Beautifully sketched characters are introduced in the opening week of The One and Only.
Set to revolve in a hospice where terminally ill people reside, the series has so far impressed with a ruminative screenplay. It is clear in not just incorporating a unique problem to be tackled by the lead characters with numbered days ahead. Notably, the drama aims to expound on social interaction concerns that most of us overlook.
Acquainting viewers with each of the flawed characters that will move in the story, the direction guarantees a drama experience that would leave resonating messages about humanity.
Opening Week Rating: 
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The One and Only Opening Week Story
Proving life is sometimes unfair, three women Pyo In-sook (Ahn Eun Jin), Kang Se-yeon (Kang Ye Won), and Sung Mi-do (Park Sooyoung/Red Velvet Joy) – receive death notices when their respective lives are not progressing the way they hope it would be.
They meet at Morning Light, a hospice for dying people, and become roommates. When In-sook learned of the problematic man causing trouble to her grandmother, she rushes back to their house.
Despite initially telling her grandmother that she will be traveling when in fact she checked in at the hospice, she worried about what the man would do to his daughter San-ah who she previously promised protection.
When her roommates knew of her problem, they set forth to help. On the brink of the San-ah’s father hitting a stranger who appeared to have helped San-ah; In-sook strikes him with Se-yeon’s husband’s golf club.
The stranger helps them escape by telling which way to take to avoid the CCTV cameras. He also brings San-ah to In-sook’s grandmother’s place. Unknown to them, the stranger, Min Woo-cheon (Kim Kyung Nam) is a hired killer specializing in making the murder scene appear accidental death.
In trying to get away with the murder trace, the girls gate-crash a birthday party of Mi-do’s fake friend. They also dispose of the golf club – the evidence of their misdeed.
Unfortunately, his latest mission entangles him with In-sook through San-ah’s father who almost poisoned his daughter to get the insurance money. Marking San-ah’s father’s death as murder, the police catch on Woo-cheon’s identity as the man who helped the little girl.
However, his whereabouts can’t be traced. At that same moment, Woo-cheon goes to Morning Light to retrieve his wallet which In-sook stole.
The One and Only Opening Week Musings
I was prepared to cry when I learned about the initial premise of The One and Only. But the clever muted humor present in the situations presented so far plus the striking delineations of the characters were worth gravitating.
Knowing the narrative to flow on a despondent tone, it seems that its initial premise of the lead trio’s peculiar death wish would raise a healthy debate. Although their action was worth castigating, it can’t be helped to support it as well.
Adorning their characters with distinct flavors, the three female leads and the hero of the story resemble the same harsh realities they so badly want to escape on but end up enduring.
Deprived of love from her parents, In-sook belatedly gets an apology from her father who left her to be raised by his mother. While waiting for her last days, she also heard him confess that her mother died a few years back.
Mi-do hides her pain in her beautiful influencer facade. She braves her sorry life and resorts to social media validation. That line from In-sook describing Mi-do’s situation of just a plain pretty face hits exactly her predicament. She knows it, but she continues to bear the pain. Definitely, her moments in the series are worth anticipating.
We won’t stop Se-yeon if her sleep-walking would lead her to burst and break free from the claws of her shameless husband. She can go all-Penthouse-villain to him, to be honest, for dragging her mother in taking care of them.
Lastly, Kim Kyung Nam’s enigmatic appeal draws curiosity and definitely for a good reason. We want to know more and share his past, present and even future pains.
JTBC overly-gifted us with poignant stories this year. But The One and Only probably would make up for some disappointments we had.
Photos/Videos: JTBC
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