This Week, My Wife Will Have an Affair: Episode 8

by chocolatte

The rift between Hyun-woo and Soo-yeon grows wider as they each take steps away from one another. The two are still at odds as to what their future should look like — whether that means they’ll be together, apart, or somewhere in-between — undoubtedly because they’re still spectacularly bad at communicating with each other. It makes you wonder what kind of a wake-up call this couple needs in order for them to stop spinning their wheels and move their lives forward in a more productive way.

 
EPISODE 8 RECAP

Hyun-woo chases after Soo-yeon as she’s leaving the house with Joon-soo, furious that she’d try to take Joon-soo with her. The two literally have a tug-of-war over their son, but thankfully, Hyun-woo gives up when Joon-soo says he wants to go with his mom. Hyun-woo desperately tells them that it’s only for one day, and says to Soo-yeon that he’s not giving up Joon-soo.

Two moms from Joon-soo’s class watch the scene unfold from outside their apartment building, gossiping about Hyun-woo and Soo-yeon’s marital strife.

As the storm rages on in Okinawa, Yoon-ki’s newest mistress happily tells Yoon-ki that her prayers for them to stay in Okinawa forever are being answered. At that, Yoon-ki sends up a passionate prayer of his own, asking God to stop the typhoon and allow him to leave.

Alas, his prayer goes unheard, so Yoon-ki has no choice but to tell Ara that he won’t make it back home that day. When Ara reminds Yoon-ki how disappointed her dad will be to miss him at dinner, he awkwardly tells her that he’ll find a way to get home.

Soo-yeon visits multiple real estate offices, but finding a new place doesn’t seem to come easy. Meanwhile, Hyun-woo stews at home, angrily asking himself what he did wrong.

Back in Okinawa, Yoon-ki tells his mistress he’s stepping out to a convenience store. A moment later, she answers a knock on their hotel door — it’s the authorities, delivering a soaking wet Yoon-ki, who apparently tried to jump into the ocean wearing an inner tube. Pfft.

At work, Joon-young stops at the sight of Bo-young, recalling when she had correctly guessed that he didn’t really have a wife. Instead of admitting the truth, Joon-young had denied Bo-young’s assertion. Back in the present, he looks a bit wistful at the missed opportunity, but shakes himself out of it.

Later, Hyun-woo provides Joon-young with an update: Soo-yeon left the house and took Joon-soo with her. Joon-young wonders why Hyun-woo didn’t stop her, but Hyun-woo doesn’t have an answer.

At the end of the day, Soo-yeon heads back to a friend’s place, where Joon-soo had spent the day. The friend knows all about Soo-yeon’s situation and is divorced herself, so the two women talk freely about Soo-yeon’s next steps.

Soo-yeon’s friend asks if Soo-yeon thinks she can go through with the divorce. She tells Soo-yeon that she found herself missing her husband after her divorce, if only because it was harder for her to fulfill her duties as a working mom.

She jokes that she should have married someone who was head over heels for her, and says Soo-yeon should have done the same — although, she says, Hyun-woo seemed pretty okay, too. Smiling wistfully, Soo-yeon admits that Hyun-woo is a good person.

Back home, Hyun-woo makes a mess trying to cook some instant noodles and throws everything in the sink, sighing in frustration.

Yoon-ki makes it back home and finds Ara on the couch looking straight ahead, a suitcase next to her. She barely blinks an eye throughout his (fake) explanation as to why he was unable to come home on time. After he’s done, she looks at him and smiles, telling him she’s taken care of her father.

When Yoon-ki finally notices the suitcase, Ara says she’s headed to her parents’ house. She plans to be back around their anniversary next week and tells him, “Just you wait. I’ll surprise you.” Before she leaves though, she adds one more thing: She quit her flower arrangement classes.

Ara’s eyes are cold and oddly blank when she shares this news, but Yoon-ki could care less as he revels in his freedom for the week.

Hyun-woo’s saved from a depressing solo dinner when Joon-young stops by with takeout and alcohol. It looks like Joon-young’s not the only one worried about Hyun-woo — right behind him is Yoon-ki, who’s also come to console Hyun-woo (but he’s empty-handed, which Joon-young makes sure to point out, heh.)

Soo-yeon walks into the lobby of a building where she seems to have found a promising apartment. As she’s leaving, Bo-young strolls in from the opposite direction — Bo-young lives there, too. Bo-young recognizes Soo-yeon, but then second-guesses herself on whether or not it was really her.

