This Week, My Wife Will Have an Affair: Episode 12 (Final)
by chocolatte
From the beginning, This Week, My Wife Will Have an Affair has boasted a winning combination of dark humor, appealing but flawed characters, and a healthy dose of realism that’s made this show immensely watchable despite its less than savory premise of adultery. Luckily for all of us TOYCRANE fans, the show remains true to its roots until the very end — and though I’m sad to say goodbye, I’m so glad that we get to send our characters off into their new lives in the same heartfelt way that we were introduced to them.
FINAL EPISODE RECAP
We see Soo-yeon and Hyun-woo settle into life after divorce. While Soo-yeon’s busy unpacking and taking care of Joon-soo, Hyun-woo reels at the sight of anything in his house that reminds him of his separated family.
After reading through the responses to her husband’s last post on the stocks forum, Soo-yeon writes her own post, introducing herself as TOYCRANE’s cheating wife. She writes that she wants to share her side of the story and asks the internet community to blame her for their failed marriage, rather than her husband.
She says their story was typical at first: They dated, got married, and completed their little family with Joon-soo. Soo-yeon talks about the difficult decision of going back to work when Joon-soo was only a baby, saying that she didn’t want her career to end after having a child.
She recounts her struggle watching Joon-soo turn into a loner (very much like her), but adds that she didn’t have the bandwidth to deal with it. Although she tried hard to be a good mother and a good employee, she writes, she failed on both counts.
She goes on to add that her belated efforts to help Joon-soo fit in better at school mainly involved sucking up to the other moms, but it wasn’t an easy task. When she finally got the invite to the moms-only chat group, she says it felt like it was finally okay not to feel guilty.
By then, her every waking moment had been consumed with work, Joon-soo, and making sure she wouldn’t get kicked out of her mom group. She didn’t have a spare moment to herself, but she says she thought it was all okay — at least, until that fateful day she met with her soon-to-be lover, Sun-woo.
That day, Sun-woo had been two hours late to their scheduled meeting. She calls those two hours a “gift,” during which she almost finished reading an entire novel, and she says that’s when she realized she was living her life without even having two hours to spare for herself.
When she was with Sun-woo, she says she stopped thinking about her family, her work, and her responsibilities. She writes that she felt like a kid chasing after a balloon, and if her husband hadn’t discovered her at the hotel, she’d still be out wandering.
She says her relationship with Sun-woo had its ending written before it began, then affirms the rest of Hyun-woo’s posts: she was the first to suggest divorce, the first to give up on the relationship. She notes that Hyun-woo didn’t give up until the very end, and she, in contrast, remained a selfish wife.
Soo-yeon adds that surprisingly, life hasn’t changed much after the divorce. We see that Hyun-woo seems be adjusting okay as well, as he stops by a claw machine on his way home. And at the elevator in his building, his stuffed trophies in hand, he meets a pretty neighbor clutching her own claw machine prizes.
Soo-yeon finishes up her post by taking responsibility for all that’s happened. She asks the commenters to encourage Hyun-woo rather than tear him down.
Just as she’s typed her last words, the doorbell rings — it’s Hyun-woo, returning Joon-soo from a day of fun. Hyun-woo fixes a flickering light in the entryway for Soo-yeon before he goes, and Soo-yeon packs up side dishes for him to take home. All the while, the two talk comfortably, like good friends.
Yoon-ki’s sales clerk ex receives visitors on her wedding day, looking radiant — that is, until she sees Ara walk in. Ara congratulates the young woman, who’s now cowering in fear, and throws her arm around her for the commemorative photo. Before she leaves, Ara whispers something in the bride’s ear that causes her to break down in tears of despair.
Meanwhile, Yoon-ki has set up shop in the dusty basement of a worn building that attracts zero clients, and he looks as disheveled as his new office. He gets chewed out by his landlord for not being able to pay his rent, while the neighborhood ajummas gossip behind his back about how he’s a “garbage” lawyer. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
Yoon-ki’s home life isn’t much better, as he now lives in a tiny ramshackle house with his Okinawa mistress. They start arguing the moment he walks in — she’s convinced that he’s still cheating, while he complains about her shopping habits. But really, their fight is about being unhappy with their new, poorer reality, and their night ends with a yelling match.
Hyun-woo can’t pass up a claw machine on his way home after noticing that all the toys are perfectly piled up on one side. Just as he slips a bill into the machine, someone calls out that the machine’s hers — and what do you know, it’s the woman he saw in his building earlier.
She pushes Hyun-woo out of the way to play her game, but her prize gets stuck right at the opening of the drop box. She’s not going home empty-handed though, so she puts her arm inside the machine and asks Hyun-woo to pull her other arm, successfully getting the doll out.
Hyun-woo trails after the woman as they walk into the lobby of their building. She recognizes him as a neighbor, then offers Hyun-woo the prize she nabbed on Hyun-woo’s dime. When she tells him she has one just like it at home, he confesses that he does too, heh.
Hyun-woo’s all smiles as he enters his place, but jumps when he finds Joon-young sitting in his living room, looking like death. Hyun-woo asks if Joon-young still hasn’t heard from Bo-young, then complains that he’d like to know what’s going on with the two of them.
In a flashback, we see that Bo-young had told Hyun-woo that she’s taking a break from work. She asked that he refrain from asking questions, then added that it’s possible she might not come back after her break. Oh no, did she just disappear?
Soo-yeon’s hanging out with her friend when she gets a call from Hyun-woo to ask her what kind of detergent he should buy. Soo-yeon’s friend amusedly remarks that it seems like Soo-yeon and Hyun-woo are still married, and wonders if they’ll get back together. Soo-yeon smiles at that, but says they won’t.
At the store, Hyun-woo finds the right kind of detergent, but is annoyed to find that it comes in a pack of two. He’s in the middle of trying to get one out of the pack when he notices someone doing the same next to him: his fellow claw machine fan and neighbor.
The two end up splitting some bulk items back at their apartment complex, where they each establish that they’re divorced and living alone. Changing the subject, the woman asks if Hyun-woo’s seen the claw machine with frying pans inside — she needs one, but she’d rather win one than buy one.
Yoon-ki tearfully looks at photos of Ara living it up on his social media feed, then heads off to his new side job as a chauffeur. After his shift ends, he tucks the money he earned in his sock before heading home.
But when he opens the door to his place, it’s empty, with no signs of his Okinawa mistress. It looks like she took all their stuff and left town with the security deposit, and doesn’t answer when Yoon-ki calls her.
With nowhere else to go, he heads to his office with a lone bag of his possessions. His key doesn’t work, though — the landlord there has since changed the locks, citing Yoon-ki’s failure to pay rent.
Joon-young walks down a dusty road, thinking back to a conversation he had with Bo-young: she’d asked him to stop cornering her about the baby, telling him that she might run away otherwise. Joon-young comes to a stop when he sees a familiar figure on the immediate road below — it’s Bo-young. Yay, he found her.
She tells him that it’s good that he came by — she was planning to go back to Seoul anyway, but only to clean out her place. He tells Bo-young to return to work, promising to keep his distance and not get involved if that’s what she wants. She doesn’t answer, instead patting her belly and affectionately calling her baby “dog poop.”
That doesn’t sit well with Joon-young at all, and it takes all of five minutes for him to forget his promise and start nagging her about the baby’s nickname. Bo-young innocently tells him the baby looked like “pretty dog poop” in the ultrasound picture, which gets Joon-young adorably excited. She shows him the photo, and his smile can’t get any bigger as he says their baby looks more like a peanut.
Hyun-woo runs into his divorced neighbor again, this time outside of a coffee shop. The two end up bonding over their claw machine experiences as they make their way over to the machine with the household appliances.
They return to their apartment complex after successfully winning a pan. As they wait for the elevator, the neighbor abruptly asks Hyun-woo if he wants to date her, causing him to spit out his coffee. Laughing, she explains that the worst thing about being divorced is eating alone, and says that this was her way of asking him to eat with her. Looking flattered, Hyun-woo suggests dinner.
Joon-young and Bo-young arrive at her house, which looks spotless. And that, we find out, is because Joon-young had cleaned every inch of it, not wanting Bo-young or the baby to spend time in a dusty apartment.
When Bo-young thanks him for his support, he asks if she’ll return to work. She starts to say she’s not sure, but stops in mid-sentence after seeing a photo of Joon-young propped up on her table. He tells her the photo is for their baby, and asks her not to remove it.
