Love Affairs in the Afternoon

Presentation

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Analysis

Synopsis

​Son Ji Eun is stuck in an unhappy marriage. She is very lonely and can’t seem to escape her sad reality. One day, she meets Yoon Jung Woo and they start to form a connection. 

My Opinion (No Spoilers)

Love Affairs in the Afternoon is a remake of the Japanese drama called Hirugao. I liked the basic idea of the drama and the realism with which it depicts the downsides of marriage. However, many details frustrated me and annoyed, especially characters, either main or supportive. 

If you like dramas that talk about life issues such as married life, I think you can go look that drama. Still, I would recommend you take some distance with the plot, otherwise you are going to get as mad as I was. 

Analysis (Spoiler Alert)

​Characters:

Main characters: Son Ji Eun (Park Ha Sun) is a very shy and discreet woman. She works at a supermarket and doesn’t talk to many people. She has been married for a few years with Jin Chang Kook (Jung Sang Hoon), who totally ignores her and is more interesting in his birds than his wife. They live together, but it is as if two strangers were sharing the same apartment. Ji Eun tries to get closer to her husband, because her mother-in-law is constantly asking for grandchildren, but he rejects her and pushes her away. This cold and distant relationship strongly impacted Ji Eun’s personality. She used to be brighter and liked doing many things; but then she became very lonely, unable to find meaning in her life. It is a very sad and pitiful character in my opinion, and I really empathized with her a lot. However, I couldn’t really understand, why she didn’t ask for a divorce sooner, since she was unhappy and had nothing left in common with her husband. As part of the answer, I believe that she was scared she wouldn’t be able to get back on her feet and also scared to be lonelier than she already is. 

Yoon Jung Woo (Lee Sang Yeob) is very similar to Ji Eun, that’s the reason why they match so well. He has been married for a few years too but his wife went to the USA for her studies and she left him alone in South Korea for 3 years. Just like Ji Eun, he is a very lonely person. His only interest is in photographing nature, since he is a biology teacher. So, Jung Woo has lived alone for a long time, almost forgetting he is married and his wife doesn’t seem to find it problematic. He is very silent and doesn’t talk much. 

These two characters meet at the supermarket and strangely connect. I think they may have sensed that the other was feeling as lonely as they were and for that reason they managed to form a bond. Their relationship, compared to the second main lead, is very slow, almost poetic and silent. They don’t need to talk a lot; they only need to feel the other’s presence to compensate their respective solitude. It is a blooming romance, in which characters are scared to engage because of their own situation (they both are married and don’t want to betray their partner). 

Despite the sweet link between them, they were so frustrating (and I weigh my words). Indeed, they are too easily influenced by their spouse and are incapable of defending themselves of their own feelings. Meaning that their spouse decides their lives for them and they let them do so. To me, this was insufferable, because indecisiveness is a terrible default, especially when it comes to relationships and feelings. They fall in love, they want to be together and put an end to their shallow marriages. Yet, they don’t fight for what they want. 

In that matter I think the worst scene is when they secretly go hide in Jung Woo’s house in the woods. They think they are safe, yet their spouse find them and drag them back home. The most annoying moment was when each spouse arrived at the house and physically separated them, without Ji Eun or Jung Woo doing anything. I think to me it was the turning point in their story. Literally the moment I gave up, stopped hoping they would be together and waited patiently for the story to end. 

The second main lead has a whole different kind of relationship. I think passion is the word that best describes their bond. Choi Soo Ah (Ye Ji Won) is a housewife, married to a rich man, she has two kids but is bored in her marriage. She meets the artist DoHa Yoon (Jo Dong Hyuk) and begin this intense passion. The big difference I think between Choi Soo Ah and Son Ji Eun is the determination and the ease with which Soo Ah does what she wants, with whomever she wants. She knows of course that she is having an affair behind her husband’s back but doesn’t care. It is a sort of revenge against him for treating her like an invisible person. Even though she is reluctant at first, she gets convinced by Ha Yoon and doesn’t regret her actions afterwards. 

When her husband discovers her affair, he threatens her with the kids, which of course forces her to renounce her lover. I really thought that Soo Ah’s situation was really pitiful because she is stuck in her marriage because of her children and can’t leave them as easily as Ji Eun can escape her marriage. 

Supporting characters: Without the shadow of a doubt, all spouses are selfish characters, very possessive and incapable of recognizing their partners’ suffering. Ji Eun’s husband Chang Kook and hish mother by the way, oppose the divorce. Chang Kook even believes that with some efforts he can glue back the pieces. He is only thinking about his pain and goes to greater length by forbidding his wife to leave the house. Ji Eun has to show how desperate she is with an attempted suicide to make him understand she can’t go on like that. 