When Bo-young gets home, she resigns herself to a sad dinner of plain sliced bread, as she’s unable to find her toaster oven and doesn’t even have condiments in her empty fridge.

Hyun-woo debriefs his friends on his conversation with Soo-yeon. He rants that Soo-yeon isn’t the only one who has it hard — he has it hard, too. He says that husbands are just as exhausted, lonely, and anxious as wives, but they can’t whine about it like wives can, “Because we are husbands and fathers.”

Joon-young tells Hyun-woo to move on and live as he wants to. Hyun-woo agrees — he’s going to get a divorce and do whatever he wants to do from now on. The list of things that he wants to do is hilariously mundane, and includes things like leaving his socks inside out and going right to sleep after a night of drinking without washing up. Hyun-woo says he’s going to live a wild life like Yoon-ki, then suggests his first “wild” act: going to a noraebang.

The three sing and dance their hearts out at the noraebang looking like some middle-aged K-pop group, and it’s glorious. As they stumble out afterward, tossing out ideas for where to go for round two, Hyun-woo says that he wants to do the one thing he couldn’t really do when Soo-yeon was around.

Cut to: Hyun-woo hard at work on a claw machine, while Joon-young and Yoon-ki stare forlornly at him, muttering about what a loser he is. But when Hyun-woo happily shows off a doll he won, they give him big smiles and congratulate him.

Joon-soo interrupts Soo-yeon as she’s working late at night — he’s had an accident. Soo-yeon pulls him into a hug and assures him that everything is okay, but Joon-soo tells her that he wants to go back home.

Soo-yeon washes Joon-soo’s blanket in the bathroom before taking a break, looking exhausted. She tries to start again, but she doesn’t get very far before breaking down in tears.

Hyun-woo and his crew have returned to Hyun-woo’s place, where Yoon-ki goes through Hyun-woo’s phone to see if there are any women he could contact. Yoon-ki zeros in on a woman named HAN JOON-HEE (cameo by Jung Yumi), and the three men peer at photos of her on social media.

She’s an old college girlfriend of Hyun-woo’s, and Hyun-woo says he was her first love. When Joon-young mentions that he heard she’s divorced, Yoon-ki points out that the timing couldn’t be more fortuitous. Yoon-ki encourages Hyun-woo to send her a message, citing the unforgettable nature of first loves, but Hyun-woo vehemently refuses.

It doesn’t take long for the three men to find themselves agonizing over what exactly Hyun-woo’s first message to Joon-hee should be. Ignoring both Joon-young and Yoon-ki’s suggestions, Hyun-woo types out, “It’s me, Hyun-woo. This is Joon-hee, right?” He waffles about sending the text, but it doesn’t matter — Joon-young sneakily hits the “send” button for him, ha.

The message remains unread as the men stare at the phone, waiting for a response. They freak out when the message changes from unread to read, but the reply still doesn’t come.

Joon-young returns home and surveys his sparse apartment, recalling his advice to Hyun-woo about moving on, and TUNAMAYO’s message for him not to be afraid. He makes a decision and starts pulling out his household appliances (all of which are pretty much brand new — they were probably wedding gifts), then lists the items for sale online.

The next morning, Yoon-ki discovers that Joon-hee’s responded to Hyun-woo’s message. He tells Hyun-woo that she’s still in love with him, even though all the reply says is, “How have you been?”

Soo-yeon drops Joon-soo off at school and hurriedly heads to work. The resident mom crew stands outside the school, tut-tutting about Soo-yeon and Hyun-woo’s impending divorce. But since Joon-soo hasn’t gone inside yet, he hears everything, and turns around at the word “divorce.”

Soo-yeon’s also the topic of conversation at the office, as two co-workers whisper about her marital problems. She doesn’t seem to be able to catch a break, since she soon receives a phone call from Joon-soo’s teacher that makes her head back to school in a hurry.

Joon-soo’s in trouble for hitting one of his friends, but the teacher’s not sure why he did it, since Joon-soo won’t say. Later, Soo-yeon tries to have a conversation of her own with him, but poor Joon-soo stays silent, a sad frown on his face.

TOYCRANE fans Ajumma and Grandma are discussing TOYCRANE and his divorce when another ajumma comes to visit: Grandma’s sister-in-law. Though she greets Grandma warmly, she doesn’t acknowledge Ajumma at all. Instead, she lectures Grandma for living with Ajumma, who stole Grandma’s now deceased husband away from her and kicked her out of the house. Ah, so their story is one about adultery as well.

Hyun-woo loiters outside a café awkwardly, unable to bring himself to go in. He doesn’t have to though, as his ex Joon-hee steps out of the shop herself and calls out to him, inviting him inside.

