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Athena bursts onto scene with 22.8% premiere

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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HWAITING ATHENAAAAAAAA!!! RAAAAAAHHHHH!

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Somebody's excited!

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ME TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i HEART kaedejun's reaction btw. good old dramabeans fangirling...

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@javabeans

duhhhhhhh - Kim So Yeon's gonna be in it. even if it's for ten minutes.

:P

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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! ;)

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OMG!!!
Did you guys find out what the Iris scriptwriter did to Sunhwa's character in the movie????

but yay for Kim So Yeon!!!!!

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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. ;-)

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could it be that you will be the elusive recapper?!!!!

;)

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Finally!!!

I'm so excited to read the recap though I've watched bits of the pilot episode!!!

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would you recap this series, kaedejun?

I HOPE SO!!!

love your writing style ;)

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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! ^_^

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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

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Me too..Siwon is the reason I'm gonna watch this Athena :)

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Oh, javabeans!

Great news abt Athena's being recapped here...but...
SO SAD that you are not doing it... :(

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I lost interest in Iris within the first 20 mins, so not sure about this. A recap would be awesome though!

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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...

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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 =]

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I think Athena’s trying to be a bit more than it actually is
????? I don't understand what you want to say.

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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

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I can't wait for this one! Unlike Iris, I LOVEEE the cast in this!

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Athena's gonna show who Kim Hyun-Jun's killer is! A lot of you guys are gonna be surprised ;)

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they already showed it though...

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LOL

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yeah, if i'm not mistaken they showed the killer in IRIS movie. i could be wrong..

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So the movie came out?

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I was so shocked when I saw Hyun Joon's killer..

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yay Athena’s being recapped!
love the cast ESP SIWON <3 eyecandy :D

now. if only i could ensure that it wont end like IRIS :O

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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

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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).

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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!!! ^^

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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. :D)

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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.

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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?

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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.

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i agree with you.......

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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!

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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.

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who is hyun joon killer?

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Santa Claus. Who also writes recaps.

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bwahahahaha. i nearly fell of my bed laughing!

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LOL too funny

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hahaha love it

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will be watching this bc of choi si won good thing it also seems to be really good ;D

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can't wait to see my beloved JWS!!!!:D

to the person who'll recap this series, am one very grateful gal to you.^_^

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Yes!!!

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