There is by the way a beautiful metaphor of her condition with her husband’s birds. At first, just like her, the two lovebirds are together in a cage, prisoners, sharing the same space. At some point, a bird escapes leaving the other one alone. The one that escapes can be associated with Ji Eun, who finally starts to break free from her chains. She leaves behind her depressed and lonely husband. When he hears about the missing bird, Chang Kook goes crazy, destroying his wife. He looks for it without success. I think at that point in the drama, it is pretty clear that this moment is a point of no return for Ji Eun. She has broken free and is finally able to fly with her own wings. It is also a good hint to predict the rest of the story. Chang Kook is depressed and scared to be lonely, but I think it is more a question of pride than it is of love. He has neglected his wife all these years but refuses to let go. 

No Min Young (Ryu Abel) is worse than Chang Kook in my opinion. I hated her most, because she has been invisible for 3 years and suddenly comes back, thinking that everything is fine and asking for a baby. 

She is so obsessed with keeping her husband and having a kid to the point that she believes herself to be pregnant. This breaks Jung Woo and Ji Eun’s relationship and for a moment I thought Soo Ah’s life was projecting Jung Woo’s, stuck in an unhappy marriage because of the kids. Fortunately, false alarm, but Min Young still succeeded in separating them. 

Her personality was really terrible, selfish and self-centered. If at some point I could understand Chang Kook’s pain and see his vain efforts to make up for his mistakes; Min Young was constantly violently pushing her feelings and desires on Jung Woo, disrespecting his own emotions. 

Lee Young Jae (Choi Byung Woo) embodied another type of personality. I believe keeping Soo Ah as his housewife was purely a question of honor and pride. Just like Ha Yoon’s ex-wife Kim Bit Na (Yoo Seo Jin) who suddenly decides to get back with him. 

My greatest pain point in the drama was probably the incapability of characters to say no. Those who had a real relationship were always either considering others’ feelings instead of theirs first or being easily influenced and manipulated by the selfish characters. They were two opposing sides in this drama: the adulterers, too selfless, weak and indecisive and the spouses, too selfish and disrespectful of people’s feelings. Each side making me frustrated, since no character managed to make me appreciate him/her. 

If you wish to know the true meaning of frustration, the drama is all for you!

Marriage is a prison: The real message of the drama and the only (and I highlight the “only”) reason I could understand people having an affair, is if their marriage has actually become a prison and is a land of desolation. That is totally the case for the main characters: Soo Ah, Ji Eun and Jung Woo. My overall feeling is that they were prisoners of that cage called marriage. They were put down by a ring and a piece of paper and mistreated. Their spouses are their executioners and are mentally and emotionally torturing them. In this condition, their only way out was escape. Taking all of these variables into account, their unhappiness, solitude, lack of meaning in their life, and absence of relationship with their husband/wife; I really wished they would be able to run away and start from scratch. Even though, it would’ve been less criticized, had they asked for a divorce first and then dated, I think having an affair in that case set them free. Indeed, it forced their spouse to understand the feelings they are incapable to communicate and let them go for good. 

The talk of an affair: The most ironic part of the drama is the trio made up of Soo Ah, Ji Eun and Min Young. It really was a twist of fate to see how Min Young and Ji Eun “share” the same man, without actually knowing it. Moreover, they were all freely talking about their affairs, except Min Young, until Min Young gets a slap in the face. Well, since she is the worst character in the drama, I am grateful to karma for hitting her so bad!

The resolution: After a lot of bumps on the road, finally Ji Eun and Jung Woo divorce; but they don’t get together right away. All for nothing I thought, Ji Eun, goes away in the countryside, Jung Woo continues his life with no news from her. One day, Ji Eun encounters Min Young at the market with a baby. At that moment, I was horrified, thinking she had had a baby with Jung Woo. Fortunately, the baby was a false alarm, she had gotten a divorce, remarried and had her baby with someone else. A relief for Ji Eun (and me!). 

At some moment, Ji Eun and Jung Woo eventually meet again to start anew (at last!). 

Chang Kook also finds a new lover, one of his colleagues, who was already in love with him, when he was still married. Good for him!

The resolution was kind of satisfying, even though I felt like the bad spouses were luckier in their next relationship than our two main characters, only meeting again. Yet, all of them, except Soo Ah, were finally free. 

Message of the drama: An unhappy marriage can ruin your life and yourself; don’t be afraid to break free from these chains. 

In a nutshell, very interesting drama (I am not sure by the way the Japanese drama has a good ending) but you will definitely need to learn how to be patient!

P.S.: In case you don’t know this channel, Channel A offers a lot of dark and adult dramas like Mistresses for example!

I am sorry I couldn’t find a proper trailer 😦