It’s been about 15 years since the two last saw each other, so they catch up briefly, and Joon-hee confirms her divorce. She pushes sugar towards him, knowing that he likes sugar in his coffee, and the two exchange smiles.

Joon-young haggles with a student online over the price of a toaster oven he’s put up for sale, but he ends up agreeing to a lower price. The student needs it quickly and asks Joon-young to make the handoff in person.

Soo-yeon takes Joon-soo shopping to pick up things for their new apartment. After they’re done, Soo-yeo gets back on her computer, and Joon-soo lounges around, bored. Soo-yeon looks at Joon-soo with guilt on her face and tells him she’s sorry.

Back to Hyun-woo and Joon-hee, who have moved onto dinner as they reminisce about their days in college. As the talk shifts to Joon-hee’s love life, she tells Hyun-woo that after she broke up with him, she didn’t date anyone at all. She then met her ex-husband and married him after six months. Hyun-woo doesn’t look surprised by this admission, and he tries to hide his smile as he asks her, “Why?”

Joon-young waits for his buyer outside a subway station, toaster oven in tow. When a high-pitched voice calls out to him, he turns around and comes face to face with Bo-young, HA. She tries to run away as soon as she realizes it’s Joon-young, but he grabs her and pulls her back, laying into her for pretending to be a student. She apologizes half-heartedly and says she still wants the oven, but this time, he makes her pay the higher price.

At Bo-young’s insistence, they test out the toaster oven at Joon-young’s place. When Bo-young wonders why Joon-young’s selling the brand new oven, Joon-young lies that he’s moving and purging all his things. Bo-young looks like she doesn’t believe him one bit, but goes along with his answer.

Yoon-ki’s saleswoman girlfriend waits outside a wedding dress shop, then lights up when she sees… a man that’s not Yoon-ki. Are we supposed to care about this development?

Bo-young takes a look at some of Joon-young’s other appliances, then asks about the one thing that’s not for sale: his PS4. She gets adorably excited about a two-player fighting game, and Joon-young hands over a control, his face lighting up to match hers.

In the middle of their game, looking straight at the screen, Joon-young tells her the truth: He’s divorced. To his surprise, Bo-young nonchalantly says that she knows — it was hard not to notice, given the amount of time they spend together. The two return their attention to the game, and their usual bickering resumes.

Soo-yeon’s still working, and Joon-soo interrupts her to ask about his father’s whereabouts. Soo-yeon says they’ll see him later, but that doesn’t satisfy Joon-soo, who says he wants to call his dad. Soo-yeon’s tone becomes sharp as she denies his request. She returns to work, but Joon-soo just stands there, staring at Soo-yeon’s back.

Joon-young drives Bo-young home, his car packed to the brim with all the appliances she ended up buying from him. When he wonders why she needs so much stuff, she says that she lived simply after she got divorced because she thought she’d get married again. But now, she’s resolved to live alone.

He tells her that there are a lot of good guys out there, but she says that doesn’t matter unless a good guy actually shows up in her life. Joon-young then says that he’s a good guy, to which Bo-young replies that she knows. But she stops there and doesn’t say any more, frustrating Joon-young.

Later that night, Soo-yeon finally gets up from her desk and tucks Joon-soo into bed before starting to unpack. She heads downstairs to throw out the trash, and that’s when Bo-young spots her, having just been dropped off by Joon-young. This time, Bo-young calls out a greeting to Soo-yeon.

Bo-young ends up at Soo-yeon’s place, where she asks Soo-yeon if she’s made up her mind about the divorce. Soo-yeon says there’s no other answer, but when Bo-young asks her for a reason, she says nothing.

The next day, Joon-young exhibits a newfound comfort with Bo-young at work, even joking to her about being left by his wife. Cute.

While Soo-yeon’s at work, her mom group starts texting back and forth about enrolling their kids in elementary school. Soo-yeon joins in briefly, telling them she hasn’t decided on a school for Joon-soo yet, and the moms chastise her for not being more on top of things. Ugh.

Then, one of the moms accidentally shares a link to TOYCRANE’s posts with the group. The other moms gush about how entertaining the posts are, so Soo-yeon decides to pull up the link. As she skims through the posts and recognizes her story, a wave of horror washes over her face.

Now incensed, Soo-yeon calls Hyun-woo and chews him out for posting their story for the world to see. He stammers that he only did it because he felt so frustrated and had no one else to talk to.