Once Joon-young leaves, Bo-young sees another picture of him tacked up on a nearby wall, then one on the ceiling above her bed. Upon closer inspection, she finds more photos tucked in random places throughout the apartment, including on the inside cover of the toilet seat, heh.
Hyun-woo walks into work humming under his breath, and Joon-young correctly guesses that he must be dating. Hyun-woo tries to be coy about it before quickly telling his hoobae all about the neighbor, marveling at how surprising it is that he’s gotten friendly with a complete stranger.
Joon-young says he has even more surprising news: Bo-young’s pregnant. Hyun-woo’s jaw drops, but Joon-young doesn’t even give him a chance to process the information before adding that the baby’s his. He then saunters out of the office, leaving Hyun-woo to stare after him in shock.
Soo-yeon shops for groceries, buying enough food for three people. Meanwhile, Hyun-woo enjoys dinner with his neighbor, then the two stop for a beer. The neighbor tells Hyun-woo that she doesn’t have many friends and calls Hyun-woo her closest friend in the neighborhood. She asks if they should go on a real date, causing Hyun-woo to do another spit take.
Homeless Yoon-ki spends the night at the airport and falls asleep while holding onto his bag, but even that gets stolen from him.
It’s Bo-young’s first day back at work, and though Joon-young gives her a longing look, he keeps their conversation strictly about work.
The team goes out to lunch to celebrate Bo-young’s return, and her colleagues try to get Bo-young to drink. Rather than make excuses, Bo-young just comes out with the news that she’s pregnant. She quickly lays out the ground rules for her pregnancy in her typical no nonsense way: no alcohol or other unhealthy foods, no late nights at work, and no team lunches.
Her foul-mouthed colleague raises the question everyone’s afraid to ask: Who’s the father? Bo-young gives Joon-young the briefest of glances before telling everyone not to even ask, because they’ll never find out.
Yoon-ki hides behind a wheelbarrow outside of Ara’s house as a car pulls in, and sees Ara get out with a handsome Frenchman. (You go, girl!) The two say their goodbyes as if they’re starring in their own movie, complete with declarations of love and a Hollywood-style kiss while Yoon-ki watches in horror.
Once Ara goes inside, Yoon-ki aggressively confronts the man, telling him that he’s Ara’s husband. But Yoon-ki’s no match for Ara’s new man, who gets Yoon-ki to back down with a simple twist of his arm.
Hyun-woo spends more time with his neighbor, going grocery shopping and even visiting a claw machine together with her. As they head up to their respective apartments, the neighbor asks Hyun-woo to wait in the elevator, then returns with a bag of side dishes for him.
It’s another day at work where Joon-young can’t keep his eyes off Bo-young — but today, he tells her that she looks best while she’s working here. Then he walks into the CEO’s office, looking like he has something important to say.
TOYCRANE fan Grandma fries up some pancakes, while Ajumma wonders if it’s a special day. Grandma informs her that it’s the anniversary of their husband’s death and asks her to help with the cooking. But Ajumma airily says the best gift to her husband on this day would simply be for her to visit his gravesite, earning herself a glare from Grandma.
As they leave for the cemetery, Grandma brings along a big shovel — she says it’s to bury Ajumma with their husband, since he liked her so much. Ajumma laughs at what she assumes is a joke, but her smile fades at Grandma’s serious face. Hee.
We next check in with several other TOYCRANE fans, who all receive a new alert on their phones and read it curiously.
Soo-yeon is up for a big promotion at work, and during her meeting with the (male) bosses, one asks what her husband does for a living. She’s startled, but she honestly tells them that while she may be divorced and with a kid, she’s done a good job at work, so she asks that the decision be made on the merits of her job performance.
Alas, when the promotion decisions are announced, Soo-yeon’s name is sadly not on the list. She puts on a brave face for her colleagues, then calls Hyun-woo to ask him out to coffee, telling him the bad news. Hyun-woo tells her he has dinner plans, so Soo-yeon hangs up, looking disappointed.
A colleague runs up to Bo-young with the news that Joon-young has resigned. Bo-young can’t hide her distress at this development, then all of a sudden, she doubles over in pain, grabbing her stomach. She tries calling Joon-young but he doesn’t answer, since he’s busy packing his bags.
Over lunch, Yoon-ki sheds tears over Ara and her new man. Yeah, I’m not feeling too sorry for you right now.
On her way home, Soo-yeon’s busy chatting on the phone when she suddenly shops short, having spotted Hyun-woo and his neighbor together. Hyun-woo looks up and sees Soo-yeon too, and the two just look at each other for a moment, both caught off guard.
Soo-yeon meets Hyun-woo back at his apartment, where she immediately starts tidying up. When she opens his refrigerator, she spots the side dishes that aren’t her own, and takes this as a sign to leave. Outside his apartment, she takes a moment to gather her thoughts, and Hyun-woo watches her leave from his window.
At her place, Bo-young finds yet another photo of Joon-young and wonders out loud to her baby, “What should Mom do?” When she gets up, she’s hit with another sharp pain that sends her collapsing to the floor. Seriously, why aren’t you at the hospital by now?
She grabs her phone to call Joon-young, but he’s in the car and doesn’t answer. It doesn’t take long before Joon-young turns the car around, but it looks like Bo-young’s already passed out from the pain.
Yoon-ki hops the gate to his old house and is incensed to find Ara and her boyfriend headed up inside. He rushes to Ara and apologizes, telling her that he’ll never cheat again, and that he wants to start over. Haltingly, he tells her that he loves her.
But Ara treats him like a stranger, and tells him that she’ll give him one minute to get out of her house. He shouts after her that he won’t leave and just wait for her. After a beat, a shot rings out, and a bullet just misses Yoon-ki’s foot.
From her balcony, Ara points a shotgun at her ex and tells him to leave before she counts to three. She’s not kidding around — Yoon-ki’s barely over the gate when she shoots at him, missing once, but making contact with her second shot.
For his part, Yoon-ki limps away from Ara’s property holding his hip where he’s been hit before promptly passing out.
Meanwhile, Joon-young rushes to the hospital in a panic, an unconscious Bo-young on his back.
Aw, all of our favorite TOYCRANE fans, including the hacker couple and the CEO, are gathered for an in-person meetup. The hacker husband kicks things off by introducing himself and sharing his username, and they each go around, laughing and chatting while they get to know one another.
Hyun-woo sits in his dark apartment, thinking about his conversation with his neighbor on their date. She said that she got divorced because she couldn’t forget the past, but she added that now, it doesn’t matter whether or not she’s actually forgotten her husband, because she’s moved on. Pointing her finger forward, she’d told Hyun-woo to look straight ahead before asking him if he’d consider dating her for real.
The conversation seems to spur something in Hyun-woo and he calls Soo-yeon, only to lamely ask after her and Joon-soo. Soo-yeon cuts right to the chase and tells him that he has no reason to feel sorry toward her; she wants them both to stop feeling sorry toward each other, and move on to happier things.
Joon-soo walks out to tell Soo-yeon that the bathroom light is out. He wants to call dad to fix it, but Soo-yeon tells him that she’ll do it from now on.
After hanging up with Soo-yeon, Hyun-woo starts emptying out his closet like a madman, then posts on the forum asking for advice on an outfit for an “important meeting” the next day. His post comes right in the middle of the TOYCRANE fan meetup, and the commenters excitedly consult each other before providing Hyun-woo with feedback.
At the hospital, Joon-young looks worried as he talks with Bo-young’s doctor. When he returns to Bo-young’s bedside, he tells the tearful Bo-young that the baby’s okay, thank goodness. She wonders what happened to her then, and Joon-young gravely says that her pain was from… constipation. HAHAHA. Bo-young turns away in mortification while Joon-young makes sure to repeat the diagnosis extra slowly for her benefit. I’m dying.
The next day, Yoon-ki climbs over Ara’s gate again, clutching his injured hip and loudly proclaiming that he can’t live without her. He doesn’t get far before he’s smacked on the head by a flying brick, then collapses to the ground.
As Joon-young drives Bo-young home, he tells her that he wants to be involved in raising the baby, even if she doesn’t want to be with him. Bo-young just says he shouldn’t have resigned from work, but he says he couldn’t bear for her to leave the job she loved because of him. When she asks if he really doesn’t have feelings for her, Joon-young hesitates, but says he doesn’t. At that, she asks for his help in moving her things out of her apartment.
