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'If You Wish Upon Me': 'Emotional' fans praise Ji Chang-wook's acting, say 'this drama will wreck me'

The first episode of Ji Chang-wook and SNSD Sooyoung starrer KBS K-drama 'If You Wish Upon Me' premiered with 3.6 per cent nationwide ratings

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA: Actor Ji Chang-wook is back with his dynamic acting skills after playing a mysterious magician in the 2022 Netflix drama 'The Sound of Magic'. Now, Ji Chang-wook is channeling the perfect bad-boy with tattoos all over his body in the healing KBS drama titled 'If You Wish Upon Me' which premiered on August 10, 2022. Aside from Chang-work, the show also features Girls' Generation's Sooyoung who plays a hospice hospital nurse as well as veteran actor Sung Dong-il playing the leader of a volunteer group called Team Genie that helps patients fulfill their last wishes.

'If You Wish Upon Me' is set in a hospice and narrates the story of patients who are on their deathbeds. The hospice staff has a group of individuals called 'Team Genie' who are volunteer workers or nurses and doctors of the hospital that are adamant to fulfil the last wishes of these patients. The show aired its first season on Wednesday and according to Nielsen Korea, the show recorded 3.6 per cent nationwide ratings, ranking at Number 2 amongst all the shows that released a new episode on the day.

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'If You Wish Upon Me' draws fans in with Episode 1

The show features Ji Chang-wook as Yoon Gyeo-re, an orphan boy who was wrongfully incarcerated for arson. After being released from prison, Gyeo-re is followed by goons that cause him to accidentally run into the hospice workers. Despite having a lot of money, Gyeo-re is lonely as he joins the hospice as a community service worker to avoid paying a fine to the government after he causes a road accident. At the hospice, he meets Seo Yeon-joo played by Girls' Generation's Choi Sooyoung. Yeon-joo is a nurse who works at a hospice hospital and the initial episode promises fans chaos as Yeon-joo and Gyeo-re clash as seen in the final moments of Episode 1.

Fans praise Ji Chang-wook's acting skills

Soon after Episode 1 of 'If You Wish Upon Me' aired, fans started praising Ji Chang-wook's passionate, and emotional acting skills that are drawing fans into the show. From having loads of cash in his pocket but only being in the company of his pet dog Sonny (literal translation of the Korean word for son) to celebrating his "birthday" in the biggest suite of a hotel all by himself, fans felt the emotions Ji Chang-wook relayed through the first episode of the show.

As the episode came to a close, fans shared how they felt watching Gyeo-re (played by Chang-wook) contemplate suicide as he has a trauma attack by the ocean. Gyeo-re suffers from PTSD and Ji Chang-wook's ability to act out complex emotions with his delicate eyes is something that fans are loving after the initial broadcast of the show.

'Was literally bawling my eyes out'

Fans expressed their views on the first episode of 'If You Wish Upon Me' as one fan said, "It's a healing drama but this scene tore me apart. I need time to understand the character's feelings but with this drama and his acting it only took 30 mint to realize how lonely and sad he is to want to end his life."

Another fan said, "Can’t help but think how difficult must have been these scenes for #JiChangWook after loosing his own dog Ggoma."

One more fan said, "Was literally bawling my eyes during this scene.. His last wish was to d*e peacefully beside his late wife's grave. It was beautiful and heartwarming. The beauty of this drama. Death doesn't always mean goodbyes, sometimes it's hello."

Another fan said, "The drama just started but this scene is so sad. Gyeore is singing happy birthday to himself pretending to be fine bc he has money and with an indifferent attitude but he is completely alone and to add his dog has little time to live."

One fan said, "Bro it's just the first episode and we have this revelation....???" Another fan said, "His silence is so loud turmoil of emotions going inside him that he wanted to die."

One more fan said, "The way he called his puppy "아들이" (son) i love how writer makes adeul-ie as reflection to his life; abandoned & on the verge of dying. when he said maybe adeul-ie still wants to live for a few days more, he said that for himself too."

One fan said, "Ji Changwook, the actor you are." Another fan said, "Nooo this scene his shiver voice , the way he is having tears in his eyes while caressing sonny head, the way he put him in the bag & left has my whole heart." Another fan asked, "Why did they have to make me cry from the first episode?"

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