Review by: Sabrina

Synopsis

“Wednesday 3:30 PM” (“Wednesday”) is a cohabitation web drama miniseries about two childhood friends who reconnect and fall in love.  Seon Eun Woo (Jin Ki Joo) is dumped by her boyfriend on Wednesday at 3:30pm, the time and day when studies show that women look their most exhausted and least attractive.  Yoon Jae Won (Lee Hong Bin), an old childhood friend, is back in South Korea after studying abroad and is opening a café.  Jae Woon unexpectedly needs a place to stay, and seeing her pain, he promises to help Eun Woo win her boyfriend back if she lets him stay with her.  Jae Won’s scheme is to show Eun Woo’s boyfriend, Baek Seung Gyu (Ahn Bo Hyun), what he is missing through a plan he calls “Project Wednesday 3:30.”  Every Wednesday at 3:30pm, Jae Won plans a spectacular date with Eun Woo, which he captures in a photo.  Eun Woo then posts the photo on her social media, showing Seung Gyu – and the world – that while other women are at their worst, Eun Woo living her best life.  Jae Won’s plan works brilliantly.  Seung Gyu regrets breaking up with Eun Woo and the two begin to date again.  During their time together, Jae Won and Eun Woo have developed “more than friendly” feelings for one another.  But neither can be honest about their feelings, misunderstandings occur, and Jae Won moves away.  When they are finally able to be honest – both to themselves and each other – the two are reunited under the cherry blossoms and promise to have an everlasting love.   

Lead Couple

Eun Woo and Jae Won are a classic example of friends turning lovers.  Even though the two have been separated in recent years, the pair have known one another since childhood (a common Korean trope).  And despite never dating, their shared history allows Jae Won to know and understand Eun Woo better than Seung Gyu does.  Jae Won knows that gampo dumplings are Eun Woo’s cure-all, he understands Eun Woo’s fear of losing another dog after her childhood dog’s tragic passing, and he shares in Eun Woo’s fear of lightning storms.  Jae Won is also able to realize that Eun Woo is traumatized by Seung Gyu’s breakup.  Eun Woo is stuck on Wednesday at 3:30pm – the time when Seung Gyu broke up with her, that is also the time when women look the “ugliest and most tired” – and believes herself unworthy of love.  And in helping Eun Woo realize that she is worthy of love, Jae Won falls in love with her himself.  Both enjoy their time spent together for “Project Wednesday at 3:30,” and both are affected by their time spent together.  Neither sees love the same way after “Project Wednesday at 3:30.” 

And the chemistry portrayed by Jin Ki Joo and Lee Hong Bin – or Hongbin, as the member of VIXX is most known – is outstanding.  Eun Woo and Jae Won have been in and out of each other’s lives since they were children, and though they do not share their first kiss until the last scene of “Wednesday,” the two charismatic actors manage to depict an effortless bond throughout the series.  Whether washing linens together in a plastic tub, or unintentionally falling asleep and cuddling, Ki Joo and Hongbin are playful and loving in their portrayal of their roles.  When Jae Won swoops in and carries Eun Woo to safety after she twists her ankle, one cannot help but swoon!  

Baek Seung Gyu

Seung Gyu is Eun Woo’s co-worker and ex-boyfriend.  He cheats on Eun Woo with a co-worker (whom we learn is a lovely person who was unaware of Seung Gyu’s relationship with Eun Woo), then breaks up with Eun Woo, shaking her self-confidence.  From a storytelling perspective, Seung Gyu serves the purpose of highlighting what love should not be, by being compared to and contrasted with Jae Won.  After Jae Won’s “Project Wednesday 3:30,” Seung Gyu regrets breaking up with Eun Woo and desires to start over with her.  However, it should be noted that Seung Gyu never apologizes for cheating.  While the cautionary saying, “Once a cheater, always a cheater” may not always be the case, the message of “Wednesday” is that mutual trust and respect are the foundation of any successful relationship.  Seung Gyu cheats on Eun Woo, then cheats on his new girlfriend (in his heart) by wanting to get back with Eun Woo.  Seung Gyu returns to Eun Woo to “start over” and immediately (and shamelessly) suggests that they get married.  A relationship once rocked by broken trust is difficult to rebuild.  Cheating implies a lack of mutual respect in a relationship, and this plays out in the scene on the bus where Jae Won overhears Seung Gyu talking about Eun Woo disrespectfully, despite his claims of love. 

The Café

In “Wednesday,” Jae Won owns and operates Brunch Café, a coffee shop.  Like King Hotel in “King the Land” and Hotel Del Luna in the K-drama of the same name, Brunch Café serves as another character in “Wednesday.”  When the café that Jae Won originally purchases burns down, Jae Won is suddenly forced to find alternate housing.  Jae Won then moves in with his childhood friend, Eun Woo, while the coffee shop is being re-built. 

