Nam Ji-hyun Follows 17.7% Hit Good Partner With a Bold Adult-Themed Rom-Com

Nam Ji-hyun's new TVING Original rom-com, Make Me Tremble (내가 떨릴 수 있게), premiered on the 15th, with the actress playing a sheltered woman who unexpectedly meets the owner of an adult-products company. It is a notable change of register for an actor whose last major television success was the legal drama Good Partner, which reached a 17.7% nationwide rating.

That 17.7% figure, measured by Nielsen Korea, came in just seven episodes and was the highest rating for any SBS drama in 2024. Nam played Han Yu-ri, a rookie lawyer, and won the Best Acting Award (Choice Award) at the SBS Drama Awards for the role. Earlier this year she moved into period romance with KBS2's Loved by a Thief (은애하는 도적님아), so this is her third distinct genre in about two years.

A conventional heroine in an unconventional setup

Nam's character, Gong Yeon-su, is the eldest daughter of a head family from a conservative household. She believes love and marriage have an order that should be respected. Her opposite is Dokgo Dal (Kim Jae-young), who runs an adult-products business and is described as someone who is good at intimacy without needing love. The series frames their collision as a clumsy, growth-minded romance between a woman who won't act without love and a man who happily does.

The writer is Ahn Sae-bom and the director is Kim Ye-ji. TVING, the streaming platform behind the project, has increasingly relied on original romance titles with a sharper hook to stand out from broadcaster dramas, and a premise like this one suits that approach.

What Nam brings to the role

According to the source coverage, Nam builds Yeon-su from a neat first impression and layers goofy, flustered charm on top. In scenes where the character gets drunk and makes repeated mistakes in front of Dokgo Dal, she leans on shifting expressions and physical comedy. The straightforward, sharp side of Yeon-su is kept intact too.

Facing a world she has never encountered, the character is embarrassed but visibly curious, and Nam plays both at once. When Yeon-su states her own standards, she does so with confidence. Her exchanges with Dokgo Dal, who holds opposite views on love and relationships, are driven by quick, rhythmic dialogue, and the first flutters between them are handled with some delicacy.

At the end of episode four, Yeon-su asks Dokgo Dal out on a date herself, which marks the start of the romance proper.

Make Me Tremble streams on TVING every Thursday at 6 p.m.