This review may contain spoilers
Lacking something
I am not quite sure what to say about this drama. The plot overall in in one sense is truly relevant to present times and to a lot of married couples and in another sense it’s ...disjointed for a lack of better word. I have nothing against time travel plots (Signal is one of my 10/10 ) but somehow in this drama it’s just a means to an end for me. Maybe there’s just too many characters who knows about the time travel “secret” that it kind of lost it’s novelty in the middle of the story?Dislikes: (1) portrayal of mom’s dementia is out of tune with reality. People with dementia forget their past, they do not act like little kids again. They lose their way around, they don’t “escape”. (2) No chemistry between the two main leads and the cringey relationship between the ML and the second wife. (3) don’t hate me but I find the FL acting here as “trying too hard” to be chirpy and energetic but somehow did not meet the mark
Likes: (1) Ji Sung’s acting chops did not disappoint, this guy is talented period. It’s a shame that the projects he’s done (that I’ve seen anyway) doesn’t really give his skills the spotlight it deserves. (2) The teasing of the office crew when they tried to bring the leads together, now that made me laugh silly. (3) The youngest male employee character “Hwan”, this kid portrayed the role impeccably, he’s a natural. (4) The best part I think is the bromance, their friendship was genuine despite of the “betrayal”, the actors were so good I feel that they were just playing with each other on the set during filming.
In summary this drama highlights the working mothers and wives and for that I appreciate the story but it failed to show how marriage is a two way relationship. It just won’t work any other way.
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Grass is always greener on the other side
Writing this review took me more that I care to admit. For a long time I wasn’t sure why, but it dawned on me, that the reason is fairly simple. This drama didn’t bring any emotions to me. It was just as average as it could. And it’s not exactly wrong thing.Let’s start from the beginning, Cha Joo Hyuk, our main character is just an average bank employee. No-one really special. The problem is that he’s not really happy with his life, especially with his wife, who changed throughout the years and become very mean and even brutal person towards him. Having two little children doesn’t really make his life easier, especially that his private life really takes its toll on his work.
So it’s fair to say, he wished his life was different. And luckily he gets his chance of changing the future when he goes back in time to the day that changed his life. So the next day he wakes up in different house with different woman by his side. But is this change really for better?
This is the question that follows our main character, Cha Joo Hyuk, for the whole drama. There’s this old saying that came to my mind when I was watching the series: “life is always greener on the other side”, which means that we always find things that we don’t have more desirable. And this is basically the moral of this story. Because Joo Hyuk’s new life is not so perfect either. Soon he discovers that his wife, that he complained so much before was like that mostly because of him. When he meets her in this new life, she seems completely different, more likeable person. And his new wife is not so perfect as he thought she would be.
Joo Hyuk finally realises that problem with his marriage wasn’t his wife but rather what their relationship made of her and he’s sure that he doesn’t want to make this mistake again.
This is also a story of how our life choices matter and how we influence with our behaviour life of others. About mistakes of the past and understanding their consequences. It’s a story of how the grass is always greener on the other side.
The characters very strongly develop throughout the series and not only because of changes that Joo Hyuk makes in the past. Their choices have real influence on their character and later actions.
The thing that really didn’t stand out was the music or lack of actually original soundtrack. All we get is mostly generic background tune. So there’s not much to talk about here, but honestly I’ve noticed it in the middle of the drama and it wasn’t really nothing bad here.
I love how Joo Hyuk’s coworker’s attitude changes towards him in different scenarios. At first he wasn’t liked because he was always late and unreliable. Then they were nice to him because he married to influential family and basically he could do anything without consequences. They were finally truly friendly towards him when he was consciously himself and wasn’t burdened by problems in his relationships. He was most liked when we was literally the best version of himself.
There’re some good things I can say about this series, it has this absolutely amazing main idea, that I loved from the start. The only problem is that I don’t think it was used well enough. At the end we’ve got very solid drama, with good cast, but after finishing last episode I’ve felt a bit disappointed. This is just not one of those highly memorable dramas that you think about weeks after finishing it.
But on the other hand, it doesn’t have to be. What it is, is just enough.
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The cast was great both Ji Sung and Han Ji Min. I loved their character portrayal. The supporting cast was also great!
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This review may contain spoilers
Stick with this drama after the first two episodes, I promise it’s worth it. I went in to it thinking it would be a filler between dramas, but it was so much more. By the end of it I felt so satisfied. The characters were redeemed, not by changing the past, but by changing how they reacted to it going forward and changing their own behavior. It really made me wistful for what marriage SHOULD be: teamwork, respect, friendship, and love. The acting was great and story gave me all the feels. Was it realistic? Sometimes, yes. Time travel premise, no. But it’s definitely worth your time to watch. One of the better Korean dramas I have watched in the last few months. Was this review helpful to you?
