tvN’s ‘100 Days of Lies’ has set another series record. Episode 6, which aired on October 25, averaged 9.5% nationwide and peaked at 10.4%, according to Nielsen Korea figures cited by Dispatch.
The new high continues a steady climb for the weekend drama. The series opened with episode 1 at 5.3%, and episode 6 rose by 3 percentage points from the previous episode. It also ranked first in its time slot across all channels, including terrestrial broadcasters. Among tvN’s target audience of men and women aged 20 to 49, the episode likewise ranked first across all channels in the same time slot.
Episode 6 turned on Lee Ga-kyung, played by Kim Yoo-jung, changing her mind about quitting her work as a spy. Instead of walking away, she accepted another mission from Yoo So-ran, played by Kim Hyun-joo: she must bring Sato Hideo, played by Park Jin-young, over to her side. Hideo, meanwhile, was in a position where he needed to earn Ga-kyung’s trust as he managed foreign press coverage.
The two were called to the interrogation of Geum Seok-jung, played by Kam Woo-sung. There, Ga-kyung indirectly told Seok-jung that So-ran had survived. The episode ended with a shift in the central relationship, as Hideo held Ga-kyung while she broke into tears she had held back after learning of Seok-jung’s death.
The ratings trajectory helps explain why the record matters. ‘100 Days of Lies’ is tvN’s 20th anniversary weekend drama, set in 1932 Gyeongseong. Its premiere on October 10 averaged 5.3% nationwide, with a 7.2% peak, and episode 2 rose to 7.6% nationwide, with an 8.5% peak. Episode 6 has now moved the series past both of those marks, and past the 9% line, in nationwide average ratings.
The premise, as Dispatch summarised it, pairs a pickpocket turned spy with an interpreter for the Japanese Government-General, as the two meet in the heart of enemy territory. Kim Yoo-jung plays the pickpocket, Lee Ga-kyung, while Park Jin-young plays the interpreter, Sato Hideo, who is also known as Kim Tae-woong. Kim Hyun-joo plays Yoo So-ran, the figure who gives Ga-kyung her new mission in episode 6.
The report cited Nielsen Korea figures and did not include additional comment from tvN. With the ratings climbing and the relationship between Ga-kyung and Hideo changing at the end of episode 6, the next weekend’s episode will test whether the series can hold its new audience.
