Chimera (South Korean TV series)

Chimera (Korean키마이라; RRKimaira)[a] is a South Korean television series directed by Kim Do-hoon and written by Lee Jin-mae. Starring Park Hae-soo, Lee Hee-joon and Claudia Kim, the series tells the story of three leading characters who dig through secrets of the past 30 years to find a culprit named 'Chimera'.[3] It aired every Saturday and Sunday at 22:30 on OCN from October 30 to December 19, 2021. (KST).[4][5]

Chimera
Promotional poster
Hangul
키마이라
GenreCrime thriller
Created byOCN (Plan Production)
Written byLee Jin-mae
Directed byKim Do-hoon
Starring
Music byKim Jun-seok
Country of originSouth Korea
Original languageKorean
No. of episodes16
Production
Executive producerLee Kyung-seok (CP)
ProducerLee Jin-seok
Production companyJS Pictures[1]
Budget₩13 billion[2]
(~US$11.089 million)
Original release
NetworkOCN
ReleaseOctober 30 (2021-10-30) –
December 19, 2021 (2021-12-19)

Synopsis edit

The title of the drama is borrowed from Greek mythology. Chimera is the name of a monster that has the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and the tail of a snake, and breathes fire through its mouth.

An explosion took place in the past. That explosion led to a serial murder case known as the Chimera case. 35 years later, a similar explosion takes place.

Cast edit

Main edit

Supporting edit

People around Cha Jae-Hwan edit

  • Nam Gi-ae as Cha Eun-soo, 60 years old, Jae-hwan's mother
  • Kang Shin-il as Han Joo-seok, 60 years old, head of the Violent Crimes division

Joongsan West Special investigation headquarters edit

  • Woo Hyun as Bae Seung-gwan, 60 years old, Joongsan Police Chief
  • Heo Jun-seok as Go Kwang-soo, 38 years old, head of the Special Investigation Headquarters
  • Kwon Hyuk-hyun as Lee Geon-yeong, 29 years old, representative of a powerful team of special investigations. A young detective who is best friends with Jae-hwan. He is jealous of Eugene, former FBI agent[6]
  • Yoon Ji-won as Jang Ha-na, 29 years old, an agent of the special investigation team. She is good at computers and works in an image analysis room[7]
  • Kim Ji-hoon as Jo Han-cheol, 42 years old, homicide detective
  • Jung Young-ki as Im Pil-seong, 38 years old, homicide detective

Seo-ryun group edit

  • Kim Gwi-sun as Lee Min-ki, 64 years old, Member of Parliament[8]
  • Kim Ho-jung as Lee Hwa-jeong, 58 years old, president of Seoryun Hospital
  • Lee Ki-young as Seo Hyun-tae, 64 years old, Chairman of Seo-ryun Group

Others edit

  • Cha Joo-young as Kim Hyo-kyeong, 35 years old, an elite reporter belonging to the investigative reporting team of a broadcasting company[9]
  • Lee Seung-hoon as Ham Yong-bok, a former detective who was involved in the Chimera investigation with Joo-joo and Seung-gwan, and now owns a beauty salon.[10]
  • Han Ji-wan as Ryu Sung-hee

Production edit

The filming of the series, produced at a cost of ₩13 billion, was temporarily halted in June 2019 due to sexual harassment allegations.[2] An assistant director (the offender) and producer were fired as a result. Production company JS Pictures issued an apology to the victim (a writer) and the cast and crew.[11]

The series was slated for release in the second half of 2019, but did not air until October 2021 for unspecified reasons.[12][1]

Viewership edit

Chimera : South Korea viewers per episode (thousands)
SeasonEpisode numberAverage
12345678910111213141516
1N/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A319N/A395N/A433N/A427N/A524TBD
Source: Audience measurement performed nationwide by Nielsen Korea[13]
Average TV viewership ratings
Ep. Original broadcast date Average audience share
[13][14]
Nationwide Seoul
1 October 30, 2021 0.949% N/A
2 October 31, 2021 1.352% 1.741%
3 November 6, 2021 0.868% N/A
4 November 7, 2021 1.084% N/A
5 November 13, 2021 1.002% N/A
6 November 14, 2021 1.427% 1.515%
7 November 20, 2021 0.935% N/A
8 November 21, 2021 1.571% N/A
9 November 27, 2021 1.101% N/A
10 November 28, 2021 2.108% (5th) 2.075% (2nd)
11 December 4, 2021 1.239% N/A
12 December 5, 2021 2.088% 1.915%
13 December 11, 2021 1.185% N/A
14 December 12, 2021 2.018% (4th) 1.935% (4th)
15 December 18, 2021 1.744% (N/A) (N/A)
16 December 19, 2021 2.390% (N/A) 2.423% (N/A)
Average % %
  • In the table above, the blue numbers represent the lowest ratings and the red numbers represent the highest ratings.
  • This drama airs on a cable channel/pay TV which normally has a relatively smaller audience compared to free-to-air TV/public broadcasters (KBS, SBS, MBC and EBS).

