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This Week, My Wife Will Have an Affair: Episode 1

Hold on to your wedding rings, people! This Week, My Wife Will Have an Affair starts off with a quiet but powerful premiere episode. Centered around a man who learns that his wife is planning on having an affair, the show balances cute humor with some tough questions. After all the action dramas and sweeping sageuks we’ve had this season, I’ve been looking forward to a softer drama that takes an honest look at real life problems. I’m happy to report that this first episode delivered.

 

 
EPISODE 1 RECAP

We open on our hero, DO HYUN-WOO (Lee Seon-kyun), playing on a claw machine. Failing to get the giant teddy bear on his first try, Hyun-woo thinks, “Just because I didn’t win the first time doesn’t mean I will never get it.” With his eye set on the bear, Hyun-woo meticulously plays round after round, moving the other toys into a mound equal in height to the edge of the drop box.

Hyun-woo successfully makes a path to slide the bear to the exit, but has to stop for a bathroom break before he can make his final move. He crosses baths with a young man (cameo by Eun Ji-won) outside the restroom, and given the Wild West soundtrack, it looks like all his hard work may be for naught.

Sure enough, Hyun-woo returns from the bathroom to see that same man now at the claw machine. He runs up to the machine and anxiously watches as the man goes after the teddy bear.

Hyun-woo really did prep it perfectly, and the man successfully pulls the bear out of the machine on the first try. Hyun-woo looks on forlornly as the stranger walks away with the bear he put so much effort into getting. The man even waves the teddy’s arm goodbye at Hyun-woo as he walks off. Harsh.

Moving to a busy studio, we see cast and crew running around getting ready for a broadcast. Overseeing all of it is AHN JOON-YOUNG (Lee Sang-yub), smoothly directing the camera changes with easy confidence. On a quick break, Joon-young turns to see Hyun-woo sitting behind him, and asks jokingly if he doesn’t trust him to do it right.

As Joon-young returns to directing, Hyun-woo narrates that he and Joon-young met in college, when both of them wanted to become movie directors. We flash back to earlier days when the pair of them were filming a girl walking up a hill; Hyun-woo was sitting in a wheel chair and holding the camera, while the exhausted Joon-young pushed said wheelchair up the hill. Frustrated with Hyun-woo snapping at him to keep it steady, Joon-young had let go… and Hyun-woo rolled backwards down the hill, yelling at his errant hoobae.

Hyun-woo also introduces the studio’s writer, KWON BO-YOUNG (BoA). He calls her the company’s ace and describes how he first met her when he started ten years ago. Back then, Bo-young had been the team rookie and Hyun-woo had witnessed her secretly hawk a loogie in her boss’ coffee when he’d made inappropriate remarks towards her. Nice.

After the show ends, its host, Heo Ji-woong, posts a selfie on Facebook with a dramatic caption. Apparently this is a normal thing, since Bo-young alerts the crew to the post. Everyone grimaces and pull out their phones, automatically “liking” his post without even reading it. Heh.

Back in the booth, Joon-young also robotically “likes” Ji-woong’s post, but he’s much more concerned that Bo-young still hasn’t accepted his friend request, growling at his phone.

Meanwhile, Hyun-woo receives some bad news: their current program has been canceled, and he has three weeks to come up with a new show. He’s aghast at the short time frame, but sadly, his ranting doesn’t change the result.

We meet the final leading man, CHOI YOON-KI (Kim Hee-won) as he goes through the many messages his many girlfriends have sent him, responding to all of them with the same line, “I’m thinking about you at work.” Well, I suppose that’s true, at least.

Yoon-ki’s joined by Hyun-woo and Bo-young, and it’s clear that they’re all friends. Hyun-woo asks after Yoon-ki’s business, and Yoon-ki affirms that the high divorce rate keeps his law firm going strong. When Hyun-woo asks if there are really that many divorces, Bo-young points out that even she got divorced with almost a shrug.

Yoon-ki returns to work and is thrilled to see the back of a beautiful woman waiting to interview for the secretary position, until she turns around and reveals a less-than-stunning face. Shallow man that he is, he’s ready to kick her to the curb, until she reveals that she’s a relative on his wife’s side.

Yoon-ki’s attitude completely changes upon hearing that, and he hires her immediately, regardless of her ready statement that she’s not the type to work hard. And later, while peeking through the window shades at his new hire, Yoon-ki grimaces that there’s now a mole in his office.