The next day, Joon-young helps Bo-young get all packed up and asks her where they’re headed. She replies that she’ll show him the way, only to lead them directly to Joon-young’s place.
Joon-young can’t believe it when Bo-young tells him she plans to live with him from now on, but he’s clearly giddy at this turn of events. He pretends that he hadn’t been planning for a life with her and the baby at all, but when Bo-young opens the door to his spare room, she finds a nursery inside, fully stocked.
Bo-young drops the news that they’re expecting a girl, causing Joon-young to freak out with excitement, and he rambles about the things he’s dreamed of doing with his daughter. Aww.
They get serious for a moment when Joon-young asks Bo-young for one thing: not to hide or run away from him again. When she promises she won’t, he immediately tests her resolve by planting a kiss on her. Her eyes widen in shock, then close for a moment — but then she kicks his shin and pulls away huffily. Oh, Bo-young.
Hyun-woo rushes to his important meeting while his neighbor waits expectantly at a restaurant. He narrates that he couldn’t leave his wife because he was scared to forget her, and because he was scared of being forgotten. He says that when he did end up leaving her, he was always looking back. “Now,” he says, “I have courage to leave her there. I’m not going to care about her.”
His neighbor lights up when she sees her guest arrive — it’s her daughter, who she greets happily.
Meanwhile, Soo-yeon sees Joon-soo off to school. Joon-soo gets on the bus and waves goodbye to Soo-yeon, then turns the opposite way to look out the window. Before the bus pulls away, he waves to someone.
That someone is Hyun-woo — he’s across the street, winded from sprinting to the bus stop. When Soo-yeon finally sees him, she freezes in shock.
In voiceover, Hyun-woo says that the most important thing in his life now is the Soo-yeon that’s standing in front of him, and adds that he hopes she can leave the “old” Hyun-woo in the past too.
As they smile at one another, Hyun-woo narrates, “This week, our new story begins.” He runs across the street to his wife, and the two walk off together, into their future.
COMMENTS
The biggest question I had as we neared the finale was whether or not Hyun-woo and Soo-yeon’s relationship would survive — even after they actually ended up going through with their divorce, it wasn’t crystal clear to me that they’d really end up separated. This episode did a great job of conveying the enduring connection between our lead couple, even post-divorce, and how the divorce itself almost seemed to lighten the burdens of their relationship — enough that they were on better terms than ever after they officially parted ways.
It could have gone either way — they could have moved on, but remained friendly partners in raising Joon-soo, or they could have realized through their post-divorce interactions that in the end, they wanted to try again. Personally, I’m glad it’s the latter, and I appreciate that the reconciliation happened after Hyun-woo had an opportunity to see what life could have been like as a newly single man. Though Hyun-woo’s potential love interest turned out to be more of a plot device for Hyun-woo’s final realization, I found his decision to consciously leave the old Soo-yeon in the past and look to the future with the Soo-yeon in front of him pretty moving.
I think we can all agree that Soo-yeon as a character was probably the weak link in this main story, as she was never fully fleshed out. Even in the end, when we did get a little bit of insight into her experiences that led her to this point, she remained just as frustrating and enigmatic as she was in the beginning (or if we’re being generous, maybe just a little less so). But I think this was done on purpose, as This Week was, through and through, Hyun-woo’s story: a story about his growth as a husband and father, and as a human being searching for understanding and comfort over the internet.
His story wouldn’t have been possible or made complete without our beloved TOYCRANE fan community, who illustrated in multiple ways how individuals long for human connection, even if those connections are created online. I loved that the show gave proper closure to most of our fans through their in-person meetup (how awesome was it to see all of them together?) but it was even better to see that TOYCRANE’s story actually ended up spurring these commenters to make changes in their own lives, whether it was to decide against divorce, or to come out of one’s shell and live life a little more bravely. They showed us that connections forged online can actually become something real and more meaningful in our offscreen lives, if we let it.
As for the rest of our couples, their stories ended pretty much how we thought they’d end: Yoon-ki and Ara’s relationship went out with gunshots and blood, while Joon-young and Bo-young win the most adorable couple award. The latter couple was my favorite, and I have to admit I was hoping we’d get a little more affection from Bo-young towards Joon-young (or at least a better kiss!) in this episode. But Bo-young was who she is until the end, and Joon-young’s enthusiasm will have to cover them both — at least until he manages to wear her down on that front, too. They were often times the funniest part of the show, and I’m so glad we got to spend the time we did with our writer/PD couple.
Overall, I’m fully satisfied with the story this show told from beginning to end — and that’s not something that I say often about K-dramas. Thanks to CandidClown and all of our commenters who created our own little online community — I really appreciated hearing the various perspectives folks brought to the table, especially those who shared their personal stories and experiences. The value of a kind and understanding online community has never been more apparent as it has been throughout this particular show, and it made me thankful to be a small part of it. Until next time, everyone!
RELATED POSTS
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Tags: BoA, Episode 12, featured, Lee Sang-yub, Lee Seon-kyun, Song Ji-hyo, This Week My Wife Will Have an Affair
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101 matrice
August 28, 2022 at 1:44 AM
Also on "realism"
- The guy apologizes for being unable to heal for physcological scars his wife caused him.
Also on "realism"
- The guy apologizes for being unable to heal for physcological scars his wife caused him.
- The wife at one point, after having betrayed and deceived him, simply "kidnaps" their baby. Legal? Maybe, but I am skeptical that he couldn't pursue this with an attoney. For that matter, in MM forums I read that in case of divorce due to adultery, the victim has to give consent, if not being the one to initiate the procedure... would be happy to learn that this is not the case, because I disagree with the policy, and think that the state ought to involve itself as little as possible in terms of barriers, if two people don't want to be together, the exceptions being the protection of the kid (money for the kid, etc.).
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matrice
August 28, 2022 at 6:17 AM
I mean, the guy apologizing for being psychologically traumatized was a sign of internalized self hatred and Stockholm Syndrome, basically the battered wife of a wife beating drunk making up excuses for the latter and thinking they deserve the abuse and being unable to realize they deserve better due to low self worth.
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102 matrice
August 28, 2022 at 1:45 AM
Lastly, on "realism" and also the only "appealing character":
- The way that his "friends" and blog readers schizophrenically come to kiss FL's a*s is completely unrealistic. I mean, honestly speaking: would anyone consider being able to do house chores be more important than lying to their faces? Frankly, the absence of the sustained contrary and, frankly, correct point of view, namely that he deserves better, that perfection should not be a requirement for basic trust and honesty, and that he is better off cutting this toxic person, still acting self entitled and gaslighting him even after being caught red handed. Yoon-ki's wife being the exception, and basically the only strong woman in the show, the only person that grows and actually reaquires her dignity.
- The flashbacks of the peekaboo trauma are unrealistic: they disappear when, deus-ex-machina, it becomes convenient for them to tie up the strings of his sham of a marriage at the end of the drama. Compare with the treatment in MM, which I won't claim was perfect in terms of realism, but that was much more believable and respectful of the seriousness of the theme (for one thing, the guy found her lingerie and read the messages, and found them at a hotel, but the flashback is of them clothed in an elevator/room? Rather "vanilla", MM flashbacks were much closer to what one would think about in that situation -not just them together, but also lies and second guessing past claims-).
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matrice
August 28, 2022 at 5:38 AM
Also, while the issue of her being overwhelmed or not is a complete non sequitur, being something she didn't realize and lied to her husband about when she did, as well as something that was under her control, given that she *chose* her activities and *chose* not to ask family/friends or to hire external help (baby sitter, etc.), as well as to leave her calendar as-is (rather than eliminating useless activities like the other wives... again, note how when she needs to meet her lover she magically can find the time to do so, not having the time to read a book my a*s). We have peekaboo trauma (much more realistic its depiction in My Mister) that comes and goes as is convenient (so they split up because of his trauma, but then she stays in his life? It's a problem only when he touches her, and literally never else? No, bs, much more realistic in MM). We have an issue of trust, given her admission that she would have continued to deceive him indefinitely and that she is factually unworthy of his trust, by her actions (words are cheap). In the beginning the ML has complete trust, in the end it *should* be a problem, not just emotionally, but rationally, based on her actions and her having shown herself to be the kind of person that would have no compunction breaking his trust and deceiving him indefinitely, by her own admission.