When she calls him a bad person, Hyun-woo gets defensive, telling her she has no right to blame him while insisting that he did nothing wrong. Soo-yeon tells him this is exactly the problem: They can’t have a conversation anymore without Hyun-woo yelling at her for what she did wrong.

Taking a breath, she says that Joon-soo’s having a hard time, and she doesn’t think Joon-soo should see Hyun-woo until he has more time to adjust to their new situation. Hyun-woo’s furious at this suggestion, but before he can respond, Soo-yeon hangs up.

TOYCRANE fan Ajumma tells Grandma about her nightmare, saying that before she went to sleep, she’d prayed to her (their?) dead husband for an update from TOYCRANE. But then the husband showed up in her dream and tried to take her with him. Grandma stews that even in death, her husband still only has eyes for the younger woman.

Hyun-woo stops by Joon-hee’s café again, wanting an answer as to why she didn’t date anyone after the two broke up. (Dude, seriously?) Joon-hee simply says she chose not to, then says that seeing Hyun-woo again brings back a lot of memories. With a steely look in her eyes, she tells him, “That’s why I don’t want you to come by anymore.”

She accuses Hyun-woo of seeing her as some tragic character, someone who pined over him and couldn’t forget him. Joon-hee admits that she saw Hyun-woo in all the guys she met afterward, because they were all garbage, too.

She calls Hyun-woo out for the kind of guy he is: someone who can’t make a decision, who hurts others in the name of wanting to be a “good guy.” She says she knew Hyun-woo had feelings for Soo-yeon while they were still dating, yet she was the one who broke things off, since he wouldn’t do it himself.

As Hyun-woo gapes at her, she continues that it was only because she found the right timing to break up with him that he was able to marry Soo-yeon. If she hadn’t done it, Joon-hee concludes, he would have stayed with her like a fool.

As Hyun-woo trudges home, still reeling from his conversation with Joon-hee, he admits to himself that he wanted to use Joon-hee to prove that he was a decent guy. He narrates that he’s had plenty of “timings” to make things right with Soo-yeon, but instead of taking those opportunities to listen to what she had to say, he ignored them all.

After getting an emergency work call, Soo-yeon drags Joon-soo into the office, where he proceeds to wreak havoc by drawing all over an important document. Soo-yeon loses her temper and sharply tells Joon-soo to wait outside, ignoring his pleas for his dad.

Over drinks, Bo-young tells Hyun-woo about her encounter with Soo-yeon. Bo-young is empathetic towards Soo-yeon, and likens Soo-yeon’s situation to a glass filled to the brim, commenting that it may look fine, but just one extra drop would cause an overflow. She tells Hyun-woo that Soo-yeon was probably looking for Hyun-woo to protect her from that one drop.

Hyun-woo defensively says that he helps with housework, but Bo-young’s thinking of a different kind of support, like words of encouragement acknowledging his wife’s efforts. When Hyun-woo grumbles that those things should be obvious, Bo-young says it’s selfish for him to want his wife to understand his feelings without him ever saying them aloud.

Before Hyun-woo can respond, he gets a call from Soo-yeon. His eyebrows shoot up in alarm when he hears that something’s happened to Joon-soo.

Hyun-woo and Bo-young meet up with a panicked Soo-yeon, who tells them Joon-soo went missing after she scolded him. Soo-yeon apologizes and starts to cry, but she garners no sympathy from Hyun-woo, who snaps at her.

The three split up to search the vicinity for Joon-soo. Meanwhile, Joon-soo’s wandering the streets, and just as he steps off the sidewalk, a motorcycle rounds the corner and heads towards Joon-soo at full speed.

Joon-young waits at the office for news and pounces on the phone when it rings. He then calls Hyun-woo with the news that Joon-soo’s at the hospital.

Hyun-woo meets Joon-young there, and thankfully, Joon-soo’s not too hurt — just a broken arm, it seems. Just as Hyun-woo’s about to go see Joon-soo, Soo-yeon bursts into the hospital, calling for Hyun-woo.

Hyun-woo orders her to stop and not come any closer: “You have no right to see Joon-soo. Is this how you help him adjust?” He tells Soo-yeon to leave, adding that he’s going to take Joon-soo. Soo-yeon remains frozen in her spot as the situation overwhelms her.

At Joon-soo’s bedside, Hyun-woo shakily assesses his son and tells him that he’s sorry for not being there for him. When Joon-soo speaks up, he says that he’s sorry for making things difficult for his mom.

