SBS’s new spy drama Athena: Goddess of War is off to a fantastic start, bringing in an impressive 22.8% rating from the first episode. That’s comparable to IRIS‘s first numbers (24.5%), and sets itself up for a nice run.
(To be sure, initial first numbers are not a guarantee of continued success; Runaway Plan B is one such example where the premiere was a hit — 20.7% — but the series slid gradually with every episode until it settled around 10%-11%. However, most dramas that start strong tend to finish even stronger. Refer to Dong Yi, Daemul, Baker King Kim Tak-gu, and Giant for a few recent examples.)
Meanwhile, MBC’s Queen of Reversals recorded a 14.5%, which is an improvement but not quite high enough to meet the 17% prerequisite stated by MBC to merit an extension. Looks like tomorrow’s ratings battle will be the deciding factor.
Over on KBS, Mary Stayed Out All Night aired two episodes on Monday (to make up for losing one airing due to a pre-emption), and brought in a 6.1% for its 10th episode (which aired against the other two shows) and an 8.4% for its 11th (which aired afterward, its numbers rising after the competition had wrapped for the night).
Note: Athena recaps are in the works, though not by me. Stay tuned!
Via HeraldM
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- Teaser and music video for Athena
RECENTLY RECAPPED
HWAITING ATHENAAAAAAAA!!! RAAAAAAHHHHH!
Somebody’s excited!
ME TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i HEART kaedejun’s reaction btw. good old dramabeans fangirling…
@javabeans
duhhhhhhh – Kim So Yeon’s gonna be in it. even if it’s for ten minutes.
Kim So-yeon’s a huge reason why I’ll be tuning in, too!
kaedejun- I’d be very pleased if you’re the recapper!
OMG!!!
Did you guys find out what the Iris scriptwriter did to Sunhwa’s character in the movie????
but yay for Kim So Yeon!!!!!
To the person above me, are you referring to Sun Hwa being the killer? Yes, but I always felt her character lacked depth due to poor writing for her character which was too bad. I guess it’s better late than never.
Only if she killed Kim Tae Hee’s character. Who knows, maybe she didn’t kill Hyun Jung… and someone beat her to it.
could it be that you will be the elusive recapper?!!!!
Finally!!!
I’m so excited to read the recap though I’ve watched bits of the pilot episode!!!
would you recap this series, kaedejun?
I HOPE SO!!!
love your writing style
Niiice! I never actually got into the first Iris, but this one has me intrigued for some reason. Can’t wait to check it out! ^_^
I usually don’t watch action dramas, but I might check this out just for Choi Siwon’s spinning high-kicks. Love him! And because of Cha Seungwon’s ridiculous beard. <3 x 2
Me too..Siwon is the reason I’m gonna watch this Athena
Oh, javabeans!
Great news abt Athena’s being recapped here…but…
SO SAD that you are not doing it…
I lost interest in Iris within the first 20 mins, so not sure about this. A recap would be awesome though!
I’m a little more interested in this than i was IRIS, but its proabley cos i’m shallow and fancy one of the male leads.
Still wary though cos i think I watched half of the first episode of IRIS before i threw in the towel.
Hhmmm lets see what happens…
haha glad to know I’m not the only one who’s shallow! Seriously, I was sitting at my computer watching the first episode and all I could think was “Why is Jung Woo-sung so freaking ADORABLE?????????”
I think Athena’s trying to be a bit more than it actually is, but it’s pretty entertaining nonetheless. I say give it a shot =]
I think Athena’s trying to be a bit more than it actually is
????? I don’t understand what you want to say.
i am happy with the rating !!. i was streaming the series last night, then visited daum.( i don’t understand korea , so i was only watching without understand anything ) there is twitter’s messages from many people which contain athena, cha seung won or jung woo sung. even there one person said He never watched any memorable drama like athena for 3 years. i am waiting for sub or your recaps dramabeans
I can’t wait for this one! Unlike Iris, I LOVEEE the cast in this!
Athena’s gonna show who Kim Hyun-Jun’s killer is! A lot of you guys are gonna be surprised
they already showed it though…
LOL
yeah, if i’m not mistaken they showed the killer in IRIS movie. i could be wrong..
So the movie came out?
I was so shocked when I saw Hyun Joon’s killer..
yay Athena’s being recapped!
love the cast ESP SIWON <3 eyecandy
now. if only i could ensure that it wont end like IRIS :O
After watching the first episode, I must say I’m hooked by the action and the action… and Im usually not that crazy about action films like this. And I lovee the cast too! Every single person in there I love – maybe not for acting skills, but I still enjoy their presence. Enjoying this one much more than IRIS so far
JUNG WOO SUNG! I want to lower my expectations on this one, because I still haven’t seen Iris yet and I’ve heard the negative reviews on it. I don’t really want to be disappointed with you, Show. If you do disappoint me however, at least most of the cast can compensate (excluding Lee Jia. never seen her in any show, and don’t take an interest in her).
honestly, you don’t need to have watched IRIS for Athena to make sense. and please don’t base your decision because of it either.
give this drama a chance and if you’re as excited about jung woo sung as me, you’ll give it a go just for him. trust me, he doesn’t disappoint!!! ^^
Oh, you must have misunderstood me. I meant I haven’t seen Iris yet because of the negative reviews I keep reading about Iris, not Athena.