In a big house, a beautiful woman walks through to a closet and opens an underwear drawer. This is EUN ARA (Yeh Ji-won), Yoon-ki’s wife, and it’s his underwear drawer she’s currently inspecting. Pulling out all his bright and flashy briefs, she instructs the maid to throw them out, and restocks the drawer with plain white tighty whities.

Hyun-woo and Bo-young are still outside, grumbling about their show being canceled. Bo-young supposes they’ll just have to suck it up and figure out a new show in three weeks, but she wonders how to tell their host that he’s out of a job.

Meanwhile, a little boy waits at a school and his teacher makes a call to his mother, JUN SOO-YEON (Song Ji-hyo). This is Hyun-woo’s wife, and she’s shocked to hear that her husband hasn’t picked up their son, Joon-soo.

Soo-yeon tries calling her husband, but Hyun-woo misses the call since he and the rest of the production team are out with their host. The oblivious Ji-woong tries to cheer everyone up, offering to pay for their drinks tonight, but everyone else is just trying to figure out how to tell him that the show is canceled, and he’s now out of a job.

When Hyun-woo weakly says they’re all just tired, Ji-woong bounces up to the karaoke machine to liven things up with a song, and everyone engages in a silent text thread of “You tell him,” “No, you tell him.” Ha.

The crew pushes Hyun-woo to tell Ji-woong, saying that they’ll set up the right atmosphere for him. Cut to: Ji-woong returning from singing to find just Hyun-woo sitting by himself. Heh, some support system.

Fleeing the bar, the rest of the crew work out car pools, and Joon-young practically pulls Bo-young into his car, arguing that her home is close to his.

In the car, Bo-young asks if Joon-young’s wife is all right with him driving another woman home, but Joon-young argues that she is, adding that his wife is cool with these things. Joon-young starts asking after Bo-young’s opinion of him as a person, but Bo-young sees right through the question and asks if he’s that upset that she didn’t accept his friend request.

The two of them argue over whether or not they’re close enough to be friends, with Joon-young losing his temper and yelling out all the things they’ve shared, like seeing movies and sharing meals. Bo-young points out that those were just coincidences, and coolly says that as a married man, he should focus on the things he’s done with his wife.

Left on his own, Hyun-woo tells a heavily inebriated Ji-woong that the program has been canceled, though it takes a few tries for it to sink in. Ji-woong quickly progresses through the denial and anger stages of grief, landing at last on tearful acceptance. He heads out to post a sobbing selfie, and Hyun-woo gets stuck with the bill.

In the cab on the way home, Hyun-woo mopes about the downward turn of his life, noting that sometimes there are days when nothing goes right. However, he smiles to remember the one bright spot in his life: his wife. We flash back to when he first fell for her: She was the model walking up the hill that he and Joon-young had been filming, and he’d been smitten from the first smile.

Hyun-woo thinks about how proud he is of his wife, and how she’s a perfect businesswoman, wife, and mother. It’s because of her that he has a wonderful life and a sweet home to return to.

Hyun-woo texts Soo-yeon to ask if she needs anything on his way home. When she doesn’t respond, he asks if she’s mad at him for forgetting to pick up their son, apologizing over text while urging his taxi driver to go faster.

He continues the apologies when he gets home, but Soo-yeon doesn’t seem mad, and instead smiles sweetly at him. She heads to the shower and Hyun-woo sends their son, Joon-soo, to bed, taking his wife’s phone away from him since he’d been playing games on it.

As soon as Hyun-woo takes the phone, a text comes in from someone named Michael. Hyun-woo watches in shock as a series of texts chime their way onto his wife’s phone: “I made a reservation recklessly. This Saturday, 3 o’clock, at the Hilts Hotel. I will be waiting for you. I miss you.”

As the messages sink in, Hyun-woo doesn’t even blink when Joon-soo darts out of his room and grabs the phone back from his father’s hand.

Hun-woo watches his wife as she gets ready for bed, thinking about the conversation that his production team had about a new show topic: infidelity. The team had said they should cover it from the side of a housewife having an affair, since it’s such a hot topic these days.

Hyun-woo tosses and turns in bed that night, telling himself that he’s overreacting. Still, the sight of his wife’s phone on her nightstand has him taking it out into the hall to double-check. But then he realizes that she has it locked, causing him to have a mini-breakdown, since she’s never done that before.

