Part slice/end of life drama, part murder mystery thriller and part odd-couple bff comedy, “The One and Only” attempts to bridge multiple genres. Unfortunately, it is successful only in proving that a fairly strong cast with a skeleton of an intriguing scenario is no match for a tag team of inconsistent writing and awful directing. Whatever promise this production might have had in its first few episodes comes crashing down in an unrelenting avalanche of tediously circular story arcs and terrible production decisions.

Ahn Eun Jin is the main character, In Sook, a terminally ill young woman that scrapes by working in a sauna who lives with her grandmother after she’d been abandoned by her father. Red Velvet’s Joy is Mi Do, a social media influencer with lung cancer and little to count on as far as friends and family go. Kang Ye Won is Se Yeon, another terminally ill woman who is a housewife who is left with caring for her mother-in-law with her questionable mental state.

The marketing for “The One and Only” gave the impression that the friendship between these three was the focus of the show. Perhaps the title should have given it away, however, as it is firstly a show focusing on In Sook’s discovery of her first love, Kim Kyung Nam’s Woo Cheon. As far as romances go, it’s lackluster at best. There’s little question that the two are going to wind up with each other. Once they are together, the two on screen alternate between rehashing typical drama fare or doing nothing much at all. What makes this even more dreadful is that In Sook’s most entertaining moments are when she is unleashing a lifetime of pent-up bitterness on whoever happens to appear before her at the wrong time. That this is her peak belies how unsatisfying In Sook is as a lead character. But once the relationship between In Sook and Woo Cheon takes hold, her anger is defanged and essentially so is she.

For Woo Cheon, he is initially best described as a Korean version of Jean Reno’s reclusive assassin from “Leon: The Professional”. He’s a misfit. He has only a single friend who feeds him his jobs. He likes dogs. But as the show progresses and he awakens, he only becomes more withdrawn but now with In Sook. So rather than opening up emotionally, he becomes more akin to Marvin the depressed robot from “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”. It’s as if the director was constantly yelling at him “LESS PERSONALITY! NO INFLECTION! NO EXPRESSION!” And this is the character with the second most prominent role [eyeroll].

Somehow, the crew finds an even less likable character for the cast member with the third most amount of time on screen - Go Doo Shim’s Seong Ja, In Sook’s grandmother. While the cranky and colorful grandmother is a stock character, most have some charm and warmth as part of the role. Here, sadly, it’s all obnoxious and annoying and irrational. Why the relationship between In Sook and her grandmother is so prominently featured when it’s unnecessary narratively is massively confounding.

As for the remainder of the roster of characters, it’s a mixed bag. Joy’s Mi Do is the figure who ultimately is the most intriguing as she faces a legitimate dilemma. Joy as an actress is not on the same level as an entertainer as she is a singer and dancer. She’s fine though and probably would have done better if the script hadn’t essentially skipped over when she finally confronts her dilemma. Instead, the plot shows an ample collection of evidence of why she must make a decision and then teleports to what happens after she’s elected which path to take.

Se Yeon is listed as a main character but is probably, at best, the tenth most relevant character. Like Mi Do, she has an intriguing subplot and it gets a bit of run in the middle episodes of the show, but it gets only perfunctory screen time after a certain point. There’s some more simply bizarre editorial decisions that are made with Se Yeon, but no discussion of them is possible without explicit spoilers. But it’s bad. Really bad.

Lee Bong Ryun is a police team leader that is a badly needed bright spot. It’s not a dynamic role, but she’s a solid casting selection and it’s not a typical police detective. Yoon Bora is a ray of sunshine as a nun at the hospice which is the primary location. She eventually takes a shine to Jang In Sub’s mixed bag of a detective. Kim Soo Young plays the daughter of another hospice patient and shows immense potential as an actor. Someone should make a show simply where she can play a younger version of Park So Dam with whom she bears an incredible resemblance.

There’s a bit of success with the OST but it’s not a prominent feature here. The photography has some nice outdoor shots.

That’s the comprehensive list of positive qualities in the two prior paragraphs. As for negatives, in addition to what’s already listed here, there’s…
-some terrible editing
-Han Gyu Won is brutally over his head in trying to play chaebol heir and Mi Do’s boyfriend Ji Pyo
-the lead investigator and relatively strong character is written off and vanishes
-a character is declared dead but turns out not to be and no adequate explanation is given
-Woo Cheon’s dog, a gorgeous animal, appears early on and then never again. Meanwhile, Woo Cheon is supposed to be an animal lover but seems to have nary a care at all about what has happened with his once beloved man’s best friend
-Great pains are given to demonstrate that In Sook has a severe loss of hearing in the first few episodes. Like Woo Cheon’s dog, it ceases to exist for no apparent reason.
-other than the mother of Kim Soo Young’s character, none of the residents of the hospice seem to have any ailments at all, at least if one were to view their outward appearance.
-Jang Hyun Sung plays In Sook’s father for the sole purpose of to show up every so often in a bout of planet-sized self-pity and to advance the storyline not a single iota.

It’s really a travesty because Ahn Eun Jin is an actor with every necessary quality in copious amounts to be the centerpiece of a blockbuster hit show. Hopefully this quagmire of awfulness won’t preclude that possibility in the future.

Not recommended.