Nothing is perfect
Familiar Wife was a drama with its own strengths and flaws. Things usually don't go the way we want them to. But we will have to face the problems head instead of regretting the past decisions.The drama had a good start. It portrayed the problems in a relationship realistically. Then comes the fantasy part when the ML suddenly gets a chance to go back to the past and change his future.
Many aspects of the story portray realistic problems that people face without making the drama a serious or emotional one.
The drama is off to a good start and maintains its pace. But I felt the last 4 episodes were dragged and a bit unnecessary.
All the characters had their own stories which developed well throughout the drama.
A few things were not properly explained but it doesn't affect the drama too much.
There is good chemistry between the leads though you will not get to see many romantic moments between the leads.
The cast was amazing and did a great job.
The drama does give you great life lessons and is also an enjoyable experience.
Overall it is a good drama which you can definitely try.
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This review may contain spoilers
Beta simp on a mission to find his abusive wife!!
True love is it not. When a 500 won coin liberates you from a thankless existence, so pathetic that even plot writers won't excuse themselves for shaming you for your wife's lack of communication skills, and then fate puts you on a pedestal, what would you do? Of course seek your misery again as your "one true love" in a post wall woman. Cute, is it not. Maybe good for fancies of 30+ age women.This is the first drama I actually sympathized with "rich bitch" wife. Since such a character is usually abused by writers in KDramas. Here too they did try to show that she was preying on a younger lad, but I guess they found some sense and did turn it into "rich noona" situation. She's very good. Not a career obsessed freak. Totally waits on her husband. Her entitlement is a small compromise against the good stuff.
Misery loves company. That's the drama in a nutshell. Nobody can find fault in marvelous acting skills of Ji Sung and Han-Ji Min. But the characters here are not great. The onus of repairing seems to fall entirely on Ji Sung's character (husband). His wife's character does not realize any of her own mistakes(apparently she was short circuited and oppressed by her overworked husband who took extreme pains to give their family a good life.) In addition, there is the usual propaganda - housewife=depressed oppressed woman. Overworked post wall bank employee = career woman who is totally happy.
Bank employees and their antics provided much needed comic relief since the main lead's romance existed mostly in cringe flashbacks. I mean, Han-ji Min is a proper ajumma now. And Ji Sung is above 40. Not even the best makeup can make them look like high school students. Unfortunately, writers didn't write good comic script. The flyer with spelling mistake was probably the most original comic joke.
Cinematography: American sitcom ultra shake mode was always on. A thousand different cuts in one conversations. I mean, Han-ji Min's character is talking to that restaurant guy's wife. Tone of conversation is very muted. A casual talk. And the camera - cut to Han-ji Min's face, cut to other woman's face, cut to through the window shot, cut to inside the restaurant shot, cut to hair, cut to hands, cut to lips, cut to perspective shift, cut to....ah! Learn to operate a camera. Crafty angles won't make your pathetic dialogue sound like Buddha speaking at Jetavana.
Not worth a rewatch. You can drop it after Ep 12 if you ask me. Nice OST BTW. Ultra cheap drama with no location, costume, sets to feel great about. Most of the money was spent in lassoing expensive leads. I mean, they were running a bank in a hotel lobby. What do you expect.
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This review may contain spoilers
I'm currently watching this because I wanted to lighten the mood as I watch Save Me. I chose this genre because I really love Go Back Couple, and Familiar Wife is listed in the recommendations. I think I set a high expectation on Familiar Wife because of the warm feeling GBC gave me. I'm really into family dramas that promote strengthening of family ties. Of course I will always root for Seo Woo Jin as she is the original wife, however I feel uncomfortable in Joo Hyuk's second life. Technically, in his second life, it is Hye Won he must be loyal to. The travelling back in time made everything different. I have nothing against Joo Hyuk, actually I like it when his character develops and realizes his mistakes, but I do not like the situation he is in the second life. The story makes Woo Jin a mistress, in that sense. Some might say that even Hye Won seems to be adulterous because she is falling for the college guy, however, we didn't have a clear background of who Hye Won is in Joo Hyuk's first life. But let's see, I'm still at episode 7. I'm soo confused right now, like I feel it's not right.
I'll be back editing this if things go smoothly and will give me a major turn of events.
Update 1: I finished until episode 8. I must say, the difference between GBC and Familiar Wife is the time capsule element. In GBC, the main goal is to revisit and rekindle the memories that bonded the couple, that is why both Husband and Wife returned in time with their memories. It aimed to let the couple realize where and when did things go wrong and fix it from there. By the half of GBC, you could sense that the time travelling miracle happened in order for the wife and the husband to get back on their life as a couple.