He tries some junior detective moves to find the password, but ends up locking the phone for thirty seconds. Thinking of another way, he wakes his son up to ask if he knew his mom’s password to play games on it, but when Joon-soo tries the code, it doesn’t work. Hyun-woo realizes she must have changed the password.

The next morning, Hyun-woo watches as Soo-yeon leaves for work. She tells him that she has a company dinner that night so she’ll be late, and slips on high heels and pretty earrings.

Hyun-woo walks Joon-soo to the bus, his mind wandering to the point that he tosses his son’s backpack in the garbage instead of the trash bag. He even follows his son onto the bus, though he plays it off as though he was just checking the bus’ safety before dashing out.

Hyun-woo visits Yoon-ki’s office that afternoon, and oh-so-casually asks him if any of the women he had affairs with were married. Yoon-ki scoffs that of course there were – at least a third. Hyun-woo guesses that married women cheat due to problems between spouses, but Yoon-ki amends that the women are just looking for a new experience, same as men.

At work, Soo-yeon looks at the messages she received from Michael, reading them almost wistfully. She receives a call from the school letting her know that it’s a half day due to a field trip, and she has to ask another one of the children’s mothers to pick up Joon-soo for her.

Hyun-woo comes to the staff meeting to find their proposal packet, entitled, “Your Wife is Having an Affair.” In a daze, he listens to the group discuss how to approach the topic. The group decides to look at some case studies for ideas, and Hyun-woo thinks back to the text messages on his wife’s phone.

As everyone discusses their research on cheating wives, Hyun-woo brings up the story that he “heard” of a husband seeing suggestive texts from another man on his wife’s phone. This sparks a verbal battle between Joon-young and Bo-young about whether the wife has already slept with the man. Stuck between them, Hyun-woo listens as they unknowingly argue over whether or not his wife has been unfaithful.

Joon-young joins Hyun-woo a for a drink after work, finding Hyun-woo already deep in drink. Hyun-woo asks if he seems pathetic, to which Joon-young readily agrees that he does. Heh. Joon-young tries to get Hyun-woo to go home, but it just spurs him into yelling that they go for round two.

Round two turns out to be a convenience store, where Joon-young buys Hyun-woo medicine for the hangover he’ll have. Realizing that he’s acting strange, Joon-young asks if there’s anything going on with him, but Hyun-woo can’t bring himself to say it.

On his way home, Hyun-woo spies Soo-yeon looking all fancy as she stands on the street. He ducks behind a pole and watches her, thinking back on the texts and wondering if she’s meeting someone now.

Hyun-woo’s hiding is interrupted by Yoon-ki, who’s out on a date with someone who’s definitely not his wife. The commotion catches Soo-yeon’s attention, and she smiles to see her husband as she runs over to join him. Yoon-ki heads off, and Soo-yeon tells Hyun-woo that she was here with her coworkers, which is confirmed when he sees them exit a nearby restaurant.

Soo-yeon tries to say that they should go home together, but Hyun-woo shakes her off. Pouting at her fancy clothes for a work gathering, he says he has to go back to the office.

He walks away and just happens to end up behind a loving couple where the woman is telling the man not to worry, since her husband won’t be home for a while. Frustrated, Hyun-woo actually charges the pair, splitting them apart and roaring at the sky, “Why exactly has the world become like this?!” Aww, that’s both funny and heartbreaking.

At the office, Hyun-woo finds a stack of case studies that Joon-young left for him. He shifts dejectedly through the many accounts of women cheating, reading how women cheat just as much as men. The women say that if the wife buys new lingerie or wears nice makeup, it’s a sign she’s seeing someone.

Hyun-woo’s scared out of his reading when Bo-young calls out from the darkness, having fallen asleep on the couch. Getting a beer, she mentions that she thought of another way to tell if a woman is having an affair: her credit card receipts.

Hyun-woo asks why Bo-young got divorced, and she answers that she simply fell out of love with her husband. Hyun-woo can’t believe that that was the only reason, arguing that it’s natural for love to fade a bit, and butterflies are only felt in the beginning. Bo-young says that the more comfortable you get, that’s when things start to fall apart, comparing love to the way skin starts to sag with age.

Hyun-woo returns home and starts checking his wife’s receipts, seeing that she bought new shoes. He also discovers red lingerie that he’s never seen before.

He finds Soo-yeon sleeping in their son’s bed, and she rouses slightly to she see him. Flipping on the light, Hyun-woo strides in and demands to know who it is she’s seeing… but it’s only his imagination. He thinks to himself, “How can I ask her up front?”

