It could be convenience: she was obviously willing, and, as that specimen explained to Ji An, “married women are the best, because there is very little burden“.
By the way, I love to speculate, imagine or interpret when watching movies or shows!

well, mariaf, knock yourself out, that’s a perfect outlet for speculation, imagination, interpretation and all such things. and we all enjoy it, that is why we can not move away from this damn computer.
by the way, it could have been convenience, but somehow i think it is way more than that.

You could be right. If I remember it correctly, Dong Hoon rejected the CEO’s offer of friendship when they were in college. This affair could be some kind of a payback.

Yeah, when Dong Hoon and Do Joon Young have their confrontations in the show, Dong Hoon says that even back in college, he never wanted to be friends with DJY because he thought he was greedy and underhanded (“You made your underlings do your dirty work for you,”). And DJY wished that Dong Hoon had been nicer to him in college. I think DJY also looked down on DH for not being very ambitious.

Sounds like back in college, Dong Hoon was the “cool” one that people, including DJY, wanted to be friends with.

Right! That was a betrayal on a totally different level.

Yeah. At first you think they’ve just drifted apart, and perhaps there’s hope for their marriage if they both would just put in the effort. But – she knew about the bribe, didn’t tell him that she knew that DJY was behind it (she let DH flounder), didn’t care if he was fired, and was going to divorce him for DJY. All of that, on top of their already distant marriage….I just don’t think there’s any coming back from that. The trust was broken. It’s a lot of DH to have overcome if he wanted to reconcile with her.

it was nice at the time to have an affair, kind of a vacation from “life”, but did she really intend to go through with the divorce? i am not sure, because later on, when everything is on the table, she seems to genuinely regret and sorry, and it also seems that she would be willing to stay in the marriage and do whatever needs to be done to smooth things with dh. sometimes, after a shock, people might discover that they really do not want to loose the relationship and it gives a sort of a boost, or awakening to the entire event, or whatever you want to call it. but of course, for dh it could be too late, even that he does not like to “rock the boat” in general.

It’s anybody’s guess what would’ve happened, if that CEO were a good man. But he is not. So, of course, she is full of remorse.
That conversation that they had after the wife asked for Dong Hoon’s forgiveness- it should’ve happened before she decided to have an affair ( with anybody). Their relationship and their lifes could’ve taken a different turn.

In my opinion, a ‘good man’ wouldn’t start a relationship with a married woman.

But yes, the whole relationship could perhaps have worked out a lot better if there was better communication from both parties, especially DH. It would still have required a lot of work considering how different both of their perspectives towards life / values were, but it might have been workable.

“In my opinion, a ‘good man’ wouldn’t start a relationship with a married woman.”
Sun Jae from SLA did.

Hmm.. yeah, I am probably making the mistake of judging things in a black and white fashion – there’s probably always exceptions to any situation.

Haven’t watched SLA but plan to – looking forward to understanding the relationship there.

I think Yoon Hee was, in the beginning episodes, preparing to get a divorce. She even says to Do Joon Young when they break up in Ep 8, “I was going to get a divorce because of a bastard like you.” She and DJY had a whole plan, to get DH away from Saman and for YH to divorce him. After YH comes to her senses, she does come back to DH….but yeah, I think by then it’s too late. The betrayal is too deep.

This was foreshadowed in the bar hyung’s words in Ep 10, “Either you put up with her for 3 years and divorce her, or 10 years and divorce her.” It’s really too bad….but I do think they end up divorced in the end. Plus, she said she hated Hugye and all the people around him. DH didn’t give any indication he was willing to move away from Hugye. Lots of irreconcilable factors. Again, it’s too bad, but I don’t think the show sets them up to be happily married at the end (AND she’s in America!).

At the same time, remember what DJY said in response to her – something along the lines of “You would never have gotten a divorce”. DJY’s perceptions about the characters are generally very spot on, and some part of me feels that this is accurate as well. My read of YH is that she still does care about DH, and that she wouldn’t have been able to follow through with asking for a divorce, especially if DH just got fired.