In Familiar Wife, it is only the husband who retained the memories, while giving the wife little hints to have the familiar feeling towards her husband. By episode 8, I could sense that it is the wife who really loved the husband. The reason maybe that only the husband has his old memories is to teach the husband the importance of his wife. As I observed, never did the 1st wife mention to her husband about divorce, meaning the wife still believes in their marriage. Therefore, the back in time miracle is really for the husband. Sadly, it seems hard for the husband to go back in time again and make everything as it is in the original.
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This review may contain spoilers
The time travel is not the most unrealistic part
Spoiler ahead, sorry, but I suggest you read it, as it might save you a bit of time and also it might save you from a lot of angst.Ok, so I am completely baffled. This is the second drama of its kind that I start watching and having to drop, out of sheer frustration. The other one I am referring to is Go Back Couple, which had the same issue (even though in that one, at least one of the leads, even if momentarily, seems to care about it).
I even looked for the writers of these 2 kdramas, and they're different.
So, the huge problem I am talking about: even while going into these traveling-back-in-time dramas ready to accept all sorts of impossible and illogical storylines (from a scientific perspective), the thing that makes me mad is how they deal with their children, from their original timelines.
The moment the ML decides to change the circumstances around meeting the original wife, knowing it will lead to them having no future together, he also virtually kills his children. I don't even care to know if the ML from this one comes to its senses later on in the drama or not.
Because there is no reasonable human being, that I know, that would behave that way. It's one thing to fantasize about living a life together with someone else, by making a different choice sometimes in your past. It's unthinkable to imagine that scenario knowing that way you are also losing, forever (ie killing), your young children.
Unless you're sick, I guess. As in psychiatric disorder levels of sickness. Which neither this drama, or Go Back Couple, seem to want to imply.
So yeah, watch this if you don't have kids and what I am saying seems just incomprehensible to you.
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un drama de time travelling plus que décevant
J'adore les histoires de time travelling. Que cela soit type thriller/crime/suspense comme les excellents "Signal" ou "Tunnel", ou une romance comme les émouvants "Go back couple" ou " 18 again". Ici le time travelling couplé à mon chouchou Ji Sung, il ne m'en fallait pas plus pour me lancer à corps perdu devant ce drama.La douleur et la déception n'en furent que plus grandes. Si j'avais fait mes devoirs plus tôt, j'aurais appris que Yang Hee Seung, scénariste de "Oh My Ghostess " et de " Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo", deux dramas que j'ai vraiment vraiment vraiment détesté (pardon pour les nombreux fans de ces deux dramas), était aussi la plume de ce drama. Si j'avais su. Je n'en serais pas là à écrire.
L'histoire en elle-même n'a rien d'extraordinaire. Un couple malheureux, qui par manque de communication. Qui par épuisement physique et morale. Qui par choix catastrophique. Sont sur le point de non retour. C'est du déjà vu. Qui n'a jamais eu envie de revenir en arrière? D'effacer et de tout recommencer? Moi la première. Rien d'immoral. Rien de nouveau.
A la différence de "Go back couple", ici, seul le point de vue de l'homme est mis en avant. C'est à travers ses yeux que que nous apprenons au fur et à mesure le pourquoi du déclin de couple. Et c'est ce qui est regrettable. Alors oui, ne le cachons pas, Cha Joo Hyuk est détestable. Il prend les mauvaises décisions pour les mauvaises raisons.
La douleur de Seo Woo Jin est ignorée. Les difficultés de sa femme bafouées. Alors, oui, on ne peut que le maudire. Et compatir ( du moins essayons...) aux malheurs de Seo Woo Jin. Malheureusement, il m'a été impossible de ressentir la moindre empathie pour elle. Nous ne voyons ses souffrances qu'à travers Joo Hyuk. Cela a été d'ailleurs pénible de voir Joo Hyuk se flageller durant une bonne partie du drama. Etre un couple, c'est être deux. Et cela fut loin d'être le cas ici.
L'alchimie entre Woo Jin et Joo Huyk n'est pas mauvaise, certains moments étaient vraiment agréables et prêtaient à sourire. Rien d'intense et de fusionnel par contre. Ce fut un autre regret. Pas de battement fous du coeur. Pas de montée d'adrénaline. Ou de sourire niais que l'on se forcerait à contenir. Rien.
Le drama est rempli d'absurdité et d'illogisme...Une mauvaise écriture du scénario.
J'ai vraiment eu du mal à avaler la minute pseudo dramatique" ah mes enfants" de Joo Hyuk! Ses enfants n'existent plus dans cette vie et tout ce qu'il trouve à dire c'est "pardon, papa est désolé"???? What the heck, quoi....Dans "Go back couple", la douleur de Ma Jin Joo lorsqu'elle comprend qu'elle a perdu son enfant m'a brisé le coeur. Mon coeur de maman.