The original café is the location of the breakup between Eun Woo and Seung Gyu at the beginning of the series.  It is where a devastated Eun Woo leaves behind their couple’s rings.  The previous owner holds on to the rings because she feels the woman may come back for them someday, and she passes them on to Jae Won when he purchases the café.  Jae Won then returns the rings to Seung Gyu when Seung Gyu expresses his desire to start over with Eun Woo.

Gong Na Yeon (Cha Jung Won) is the previous owner of the café.  She sells the café to Jae Won because she has a brain tumor and has to have surgery.  Na Yeon has always harbored feelings for Jae Won, whom she knew from studying abroad together, and her brush with death teaches her to seize every opportunity in life.  Thus, when she returns to Jae Won’s side, she pursues him wholeheartedly.  But while Jae Won once had feelings for Na Yeon, his feelings changed over time and he was leaving the café to tell Eun Woo how he felt when Na Yeon reappeared in his life.  Later, Eun Woo sees Jae Won and Na Yeon walking arm and arm outside of the café and misunderstands the nature of their relationship.  Because of this, when Seung Gyu tells Jae Won and Na Yeon that he and Eun Woo are getting married, Eun Woo does not correct him, leading to further misunderstanding.     

The café’s two young employees, Yang Tae Kyung (Im Too Chul) and Choi Seon Ah (Cho Yi Hyun), represent “Wednesday’s” message of honesty.  The two employees have feelings for one another, but – just like the Lead Couple – they are not honest about their feelings.  This leads to a comical misunderstanding over ramen.  Seon Ah invites Tae Kyung inside for ramen after he walks her home from the café one night.  (In Korean culture, “[t]he phrase ‘Do you want to eat some ramen before you go?’ metaphorically means the same as ‘Do you want to stay overnight and have sex?’ It portrays ramen as a tool for seduction.”) Seon Ah wants Tae Kyung to stay the night, but instead of telling him, she gets upset when he leaves.  Jae Won tells Seon Ah that she should have told Tae Kyung not to go, if she wanted him to stay.  Jae Won is astonished that Tae Kyung could leave after such an obvious misunderstanding, but Jae Won himself leaves for Jeju Island due to a lack of honesty and misunderstanding.  A driving message in “Wednesday” is that you have to be honest about your feelings – both with yourself and with those you love.  Not being honest – as depicted in both the Lead Couple’s relationship and in the relationship of the Brunch Café’s employees, leads to frustrating misunderstandings.   

Great OST!

The OST from “Wednesday” seems to be largely unrecognized, but it is a gem.  Ahn Ye Seul’s “I Just Want To” is the Lead Couple’s simple and sweet love song.  It invokes sweet memories.  Jin Ki Joo’s “Spring” is perfect for a K-drama that is shot in beautiful springtime locations in South Korea, filled with blooming cherry blossoms.  Juk Jae has two songs on the OST, including “Let’s Go See the Stars” and “View (Album Ver).”  “Let’s Go See the Stars” is an acoustic song with a range that suits Juk Jae’s warm voice perfectly, while “View” has haunting harmonies that stick with you for hours.  And let’s not forget that TWICE’s “Knock, Knock” makes a sudden appearance when Eun Woo excitedly dances on her bed after Jae Won’s late-night call saying he is on his way over to talk to her.  The song perfectly captures Eun Woo’s excited anticipation. 

Final verdict: MUST WATCH   

“Wednesday 3:30pm” has a great Lead Couple, a great story, a great pace, and a great OST, making it a definite MUST WATCH!  The Lead Couple conveys both a comfortable familiarity and a longing chemistry.  “Wednesday” is not all happiness, but it strikes the perfect balance between drama and humor.  The pace is perfect, particularly for a shorter series.  Unlike other miniseries, which can move too quickly, “Wednesday” moved at an excellent – and believable – pace.  This pace was only possible because both the story and the actors were able to establish a prior close relationship in which the couple was already quite familiar with one another, and already had a relationship bordering on the line between friends and more than friends.  The wonderful OST rounds out what is a very enjoyable watch.  The only negative is that – like many K-dramas – “Wednesday” contains an unnecessary time jump.  The time skipped is one year, and takes the viewer from the time when Jae Won moves out of Eun Woo’s house, until the time when Seung Gyu discovers him working at a coffee shop on Jeju Island.  During that time, the only person who has moved on is Seung Gyu, who has a new girlfriend.  Everything else is literally the same. (Jae Won is even wearing the same shirt he wore in an earlier scene.)  But the unnecessary time jump aside, “Wednesday,” is an excellent choice.  And with cherry blossoms featuring heavily in the story, it is the perfect choice for a lighthearted watch in the Spring!

VIDEO

So there it is, our review of “Wednesday 3:30pm.”  What did you think?!  Thank you for joining us on this journey. 

Have a favorite K-drama you think we should review?  Comment down below!!  We look forward to seeing you back again soon!

Up next, “Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo”