Park Sung-woong remains a Yeonri-ri farmer after 12 weeks

The KBS 2TV mini-series 'Simu-myeon Yeonri-ri' concluded its run on June 11 with its 12th episode. Seong Tae-hoon's family, who arrived in Yeonri-ri as if being pushed out of the city, ultimately did not choose Seoul again. The ending, which chose living together over success, led to the answer to the question this drama has held onto for 12 weeks: that who you live with may be more important than where you live.

Seong Tae-hoon ultimately stayed in Yeonri-ri

In the final episode, Seong Tae-hoon exposes the internal issues of the large corporation Matstory, which was threatening Yeonri-ri, and gains recognition for his abilities within the company. On the surface, there was sufficient justification to return to the city. However, Tae-hoon chose the village over a promotion and turned his direction toward taking root in Yeonri-ri with his family. In the beginning, he was an urban breadwinner who felt uncomfortable in the unfamiliar rural setting, but his choice in the final episode showed that the time he spent clashing with and learning from the villagers was not spent in vain.

The core message presented in the official program introduction aligns with this point. 'Simu-myeon Yeonri-ri' is a family reboot healing drama about an urban family that falls into the clean but challenging village of Yeonri-ri and endures while dreaming of returning to Seoul. Therefore, the happy ending does not simply stop at the scene where the protagonist starts farming. It was a conclusion that tied together the process of the family seeing each other again, the village accepting outsiders, and the protagonist changing the pace of his own life.

The words of Park Sung-woong and Lee Soo-kyung explained the ending

In his closing remarks, Park Sung-woong said, "In the end, living is not about where you are, but more importantly, who you are with." This is the most direct explanation for why Seong Tae-hoon ultimately stayed in Yeonri-ri. He added that the discomfort he felt when he first arrived in Yeonri-ri disappeared over time, and that he himself laughed a lot while playing Tae-hoon. The reason the actor's remarks do not sound like mere promotional slogans is that the actual ending closed in the same direction as those words.

Lee Soo-kyung, who played Jo Mi-ryeo, looked back on this work as a piece that warmed the heart and provided healing. She also expressed her hope that the drama would remain as a show that feels like sharing a home-cooked meal together in a courtyard. Considering that 'Simu-myeon Yeonri-ri' was a drama that prioritized the temperature of daily life over intense incidents, the farewell messages from the two actors reflect both the strengths and limitations of the work. While it was not a drama that pushed forward with major twists, the scenes of family members talking to each other and eating meals in one space were the strength of this work.

A task left behind despite low viewership ratings

The viewership ratings were not high. After starting at 2.7% for the first broadcast, it spent a long time hovering in the 1% range, and the final episode is known to have reached 1.6% nationwide. Within the context of the need for KBS Tuesday-Wednesday dramas to re-establish themselves, these are disappointing numbers. However, it is difficult to explain the entire position of this work through numbers alone. Park Sung-woong and Lee Soo-kyung reunited after the 2024 KBS 2TV 'Gaesori,' and the choice of a family drama set in a rural area was an attempt to choose a different pace in a weekday night drama market accustomed to fast-paced developments.

Ultimately, the question left by 'Simu-myeon Yeonri-ri' is clear. For warm family dramas to re-enter the life rhythms of viewers, emotion alone is not enough; the power of conflict that makes people tune in every episode is also necessary. Although the work has ended, the realistic acting shown by Park Sung-woong and Lee Soo-kyung, and the slow laughter embraced by the village of Yeonri-ri, remain as a reference point indicating what the next family drama needs to prepare more.