Now, JDrama has its hogwash as well, what with making a false equivalence between her horrific betrayal and deception, and another character being a retired AV actress. Pornstars and sex workers have nothing to do with deception, it's a job. Poly and open couples can have sex without it being a betrayal. In KDrama, we have the double standard of gaslighting about orwellian thought crimes (fantasies, emotions), while justifying and handwaving away full blown affairs, with apologists popping up at every corner, anxious to spew their non-sequiturs.
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matrice
September 2, 2022 at 4:55 AM
I mean, the CEO by comparison is in a much better position, he just doesn't realize it: sometimes, better to lose than than to find them. Just as well: as always, an apology after being caught and then everyone goes their own way.
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matrice
September 1, 2022 at 3:46 PM
I mean, I have noticed this in the relevant episode 10 blog post, but on top of them not being her victims, and therefore not being in a position to forgive anything, making the gesture absurd and nonsensical on top of tasteless (also, pretty easy and cheap talk when you are not the one that was backstabbed and would have been deceived indefinitely), the perfectly reasonable position that nothing in the severity of her betrayal and deception, nor in her subsequent gaslighting and general self entitlement and perfunctory nature of the apology (in the occasions where she apologized at all), make her deserving of an apology is straw-manned by being represented by an unstable loose cannon, while the rest do an inexplicable unilateral 180, with no dissenting voices -unrealistic, in general because it's the internet and in particular because this is obviously the "wrong take" and is patently absurd and insane based on the facts-... pretty convenient that her lover's wife was not among the readership, because given their last encounter my guess is, she wouldn't have been down for the kumbaya circle jerk, and the poor woman would have been rather unimpressed with the conflation of the massive betrayal and deception with gender issues at work and a tight schedule (not to mention this woman, on top of not stopping at sleeping with her husband while knowing he was married, planned to continue to deceive her indefinitely, treating her as an object undeserving of the possibility of making an informed decision about her own life). Of course, the same ought to have applied to her husband. In this respect, the two victims ought to have faced the other person's spouse, given that their lack of self worth made it impossible for them to properly stand up for themselves in front of their own spouses (ML is practically the embodiment of internalized self hatred, no sense of proportion at all as to the severity of his own flaws, versus the intentional disloyalty and active betrayal and deception of his wife).
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matrice
September 2, 2022 at 4:51 AM
In other words, the other actual victim of the FL's betrayal and deception certainly didn't think she deserved forgiveness and wouldn't have joined the circle jerk had she been one of the blog's readers. That said both victims were rather good with the other's partner, while carrying much self hatred and having low self worth themselves, so it would have been better if each had handled the other's partner, so they could have avoided being wrapped around the cheaters' fingers.
The relevant thing here is that they don't talk about "thinking she should be forgiven" but "I forgive her", which is an absurd and nonsensical statement given that they were not the victims (also, quite easy to do when you are not the one being betrayed and deceived indefinitely). But the most irritating thing here, to be honest, is the fact that they end up with the wrong answer to the question: given the fact the ML had low self esteem and had completely lost any sense of proportions of his own flaws compared to his wife's deliberate betrayal and deception, which she was planning to carry on indefinitely, he definitely needed "an intervention". Countless reasons why nothing in her actions and their severity, before and after the discovery of the betrayal, made her worthy of forgiveness. Yet who is the voice of reason here? The FL's lover's wife? Yes, as already mentioned, but she does not apply the same standard to her own husband, and she definitely should. Yoon-ki's wife? She had a change of heart later on, which I saw as essentially the only sign of actual growth in the drama, but again, her plotline is mired in stuff like magic and firearms, so I would have preferred a rational, composed explanation of why he didn't deserve this, shouldn't self flagellate and wallow in unearned guilt, and should realize he deserved better. Starting from the fact that he is basically the best husband among all the ones shown in the show, and than neither the other moms or the FL's lover's wife or Yoon-ki's wife betrayed their partner, despite their partner being less helpful than the ML, or even carrying out full blown affairs (thus being factually unworthy of loyalty and trust).
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103 matrice
September 1, 2022 at 3:12 PM
I must say that while I accept the version given by the wife in this episode as the one that the drama wants us to "go with" as the truth, the characterization of the FL during the course of the drama and some plot details make it hard to believe. To recap, the version is essentially that she was overworked, and she used her lover as a human vibrator. A distraction, like a hobby like zumba, but involving the betrayal and deception of her spouse and the shattering of the trust in their marriage. Not to mention that like a hobby, an affair, logically speaking, does not free up her schedule, if anything it would add overhead, though suspiciously she managed so quite easily to find the time for a full blown affair, while we were meant to believe she couldn't spare an hour for a book.
Plenty of questionable stuff in terms of plot holes and characterization, if that was the version they wanted to go with. The lover is treated as a non entity here. This is compatible with them effortlessly breaking up and never seeing each other again. At the same time, there are details such as her buying sexy underwear that she didn't show her husband, or the lie she told her husband when she was caught, that she wouldn't see her lover, and then prompty went ahead to talk to him and meet up with him (it was him that fired him without consulting her, and she complained about him not reaching out prior to the decision). She also hid the fact that he was her client. And was non-committal about the nature of her relationship (didn't give a straight answer regarding her feelings when directly asked, though she threw in her husband's face that she was the one that sought him out after their first encouter... and now, in the end, the show clearly means for us to think that he was a mere distraction, utterly unimportant, and in fact he does not figure as an actual person or individual in her recap).
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104 matrice
September 1, 2022 at 3:28 PM
As for her marriage, we have them both forgetting about the anniversary, him trying to ask her whether there were problems and proposing they take time for each other, and being spurned, then her remembering her husband's birthday. As before, it's clear that the show means to say that they both love each other (I really cannot see it from her side, given her actions -the betrayal and deception, including spurning her husband's offer to spend time with her to go sleep with her lover and then pick up her kid- and subsequent gaslighting and self entitlement), but the characterization is clearly ambiguous.
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105 matrice
September 1, 2022 at 3:29 PM
I also don't really know how I am supposed to take seriously the Jekyll/Hide situation where she is all about the kid and father and sets them aside *only* when with her lover: she clearly didn't think only of them when she lied to her husband's face when he tried to ask about her state and propose they spend time together, spurning him with a lie to go meet her husband; she clearly didn't only think about them when she was running around planning meetings with her lover, texting him and booking a hotel, or buyng sexy underwear she didn't show her husband to wear for her lover. In other words, this "compartimentalized" view is obviously factually false: her affair was having concrete consequences on her marriage well before she was discovered: besides the obvious fact that it destroyed the trust and made her marriage a relationship built on lies and deceptions, thus immediately damaging it by definition, when her husband tried to reach out to her and propose they spend time together, she spurned him to spend time with her lover, obviously taking away time and attention from her relationship: this was no impenetrable wall between her lover and her family.
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106 matrice
September 1, 2022 at 3:29 PM
So, while the show clearly wants to push that her version in this episode is "the truth", the characterization really sends conflicting messages and is all over the place (and things like her willingness to deprive her lover's wife of the ability to make an informed decision, wanting to gaslight her husband into becoming their accomplice in the poor woman's deception, or her gaslighting and self entitled behavior afterwards, including the attempt to control how her husband processed the betrayal and deception, and who he opened up to about his experiences, or her revelation of the affair to his mother against his explicit wishes, or tons of other stuff -throwing her affair in her husband's face after being non-committal, lying about not meeting her lover, and then talking to the guy and meeting him, who proceeded to unilaterally fire her from the project without consulting her, not disclosing the fact he was her client, etc.-, and the lack of it being addressed/her not apologizing for that at all, or doing so in a non perfunctory manner, all around too little, too late), everything is very "vanilla" in her description, her lover barely figures, there is a general passivity while she was clearly an active and enthusiastic participant texting and meeting up with the guy (prompting their second encounter, buying sexy underwear she didn't show her husband, dressing well, actively planning the rendezvous and texting the guy) while deceiving and spurning her husband when he asked her if everything was okay and offered to spend time together (which according to her words should have been exactly what she was waiting for... again, when he asked about her state she lied to his face, so it was not even just about him not being a mind reader, but about him being actively lied about the overwork issue, and when he proposed they take time off to spend together, she refused, despite it apparently being exactly what she needed/wanted, and such a refusal not being at all coherent with her words in this episode). But I acknowledge that the show is probably intending for the viewer to accept her words in this episode as the "canonical truth", so these obvious plot holes and discrepancies in the characterization are likely not intentional signs of further lies and machiavellian deception, but rather simply that: unintentional mess-ups with the characterization and plot, basically not being able to keep it straight.