That said, I do agree that they are definitely split up at the end of the series. The betrayal is a huge wedge between them that can never really be resolved, I think. The barkeeper’s words are probably the clearest hint – it’s one of the few times the show is not at all subtle.

At the same time, remember what DJY said in response to her – something along the lines of “You would never have gotten a divorce”. DJY’s perceptions about the characters are generally very spot on, and some part of me feels that this is accurate as well.

Yes, you’re right! And I was just looking at that line yesterday, too, haha. I think her intention was to get a divorce (at least that’s what she said) but I believe DJY’s assessment is accurate, that she wouldn’t have been able to go through with it and “abandon the people you’ve called family for over 10 years.” Thanks for the reminder.

“At the same time, remember what DJY said in response to her – something along the lines of ‘You would never have gotten a divorce”.

He would’ve said anything to shift the blame from himself to anyone else.

I agree that they have split up. Dong Hoon looked too relaxed and happy at the end of the show to doubt that they are not together anymore.

I’m not convinced they are split up, but I don’t want to expend a lot of commentary on why until we have reached the later episodes and have them freshly before us…

Aside from knowledge of the bribe, there’s one more thing that YH kept from DH practically for the rest of the show – JA’s existence and YH’s knowledge of what JY asked her to do. JY said so himself in their confrontation in ep 12, that YH was trying to make things work for DH so that she doesn’t have to reveal to him her knowledge about JA. That’s another huge wedge on top of the bribe and this secret YH kept until DH asked her himself about JA in ep 15. (At this point, I don’t think DH can be bothered anymore by discovering another level of betrayal from YH. He’s just focused now on finding and helping JA.)

The statements made by YH in that ep 12 confrontation with JY was the most categorical in saying that the marriage is dead: “DH and I can’t be together anymore.. Do you know what kind of hell we’re living in right now?” “.. and I have to put up with DH’s hatred.” “I’ll put up with all his hatred..” “I want him to divorce me not because of you, but because of me.” Hatred is a strong word for me. It’s one thing to have an absence of love, and another matter altogether to have hatred. 

Aside from knowledge of the bribe, there’s one more thing that YH kept from DH practically for the rest of the show – JA’s existence and YH’s knowledge of what JY asked her to do. JY said so himself in their confrontation in ep 12, that YH was trying to make things work for DH so that she doesn’t have to reveal to him her knowledge about JA. That’s another huge wedge on top of the bribe, and this secret YH kept until DH asked her about JA in ep 15. (At that point, I think DH didn’t care anymore about finding out another betrayal from YH, he is just focused on helping JA from hereon, eps. since he would also need YH’s help.)

The statements made by YH in that ep 12 confrontation with JY was the most categorical in saying that the marriage is dead: “DH and I can’t be together anymore.. Do you know what kind of hell we’re living in right now?” “.. and I have to put up with DH’s hatred.” “I’ll put up with all his hatred..” “I want him to divorce me not because of you, but because of me.” Hatred is a strong word for me. It’s one thing to have an absence of love, and another matter altogether to have hatred. 

actionsript, you are right about the extent of omitting the truth. once one starts with lies in any relationship but especially marriage, it usually never stops at just one incident. it is like a string of pearls, once the necklace breaks, the pearls are scattered all over, no longer being a precious item.

and yes, you can string the necklace together again, but it will stay forever vulnerable, as the string itself will be prone to break again, not being the original.

Nice analogy.

Yes, Dong Hoon’s microexpression when he asks Yoon Hee, “Do you know Lee Ji An?” and she acknowledges it. And she acknowledges that she knew what DJY had asked JA to do as you pointed out. There was a whole back story between DJY, JA, and YH that DH didn’t know, and you’re right, he would feel betrayed all over again.

The fact that YH is ready to expose the affair is decent of her. As she keeps saying, she wants to help JA stay out of jail, and she’s willing to expose her affair, because “she started this” and she wants to help make it right. But her words to DJY on the rooftop in Ep 12 are pretty clear in that she knows their marriage is headed toward divorce. Like I keep saying, the show doesn’t put things in for no reason :).

