Familiar Wife Season 1 Episode 16 Recap

Ju-Hyeok and Wu-jin wake up late, so they rush to prepare for work. Ju-Hyeok remembers he adjusted the alarm so they would still have time to sleep. They go back to bed to sleep for a few minutes but still get up late. Ju-Hyeok dresses up the kids while Wu-jin prepares for work. When Wu-jin’s done, she takes Ju-Hyeok’s place so he can also prepare for work. They take the kids to the bus where their teacher is waiting. When they check the time, both of them are late for work. They leave their bags outside the office, take used coffee cups and casually walk into the office like they’ve been there earlier. Jong-hu catches them and scolds them. Jong-hu is now Ju-Hyeok’s team leader, and Mr. Byeon is their Deputy Manager. When the bank manager arrives, he brings good news from the HR Department at the head office: two people from their branch will get promoted. One is the leader of the Deposit Team, Ms. Jang, and the other one is Wu-jin. Everyone is happy for Wu-jin and congratulates her, even Ju-Hyeok.

Hwan points out that Ju-Hyeok is the only one left behind, so they should call him Sir Chief-a-lot. The other employees aren’t happy with what Hwan said, but Ju-Hyeok finds it funny and even jokes about it. Wu-jin says it’s bad that she got promoted first, then she asks Ju-Hyeok if he’s okay with it. Ju-Hyeok says he’s happy for Wu-jin and is proud of her. He adds that it’s good at least one of them is promoted. After office hours, they celebrate Ms. Jang and Wu-jin’s promotion. It’s also a send-off for Ms. Jang who will be transferred to a different branch soon. Wu-jin gets so drunk that Ju-Hyeok has to carry her on his back. They thank Ju-eun who looked after the kids while they were out and say they will return the favor someday.

While Wu-jin is already asleep, Ju-Hyeok receives a phone call from his mother-in-law. He goes to her house even if it’s already late and fixes the water leaking in her front yard. Ju-Hyeok even volunteers to look for the right person to do the work because what he did is just temporary. Then he goes to Sang-Sik’s restaurant where he finds Jong-hu sulking. He finds out that his friend fought with his wife, so Ju-Hyeok tells Jong-hu that he must overcome it or things will get worse. He advises Jong-hu to compliment his wife and avoid arguments in their house. Both Sang-Sik and Jong–hu listen to him and wonders how it is that Ju-Hyeok knows a lot. 

The next day, Mr. Byeon tells Ju-Hyeok he should attend the advanced performance training the next day. The training is all day, and he has to take an exam that night which will be 30 percent of the assessment. Based on how well Ju-Hyeok answers the exam will play a big part in whether he will get promoted next time. The branch manager arrives carrying a box he got from the head office. Ju-Hyeok grabs a tablet inside the box and says it will be helpful since his tablet is already broken. The bank manager says the tablets are only for leaders and above, so he offers Ju-Hyeok a planner instead. Embarrassed, Ju-Hyeok puts the tablet back. Wu-jin offers Ju-Hyeok her tablet and says her other tablet works just fine. Ju-Hyeok says they should keep it professional at work and says no to Wu-jin’s offer.

That night he meets with his friends from college, and to his surprise, Hye-won arrives. When he comes home that night, Wu-jin checks his phone and sees the photos sent to Ju-Hyeok. She suspects Ju-Hyeok didn’t want her to go because Hye-won was coming. Ju-Hyeok says he didn’t know Hye-won would be there since it was supposed to be a boys’ night. Instead of arguing, Wu-jin goes straight to bed.

The next day, before Ju-Hyeok leaves, he reminds Wu-jin he has training for the entire day and must be at the head office by 8 p.m. He says Wu-jin should pick up their kids. In the office, it’s such a busy day for everybody. An old woman asks for help because her card got stuck inside the ATM. Wu-jin comes to her rescue and calms the old woman, but the client gets really scared and faints. Wu-jin tries waking her up, but when she fails, they call an ambulance to bring the old woman to the hospital. In the middle of the training, Ju-Hyeok receives a message from the kids’ teacher asking him to pick up the kids. She says she tried calling Wu-jin, but she’s not picking up. Wu-jin is still at the hospital. When the old woman’s relative arrives, Wu-jin finally checks her phone. They help each other so they can pick up the kids and still make it to the head office by 8 p.m. First, Ju-Hyeok meets up with the teacher to pick up the kids, then he waits for Wu-jin at their meeting place. When Wu-jin arrives, Ju-Hyeok leaves to take the exam at the head office — he arrives just in time.

After some time, Ms. Jang visits the office because she misses them. She says she heard from the head office that Ju-Hyeok will be promoted to team leader in the branch where she works. That night at Sang-Sik’s restaurant, they surprise Ju-Hyeok with a cake to congratulate him on his promotion. Ju-eun, Jong-hu, Sang-Sik, and Wu-jin are all there to celebrate with him. When they have time, Ju-Hyeok and Wu-jin leave the two kids to Wu-jin’s mom, and they go on a date. They have decided they will no longer look at the past and only focus on their future together.

Our Thoughts

They learned a lot from their past experiences, especially Ju-Hyeok. Wu-jin is also much happier than before, and she also looks better. They no longer scream, shout, and argue. When they have problems, they cooperate and try to find ways to make things work. It’s just that it seems like Ju-Hyeok cheated on life. He went back a few times just to change his life. He finally got it right. At least, that’s what it seems.

He is lucky that the strange man gave him the coins so he could change the direction of his marriage. If he didn’t return in time, he and Wu-jin would have separated. Maybe it only means that the relationship they had before could no longer be saved, so he had to go back and make a different decision. It’s a bit sad, but they know what they did even though all of their decisions affected everyone else’s life.