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Alhambra
September 2, 2022 at 4:00 AM
Yes Matrice
The character of the wife is difficult to understand from what the writers have presented
To us in this drama, they present a picture of a happy hard working family, she sleeps in
her husbands bed, they arrange to collect their child from school together and generally
Behave like any young family, but during these early episodes she has already slept with
her lover, she has been in an affair for 6 months! She has hidden glamorous clothes in
A draw and sneaks earrings in her bag to wear later when she is out of the house, continually
Lies to her husband and evades the truth about where she is going and for what reasons,
She does NOT look like a woman utterly exhausted from overwork (perhaps she was 6
months ago) she looks like someone totally involved in an exiting and ongoing fling/affair?
We do not know what is in her heart apart from her own words, when I was with this person
I did not think of my husband son etc but followed him like a child following a fly away balloon.
I did not get the impression that this relationship was merely a `distraction` the delight on her
face when reading his texts, holding his hand through the car window, her face when speaking
About that person and him giving her time to read her book etc and the dismissive attitude to
her husband when caught all add to the undeniable conclusion that she was into this affair
Totally. The words of her song that she was always in love with her husband cannot be the
Truth, she betrayed her husband and for 6 months was a `couple` with this man from work,
People from her work must have noticed, she met him locally in bars and restaurants, her
Afternoon 2nd sex session arranged for a local hotel and they walked in together as bold as
brass, he drives her home after a tryst and parks on her street! others must have noticed adding
to her husbands humiliation, this is not how a loving wife behaves and yet she says that she did
not do this to get a divorce that she did not want to damage her family, she is an intelligent
Woman and knew that her infidelity marked the end of her marriage, she did not care!!
And from the time she was discovered cheating she closed down into a head down silent
Shell mumbling I am sorry nothing more.. and does nothing to try to preserve her marriage.
The storyline of this drama is inconsistent the wife’s character is unbelievable and so coldly
Cruel that I cannot take her seriously, she tells her mother in law everything after her husband
Passionately asked her not to as his mother had her marriage end because of cheating and
It would hurt his mother but she told her anyway, horrible thing to do, spite-full and yet at odds
With the calm persona that she portrays while on the chat page.
The story tells one thing but her actions are not consistent with that of a loving wife.
Confusing and not satisfactory but a gripping and provocative drama.
Thank you for your many comments and keen observations, I...
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matrice
September 2, 2022 at 9:24 AM
I largely agree with those points about the characterization, but at the same time, I have to remark (I think I also said this in another response) that the drama also shows us stuff like her and her lover breaking it off as if it was nothing (clearly not indicating deep feelings there), and the whole mess with the wallet (again, they forget their anniversary, but she remembers his birthday? Can the show get straight the messaging it is going for?), plus what she says in this episode. Without repeating everything, her presentation in this episode is like her lover was a human shaped sex toy, a non-person that could have been just anybody, a distraction no different from a Zumba class, apart from the fact it instantly made her marriage into a relationship based on lies and deception, thus immediately damaging it whether or not she was ever discovered, plus other stuff like her spurning her husband's offer to spend time together in order to go meet her lover -and her texting him, and booking the hotel, etc.-, meaning that the compartimentalization picture she tries to draw is pure fiction, yet the show clearly intends for us to take the version of events she presents in this episode as the definite truth.
Again, I don't think that this is done with a wink, as if to say this is not really true, I think instead that these were simply mistakes in characterization and plot holes, and the version they present in this epsiode is the "canonical truth" they wanted to go with. The show explicitly tells us that this is *not* about lack of love in the relationship (I have a hard time buying he side of the equation, given the fact that she is not showing him basic loyalty, respect and betraying his trust, while on his side it's clear that he loves his wife) and is not about being "exciting" or "sexy" (the presentation in this episode is completely passive, despite the active and deliberate actions in the past, like the fact that she was the one that told her lover she wanted to see him again, as she threw in her husband's face, or the texting, or the sexy underwear her husband had never seen before, etc.), but about her schedule.
Actually, I am not too stuck about the point of her being overworked, but I have to notice that if that was the problem adding a lover didn't free up her schedule, if anything it made it worse, and it was strange how she could suddenly find time to have a full blown affair, while before she couldn't spare the time to read a book (not sure I agree with your point here: he met her when she was reading the book, it's not as if she made a habit of book reading in his presence, he was actually her client, iirc, and she had to deliver, and the show I think made the point she generally did -with the exception when she dropped the ball when she let her personal issues influence her work-). What I am saying is that this should not be conflated with the affair: doing so is a complete non sequitur. To give another example, I...
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matrice
September 2, 2022 at 9:40 AM
I agree with the point about the perfunctory apology (frankly, she seemed to care more about her reputation and what strangers thought than about what her own husband and family thought, see her blowing the fuse when he told her lover's wife -though her reaction when she was confronted by the latter was relatively tame- and discovered he was blogging anonymously, compared to her apathetic coldness when he discovered the affair, or when she said she would tell, and then actually did tell, about the cheating to his mother (when she said she would the first time it was completely out of the blue, literally no reason for her to do that, while when she actually does it the proximate cause is because her mother in law thought it was her husband that cheated, but there the point is that her husband had explicitly, multiple times, asked her *not* to tell her, and she didn't respect his wishes... the general point I wanted to make was more that she had the self entitlement and gall to control who him, the victim of her betrayal, opened up to about his experiences, but, in an outrageous dispaly of hipocrisy, didn't care at all about respecting his wishes about not telling his mother, thus adding additional pain and humiliation).
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matrice
September 2, 2022 at 9:47 AM
I think that about the overfilled schedule, the main point is that these were all activities she *chose* to be engaged in, and they were not all necessary (the stuff she did for the mom group certainly wasn't, the ML's point was perfectly on point, the fact that he didn't follow through on his own advice really doesn't make it any less valid), and that without even involving her husband (that nevertheless already helped her some, and would have had no issue helping more) or her mother in law (that already helped them with the kid) they could have even just hired people like a baby sitter or cleaning leady (they could afford it), so nothing about this required a betrayal, nor was it helped or improved in any way by having a betrayal (as I said many times before, despite the fact that, suspiciously, beforehand she couldn't even read a book and now she has the time for a full blown affair, complete with texting, buying sexy underwear she didn't show her husband, booking an hotel and coordinating clandestine meetings, all this obviously taking time and energies away from her husband and families even when she wasn't with her lover, despite her claims of "compartimentalization" (the most egregous counterexample being when she lied to her husband about how she was, and she spurned her husband's offer to spend time together, despite both of those being exactly when she wanted/needed according to her presentation in this episode, in order to be with her lover).
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matrice
September 2, 2022 at 9:59 AM
Still, it's undeniable that they broke it off incredibly easily (and the guy proceeded to fire her from the project without consulting her and badmouthing her to his wife), plus the wallet debacle (which I find incredibly intellectually offensive... again, forgot the anniversary but remembere the birthday? Plus, I find it kind of funny that the husband gets the wallet and the lover gets the sexy underwear her husband had never seen before, not sure which of the two he would have preferred, though probably he would have preferred her to forget both the anniversary and the birthday, and to suck at house chores, but to actually be shown basic loyalty, respect and trust... the opposite frankly seems like putting the cart before the horse: "oh, sure, the relationship is based on lies and disloyalty, but you wouldn't believe how good a cook my partner is"... it's just impossible to take seriously when you think about it, it's a parody of the insulting trope of the philandering CEO that buys his wife haute couture to pacify her, thought I must say that if he let himself be bought by a wallet -and incredibly the show seemed to imply he should have considered that a big deal, somehow, in light of the discovery he would have been betrayed and deceived indefinitely had he not caught his wife red handed-).
