No thrills, no fanfare, no anything.
Simply put, Friday’s conclusion of GMA’s ‘My Korean Jagiya’ will be a quiet one. After 105 episodes, the series will officially come to an end with very little promotion whatsoever.
‘My Korean Jagiya’ starred the unlikely pairing of Heart Evangelista and Korean actor Alexander Lee. First airing on August 21, 2017, ‘My Korean Jagiya’ became the first Filipino drama series to feature a few scenes taped in Korea.
The series was initially pitted against ‘A Love to Last’ during its first month on air. Not surprisingly, ‘My Korean Jagiya’ struggled, getting around 9-10% in the ratings versus the 18-20% that ‘A Love to Last’ earns.
‘My Korean Jagiya”s ratings improved somewhat once ABS-CBN premiered the more serious drama ‘The Good Son’. Still, despite improving its average by around 1 or 2%, it was not enough to win their timeslot.
It also didn’t help that ‘My Korean Jagiya’ received very little support of late outside of GMA’s commercial breaks. While its teasers were present on the GMA Drama Facebook page, GMA management has apparently stopped uploading such videos on its official YouTube page (despite its claim of over four billion views and counting).
Despite the lack of support and its overall performance, it was still worth noting that ‘My Korean Jagiya’ was able to make it past the 100th episode. Reaching 100 episodes was not bad, but GMA would have celebrated such a milestone had the series rated well (at least there was a sizable population of Korean expats watching the show).
Much like its predecessor ‘I Heart Davao’, promoting a particular culture became quite a theme for ‘My Korean Jagiya’. Uniting Filipinos and Koreans in one roof, the series helped expand the unlikely yet fruitful love affair between Filipinos and the Korean lifestyle.
That said, regardless of its shortcomings, ‘My Korean Jagiya’ was a terrific show to watch. Any Korean drama fan in the Philippines would love to appreciate this one-of-a-kind drama.
Come tomorrow night, ‘My Korean Jagiya’ will look to leave one final imprint to its fans. It will be an interesting ending to see, so find out what fate awaits the love story between Gia (Heart) and Kim (Alexander).
From the Tube 
Considering all the fanfare MKJ got when it started, and it gain a cult following online and offline, it’s very strange to see its end not getting much support. It may had lost the ratings war, but with 105 episodes (a respectable number), it deserved a better send-off.
For some reason GMA did not promote the finale very well. Even their YouTube page does not have the teaser for the finale.
Reading the post-mortem comments on Facebook and elsewhere, it is suggested that a factor as to why the show did not catch on outside of loyal Kapusos and maybe some loyal Korean media fans may have been Jennylyn herself. Many people questioned the decision to pair her in particular with Alexander Lee. Apparently they said that Jennylyn felt and acted more like a mother than a girlfriend (which is odd considering Jennylyn’s only a year older). They suggested that it would have been better if the leading female role would have gone to a younger female artist.
You mean Heart Evangelista. Jennylyn starred in My Love from the Star which is an adaptation of the original Korean series. Anyway, GMA would’ve been better off if they cast a younger female star to My Korean Jagiya. Unfortunately, preferential treatment to their elders remain commonplace to the network.
Yeah, sorry: meant Heart, got confused with the Korean connection. But yeah, the point stands. Wonder if it would have been better if someone like Barbie or Thea played the lead instead.
Barbie would’ve been better, except that she just finished Meant to Be. Bea Binene would’ve also helped. Thea though is more of a villain type (we saw that in Haplos and even in The Half-Sisters before that).