Channel A’s ‘Witch’ delivered overwhelming immersion from its very first broadcast.
With a mysterious atmosphere, stunningly beautiful sensory direction, and a solid storyline, it captivated viewers instantly. As a result, the ratings showed 2.6% in the metropolitan area, peaking at 3.3%, marking the highest viewership for a premiere in Channel A drama history, signaling a pleasant start.
Channel A’s weekend drama ‘Witch’ premiered on the 15th to positive reviews. It interestingly depicted Dong-jin (Park Jin-young)’s data mining while delicately unraveling the process of deciding to break the law of death that follows Mi-jeong (Noh Jung-ui). The special appearances of Ju Ji-hoon, Yoon Park, Kim Hye-ok, and Hyun Bong-sik added delightful fun to the first episode. Above all, director Kim Tae-kyun’s sensory direction filled the empty spaces with overwhelming immersion, and the solid performances of Park Jin-young and Noh Jung-ui finely expressed the characters' emotions, further enhancing the atmosphere of the mystery romance. With a unique love story unfolding around the fresh profession of data miner, expectations for future developments are rising.
The broadcast opened with Dong-jin’s data mining skills, which deduced information through observing others. Dong-jin analyzed the behavior patterns of customers at a casino to identify ‘pain points’, meaning those who reached a limit where they lost a lot of money and would never return to the casino. The hotel provided those customers with free meals or accommodation to enhance the casino's sustainability.
Even while giving a statement at the police station after being involved in a car terror incident, his exceptional abilities were on full display. Based on various data such as stained clothes, dog hair on the clothes, and similar habits, he ‘mined’ the fact that the man in a tracksuit (Ju Ji-hoon) and the man in a suit (Yoon Park), who were fighting and exercising their right to remain silent at the police station, were brothers living in the same house. This scene left a strong impression not only on the unfamiliar detective (Hyun Bong-sik) but also on the viewers regarding what he does.
The subsequent meeting between Dong-jin and Mi-jeong drew attention to their painfully poignant narrative. On the subway heading home, Dong-jin saw Mi-jeong, whom he hadn’t heard from in a long time. Mi-jeong, who was being confessed to by a man, shot him a look of disgust. She looked just like the Mi-jeong Dong-jin remembered from high school. Back then, she was always alone, looked lonely, and seemed somehow prickly when interacting with others. Dong-jin couldn’t shake the image of her being alone from his mind.
The reason Mi-jeong was always alone was due to the unfounded rumors surrounding her. Strange incidents frequently occurred at school during that time. Someone was stung by a wasp, another was hit by a car, and even someone was struck by lightning and died. The commonality among all these mysterious events was that Mi-jeong was present at the accident scenes. Because of this, schoolmates called her a ‘witch’, saying, “If you get involved with her, bad things keep happening as if cursed.” Only Dong-jin thought this was “a hasty generalization error.”
On the day of a field trip in the second semester, an accident occurred again. Seeing a male student being carried away, bleeding, Mi-jeong trembled in fear. The injured boy looked at Mi-jeong with resentment, saying, “Be careful of her.” After that, Mi-jeong spent more time alone, and Dong-jin grew concerned for her. So, he even set up a shade for her to eat lunch alone in the scorching sun in a secluded corner. Seeing her eat her lunch in the shade brought a warm smile to Dong-jin’s face.
As the new year began in March of their third year, a male student from the same class died from electrocution. Again, Mi-jeong was nearby. With the repeated accidents, rumors spread among the students, “Don’t go near Park Mi-jeong. You might die,” and Mi-jeong was ultimately branded as a ‘witch’. Seeing Mi-jeong thoroughly isolated, Dong-jin decided he must speak to her this time. However, wounded Mi-jeong left school for good, and Dong-jin was left unable to say, “Hello, I’m Lee Dong-jin,” keeping it all to himself.
Years later, when he met Mi-jeong again on the subway, she was still accompanied by the terrible curse. The subway confession man collapsed after Mi-jeong left. Dong-jin felt sorry for Mi-jeong, who wished for a good life after leaving school but still lived with loneliness and the guilt of having hurt someone. He vowed to break the law of death with his abilities and save Mi-jeong from her curse. Dong-jin’s ending line, “Do you think there’s a ‘witch’?” with tearful eyes left a deep impression and heightened curiosity for the next episode. Channel A’s weekend drama ‘Witch’ episode 2 will air on the 16th at 9:10 PM.
[Ji Seung-hoon, Star Today Reporter]