Joon-soo says his mom has been having a hard time lately, since she’s always working and getting a lot of bloody noses. He then asks Hyun-woo what “divorce” is — his friend at school had said his parents got one, and because of that, he wouldn’t be able to live with both of them anymore. That’s why Joon-soo says he hit the kid.

As a teary Soo-yeon listens to Joon-soo’s words from just outside his privacy curtain, Joon-soo says he thinks his mom is having a hard time because she’s being teased for being divorced. He asks his dad to protect her, and Hyun-woo, on the verge of tears himself, assures his son that he’ll protect both him and Soo-yeon.

Unable to take it anymore, Soo-yeon attempts to leave the hospital, but Joon-young catches her before she can. He asks if she’s read through TOYCRANE’s posts carefully, telling her that he thinks Hyun-woo’s true feelings are in those words. He urges her to read through the posts again.

So that’s what she does. As Soo-yeon reads Hyun-woo’s words, she thinks back to all that’s happened and fills in the gaps of how Hyun-woo was feeling in each of those moments. Back at their house, Hyun-woo tucks Joon-soo into bed and does some reflecting of his own, thinking about all the harsh and angry words he’s said to Soo-yeon.

After Soo-yeon processes the entirety of Hyun-woo’s posts, she types out a response to TOYCRANE online, which reads: “I felt your sincerity in your posts, and I’m sure your wife felt them too. But it seems like your wife won’t go back to you because she now knows how you feel, and she won’t be able to forgive herself.”

Hyun-woo reads the response, and thinks to himself that just like fifteen years ago, he’s missed his timing once again.

 
COMMENTS

Though I’m glad that the show took some time to address the impact of Hyun-woo and Soo-yeon’s problems with Joon-soo, I hate the fact that in the end, Joon-soo’s accident mostly served to highlight Soo-yeon’s burdens, rather than those posed on her son. I feel like this storyline could have been used as a way to bring Soo-yeon and Hyun-woo together for a reasonable conversation about how best to deal with their one and only son. But instead, his needs are brushed under a rug — at least for now — so that his parents can once again focus on their own feelings.

Either way, the inherent selfishness of our two main characters was on full display throughout the episode. It was horrible to see Hyun-woo and Soo-yeon argue openly in front of their child, but what’s more frustrating was the way Joon-soo was kept in the dark about the changes occurring in their lives. It’s almost as if Hyun-woo and Soo-yeon are using Joon-soo as a pawn in their relationship game: Hyun-woo wants Joon-soo to prove that he’s in the right, while Soo-yeon wants him with her so she can prove that she’s still a “super mom.” In the end though, it’s Joon-soo who will lose out if things continue in this direction.

On the flip side, I thought the show handled the appearance of Hyun-woo’s ex, Joon-hee, really well — I always welcome Jung Yumi on my screen, and I thoroughly enjoyed how she subverted the stereotypical depictions of a pure first love. Her characterization of Hyun-woo makes total sense given what we’ve seen of him thus far — he’s wishy washy and usually reactive about most things (he couldn’t even bring himself to go into Joon-hee’s café first!), with a heightened sense of his own righteousness.

And when you think about it, her description of Hyun-woo also sheds light on why he’d continue to post online as TOYCRANE, even after he admitted the truth to his real-life friends. He claimed to Soo-yeon that he’d aired their dirty laundry online because he had nowhere else to turn, but really, I think he thrives on the validation that he receives from anonymous internet commenters who tell him that he’s not a bad guy, and that he’s done nothing wrong.

As flawed as Hyun-woo is, at least I understand his motivations as well as the reasons why he’s acting the way he is. I can’t say the same for Soo-yeon, who’s becoming more confusing and frustrating the more we learn about her. I don’t understand why she’d unilaterally decide on divorce but insist on keeping Joon-soo away from Hyun-woo when she’s just barely keeping it together at home and at work. Is it truly because she has no love left for Hyun-woo? I don’t know if that’s the case either, since she did take Joon-young’s advice and read through Hyun-woo’s posts in an attempt to figure out his true feelings. So why does she double down on divorce after coming to a better understanding of Hyun-woo, then write that she won’t return to him because she can’t forgive herself? Nothing about her reaction makes sense to me.

Thankfully, I have Joon-young and Bo-young to distract me, because I just love the two of them together. Yay for Joon-young finally admitting to Bo-young that he’s not married, and double yay for the amazing, nonchalant way she (and he, actually) dealt with the whole reveal. I’ve pretty much lost all interest in Yoon-ki and Ara’s storyline at this point, so I’m all for spending more time with our writer/PD duo as they chart a new course in their friendship as two single divorcees.

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