Sharing a heart-to-heart at the urinal the next day, Yoon-ki assumes that Hyun-woo is having an affair, since he found him hiding behind a pillar last night. He guesses that Hyun-woo must have gotten caught as a rookie adulterer. He asks what gave him away: the perfume smell, or the lipstick stain? Yoon-ki finally decides it must have been the smell of his feet. Um, what?

Yoon-ki says that a working man’s feet always smell, even after a shower. He tells Hyun-woo of a time when he himself woke up to find his wife sniffing his feet. Yoon-ki since took to wrapping his sock-covered feet in saran wrap when he showered to preserve the sweaty foot smell. Ew.

Hyun-woo angrily denies that he ever cheated and storms out, but comes right back to ask if Yoon-ki’s wife, Ara, ever had an affair in return. Yoon-ki answers that he did once catch her with another man, but it turns out that he had just had a dream about her cheating. Yoon-ki had been so upset that he literally kicked Ara out of the bed, then proceeded to text one his girlfriends.

Unable to take it, Hyun-woo grabs the proffered saran wrap and actually starts wrapping Yoon-ki’s head. (Was that real, or another one of his fantasies?)

Sitting on the steps in front of his apartment, Hyun-woo sadly realizes that he can’t talk about this with any of his friends.

Hyun-woo heads home and finds that his mother dropped by for a visit. Watching Soo-yeon smiling happily with his mother and son, he thinks that he must have been crazy to doubt his wonderful wife.

Joon-young joins Bo-young when she’s working late at the office. He brings her the food he had argued they’d ate together before, and she laughs. Surrendering, she finally accepts his friend request and heads out. She barely makes it out the door before Joon-young whips out his phone and starts nosing through her now accessible pictures, nearly squealing to find one of himself.

He messages Bo-young about the photo, though Bo-young corrects that it’s not a picture of him, but of the street he’s on. Joon-young deflates.

Hyun-woo sends off his mother, and Soo-yeon asks if he can take care of Joon-soo that night, since she has to head into work because everyone at the office is pulling overtime. Hyun-woo agrees, and spends the night happily reading a story to Joon-soo and doing other household chores.

Returning from a late night snack run, Hyun-woo stops dead when a car passes in front of him with his wife in the front seat. He stares as the car stops around the corner to let Soo-yeon out. She turns back to the car, and the man driving it reaches out a hand.

Smiling, Soo-yeon puts her hand in the driver’s, the two of them staying like that for a moment. Twenty feet away, Hyun-woo looks at the clasped hands in shocked horror.

Hyun-woo returns home and cracks another beer, thinking of what he just saw. He’s looking at a family photo when Soo-yeon returns home. She smiles to see him, acting perfectly normal as she apologizes that work ran late.

Soo-yeon gives her husband a cheerful good night and heads to bed with Hyun-woo still standing in the living room, looking lost.

Still drinking, Hyun-woo sits in the dark and watches the video of their wedding. Tears flow as he listens to the vows that he gave to Soo-yeon, promising to love and never betray her. He laughs and cries as he watches their wedding antics, staring at how happy they were back then.

As the screen fades to black, Hyun-woo wonders how things reached this point, raging to himself, “Why does this have to happen to me? Why? What did I do wrong? So why?!”

Tossing his beer can, Hyun-woo faces a computer with determination and writes an online post:

“This week, my wife will have an affair. What should I do? Should I ask her about it, or should I just watch it happen? Everyone, please tell me. I only have three days left.”

Taking a deep breath, Hyun-woo submits it, then leans back to wait for an answer.

 
COMMENTS

Holy broken nuptials, Batman! That was a lot of plot for one episode. Though now that we’ve already gone through all the teaser material, everything will be new moving forward. Plus, the characters have been given a decent background and the “affairs” have been introduced. If things keep moving this quickly, then we’re in for a fast-paced ride.

The setup so far is interesting, as we’re looking at three very different affairs. Hyun-woo and Soo-yeon are the most basic in that we started from when he found out about the affair and progressed from there, whereas Yoon-ki has been having multiple ongoing affairs over the years to the point that he no longer sees a problem with it. Then we have Joon-young and his obvious crush on someone who isn’t his wife, giving us the “other woman’s” (Bo-young’s) perspective. On top of that, all of the couples know at least one other character, so I’m looking forward to the different types of advice they’ll give each other.