Et puis.
Qui est ce "voyageur du temps" rencontré dans le métro?
Comment la mère de Woo Jin pouvait-elle avoir gardé ses souvenirs dans la deuxième vie? mais pas la troisième vie?
Qu'est ce qui détermine les actions de chacun? les interactions? Pourquoi un personnage "mauvais" dans une vie ne l'est plus dans l'autre vie?
Pourquoi ces sauts dans le temps? comment? Que s'est-il passé entre 2006 et 2018? Pourquoi attendre aussi longtemps?
Autant d'interrogations qui resteront sans réponse. A ce stade ce n'est plus de la frustration, juste un gros soupir de découragement.
Il y a eu de bon moment, des moments drôles comme la scène où Joo Hu-yuk fuit Woo Jin dans leur 3ème vie, des moments émouvants, les scènes entre Woo Jin et sa mère. Les scènes adorables entre Cha Joo Eun et Oh Sang Shik , les meilleurs selon moi. Ce sont ces scènes qui m'ont fait terminer ce drama. Mais pas sans de nombreux bâillements d'ennui. Une fin trop longue et sans intérêt, un scénario bancal, des personnages sans réel profondeur m'obligent tout de même à ne pas donner une bonne note. Je vais me dépêcher de passer à autre chose. D'oublier.
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Quase abandonei...
Foi bem difícil pra mim terminar de ver este drama. Eu realmente gosto dos atores principais, que sempre se esforçam e são maravilhosos em seus dramas, mas seus personagens não me convenceram enquanto casal em nenhum momento. Não consegui sentir a química deles e nem o motivo de se amarem ou de estarem juntos.A história era tão entendiante algumas vezes que eu pulava partes sem prejuízo algum. Na verdade eu torcia para a personagem principal se livrar mesmo do embuste do marido, um personagem chatíssimo, infantil, egoísta e sexista.
A única coisa que o drama me convenceu foi que a vida da personagem principal com certeza era melhor sem ele, seu grande atraso de vida. Só me diverti de fato no último capítulo, porque o “felizes para sempre” rendeu. E tinha que render mesmo, do contrário ninguém ainda torceria por eles depois de tanto doce que ele fez para ficar com ela, mesmo sendo o responsável atrapalhado por tudo (o tanto que o personagem principal se fazia de vítima o tempo todo me deu muita preguiça).
Ah, fora que tem muitas lacunas de explicação sobre aquelas moedas e o “pedágio”, mas enfim, a gente aceita a volta no tempo e aproveita um mundo em que existe uma possibilidade de segundas chances sem pensar muito sobre isso...
Não assistiria novamente!
Não achei nada de tão especial na OST, mas é boa.
P.S.: Minha visão pode ter sido influenciada negativamente por eu ter um casamento feliz e saudável e achar absurdo e chato muito do que vi, mesmo sob a ótica coreana das coisas.
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Cada vez que faço uma burrada essa ideia me vem a cabeça, aquele famoso “e se..” toma conta da minha imaginação, com várias outras formas de desfechos hipotéticos. Familiar Wife tem essa vertente no enredo.
O Drama trás Cha Joo hyuk (Ji Sung), um cara frustrado com a vida. Ele culpa sua esposa Seo Woo Jin (Han Ji-Min), com quem é casado há cinco anos por todo seu azar. Os dois levam o casamento na força do ódio. Estão cansados, estressados e não aguentam mais a cara um do outro.Em uma loucura do universo, joo hyuk volta ao passado e acorda na época de faculdade, justamente no dia em que conheceria Woo ji. Ciente disso, ele escolhe não cruzar sua vida com a dela, mudando assim seu futuro.Agora, ambos possuem histórias totalmente diferentes.
Jo Hyuk testa o “e se..” e descobre se realmente a nova vida que ele tanto sonhava é melhor ou não. ESSE É O MELHOR DORAMA DE ROMANCE FAMILIAR DA MINHA VIDA
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Per quanto riguarda il cast,mi e' piaciuto molto,Ji Sung di cui sono fan ed ho visto quasi tutti i suoi lavori,mi piace sempre,a questo modo naturale di recitare di un professionista che gli permette di fare mille parti diverde e sembrare sempre una persona diversa,lei,Han Ji min mi e' piuaciuta, gia vista in altri drama,ma qui la sua performance mia e' piuacita piu di altre volte,in ogni caso e' stato ottimo il vavoro di tutti gli attori.
Le musice sono bellissime,divertenti,che mettono il buon uomore.
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