"Shark" Ratings Sink, "Goddess Of Fire" Has A River Reunion

"Shark" seemed kind of menacing last week when the revenge drama's ratings surged but then the saeguk "Goddess of Fire," moved on to the adult part of the plot and got even more interesting. So did the story of "Empire of Gold."

As a result "Goddess of Fire" and "Empire Of Gold" pushed "Shark down into third place in this week's ratings.

On "Goddess of Fire," Moon Geun Young's character Yoo Jung is finally reunited with her childhood best friend Kim Tae Do, played by Kim Bum. As gallant and protective as ever, Tae Do rescues Jung Yi from a river and some bullies, even though he does not initially recognize her because of her boy disguise. The drama about the first female Korean potter reached AGB Nielsen Media Research ratings of 11.8 percent by its second night.

In second place was "Empire of Gold," the SBS drama about three people locked in a battle for the control of a conglomerate. The multi-generational saga covers two decades in the lives of the family controlling the business. The series, which stars Go Soo, Lee Yo Won and Son Hyun Joo, reached second place this week with ratings of 10.7 percent.

Despite good ratings last week and plenty of interesting plot developments, "Shark" sank to third place. The drama, which stars Kim Nam Gil and Son Ye Jin, had ratings of around 9 percent for most of its run, facing stiff competition from the popular fantasy drama "Gu Family Book" and followed by the historical drama "Jang Ok Jung." When those shows ended, Shark's ratings jumped to 10.5 percent closely trailing the 10.6 percent that "Goddess of Fire" earned.

This week, we found out why Yi Soo's foster father Junichiro wanted revenge so badly and why Yi Soo's real father had to die. We also find out who Lee Soo Hyuk really is. But such interesting plot developments were not enough to raise the moody drama's ratings past 9.8 percent. By now viewers may suspect that Yi Soo will keep plotting his master plan of revenge no matter how many people he hurts and that's a sad end to contemplate.

As to this week's variety shows, the SBS show "Incarnation" reached 6.4 percent of the viewers while the KBS program "Our Neighborhood Variety and Sports" was close behind at 6.3 percent.