TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The ratings of South Korean drama series Racket Boys - which tells the story of a city kid going back to a village, home to a once esteemed badminton team - has suddenly slumped after the fifth episode was aired by SBS on June 14, 2021.

The specific episode portrayed a fictional challenging situation facing the South Korean team as they entered the Indonesia Open in Jakarta, which the series showed in an arguably disparaging manner.

Despite an apology by the tv station through its official Instagram account SBS Drama Official on Wednesday, June 16, 2021, by the way of replying in the comment section - it did not do much to calm down the wrath of Indonesian viewers who have already filled the comment section with comments objecting the narrative of the episode.

Generally, the main issue that has bothered Indonesian viewers was how the Indonesia Open was unfairly portrayed as the episode depicted the South Korean badminton team being poorly treated by the event management.

In a simple Google search, typing down the title of the South Korean series will show an 8 percent rating for Racket Boys after episode 5 was aired, which is a stark contrast to when the series first aired as episode 4 was rated at over 50 percent.

The Racket Boys also suffers a major decrease in its IMDb ratings. Previously, the series recorded a rating of 8.5/10 that has now dropped to 3.7/10. This series is aired by SBS and is also a Netflix original series.

ISTIQOMATUL HAYATI