As much as we learned in one hour, there are still so many things that I want to find out – which is exactly what you want to be feeling after the first episode. I want to know how Yoon-ki and Ara got to the point where she sniffs her husband’s feet (again, ew), forcing him to shower in saran-wrapped socks. That’s a scary kind of determination on both their parts to catch/avoid being caught, especially when it seems like they’re each fully aware of what the other is doing. I found his reaction to the idea of Ara cheating on him to be really intriguing, given his conversation with Hyun-woo that it’s natural for women to cheat as much as men. Instead of it being a sexism thing, it’s almost childish; it’s as though he’s playing a game with Ara, and his cheating is just the medium between them. Which is why the idea of her cheating was so wrong because it wasn’t part of the game, and therefore real. I’m probably just overthinking this.

I’m also really curious about Joon-young and his interactions with Bo-young. He’s clearly smitten, but also very clearly married. What kind of relationship does he have with his wife that he can giggle like a schoolboy over Bo-young accepting his friend request? Either he’s a real slimeball (which I hope isn’t true since he’s so innocently cute about his crush), or there’s something else going on. Bo-young herself seems to know of his attraction, but she treats it as an annoyance rather than an inappropriate form of attention from a married man. Then again, her blasé attitude seems to extend to every aspect of her life, so she may not be a good measuring stick.

I’m definitively impressed with the show’s ability to make me feel what Hyun-woo was going through. I found myself going through the same emotions as Hyun-woo, constantly wondering if there really was an affair, or if it was all just a big misunderstanding. Lee Seon-kyun did such an amazing job of embodying Hyun-woo that my heart hurts for him, yet I really want to see what he’ll do next. I also now understand why he turned to the internet for help: He doesn’t have anyone else to talk to about it. All of his friends treat an affair as something to expect or ignore, but it’s obvious that Hyun-woo really just wants someone to tell him that his wife still loves him.

All in all, this was a very strong opening that has me waiting for the next episode. I’m still not completely sold on Soo-yeon having an affair (in spite of the title), but I’m looking forward to Hyun-woo sleuthing out the truth. Hopefully it won’t be too painful for him — the poor man already had his teddy bear stolen from him, don’t take his wife too!

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I enjoyed the first 2 episodes of this show. This show is a remake right?

I'm also not sold on Soo Yeon's affair. From what we know so far, she doesn't seem to be the type of person to keep up a perfect act to hide her affair. If she's not having an affair, then there's no more to the story. Hmm...

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Yes, it is a Japanese drama based on a novel (I think, might need to verify that). The dorama was less humorous and a little sombre for me. The ending was bittersweet, imo. Whether this korean will follow what happened in the dorama obviously remains to be seen. personally, I hope it doesn't.

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I read about the dorama too and am really hoping that it doesn't end the same way ?

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could you ls tell me the link in which you read what the original story ended up like.

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@CandidClown

Your intro sentence was hilarious ?

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so was the closing!!

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I agree. Thanks for the great recap, CandidClown. You filled some holes left from my watching with subs.

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I think joonyoung isn't really married. for me, when boyoung got married, he invented this story. lol

all the men here are so pathetic in their own ways.

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i was thinking this too, that he's not really married. idk why the whole time i kept being reminded of jin-woong in drinking solo and how he had a 'wife' and the show had first introduced her as his cat xD

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Glad that you're talking about joonyoung! All this time I was thinking what the heck is up with this guy. Him and Bo-young are constantly going on and on about his wife, at one point I even ended up thinking that maybe Bo Young IS his wife, since their banter about accepting the friend request seemed like what couples would do, as joon young himself said how he doesn't want to be friend with his wife on social medias.. But now that you mentioned the possibility of all that a make up story, that sounds quite legit. I hope that's the case, as I already love the couple.

But coming back to lee sun kyung, wow I also kind of went inside the story through his eyes, as if I can see his mental pictures with all the questions. And with the concept of asking to internet for solutions, that also totally feels like what I would do too, asking random anonymous people for advice who have no linkage whatsoever to my private life. Lol. I already love the story and the whole mystery the show kept with the wife, not showing ever anything through her eyes, or not giving us any insight into her mindset, this kind of makes the whole setup more interesting. Anyway I'm too tempted to look for spoilers, but I'm holding up for now, lol. I don't want to miss lee sun kyung's mad phases of depression and anger strikes.

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I like that. I hope it's true!

