Dojeok-nim-a (February 2025), which had previously led 2025 KBS weekend dramas with a peak of 7.7%.

The finale centered on resolving the web of threats surrounding surgeon Kang Tae-joo (Nam Goong-min) and his wife Ko Se-yun (Lee Seol). The villain Choi Chi-ung (Woo Ji-hyun), driven by deep resentment toward Kang Tae-joo, had earlier arranged for accomplice Noh Man-hee (Kim Dae-myung) to have Ko Se-yun killed. In the finale, Choi Chi-ung breaks into a hospital and attacks Ko Se-yun directly, slashing at her throat with a blade before she manages to wound him and stall his escape. Police arrive and arrest him.

The parallel thread with Noh Man-hee resolved with more texture. After Kang Tae-joo performs emergency surgery on Noh Man-hee's critically ill wife Kim Gyeong-ae, he does so not out of forgiveness but, as he tells Noh Man-hee plainly, because he is a doctor. Noh Man-hee, moved by his wife's survival, submits evidence to police and attempts to take his own life. Kang Tae-joo stops him by grabbing the blade with his bare hands, bleeding, and insisting that Noh Man-hee stay alive to face the consequences. Both Choi Chi-ung and Noh Man-hee are arrested.

With his hand seriously injured, Kang Tae-joo still performs surgery on Ko Se-yun, who had rushed to the hospital after hearing about the confrontation. When she wakes, he greets her with a quiet joke about not being late this time.

The emotional pivot of the episode came through a video clip. Ko Se-yun finally sees the unedited footage of Kang Tae-joo drunkenly asking someone to "get rid of my wife," the line that had haunted the drama. The full context reveals he meant he wanted to free her from a life with him, believing she could never be happy by his side. Understanding this, Ko Se-yun chooses divorce anyway: not in anger, but because she recognizes that their ways of loving each other have always been fundamentally misaligned. Kang Tae-joo accepts without blame. There is something quietly progressive in how the show frames the decision: mutual understanding as an ending rather than a beginning.

The final scene takes place at the arboretum where their daughter Hayun is buried, on the anniversary of Hayun's death. Kang Tae-joo and Ko Se-yun meet by chance, exchange a few gentle words, and walk side by side down a forest path.

The drama had drawn early attention for reuniting Nam Goong-min and Lee Seol, who previously played a separated couple in the SBS series Uri Yeonghwa. Here they played a married couple coming apart, which gave the casting a certain symmetry.

In a statement released after the finale, the production team thanked the cast, crew, and viewers for their support throughout the run.

The Saturday-Sunday slot on KBS 2TV will next air Someone Other Than You (Neo Malgo Dareun Yeonae), starring Seo Kang-joon and Ahn Eun-jin, beginning September 12.