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matrice
September 2, 2022 at 10:07 AM
Again, I will stop here, because I am being a bit too long winded and this is stuff I have overanalized to death and mentioned about anywhere -even if I had a nugget of an original idea, by this point, it wouldn't really be worth it to rehash the topic-. Bottom line, I accept the fact that the show wants us to believe the version she presents in this episode is the canonical truth, while at the same time I cannot help but be disturbed by all the errors in characterization and plot holes that make it very, very difficult to take the whole thing seriously (a considerable part of which is the fact that the show is a bit ham fisted when trying to convey its message, almost to the point of being lecturing, which is annoying and insulting, particularly when one can spot the logical fallacies in the arguments presented form a thousand miles away, and the characters largely drink it up without a second thought... I really wished they could have written some witty -preferably snarky, but it's my personal thing- character that were not going to just swallow any story unquestioningly, and would have poked holes in at least some of the aforementioned places).
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matrice
September 2, 2022 at 10:11 AM
Ultimately, I really don't think that these were intentional hints left behind to make the viewer doubt her words in this episode, it's just that the characterization is all over the place and clashes with her claims, same thing for the plot holes I mentioned, but I really think that it was unintentional. Frankly, I largely blame the original material, though the kdrama version did some changes that in some ways made things better, and in other worse (liked confrontation with the lover's wife, disliked orwellian thought crime argument about fantasies, or the gaslighting about him essentially being a good person who whouldn't betray his wife: being tempted of taking a bribe and not doing it is obviously not the same as taking the bribe; not doing something because you have a mental image of a good person and you want to be a good person is not a personal flaw: it's what having a conscience and values means... now, we could argue that him considering leaving his girlfriend being off limits should not have been a value for him, and I might agree, but the general process of not doing something because it would go against the mental image of the man you want to be seems perfectly alright to me... but maybe I am crazy and his ex gf would have preferred him to have a full blown affair on her, rather than having to break up with him because she realized he wasn't into her, but wouldnt' have left her -and I do agree with her that he should have left her if he was not into her, because he didn't owe her to be with her together if he didn't want to... again, a breakup is not a lie or a betrayal-).
But this is stuff I have discussed at length in this episode's comments and in the relevant episodes' comments. Ultimately, I can only accept take the dramas' explicit claim, together with the characterization mistakes and plot hole, while recognizing that without the undeniable polish these are much more glaring (I have watched the qualitatively inferior, production wise, JDrama version, and it is comparatively harder to take it seriously, despite in some points it being more believable -though not in others, for example the false equivalency between a profession one character used to do, namely porn actress, and the betrayal and deception the FL planned to carry out indefinitely... not at all, one is a profession, something for which she really *shouldn't* have to apologize in any way, and a profession the character *used* to do before her marriage, might I add, and about which her partner and later husband is fully informed, the other is betrayal and deception-). I do agree with the claim that the polish and production value is superior to the JDrama version, and the actors are amazing (ML one acts in My Mister which is a top drama, and I actually loved him in basically everything I saw of him, which is My Mister and a movie, so admittedly not much... but oh, his voice!).
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matrice
September 2, 2022 at 10:19 AM
I really wished that in this KDrama they would have given more screen time to the lover's wife, and that she wouldn't have gone back to him with incredible lack of self respect (her confrontation with the wife gave me some hope, though frankly the notion that him not caring about his lover would have made it somehow better was baffling: she is essentially saying that he threw the loyalty, respect and trust of their marriage to the dogs for something that was nothing... wouldn't that make their marriage less then nothing, then? So, I get what she is trying to say, but I must say that at the slightest scrutiny it doesn't really seem to make it any better).
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matrice
September 2, 2022 at 10:29 AM
I must say that the most funny unaddressed irony of all the characterization flaws/mistaken and plot holes mentioned above, is the fact that, if you stop to think about it:
- the ML was basically the best husband we are shown, in that he did help out his wife and never cheated on her, who he loved and thought was essentially the best things that ever happened to him and a perfect woman (on this point, rather than lack of appreciation, I would say it was excessive appreciation, because factually she turned out to be someone that was good at house chores and apparently cooking, but also completely disloyal, ready to betray and deceive him indefinitely without any guilt, and if you tell me that you have a relationship based on lies and deception, but your partner is a jolly good cook, I don't really think that I can take that seriously)
- the almost totality of the other women we are shown did not cheat on their husbands, despite them being objectively worse than the ML, from the other women in the mom group whose husbands were not as helpful as the ML, to Yoon-ki's and the FL's lover's wife whose husband were having full blown affairs... which basically means that, factually speaking, the issue was very much his wife, not him, and had he merely chosen to marry any one of those other women he would have not been betrayed and deceived even if his behavior had been much worse (like those of their husbands). Again, his wife was the kind of disloyal and untrustworthy person that would have betrayed and deceived him indefinitely, while, for example, her lover's wife was not, given the fact that she was loyal to him even when she discovered his affair and deception, and was made aware of the fact that he very much didn't deserve her love, respect and trust (and she deserved much better than him, somethnig I wish she realized and actually did something about, because I found the way he and his lover talked about mantaining her her relationship with her husband as if he was so great that it was worth preserving, when she could have obviosuly done much better, i.e. with the ML, who factually speaking didn't have a full blown affair with a married woman with kids, and was therefore factually speaking a better partner).
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matrice
September 2, 2022 at 11:07 AM
Tldr, the irony is that ML was factually speaking one of the best husbands in the drama: he helped his wife more than the husbands of the other mothers, and he didn't have full blown affairs like Yoon-ki and his wife's lover; by contrast, his wife was one of whe worst ones in the drama, certainly more disloyal than the aforementioned mothers and Yoon-ki's and her lover's wife. Yet, it's not the other, less helpful husbands, or the philandering Yoon-ki, or his wife's lover, who got cheated on, it was the ML. Clearly, the operative variable here is not his flaws or behavior (read: not being a mind reader and trusting his wife when she told him she was just peacy), indeed if we look at bad behavior, in the drama it's inversely correlated with being cheated on (the less helpful husbands and those having full blown affairs emphatically *not* being cheated on), the variable here is his wife: the actual mistake he made was marrying her rather than any one else of those aforementioned women.
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matrice
September 2, 2022 at 11:09 AM
I mean, worth noting that his wife doesn't even disagrees with this assessment, explicitly saying that he is a very good person (would have appreciated a more direct comparison with her lover, who, after claiming to love her, fired her from her position without consulting her and told his wife that she had meant nothing to him).
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matrice
September 2, 2022 at 11:15 AM
I mean, with reference to the comparison with her lover, ML also *didn't* have a full blown affair with another married woman with a kid, planning to continue to deceive his wife indefinitely even after being discovered, forever depriving her of the ability to make an informed choice and essentially treating her like an object (should also note the lover's incredible arrogance in assuming that having a relationship with him was an undeniable good and it was good for his wife that he lied to her so she could keep being with him, while it's plain to see that she deserved and could do much better than him, she deserved to be put in a position to make an informed choice, without being deceived, and she should have dumped her self entitled, lying, cheating husband that stole her precious time and life away from her, depriving her of months -would have been years if he had not been caught and correctly and deservedly exposed- she could have spent meeting someone actually worthy of her loyalty, respect and trust, as her husband self evidently, factually, was not such a person).
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matrice
September 2, 2022 at 11:43 AM
Now, if he wants to improve himself I applaud him, and frankly I think that it's high time that he learn to get better at chores and cook for himself (embarrassing that his ex-wife would bring him food), because while not being a deal breaker, it *is* embarrassing. In this respect I think that the US custom of getting out of the house relatively early is very good in that regard. At the same time, he should put his flaws into perspective, particularly when compared with his wife's deliberate decision to betray and deceive him indefinitely. This internalized self hatred and completely unbalanced perspective is not healthy.
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matrice
September 2, 2022 at 11:44 AM
Rather than self flagellate, he should take note of the facts -I repeat, facts, not opinions- mentioned above. Which are that less helpful husbands, or even husbands that had full blown affairs, are not getting cheated on, while he is. Which kind of suggests the self evident fact that his mistaken was *not* not being a mind reader or trusting his wife when she lied to him about her state (among other things, such as her affair), even when he asked her explicitly and tried to get her to spend time with him -only to be spurned and lied to as she went to meet her lover-.
The mistake was thinking she was someone he could trust, and then choosing her to marry and have a kid with, when she turned out that, unlike all those other moms and Yoon-ki's and her lover's wife, she was not worthy of his trust.
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matrice
September 2, 2022 at 11:44 AM
The worst thing is that he compounds this mistake by choosing her *again*, when he had a much better alternative in the neighbor, who had gone through a similar experience -then can therefore understand and connect and heal each other-, and most importantly never did anything to be unworthy of his loyalty, respect and trust, nor did she raise any other "red flag", none of which can, factually speaking, be said about his wife.