I have been waiting for this drama actually, because I want to see Jung Woo Sung for more than 3 hours compared to a movie.
And yes, I will give this drama a chance. And even if I don’t find it good, I’ll still finish it for the actors (again, except for Lee Jia.
)
Like the person above me already stated, I don’t think it’s essential for you to watch IRIS first, but there will be reoccuring characters from IRIS. Not to the point where you’d be confused though since I would think they would explain their return…
And I’m with you, I think the cast will compensate for it (honestly, I prefer THIS cast better than IRIS) and I’m not too familiar with Lee Jia either. I wished it was Kim So Yeon instead since she looks more fierce. Oh well.
hmmm, i’m actually not very surprised with its ratings since there’s quite a number of notable actors/actresses in this action drama.
my jaw dropped at the hotness that is = jung. woo. sung + cha. seung. won
and i’m glad that someone will be recapping athena on dramabeans because i know that the writing will be amazing!!!
just a question for JB though – will you be writing the initial thoughts on athena or will the first recap come from the “mystery” recap-er?
So far so good. I’m liking the casting so far and Choi Si-won hasn’t even appeared yet. Hope Lee Ji Ah can keep up with the stellar cast.
i agree with you…….
I’m looking forward to those Athena recaps by the unknown recapper. I do have a hunch of who it’s gonna be, but I’m going to wait before I say anything more and just let time unfold itself!
Just finished watching EP1….
The action is really good; reminiscent of Minority Report or Mission Impossible (both are on the list of favorite action movies).
The music seem to match really well with what is happening in the scene.
The foreign languages (non-Korean) in various scenes didn’t seem forced or over-used. It seemed that they left most of the languages (Russian and Japanese) to native speakers or those who were really comfortable and fluent with the language. The English scenes were limited and didn’t seem forced.
The transition between locations, scenes and characters was very fast paced and would be better to follow with subs (at least for me a native English speaker with very limited understanding of Korean), but this didn’t dissuade me from continuing to watch and enjoy the episode.
EP1 seemed to end at a good point that makes you want to see the next episode and find out how the scene plays out and explains/hints to the connection with the overall plot of the show.
Definitely looking forward to EP2, English subs, and recaps here at Dramabeans.
*** I liked the major action that took place within the first 15 mins of the show – very well choreographed and filmed. I don’t like when the camera switches to quickly and blurs the action and makes the scene hard to follow. The action or fight sequences in a movie or tv show are meant to be followed (IMO), so to me Athena did a very good job satisfying my expectations.
Su Ae (Hye-In) fight initial fight scene – well choreographed and believable. Her character definitely comes across as a force to be reckoned with.
Cha Seung-won (Sohn-Hyuk) first fight scene (in bathroom) – reminiscent of Minority Report – longer, well choreographed fight sequence. He does a very good job of setting up the formidability of his character.
Jung Woo-Sung (Lee Jung Woo) – first fight scene (I guess you would call it that) is a somewhat (this is an opinion without English subs)comical and seems to set his character up as someone who is but shouldn’t be underestimated with holding his own and getting the job done.
who is hyun joon killer?
Santa Claus. Who also writes recaps.
bwahahahaha. i nearly fell of my bed laughing!
LOL too funny
hahaha love it
http://www.allkpop.com/2010/12/spoiler-infamous-killer-from-iris-revealed-through-film-version
will be watching this bc of choi si won good thing it also seems to be really good ;D
can’t wait to see my beloved JWS!!!!:D
to the person who’ll recap this series, am one very grateful gal to you.^_^
Yes!!!
Good!! I’m happy now I have three dramas with the suju boys to watch! They have made my winter^^ now if only Heenim would join a drama soon… of course i’ll still see him weekly since he joined Radio Star^^ but I want to see him acting!
anyways *off to watch ATHENA*
Woohoo been looking forward to the show. But I am gonna wait it out for a while so that I can catch many eps together later.
Looking forward to Siwon’s appearance on episode 2…we OML fans have been waiting since May for this!!! Honestly, I’m just gonna watch because of Siwon, but I really hope the story would be good enough for me to tune in instead of zoning out and then would just focus when CSW appears. =)
Looking forward to the recaps…
oh I am so happy Athena is finally here. I saw Iris – the movie. Err…if you could call it a movie. It’s like snippets of IRIS mashed in to movie size…waste of time…only thing revelationary is the last 10 min…which I still don’t think is believable….ok…off to drool over the 2CSW in Athena before I comment again…muahahaha.
