Perfume (South Korean TV series)

Perfume (Korean: 퍼퓸) is a 2019 South Korean television series starring Shin Sung-rok, Ha Jae-sook, Go Won-hee, Cha Ye-ryun and Kim Min-kyu. It aired on KBS2 from June 3 to July 23, 2019.^[2]

Perfume
Promotional poster
Hangul	퍼퓸
RR	Peopyum
MR	P'ŏp'yum
Genre	Romantic comedy Fantasy
Developed by	KBS Drama Production
Written by	Choi Hyun-ok
Directed by	Kim Sang-hwi
Starring	Shin Sung-rok Go Won-hee Cha Ye-ryun Kim Min-kyu
Country of origin	South Korea
Original language	Korean
No. of episodes	32[a]
Production
Producers	Kwon Yong-han Kim Jung-ah
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	35 minutes[a]
Production companies	Hoga Entertainment Signal Pictures
Original release
Network	KBS2
Release	June 3 (2019-06-03) – July 23, 2019 (2019-07-23)

Synopsis

Min Jae-hee is a middle-aged housewife, who is furious at the world due to her appearance and her husband's affair with a younger woman. She attempts to commit suicide but stops when she receives a magic perfume from a delivery man which makes her young and pretty after using the perfume. She starts working as a model under the name Min Ye-rin and meets Seo Yi-do, a successful fashion designer with multiple allergies and fears.

Cast

Main

• Shin Sung-rok as Seo Yi-do^[3]
  • Choi Seung-hoon as young Yi-do
• Ha Jae-sook as Min Jae-hee
• Go Won-hee as Min Ye-rin^[4]
• Cha Ye-ryun as Han Ji-na^[5]
• Kim Min-kyu as Yoon Min-seok^[6]

Supporting

• Yeon Min-ji as Song Min-hee^[7]
• Kim Jin-kyung as Kim Jin-kyung (daughter)^[8]
• Shin Hye-jeong as Son Mi-yu

Production

• Go Joon-hee was first cast as Min Ye-rin, but she withdrew from the series due to emotional stress caused by her being falsely implicated in the Burning Sun scandal.^[9]
• The male lead role was offered to Eric Mun, but he declined.^[10]

Viewership

Episodes		Episode number
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16
	1–16	759	1023	905	1183	908	1202	1115	1229	856	1108	850	1216	N/A	1080	1016	1278
	17–32	N/A	856	812	990	N/A	904	N/A	920	N/A	831	811	928	826	948	823	1025

Perfume : South Korea viewers per episode (thousands)

Source: Audience measurement performed nationwide by Nielsen Media Research.^[11]

Ep.	Original broadcast date	Average audience share
		AGB Nielsen[12]
		Nationwide	Seoul
1	June 3, 2019	5.0% (19th)	5.5% (18th)
2		6.4% (11th)	7.0% (9th)
3	June 4, 2019	6.0% (11th)	6.1% (10th)
4		7.2% (7th)	8.0% (5th)
5	June 10, 2019	5.4% (17th)	5.6% (17th)
6		6.6% (11th)	7.3% (8th)
7	June 11, 2019	5.9% (11th)	6.4% (9th)
8		6.8% (6th)	7.6% (6th)
9	June 17, 2019	4.9% (17th)	5.3% (19th)
10		6.4% (11th)	7.0% (8th)
11	June 18, 2019	4.8% (NR)	—
12		6.7% (9th)	6.9% (12th)
13	June 24, 2019	4.3% (NR)	—
14		6.1% (15th)	6.3% (12th)
15	June 25, 2019	5.3% (19th)	5.6% (16th)
16		6.9% (9th)	7.2% (8th)
17	July 1, 2019	4.0% (NR)	—
18		5.0% (18th)	5.3% (16th)
19	July 2, 2019	4.4% (NR)	—
20		5.2% (17th)	5.3% (16th)
21	July 8, 2019	4.2% (NR)	—
22		4.7% (NR)
23	July 9, 2019	4.3% (NR)
24		4.9% (NR)
25	July 15, 2019	3.7% (NR)
26		4.7% (20th)
27	July 16, 2019	4.7% (NR)	4.9% (20th)
28		5.3% (16th)	5.8% (14th)
29	July 22, 2019	4.4% (NR)	—
30		5.2% (18th)	—
31	July 23, 2019	4.6% (NR)	4.7% (19th)
32		5.9% (15th)	6.3% (13th)
Average		5.3%	—[b]

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Recipient	Result
2019	12th Korea Drama Awards	Excellence Award, Actor[13]	Shin Sung-rok	Nominated
	KBS Drama Awards	Excellence Award, Actor in a Miniseries		Nominated
		Excellence Award, Actress in a Miniseries	Ko Won-hee	Nominated
		Best Supporting Actress	Ha Jae-sook	Won
		Netizen Award, Actor	Shin Sung-rok	Nominated
		Netizen Award, Actress	Ko Won-hee	Nominated
		Best Couple Award	Shin Sung-rok and Ko Won-hee	Nominated

Notes

1. In order to circumvent Korean laws that prevent commercial breaks in the middle of an episode, what would previously have been aired as single 70 minute episodes are now being repackaged as two 35 minute episodes, with two episodes being shown each night with a commercial break between the two.^[1]
2. Due to some ratings not recorded, the exact average rating is unknown.