“Like I keep saying, the show doesn’t put things in for no reason :).”
This!
So the conversation with the bartender wasn’t there for nothing.
Also, Ji An saying she wanted to reveal to everyone that she had killed a human wasn’t an accident either. She told DH about it. She told that mean secretary/office manager about it too. That wasn’t a small talk.

It’s really on re-watches that we pick up more of the subtle hints and clues (“breadcrumbs,” as others have said elsewhere) woven throughout the show. And there are so many! You’re right – what’s small talk on first impression can actually be pretty significant in this show. I liked how others put it here, “Lazy Viewing it is Not”: https://givemeslippers.wordpress.com/2018/06/24/lazy-viewing-it-is-not/

Thank you for the link. I also read your analysis on soompi. Very thoughtful and insightful.

so much for being nice, or a good woman or “wife in the past”. a human being is a complicated creature, but some things you just do not do, like stubbing your husband of many years in the back, (and he did not do anything to intentionally hurt her) because by encouraging him to leave (knowing all his circumstances with his family and not that easy to find another job), she wants him to leave for the benefit of her lover (and her). momentary misjudgment or a not so nice person?

Honestly, I think it’s fairly complex, and to some extent she still cared about DH even as she was doing all that stuff.

She did feel remorse after finding about the bribe (“We are becoming bad people”), and at that point the bribe had already been sent out, which is very different from something like actively scheming to getting him fired.

Sure, she could have called it out at that point, but doing so at that point implies throwing DJY under the bus and possibly revealing their affair – which is also hard to do since she cared about DJY as well.

Her pushing DH to leave his job was obviously for her own benefit, but she also tried to do it in a way that would result in minimal harm to him, with her offering to help support him in the initial stages.

She also did see how unhappy he was at his job (“Going to a slaughterhouse every day”), and was clearly frustrated that he was in such a situation as well. I think her pushing him to leave was partially motivated by this as well – ultimately, him leaving the company would probably have been a good thing for his personal happiness, as underlined by the eventual ending.

As you said, a human being is complicated, and the writing in this show is good enough to reflect that.

Great points!

Excellent points.

Also, I believe the potential divorce wasn’t the main reason why DJY wanted to get rid of Dong Hoon. DJY knew that DH hated him and, given an opportunity (a promotion), he would’ve voted to fire him. Hence the demotion, harassment, etc. The bribe was an accident, but DJY was happy to use it to advance his goal.

Yes, she definitely comes to a realization of what a dick he is, to the point of actively despising him, and despising herself not only for the adultery per se, but for falling for him in the first place.

There’s a lot of growth and moral awakening in the show, and not just by our main characters…

I think we’re meant to judge her at first, at least somewhat, because the affair is presented so up front and in your face. I actually ended up appreciating her growth and convinced she definitely has a core of decency. And I found the scene where she kneels down in the kitchen to apologize to DH to be extraordinarily powerful.

She’s a very well written character, for the most part. She does some despicable things, yet at the same time she’s very sympathetic and even understandable.

Ji An intervened, of course, and helped the wife to realize what kind of man DJY was. She played the recording.

“It’s amusing that we’re spending so much time debating elements of the show that most us haven’t seen in a long time and therefore might not remember clearly, long before they actually air during the group watch.”

You have a point. Eventually we might have to establish a few rules re how far we are allowed to go. For now, I’m just enjoying the freedom of expression.

This is just what happens when MM is involved. I just watched the whole show again 3 weeks ago, too, so everything is fresh in my mind — but I tend to go on rabbit trails with MM very easily. This is why this spoiler thread is so dangerous for my real life. 😄

I’m new to commenting on the site. Is there an easy way to check new comments and new replies? Or do we need to always scroll through and discover them?

Great, thanks!!

Ha! I did follow your very good instructions and subscribed to email notifications, but your reply hasn’t been emailed yet! 🙂