I chose this one as my next drama. I really like Ji Sung and Han Ji Min and am happy to see them again. As usual with storylines that involve fantasy time travel etc., I never really bother figuring out the hows and whys, or whether things make any sense… I like to sit back and enjoy the results (and challenges) that are presented because of the set up.

I found myself immediately pulled into the storyline as we meet a stressed-out couple who are barely coping with life, but even before we see them together we see his reaction to her phone call and it’s fear – far from a loving one – hmm… Intriguing! And then we get to meet them.

With two small children to raise and both working fulltime life is frenetic. There’s a certain reality in the scenes where we first see them, as a child is crying while both are trying to sleep, each one is pushing the other to do something about it. Naturally, both oversleep and the chaos begins as they try to get to their respective jobs on time.

He works in a bank and it doesn’t seem to be the first time that he comes in late. She is a massage therapist and is finding it really hard to juggle home and work life, especially because she seems to have the bulk of the responsibility. I’m particularly struck by how miserable, how stressed out, how angry she looks. We don’t yet know the reasons in the past but we can see what it is at this moment.

She’s been waiting all day for him to text her or call her about whether he can pick up the kids from daycare, time is ticking, she’s getting calls from the school, she tries in vain to reach him… she calls and calls and calls… nothing… nada…he’s dealing with his own crisis at work and that’s the last thing he’s thinking about. She finally has to grovel to her boss so she can leave early and her anger is churning and churning and she’s about to explode in frustration…

I felt her stress through the screen and it wasn’t that he was actively ignoring her but it’s obvious that these two are causing each other stress. That makes her really nasty and abusive (even physically) and it just seems like an explosive situation that will not end well. And then he meets a girl from the past… lovely… elegant… sweet, and she tells him that she used to like him. Well isn’t that manna from heaven to hear those words – welcome ones for a man who feels abused and not appreciated. I can imagine how many “what if” daydreams were going through his head. So, after a series of things happen, one day he wakes up and he’s got a new wife!

I’m really interested in these two characters. I like the fact that neither one is villainous – bad – just very unhappy. Communication has stopped between them. Neither one empathizes or understands the other. It seems that they are worlds apart but I’m really interested in seeing how they got there. He has lots of flaws – doesn’t seem very mature at times nor an equal partner in this relationship. It’s hard to like him at all and I actually don’t. The flashbacks present us with such different people, so what happened to that perky, enthusiastic loving girl he married? How was she replaced with this angry shrew? Enquiring minds want to know. Meanwhile, let’s see what happens!

#familiar-wife, #han-ji-min, #jang-seung-jo, #ji-sung, #kang-ha-na, #wife-i-know