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I thoroughly enjoyed the first two episodes. Will definitely be looking forwards to next week

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I just don't buy her having an affair. I think he's reading way too much into things, and most likely all of this has reasonable explanations. The internet sure isn't helping much. lol This just proves the point that if you'd simply open your mouth and talk, these things can be hashed out in a quicker, less painful way.

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I still go by my feelings when I read about the plot and stick to it now episode one is done, that is , this is I hope a comedy thus they can play around with things for laughs but not cross any line to get into heavy drama land more than there a need to. Thus far the story been pretty much the husband, we not really seen anything in depth on the wife, other than she seems the perfect wife, For me I think she finds out about her husband suspicion and considering the effort she makes to be mother wife and worker, gets totally p*ssed off, and then decides it pay back time and punishes her husband by either pretending to or even plan to have an affair. The husband clearly at a state in life where he is taking his marriage and wife for granted, ie his chat with the divorced girl at his work place

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Ooooooh..... I like your theory and hope we get something like that. We know LSK could act the hell out of this kind of tortured husband role and all the while the joke's on him.

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Lee Seon-kyun totally owns this show, just sayin. I am glad he came back to dramaland with such a meaty role; makes all the waiting worthwhile.

At first I was very confused about the wife's reaction or non-reaction to her husband. I can't tell whether her smile points to someone who is completely innocent, or someone who is an expert at hiding an affair from her husband. At this point she is a complete mystery. I would feel cheated though if the whole thing turns out to be one giant misunderstanding because all promos seemed to have promised a real affair taking place.

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What you are saying about her being a mystery is something I did not anticipate about this drama! I did not think that we would not know his wife's thoughts.... I feel like watching a mystery drama xD

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Ya think? I always got from the promos that the alleged affair that will be taking place was gonna be all in the husband's head.

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I really do. SJH said in one of her magazine interviews that her character is not evil as much as she is desperate. The show has also been billed as a rehabilitation story. Imagine if this whole thing is just a big misunderstanding that can be solved by mere talking. Wouldn't that make this your every other k-drama out there? I hope LSK did not come back just for that.

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could she just be playing mind games to get her husband more interested in putting more effort and interest in the marriage? The talk he had with the divorced woman at his work place make it pretty clear he is taking both the marriage and her for granted before..but now..just an thought

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You know, at first, I thought the affair was all one big misunderstanding as well. Halfway through the second episode, I realized that outside of the wedding video, I hadn't seen the main couple kiss, or hug, or anything. Not so much as a warm handshake. They only talk about the kid's scheduling and their own jobs.

I wouldn't be surprised if there's a feeling of disconnect there. Hyeon Woo thinks he's a great husband but he's clearly taking her for granted, and Soo Yeon is craving something more fulfilling. That can, and does, happen a lot.

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Interesting! Maybe she's thinking about it?

I think it would be interesting for a drama to kind of tackle the thought of having an affair even if it never happens. I'm sure some people do think about it when there is a lull in a relationship. If the husband is catching on to that, I think we're still in for something fresh in K-drama.

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I thought the son was a daughter until I read this recap!

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I guess it's the hair cut and the fact that female and male bodies look quite similar at a young age, I too kept shifting between "It's a girl," "No, it's a boy" Glad te recap cleared that up.

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I don't remember 100%, but I think I saw ep 1 with subtitles that referred to the kid as a girl and as a boy on ep2. I can't remember if I watched on different websites tho, but I got really confused lol (as you can see, my memory is terrible)

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I think what this drama is doing a good job at, is showing us that, at the end of the day, cheating or not cheating, it is not the core of the issue.

The simple fact that their couple came to a point where she could, potentially, envisage cheating on him and that he could picture it, say a lot about how this couple is a dysfunctional one.
I, sincerely, doubt that she is cheating on him, but I think that the road he is taking will , hopefully, allow him to open his eyes about the real state of his couple.

Yes, he was happy with their couple dynamic, but was she ? She appears as the enduring type, so it is more than likely that behind her smiles, she is hiding her wounds.

I think that for our 3 "couples", this drama will be about being able or not to feel empathy, being able to put themselves in the other person's shoes, discover their truths and see through their eyes their reality.
And next is the following question : can he, she, they change and found a new equilibrium in their couples ?

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Wow. You have some very good points!
While I do think that they have a problem with communication, after reading your post, I've realized that the non-communication goes both ways--that is Soo Yeon never talked to Hyun Woo about what bothers her instead of hiding it behind a smile.