Movie feedback
http://everythinglbh.com/entry_view.php?id=1245
lol. Thanks rubie for the review. I must say it was spot on. I think fans of IRIS should just ignore the movie totally. It’s really nonsensical…lol.
I’m not anti -IRIS. But I din’t like the liberties they took with Sun Hwa’s character in the movie which were totally at odds with her character in the drama. One of the few characters I liked no less…
zzz…really dunno wat they were thinking..lol
By the way, I just saw Athena ep 1. So far, it’s pretty good as first episode goes. Still a lot of hint and nothing concrete…and I must say initially I got a little confused along the way pertaining the characters…because a whole lotta characters were introduced and I thought they were all important..lol. Well, I get the picture now and looking forward to epi2 where the rest of the vital players should be making their entrance..
Jung Woo Song is adorable here…so far …but I’m betting he’s gonna have a tortured past as well…lol. Cha Seong Won and Su Ae are looking good too…
Thanks swui for the reply. It’s been a heartache having to eat up your own words because of the drama-movie missmashed messed-up ending. Sigh.
Anyway.. not keen on following the follow-up.. only when KSY comes in the last episode cameo.. so they say.
aww…that’s too bad..you’re dropping this? I made myself watch IRIS and the movie for this. Well, it’s still too early too tell if Athena’s not gonna disappoint. You can still change your mind later…
I did read somewhere that KSY said she filmed for a week for a ten minute cameo for the last episode. If that is true, you have a LONG wait my friend. Cheers.
Really looking forward to the recaps on Athena and waiting for the subs to be available. I planned on watching this for Siwon, but Jung Woo Sung & Cha Seung Won make it even better
. Also love Soo Ae!
Only like the ost of Athena, so will be skipping the actual drama
so excited
Looking forward to recaps. I found the 1st episode sleek and fast. Su Ae is terrific! And Jung Woo Sung already a lovesick puppy running around her is so handsome. Can’t wait to see Si Won.
SBS Dramas are so interesting thise year !!! ^^
Yes! Pure adrenaline racing through my veins while watching the first episode, and Si Won enters the story next episode. Bring on the sizzling beefcakes. So many hot men, so little time.
Great drama : i am already hooked . Jung woo sung ! The way he looks to a woman he wants is absolutely incredible . Great editing , which is usually a flaw in K-dramas .
Don’t wait : watch it .
Hmmmm …
Contrary to what I expected Athena looks good. Very good. The beginning was way better than Iris’.
Just watched Ep 1 & 2
well, it’s …
@ – @ …. U – n – B- e – L – i – e- V – a – b – L – e .. @ – @ !
absolutely, this ‘drama’ is a one-of-a-kind Must-Experience …actually it’s gone beyond ‘drama’ … how did they even fit this into the small screen ??
and .. *Jung Woo Sung* ….. @@@@ .. they should issue Level 5 Typhoon warnings before unleashing a force of nature of this magnitude on the poor viewers…! …. *Ker-Thud!*
2 episodes down. it’s UNBELIEVABLE.
Hands down a must-watch. This is a Movie in a small screen. Great work !
And *Jung Woo Sung* .. what can i say ? .. they should issue a Level 5 Typhoon warning against an on-screen force of nature of this magnitude !
Watched episode 1 & 2. It’s pretty amazing! But don’t really get what’s happening.. T_T Can’t wait til the recaps come out!
I will be watching this drama. Simply because it has two of my favorite actors in it…no need to say who they are.
now for the fangirl in me…….damn CHASEUNGWON! can he or Jung Woo Sung turn it down a notch.
I’m just saying.
If in the end,Jung Woo Sung won’t end up with Lee Ji Ah , i will totally hate the scriptwriter !
like all cast, excellent!!! Love Jang Woo Sang.
Honestly, I have been anticipating this drama since summer, as I love CSW and LJA. After Runaway plan B which I have not finished and so into SG. I am hesitated to start sthg. similar. I watch the 1st 20 minutes of ep 1 today and I stop. As I feel like I am watching Mission Impossible + The Bronce report but in K version. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not bad, great action, good acting etc…I guess I am not in the mood to watch this “mind set and action” style drama around X’mas time.
whew. !.. i will support lee ji ah and the other cast MEMBER of athena. fighting !
- FROM PHILIPPINES WITH LOVE:)
aww..the recaps are not out. But after the 2nd epi I feel that Athena is a little slow…nothing much happened. Only JWS cuteness made me tune in. Appreciate the different approach they took with the characters…but even though IRIS started very cliched it was more enjoyable. IRIS start well…lost steam at the end. Let’s hope Ahena starts slow but pick uup steam towards the end.