Note edit

  1. ^ In Greek mythology, Chimera is a monstrous fire-breathing hybrid creature.

References edit

  1. ^ a b Shin Young-eun (September 27, 2021). "박해수X수현X이희준 '키마이라' 10월 30일 첫방송 확정 [공식]" [Park Hae-soo X Soo-hyun X Lee Hee-joon 'Chimera' first broadcast confirmed on October 30 [Official]]. Maeil Business Newspaper (in Korean). Retrieved October 8, 2021.
  2. ^ a b Jin Hyang-hee (July 15, 2019). "130억 대작 드라마 '키마이라', 스태프 성추행 의혹에 촬영 중단" [Filming for 'Chimera', a 13 billion won blockbuster drama, halted due to allegations of sexual harassment]. Maeil Business Newspaper (in Korean). Retrieved October 8, 2021.
  3. ^ "Chimera (Korean Drama, 2021, 키마이라)". HanCinema. Retrieved October 1, 2021.
  4. ^ "박해수X수현X이희준, 다채로운 매력 담은 2차 티저 공개 ('키마이라')" [Park Hae-soo X Soo-hyun X Lee Hee-joon, the 2nd teaser full of colorful charms released ('Chimera')]. Ten Asia. October 1, 2021. Retrieved October 1, 2021 – via Naver.
  5. ^ "OCN's newest drama Chimera to premiere on October 30". September 28, 2021. Retrieved October 1, 2021.
  6. ^ Kim Young-woong (October 13, 2021). "권혁현, '키마이라' 출연 확정...박해수 절친 이건영 役 [공식]" [Kwon Hyuk-hyun confirmed to appear in 'Chimera'... Park Hae-soo's best friend Lee Kun-young [Official]]. Sports Kyunghyang (in Korean). Naver. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
  7. ^ Park Pan-seok (October 6, 2021). "윤지원, '키마이라' 특별 수사팀 막내 요원 장하나 변신 [공식]" [Yoon Ji-won, transforming into Jang Ha-na, the youngest agent of the special investigation team for 'Chimera' [Official]]. OSEN (in Korean). Retrieved October 6, 2021.
  8. ^ Park Soo-in (October 21, 2021). "김귀선 '키마이라' 출연, 야당 실세 현직 국회위원 된다" [Kim Gwi-sun to appear in 'Chimera' and become an incumbent incumbent member of the opposition party]. Newsen (in Korean). Naver. Retrieved October 21, 2021.
  9. ^ "[공식] 차주영, 130억 규모 '키마이라' 주연 합류..엘리트 기자로 활약 예정" [[Official] Joo-Young Cha joins the lead role in 'Chimera' worth 13 billion... Planned to work as an elite reporter] (in Korean). Seoul Economy. April 12, 2021. Retrieved October 3, 2021.
  10. ^ Son Jin-ah (October 15, 2021). "이승훈, '키마이라' 출연 확정…열일 행보 시동 ON" [Lee Seung-hoon confirmed to appear in 'Chimera'... Start working hard] (in Korean). MK Sports. Retrieved October 15, 2021 – via Naver.
  11. ^ "'키마이라' 측 "성추행 피해자에 죄송→가해자 2명 책임 물을 것" [전문]" ["Apology to the victim of sexual harassment - The two perpetrators held accountable"]. Xportsnews (in Korean). July 16, 2019. Retrieved March 5, 2023.
  12. ^ Lee, Jung-hyun (April 26, 2019). "박해수·이희준·수현, 드라마 '키마이라' 주연" [Park Hae-soo, Lee Hee-joon, Soo-hyun to star in the drama 'Chimera']. Yonhap News Agency (in Korean). Retrieved October 1, 2021.
  13. ^ a b "Cable Daily -TOP 10 LIST FOR TV PROGRAMS (Nielsen Korea)". Nielsen Korea (in Korean). Retrieved December 12, 2021.
  14. ^ "키마이라: 시청률" [Chimera: ratings]. Naver. Retrieved December 12, 2021.

External links edit