This isn’t going to be a very lengthy review. My intention is to supply as little information as possible while trying to persuade you to watch the show. I could actually write quite a bit about My Wife’s Having an Affair This Week but I want you to enter the life of Do Hyun-Woo and Jung Soo-Yeon with as little knowledge of them and their situation as possible. I suggest you skip any information about the show that could possibly hint to choices these people will make. Don’t watch a trailer, just go into it blindly, like I did. Only then will you be able to watch it with your raw emotions. Because that’s how this drama needs to be watched – not with your head, but with your heart.
Personally, I don’t like to use the word “cheat” when talking about an infidelity. Cheating is something unethical you do when winning a game or passing a test is more important to you than playing fair or being honest. Could it be that people “cheat” on their significant other because they see relationships as “games” or “tests”? Something to think about.
My Wife’s Having an Affair This Week… I thought it was going to be a comedy about a guy who goes through funny situations to spy on his wife because he’s under the misguided impression she’s having an affair. Nope, that’s not it. The writer gives us a serious look inside the lives of people who choose to take their wedding vows lightly, for whatever reason, and betray the marital relationship they have with their spouse. Yes, she has an affair but that’s all the information I’m giving you.
Thirty-seven year old Do Hyun-Woo has been a producer for ten years. The show he’s been working on was just canceled and his team has to come up with a new idea for a weekly television program. He has been married to his college sweetheart, Jung Soo-Yeon, for eight years and they have a little boy in kindergarten. When he suspects his beloved wife may be having an affair he is dumbfounded and seeks the advice of strangers through an online social network.
Jung Soo-Yeon has a quiet disposition and a warm smile. She juggles the responsibilities of being a full-time wife, mother, and graphic designer seemingly perfectly.
Lee Sun-Kyun, who plays Do Hyun-Woo, graduated in the first batch of Korea National University of Arts’ School of Drama. He made his acting debut in 2001 in the stage musical The Rocky Horror Show. For the next six years he played minor supporting roles and then was cast in the TV dramas White Tower and Coffee Prince and his popularity as a leading actor took off. Some actors loose themselves in their roles and you forget who is portraying that specific character as you watch the show. They are like chameleons and fade away as the person they are playing takes over. And then there are actors who make the role themselves, the character is just who the actor is – in other words, it’s like the actor isn’t even acting. The character is real because the actor is real, and Lee Sun-Kyun is that kind of actor. There isn’t a single moment you wonder how many times he rehearsed that line, or how long it took to block a specific scene because real people don’t rehearse what they say or block life. His character’s reactions are authentic and words are genuine. Maybe that’s why he’s on my favorite actors list.
Song Ji-Hyo, who plays the part of Jung Soo-Yeon, dreamed of becoming an actress when she was in high school yet has a tax and accounting degree from Kyungmoon University (now Kookje College). She modeled for Kiki Magazine and appeared in music videos before her debut as an actress. My introduction to Song Ji-Hyo in a starring role was in the romance-comedy Kdrama Emergency Couple. She sports red hair in that role so it took some time for me to get used to her dark hair in My Wife’s Having an Affair This Week. Two pieces of interesting information I found – she made her Chinese acting debut this year in the feature film 708090, and she was the only female in the original cast of the variety show Running Man.
I remember when I was a kid there was this segment on Sesame Street where this little girl has a balloon and a pin and contemplates, step by step, what might happen if she pops the balloon. There is a boy nearby who is standing on a skateboard, holding his dog’s leash and the girl imagines how funny it would be to startle the boy with the burst. But as she pictures the boy and his dog getting hurt, because the pop sound scares the dog and pulls the kid away on the skateboard and they crash into an apple cart, she decides to not pop the balloon after all and gives it to the boy instead. That short animated segment is trying to encourage children to think about their actions and how they may effect other people before they follow through on an idea. I think this Kdrama may be trying to tell adults that same thing. There are always consequences to our actions and too often we just don’t think far enough ahead before we act. If we saw things play out before we made a decision, would we choose the same thing? Hummmmmm.
As far as the music and scenery go, for me, they aren’t things that stand out and that’s okay because what’s important is the characters and what’s going on in their lives. From what I remember the music is nice and the scenery is typical everyday life kind of backgrounds that work well with this show.
My Wife’s Having an Affair This Week is a drama that forces us to ponder. Every time I heard Jung Soo-Yeon say, “I’m sorry” I thought of a poem I found while skimming through my mom’s Reader’s Digest magazine when I was young. It must have left a big impression on my little-kid mind because I memorized it and I think it’ll be a good way to end this review…
“I shouldn’t have done it. It wasn’t quite right.
My tears are repentant, my words are contrite.
But do I regret the misdeed as I ought?
Or am I just sorry because I got caught?”
Score: 9.5
The Good:
Very, very realistic
Characters we care about
Plot with a message
Good ending
Emotional
Makes you think
Good length for the storyline
Four time Best Actor Award winning actor Lee Sun-Kyun
The Bad:
Nothing bad at all
Heart and Seoul 