[DISCLAIMER: SPOILERS AHEAD!]

Weekday dramas are usually more famous with more popular actors and expensive budgets compared to weekend dramas. I have shunned weekend dramas because they are too long, and long dramas would mean they can be draggy.

That still doesn’t change the fact that these weekend dramas usually get high ratings in Korea.

Being curious, I went to watch the latest hit weekend dramas, “My Only One” and “Love in Sadness” to find out how good they are.

My Only One (106 episodes, 40 mins each / 2 per day)

What is it about – Kim Do-Ran (Uee) is always curious why her mother never likes her. When her father passes away due to an accident, her mother finally reveals that Do-Ran is not their biological child.

Ratings – 17.2%-49.4% (as of now)

Thoughts – The story portrays the female lead, Kim Do-Ran, as a typical Cinderella character in the beginning. Her stepmother makes her do household chores but claims that her younger sister is too weak to do those things. The only person who dotes on her, her stepfather, gets caught in an accident and dies. Kim Do-Ran later meets a guy from a rich family and dates him.

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Lots of wailing and crying while collapsing on the floor. Not the most pleasant experience for me, especially when the characters think their actions are justifiable when it is clear that they aren’t.

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Kim Do-Ran isn’t the most intelligent character too. Wang Dae-Ryook (Lee Jang-Woo) pretends to faint and manages to fool her. Do-Ran tries to do some untrained CPR on him and that becomes their first “unintentional” kiss.

Overall, this drama isn’t too appealing for me because of how predictable the story and its characters are.

Love in Sadness (40 episodes, 30 mins each / 4 per day)

What is it about – Yoon Ma-Ri (Park Han-Byul) is a painter and the daughter-in-law of a chaebol family. Her husband Kang In-Wook (Ryu Soo-Young) is overly obsessed with her because her face looks like his mother’s. Yoon Ma-Ri tries to escape from her husband by changing her face completely with plastic surgery.

Ratings – 9.7%-13.0% (as of now)

Thoughts – Yoon Ma-Ri has tried changing her identity to run away from her husband but it didn’t work. She came to the conclusion that she has to change her appearance in order to get away from her obsessive husband. But after changing her appearance, how is she going to get a job to make a living or even do anything without changing her identity? That is still a mystery now since the story hasn’t gone far yet. Hopefully, this isn’t just another plothole.

https://blog.kocowa.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/KOCOWA-Love-in-Sadness-Episode-1-Google-Chrome-13_3_2019-7_54_58-PM_Trim.mp4

Speaking of plotholes, I would say there are a few obvious ones. In the above gif, Yoon Ma-Ri pleads her husband desperately to let her go. Maybe she was too desperate, but she could only think of getting through those two guards standing in front of her when there is a huge, wide path ahead of her.

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Kang In-Wook finds a dress he never saw before in Yoon Ma-Ri’s wardrobe. He realizes that there are only 30 pieces of this same dress around. In-Wook goes to every owner who has bought that same dress and asks if they still have it. Turns out that all 30 owners still have that dress. Is everyone still keeping those dresses in their wardrobes because it’s a limited edition thing?

And it seems like the male lead Seo Jung-Won (Ji Hyun-Woo) was the only one of all 30 owners who asked In-Wook for a warrant when In-Wook demanded to see the dress?

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“Love in Sadness” uses flowers as its theme which naturally makes this drama more beautiful. Despite the plotholes, the drama is intense and it isn’t as slow as the usual weekend dramas. I’m curious about where this drama is going in its future episodes!

Here is a quick analysis of both weekend and weekday dramas off the top of my head!

WEEKEND DRAMAS (typically 40-50 episodes)	WEEKDAY DRAMAS (typically 16 episodes)
Airs more than an hour in a day.	Airs an hour in a day.
Most are family-oriented with many side stories.	Plot is more focused on the leads.
Characters are usually one-dimensional with predictable actions.	Characters are designed to be relatable.
Slower and more predictable. Possible to skip a few episodes and still know what is going on. Such are easier to follow.	Story develops quickly. Sometimes, it’s to the point where we don’t really know how the leads develop feelings for each other (romcoms).
Takes time to introduce characters. Leads typically don’t get to meet each other in the first episode.	Leads usually get to meet each other within the first episode.
Antagonists get on your nerves by going overboard. Their motives are simple (greed, selfishness, etc.)	Certain characters aren’t entirely evil or mean. Some of these are used to talk about touchy topics about the society.
Obvious plotholes and plot devices (birth secrets, betrayals or anything that screams makjang.)	Less obvious plotholes, better dialogues and cinematography.