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Not for the faint of heart, Love in Sadness, is an over-the-top triangle drama. We're talking face changes, comas, blackmail, betrayal, affairs, romance, faked deaths, you name it!
Yoon Ma Ri, a talented painter and artist, is swept away in a whirlwhind romance with Kang In Wook, son and heir to an insanely wealthy and powerful conglomerate. With her mother suffering from advanced dementia, Ma Ri believes the marriage is an answer to her troubles. However, five years later, Ma Ri is nearly at her mental breaking point. Behind the facade of her fairy tale marriage, is a physically and mentally abusive husband and father-in-law. Ma Ri discovers a dark family secret, the suicide of In Wook's mother. She also discovers a disturbing fact, she looks identical to her deceased mother-in-law. This discovery of her husband's Freudian obsession clicks into place as the catalyst of her husband's physical abuse.
Her many attempts at divorce, reporting abuse to the police, or seeking legal counsel are foiled by In Wook, who has never failed to stop her from her escape. After In Wook blackmails Ma Ri, using her physically disabled mother as collateral, Ma Ri feels she only has one choice: to remove the face that has caused her so much trouble, her own. She secretly whisks her mother away, hiding her in an off-the-books treatment center, and then attempts to fake her own death in an effort to buy time and fool her husband. However, In Wook refuses to believe she is dead, given the convenient disappearance of Ma Ri's mother. Ma Ri is almost caught, but at the last minute, she throws herself into oncoming traffic, where she is rescued by Seo Jung-wo.
Dr. Seo Jun-wo to be exact, is a plastic surgeon and recent widower. As fate would have it, on the drive home from his wife's funeral is when he has this third encounter with Ma Ri. In a moment of grief, he agrees to Ma Ri's request for a surgery to reconfigure her face through plastic surgery. Ma Ri's new face isn't her own, and it becomes the impetus behind the fiery passions and events which drive the story between our intense love triangle.
The Good: If you like passionate performances, even if they edge on the unbelievable, then this show is for you! Particularly focusing on In Wook, played by Ryu Soo-young, he does an incredible job at getting under your skin with his unrelentless obsession and twisted love for Ma Ri. His delusional and impulsive behavior, as well as his dichotomous tenderness and serpentine actions towards her created a cocktail of sympathy and disgust as I watched the story progress. On the opposite side of the spectrum, Ma Ri (played by Park Han-byul) gives a very convincing portrayal of someone who's been drained and terrified after years of abuse. Also, with the episodes averaging around 25 minutes each, this is a series you can easily binge or space them out if it gets too intense.
The Not-So-Good: Flashbacks and predictability. I get annoyed when a series, especially one that airs altogether or daily, when they reference scenes which just occurred. Love in Sadness has too many of these recalled scenes, some of which happened just minutes before. It can make the short episodes feel like they are lulling, and it gets fairly annoying in later parts of the series. For all of the action, I could anticipate the next drama bomb. While it didn't make it any less enjoyable, I wasn't surprised by much within the series. If you are looking for an original drama or story, this may not be for you.
Overall, this is one of those series you decide to watch because you're a fan of the genre and love the drama which comes with it. Probably a one-time watch for most K-drama fans, but it's worth the watch!
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