Since this is a drama from Hyun Woo's perspective, isn't it weird how he can'tfigure out his wife's feelings at all? At 8 years of marriage, you should be able to tell the nuances in your partner's expressions, right? or am I just being naive?

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Lee seon kyun really shines. I love this guy - I'm so glad he's back.

I'm always rooting for Ji Hyo to do well... and I feel like I'm always disappointed... I feel like she has never portrayed a woman in love very well... ever... like there's always a wall... but I just root for her anyway, 'cause she's totally awesome.

anyway.. LOVE the drama so far. I really feel LSK's unease. The shock, the disbelief, the paranoia. I want to know what he does next! SO GOOD!

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I watched the first 13 minutes of the drama in the morning and for some reason even though i liked it couldn't be bothered to keep watching so i stopped. I think i wasnt in the right mood because there's so much drama's that I'm watching i guess this one felt like a burden to me.

However, at night I was really bored and wanted to watch something so I decided to give this another shot and WOW i'm glad I did. I can't quite put my finger on why I love this drama so much but maybe its the quietness (no blaring ost) and the wonderful cinematography (really those camera angles were so pretty) but I enjoyed it and will be watching the second episode.

Who else loved the song they played towards the end? The lyrics were translated on where I was watching it and each word resonated with not only the drama but that particular scene as well.

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I watched with subs that do not include words to songs. But still, the last scene where the husband is crying quietly in front of his computer took me completely by surprise at how much it moved me. I can only imagine how much more impact it would have made had I watched with the words translated. I also love the quietness of some of the scenes; makes them so much more powerful.

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Love this drama because of the actors who played Eun Ara and Ahn Joon-young,..

What kind of wife Joon-young have??? He, of course, are not married yet,..

I like this drama, will wait this weekend for next eps.

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*Exhales a deep breath.*

This show is different! I love the cast, but find the characters dislikable. The drama has its intrigue for sure, and has some compelling and enjoyable moments. I see how they're going for the serious/humorous approach to the subject, but I just find the tone of the show off-putting. Granted, this subject matter is not an easy-breezy one one to swallow. But every adult (not you, Joon Soo!) character has exhibited at least a little bit of sleaziness so far, although I know as episodes go on, deeper truths will be revealed and some will turn out to be more decent than they seem now.

But all Hyun-Woo's yelling. All the sleazing. Yuck.

And I will NEVER, EVER, EVER be okay, from her first drama to her last, with Lee Do Yeon being a token "ugly" person for comedic purposes. Even if she's okay with it, I think it makes a program seem shallow and cruel, and is a sad and distasteful moment for kdrama culture.

I could be way off because the mystery is rich, but at this point the vibes are leading me to predict that Seo Yeon and Hyun Woo <3 each other and will be okay, and that Joon Young and Bo Young will end up together.

To conclude, I'd like to add that little Joon Soo (Kim Kang Hoon)'s haircut might be questionable (while still adorable, DramaFever translated him as a her), while his fashion is killer. ADORABLEX1000000.

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Ha, before I read all the comments and recap here, it never occurs in my mind that Joon Young might not be married and all that married story was all made up. This possibility excites me to ship him and Bo-Young as a couple. They seems cute together!

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YAYYY! I'm so glad this show is being recapped! I really enjoyed the first episode and love the chemistry and characterization of the 6 characters. Thanks so much for the recap!

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I could not stop laughing at the text scene. The shock interposed with the comedy, lol.
On another hand I think I'll stick with recaps cuz it make me feel too anxious and sick to go through hyunwoo's emotions.

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This joke, where a girl looks smokin' from the back, but then - oh, no! - she is actually "ugly". That is my pet peeve in tv+film. It just sends such a wrong message, that even if you take care of your body and have a great style (in her case she wanted to be the "sexy one"), your still only judged by your genetic markup.

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Oh dear, what a nice show it is! I loved how quickly and on point the characters were introduced, I love how real they feel, even veering into being annoying (that cheeseball of a cheater husband, duh), but I really love-love how I found myself in Hyun-woo's shoes, crying bitter tears over his ruined marriage (or so he thinks) and hoping beyond hope that it's just a big fat misunderstanding, though I wouldn't like that either, storywise...I don't know what I want.

Now I itch for Soo-yeon's point of view. Wonder if the show's going to keep it solely as the "husband's journey"?

Plus, this show is funny as hell.

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Could it be possible Joon Young is in a contract marriage, aka a fake one?