Frankly, I wonder why they even put her in there, even making them intimate enough that the neighbor was cooking meals for him, etc.: that he chooses his wife over her if frankly insulting for the neighbor, for the ML (now a self flagellating poster boy of self hatred with no sense of perspective whose self esteem is so low that he doesn't even realize that he deserves better, and walks right back into the sham of a relationship with someone factually speaking didn't show him basic loyalty and respect, and broke his trust, and is therefore unworthy of his trust, loyalty, etc.), as well as for the viewer's intelligence (I mean, how is this even a contest?).
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matrice
September 2, 2022 at 1:24 PM
In general, with reference to the overfilled schedule, one point that I won't budge on is that of perspective, made by the ML, which was factually incontroversible, namely that many people have to deal with just as much or much more. I simply refuse to treat this as if they were working two minimum wage jobs each and struggling to raise a family of six, or dealing with an old parent that cannot take care of themselves, or a child with a disability, etc. And in terms of stressful jobs, there are navy seals, ER surgeons, etc. We are talking about two people thatat work normal jobs, actually, between the two of them *he* is the one that actually risks finding himself without a job if he cannot quickly come up with a new idea. They have the economic means to hire people to help them (baby sitter, cleaning lady, etc.). They have *chosen* their professions, choices for peolpe working two minimum wage jobs to put food on the table are much more limited, they don't have the luxury of choosing to dedicate themselves to optional activities such as kissing up to the other moms, etc., which in not necessary, a point that remains valid even if the ML didn't take his own advice. And again, nothing at all of this has anything to do with not giving their partner the basic loyalty, respect and breaking their trust. A minimum wage worker in the mill worrying about being laid off is no more excused for being a philanderer, there is absolutely no reason to conflate the social critique and the betrayal and deception, it's a complete non sequitur. Again, back to the point about Crazy Rich Asian where I completely understood the critique of Astrid's family's classism, but at the same time completely agreed with her calling her cheating husband cowardly scum (yes, I know it's just in the movie and in the book the guy didn't really cheat and therefore she didn't leave him in the corresponding book): that can all be true, and it wouldn't make an inch of a difference in terms of the assessment of his actions: the two things are simply not related, it's a non sequitur.
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matrice
September 2, 2022 at 1:32 PM
In general, I was struck by how overawed the ML and his friends is by the ability to do chores, which he finds difficult because they are not familiar. Obviously, this is a skill he can get better at, and it's frankly a bit embarassing, though not a deal breaker, that he is not better at cooking, etc... in this respect, going to live alone earlier like they do in the US is certainly an advantage, and this holds true also for his male and female coworker that in the end have a child together: the news is a bit worrysome, considering how incapable they are at household chores. Again, to reiterate, we are not talking about rocket sience or planning the moon landing, these are basic life skills that any adult living on their own ought to know how to do: they are having difficulties becaute it's the beginning, but they should have some perspective. It's actually a bit funny to imagine how, given that the reasoning seems to be essentially "she is better than me at chores, while I kind of suck at some of this stuff since I am not too used to it, so she is an exceptional woman and the betrayal is a minutiae, and I kind of had it coming anyway. Because she is better than me at chores.
So essentially a goddess and I am so lucky". Not quite put so explicitly by the drama, but the subtext is kinda of like that (I am kinda tongue in cheek, but not too much, it's kinda what they hint). I mean, imagine how funny it would be if he turned out to be actually competent: "okay, I am better than her at these chores, I am much more organized and/or can tell the other moms to stuff it and/or I realize that I can delegate, like hire a cleaning lady or baby sitter or order take out and can organize my schedule". I mean, basically "Okay, I tried this, and actually, I can actually handle this and take care of the job". Half if not all of the "argument" would collapse just like that. Much of this stuff hinges on him and his male and female colleague being overawed because they are frankly incapable and don't realize they can delegate to other people or hire a babysitter, etc.. More than anything, it's a basic matter of priorities: basic loyalty and respect and trust are the foundation of a relationship, he is not hiring a cook or a cleaning lady or a baby sitter (he could hire any or all of that, or eat out, if he needed to: he has the economic means to do so). Literally no one would seriosly make the claim "my partner is lying, cheating scum that betrays and deceives me on the regular, but they are a great cook and often times takes care of common household chores". That's putting the cart before the horse and missing the forest for the trees, losing track of the important point, to say the least.
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matrice
September 2, 2022 at 4:38 AM
Actually, there is also the "ending was written before it even begun" and "would have continued indefinitely" incoherence.
The point about the lover's wife was that she most definitely didn't think the wife deserved to be forgiven, and she was actually one of the victims. She just needed to have more self esteem and to apply the same standards and reasoning to her own husband.
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matrice
September 2, 2022 at 11:47 AM
Quite frankly, the poor woman and the ML should have faced the other's spouse, since they didn't have enough self worth to believe they deserved better themselves, which they obviously did.
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matrice
September 2, 2022 at 11:58 AM
I kind of hoped that we would see a more assertive wife of the FL's lover in this KDrama, given they introduced the confrontation with the FL that was not present, iirc, in the original JDrama. Unfortunately, we are presented with some rather unhealthy lack of self esteem (not even close to the internalized self hatred expressed by the ML by the end of the show, where he apologizes to his wife for not being able to heal from the emotional scars and trauma *she* caused on her schedule). Not sure I get exactly why her husband's lover meaning nothing would be any consolation: I get what she is saying, but if she stops and think about it, this essentially mean that he was willing to throw basic loyalty, respect and trust to the dogs for an affair that meant nothing, so by transitive property her marriage meant what, less than nothing? Not sure this makes it any better, to be honest.
No, both her and the ML really need an intervention, someone telling them the self evident truth that they were deprived of the ability to make an informed decision by their spouses' deliberate deception, and that now that they know the truth they should realize that they deserve better. They have every right to have clear boundaries and minimal expectations, basic loyalty, respect and trust being non negotiable. She deserves better. He deserves better. They know it and can tell this to the other's spouse, the simply cannot hold their own spouses accountable because they are crippled by dramatically low self worth and self esteem -and end up crawling back to those that heaped this emotional pain and emotional abuse on them, even when, like the ML, they had the chance to have something good with someone else, actually worthy of his trust and respect and loyalty, given she never broke his trust nor turned out to be disloyal to him, etc., someone with which he actually got so intimate that she was cooking for him etc., and to which he most irritatingly he didn't give a chance in the end, which was insulting both to the poor woman, to the ML's characterization, and to the intelligence of the viewer (I mean, compared to his wife? How is this even a question? Is this a joke? Is he actually insane?)-.
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107 Aung Thein
September 5, 2022 at 8:29 PM
Lets we see first SY`s character in ``THIS WEEK``drama
***She dare not kissed her now wedded husband in front of her friends and relatives because of shy,but she dare to sleep with a man she was not married without shy.
***She secretly bought sexy lingerie for her lover for boosting up his sexual desire(potency) when they were dating.
***She slept with her husband on the same bed at home(sleep only not for sex) while seeing with her lover at daytime or after office hour.
***She had sex with her lover once and tried for second time sex in the hotel with her lover.
***She always wear a smile to cover her anger before her affair were caught,but after the affair were blown up she uncover her true face and agitated what her husband asked her about her affair.
***She always changed her phone password,for not easy to open by others including her husband.
***She used her son as a tool to cheat her husband before her mother group and show her ability how much she can take her husband.
***She made herself busy as a career mom/wife before she met SW.After she was became SW mistress she made herself arranged free time for their dating by releasing most of the work and stop doing some heavy burden job.
***She did not let go her lover after they were apprehended by her husband DH at the hotel by saying she and her lover did not see each other for now not from now.
***She did not commit any mistake of her affair and ask for forgiveness till to the end of ``THIS WEEK``.
***She did not want hurting for her lover and his family by saying all matter were concerned b/t she and her husband DH only.
***She totally tried to cover her lover from hurting and damaging his career in future by the affair.
***When she was totally removed from the project by her lover as early as possible,she did not show any anger towards her lover and say nothing bad for her removal.
***She did say nothing when SW`s wife belittle her when they met.
***She did made a statement of confession after they were divorced but nothing mention about her asking for forgiveness from her husband.
***She said her husband was a considerate man but she did not made single word to clear why she had had an affair with a married man instead.