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I could not stop laughing at the teddy bear scene.. ㅋㅋㅋㅋ?

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Hey Candidclown, thanks for the recap and your review. I decided to start following the series after reading your review and enjoyed the episode tremendously. Appreciated the dose of "reality", after watching so many more action-focused/fantasy dramas.

Keep writing and am keen to hear your thoughts on Episode 2!

Have shared more of my thoughts on the premiere on my blog here:
https://kdramaanalysis.wordpress.com/2016/11/02/my-wife-is-having-an-affair-this-week-premiere/

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I enjoyed reading your analysis and I wished you would have shared some of it right here. You are right about there being a dearth of Korean dramas focusing on married couples when there is so much potential to be mined. Is it because of the demographics of the audience? Or is it because of Korean audience's obsession with romance and falling in love?

You pointed out that the couple's lack of intimacy started on their wedding day with her refusal to kiss the groom on the lips. It makes me think that she is the cold one in the relationship and really, this would affect the husband no matter how warm he is in the beginning. We see that they would much rather sleep with their son than in their own bed. That can't be a non-clue to their relationship, right?

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Hey People,

A not so related request for everyone, I have been in what I can call as a KDrama Binge Hiatus for 2 years (I think) for a reason called real life (sucks!) now I am eyeballs deep on the dramas I ought to watch, I have been listing some but I realized I might take a year or more, to watch all of them, see I cannot (yet) tender my resignation for the reason that I want to watch all of these, ya know. Well, anyway, could you kind loving beanies give some recoms, I am not discriminating of sorts, I can watch a GOOD sageuk if needs be, a rom-com, fusion of whatever sort they might have invented in the past years, though I am quite hesitant watching dramas with higher than recommended unsaturated fat from ham-acting and bloated plots.

Any recoms? :) :)

P.S. Through the insistence of some people I have watched Descendants, Moonlight drawn by the Clouds and Answer me 1988.

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Well, since you landed here this is as good a show to start as any. At least the premise is fresh, it is short, and there doesn't seem to be much room for unsaturated fat or fake saccharine sweetness either.

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I am a little baffled by some of the comments. Many raised doubts that SY was really having an affair - an emotional or sexual one.
I recall one scene where she told HW that she had to return to work that night. Later, HW saw her in the front seat of a car wife a male driver. What was most obvious in that scene was the fact that the man called her back, stretched out his hand, and clasped SY hand tightly for a while. SY, on her part seemed to blow hot air into her hand before clasping hands with him. And what was most telling was that she was smiling and seemed happy with it.
I am certain SY knowingly engaged in her affair with several evidently intentional behaviours. First, she was clearly texted regularly with SW. Second, she was careful with the privacy of her mobile access to change passwords regularly. Third, she lied about having to return to the office for work when she had met her lover.
I laud her duplicity over the affair. She engages in it and can still pretend to be so nice to HW.
Poor HW. How can he trust her again?

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I watched this drama quite late in 2021 and enjoyed it. I rewatched it again to better understand the cheating wife SY if she felt or did not fell in love with her (presently) lover SW before the affair was found out. The story tried to show that she might be distracted by SW due to her overstretched works and loneliness. However, there were so many scenes showing oppositely that she was actually passionately in love with her lover. She did not regret and was happy to have an affair with her lover. Although the written story showed that she did not have an affair to get divorced, I felt (from the early EPs to final EP) like she was ready to leave her husband whenever her lover decided to divorce his wife. If the affair was not found out, she would continue to her affair secret under her smiling face to her family and kept lying and cheating her husband to be with her lover.

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First comment, not sure about the lack of arguments being a bad thing, there are simply people with non-troublesome personalities.

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Tfw you were irrationally hoping your fears not to come true.

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Song Ji-hyo has a sweet and beautiful smile. This EP was a great opening story showing that that the wife seemed to be in love with another man. Was it necessary that she had to dress up so nicely to go out for off-hours working in the late evening? She had denied her husband’s favor to send her to the office and then came back home in her lover’s car. When I rewatched this drama, I wondered if she really went out to work … or did she lie to her husband about the late evening’s work and went out to meet her lover?

Wow… the husband unintentionally saw his wife blowing or kissing her hand given to another man. When she was at home and faced her husband, she did not show any suspicious manner. She was calmed and perfectly kept her emotional secret under her smile and pretended like there was nothing happened recently.

If the husband did not accidentally find out the text message and suspected her, he would be definitely betrayed forever.

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