***She was totally control of her mind and soul by her lover that she did not made any responding action by a single word when she was dump and downgraded by her lover.
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108 AUNG THEIN
October 17, 2022 at 12:38 AM
According to the script writer the husband DH was a good and noble man.He love his wife so much and put always first and admired her.He thought his wife was a precious thing for him he had ever had in his life.He trust and believe her whatever she said during their 8 years of marriage until he discovered that his wife was an affair with someone else.He got shocked and know nothing what to do.Then he started asking on the internet by the name of TOYCRANE about his wife was having an affair what he was going to do?
When he met with his wife lover face to face in the hotel room he act calmly not to do any aggressive responding and showed how much he love his wife by using slow word to reduced his anger.First he wants to divorce her and said not to come back home.But later on he tried to protected his family by trying any possible way he had.He can forgave his wife for wrong doing affair mistake but not forget the reality of his wife was holding in the arms of another man.Later on he agreed to divorce with her and lived separately by the way of single man and woman as a friend.At last he forget and for gave all mistake SY did in the past six months and reunion back again become HAPPY ENDING,unless nothing responding from SY.
J J Motors C.E.O. SW was a womanizer.He can do well how to handle a woman by giving first what she wanted.Later on he used his ability to become intimate friends with her and soon they fall in love to start an affair.He made SY according to his plan to become his mistress.First he tried to help her relieved from her overworked exhaustion.His kind and generosity of help and advice made SY totally fall for him.Later he control all of her mind and soul to agreed slept with him for the first time.When SY was totally control by him he made another second time sex arrangement at the HILL Hotel on Saturday 5-11-2016 to honor for his birthday.He said he love SY much before her husband,was a lied.He love SY for sex only not to protect her.That why when their affair came to a stop he was the first to leave the room left SY in and removed her from the project ,dump her in the trash can and cut all his relationship with her asap.SW was very cruel by telling all the six months long affair story from A to Z to his wife.Therefore SW`s wife used these facts of the affair to downgrade SY dignity and pride by saying using harsh words to put shame and pain hurt all her life long on her.
SY the wife of DH,married with him for eight years and a son of seven years was very selfish.She wanted to show that she was a good wife mother and employee.She had done everything to be a perfect wife and mother and also a good employee by doing all things done not left to blame.But as long as she was hard working and doing nothing left to blame she was becoming exhausted.When she was not able to stand up and not going to continue any farther anymore she met with SW.SW was handsome and attractive she started to obsess him.Later she and SW became lover and...
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AUNG THEIN
October 17, 2022 at 1:26 AM
continue::
starting their affair.She love him more than her husband.She gave all her mind and soul to SW to control her.She sleep with him and when she with him she did not remembered her husband,son and work.She was happy with him and made more love from him by buying sexy lingerie and make-up and shoes.She and SW did planed to have second time sex to honor SW birthday at HILL Hotel on Saturday 5-11-2016.I think they had already a plan for third time sex to honor SY birthday on 27-11 2016.After their affair was uncovered she tried to protected him and his family rather than her family.She said nothing about her affair until she got the divorce.Show no regret and apology and asked nothing to forgave her.She still remember her lover in her mind until when she visit her father`s house after she met SW`s wife ,she open a book to read,she saw her lover in her mind the first time she was waiting him for two hours,and then she cut short and closed the book. Furthermore she did not behaved well to her husband after their affair was uncovered her husband always tried to save his family and search ways to protect her. Unless she did nothing to save her family I like to ask you that SY was worth to have an HAPPY ENDING.
But my opinion ``NO``.How about you BRO.
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Alhambra
October 17, 2022 at 5:13 AM
Hello
I read your comments and agree that the story was confusing, in her song the words say
a It’s definitely not that I don’t love you, it’s not even that I love that person, one mistake cost me everything`
This states that she loves her husband and that this was a one time mistake but the reality is that she was
with this man for six months, meeting almost daily, holding hands after car rides,meeting in bars and coffee
houses and confiding to this lover about her hopes and dreams her husband and her family, she told her
husband that she wanted more than just a man to pick up her child from school or to take out the garbage,
she wanted a man to stand by her and face the trials and joys of life together, we must assume that this man
from work was her chosen partner!
She said she did not do this to get a divorce but everything in her behaviour shows that she is unconcerned about her husbands happiness and she is eager to divorce, why creat a character who just slipped once and is loving but write a script that contradicts this and shows a cold uncaring immoral cheater?
If she wanted to stay with her husband why did she not show one sign, one word of regret, one face to face
And ask him to forgive her mistake and not leave her? Her behaviour was that she wanted the affair to continue
And was not concerned about her husband or child.
She could have saved her marriage at any moment by just asking him to forgive her and stay by her side but
She said not one word, just left to start her new single life causing him more heartache.
This is ALL water under the bridge because SHE decided to take a lover and the moment that she entered his
bed her husband was dumped and the marriage was over. Divorce should have been the end of the story.
I have read nothing to change my opinion, a gripping tv drama, well acted, disturbing, leaves a lasting sad impression about a cheating wife and a marriage breakup so, onto the next KDrama.
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AUNG THEIN
October 17, 2022 at 9:53 PM
Yes.She was behaving totally SW mistress.you can easily seen in the first time she and her husband talked about the affair matter after they were caught, what she rudely said back to her husband.She also keep her lover in her heart and did not want to stay away from him.She did said nothing about her six months long affair story to her husband but her lover SW told everything about their affair story to his wife from A to Z mean how much he loved her wife , reevaluated and consider why he had an affair with SY and how much this affair damaged his family.She was not regret and feel guilty by saying that it was just happened.I must feel sorry much upon DH that he enthusiastically tried to made their 8th year anniversary of their wedding,but SY ,she was totally forgot that day and her mind was full with how she was made to please her lover on his birthday held at HILL Hotel on Saturday.SW on the other hand said shamelessly in-front of SY husband that he love SY.But he was the first to leave hotel room after DH and left SY in the hotel room alone.Removed her from his project and cut all ties from her,dump her in the trash can.SW loved SY for sex only not to protect her.The worst was SY still remembered her lover till she visited her father` house after she met SW`s wife.At night she tried to kill her boring time by reading a book when she seen in her mind that she was waiting for SW for two hours for the first time but she cut short her mind and close the book.SW made SY left total loneliness,but her husband tried her back to the family until they got their divorce.At last DH cut all strings connected to the affair by the way of forgot and forgave to reunite with her.She was not worth for HAPPY ENDING because DH made a decision to re united with her and came to the place where she was.Each of them standing one side each of the road.DH the only man who loved her wife SY so much crossed the road and hug her.SAD for DH happy for SY.BYE BRO.
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AUNG THEIN
October 17, 2022 at 10:09 PM
P S:::
I want the script writer to reconsider and write again another version of ``THIS WEEK``fairly end.Tried to produced season 2 with simple way of real story line.
Brown Bear
March 18, 2024 at 12:22 AM
The ending in Ep 12 is a disappointment for me personally. A woman such as SY who can strayed from a good and loving husband such as DH and then made love to another man should not get off so easily and definitely should be held accountable for her actions. If I were her ex-husband DH, I would definitely not return to any relationship with this woman because she has not shown any signs of guilt and remorse. How can she be trusted not to open her legs for another man in future.
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109 Brown Bear
March 17, 2024 at 7:39 PM
SY has never apologized to her husband formally.
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110 Drama Drama
September 15, 2024 at 8:03 PM
Watched this back in 2020 or so and absolutely loved it. Watched it again in 2024 and not so much.
The wife is terrible and the husband is a typical nice guy who doesn’t understand what’s going on. Wife is absolutely in love with the affair partner and then gets dumped. She shows no remorse and the husband is licking her feet like she’s a queen. He’s got no spine like the typical nice guy.
She’s going to cheat again if they get back together. And he’s dumb enough to not learn from the first time. He doesn’t think about what she does and believes in what she says. Big mistake.
Horrible story, especially the ending. Little to no repercussions for the wife’s infidelity. Typical story from the new age.
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Alhambra
September 16, 2024 at 1:17 AM
I agree with you!
He was such a nice man and had no idea that she was carrying on an affair for 6 months, she lied repeatedly with a smile and met her lover and never really apologised, I believe that she would cheat again.
It is a credit to the main actors that they created a story that involved us in the drama and made us feel so sorry for the husband, he should have started a new life with the divorcee from upstairs.
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