Familiar Wife Season 1 Episode 8 Recap

After finding a 500 won coin, Ju-Hyeok returns to where he first saw the mysterious tollgate, but it’s not there when he arrives. He keeps turning and going back, hoping that after a couple of times doing so, the tollgate will finally appear. When it doesn’t show, Ju-Hyeok turns the car around and rushes to the train station. He runs around looking for the old man who gave him the 500 won coins in his previous life. He goes to the toilet, pushes one of the cubicles open, and sees the old man sleeping on the floor. Ju-Hyeok wakes the old man up, but the man pays him no attention.

Ju-Hyeok apologizes and asks the man to help him return to his previous life with Wu-Jin. He cries and kneels and begs the old man to help him. He confesses he was the one who turned Wu-jin into the person she was. He ignored her and thought only of his own pain. “How do I go back to that day? Please tell me how I can go back, and save this crazy guy’s life,” he begs. The old man looks straight into Ju-Hyeok’s eyes and says, “You can’t take it back. What’s done is done. It’s done, no taking back. You were so desperate before.” He tells Ju-Hyeok that making the wrong decision is also his fate, so he should just wish Wu-jin a happy life. Before going home that night, Ju-Hyeok looks back at all his good memories with Wu-jin, finally accepting that he can’t return to how things were. The next day, he goes to the office looking happier than ever. He even helps Jong-hu spend more time with Wu-jin by volunteering to do Jong-hu’s paperwork since the next day is the memorial service for Wu-jin’s father.

The office is busier than usual because they have received news that the next bank vice president will be doing a secret inspection that day or the next day. Everyone is told to smile and be more accommodating so they will impress the vice president. Since they don’t know what he looks like, when they see someone dashing walk into the bank with his secretary, they all assume it’s him. They all gather around to help the man with what he needs. Meanwhile, Wu-jin gives lotion to an old woman she meets in the toilet. Afterward, she also helps the woman when she inquires about bank accounts and loans. Wu-jin smiles at the woman and even says she will call her if they finally have a product that will suit the woman’s interest. 

The next day, they find out they received good reviews from the vice president. They all wait to greet him, expecting he is the man they talked to the day before. When the vice president walks in, it’s the woman who Wu-jin helped. She looks for Wu-jin because she wants to see her again, but Wu-jin is not coming to the office that day. She hands money to the team and tells them to eat outside to motivate everybody. Even though Wu-jin is not there, the employees still choose to celebrate. Jong-hu worries about Wu-jin because she is not answering his calls for the entire day. Ju-Hyeok tells his friend not to worry, but he wonders what happened to Wu-jin. Ju-Hyeok remembers how he had missed the memorial service for Wu-jin’s father for years, even when Wu-jin always asked him to go. Feeling guilty, Ju-Hyeok goes to Wu-jin’s house after drinking with his coworkers.

On the day of the memorial service, Wu-jin wakes up and finds that her mother is not beside her. She waits for her and calls her name, but she doesn’t return to the room. When she realizes her mother has gone missing again, she walks around the neighborhood looking for her. She looks everywhere but can’t find her — she no longer knows where to look. Wu-jin looks for her mother the entire day. Still, she can’t find her. That night as Ju-Hyeok is on his way home after leaving a gift in Wu-jin’s house, he sees Wu-jin crying. Wu-jin looks so lost that she doesn’t even notice Ju-Hyeok. Ju-Hyeok notices there is a problem, so he asks Wu-jin what it is. “She left her ID tag too. And she doesn’t remember my phone number. What if I can’t find her?” Wu-jin says. Ju-Hyeok suggests they go to the police station to file the report.

After they file a missing person report, Wu-jin tells Ju-Hyeok he should just go home, but Ju-Hyeok tells her he has already told his wife where he is. The truth is, when Ju-Hyeok called Hye-won, he told her that an executive from work had just lost his mother and he needed to visit with the branch manager and Mr. Byeon. Ju-Hyeok comes up with an idea, posts a photo of Wu-jin’s mother online, and asks people to give information if they ever see her. He stays beside Wu-jin all night, spending the night together in the police station, waiting for results.

The following day, they receive a message saying Wu-jin’s mother is at the bus terminal, but when they arrive there, it’s a different woman and not Wu-jin’s mother. Wu-jin is already losing hope, but they receive another message saying that Wu-jin’s mother is at a soup kitchen for the homeless. They rush to the place and see Wu-jin’s mom serving food along with other volunteers. Wu-jin hugs her mom tight, but her mom looks surprised that Wu-jin is worried about her. Ju-Hyeok also hugs the old woman. Wu-jin’s mom just laughs at them. Wu-jin remembers that when her father was still alive, he and his wife used to do volunteer work. As Wu-jin walks Ju-Hyeok to his car, she thanks him for his help. She says she wouldn’t have found her mother if it weren’t for the post. Wu-jin continues to say she will try her best to fill the void his father left, but it will be too difficult because he was everything to Wu-jin’s mother. “Just like the number zero? Zero makes everything into zero in multiplication. But it has no power in addition, because the number zero loves addition more,” Ju-Hyeok says. Wu-jin looks surprised at how Ju-Hyeok knows about it. The truth is she already told Ju-Hyeok the same thing in their previous life. Ju-Hyeok says he really wants to apologize to his past love, but he can’t do it anymore because it’s already too late. They wish each other the best and shake each other’s hands. 

When Ju-Hyeok comes home, he talks to Hye-won a bit before he prepares for bed. Back at Wu-jin’s house, her mother gets up and takes Wu-jin’s phone. When Hye-won sees it’s Wu-jin who is calling, she answers the phone. “Dear Ju-Hyeok, why did you just go? You should’ve stayed to eat with us,” says Wu-jin’s mom. When Hye-won asks who she is, the old woman says, “I called my son-in-law, Ju-Hyeok’s number.” When Hye-won says she is Ju-Hyeok’s wife, the old woman ends the call. Hye-won realizes Ju-Hyeok lied to her about his whereabouts. When she checks Ju-Hyeok’s pockets, she sees a detective’s calling card. Hye-won checks the car to see where Ju-Hyeok was. Afterward, Hye-won goes back inside the house to confront Ju-Hyeok.

Our Thoughts

We feel bad for Hye-won. Of course, when she removed her wedding ring when she was with Hyeon-Su, it was suspicious. But we think when Wu-jin’s mom called and said that Ju-Hyeok is her son-in-law, Hye-won got hurt. Only the viewers know that she wasn’t really supposed to be Ju-Hyeok’s wife, but to Hye-won, it‘s her reality. How can Ju-Hyeok escape such a situation? He should have thought of Wu-jin and Hye-won. If he got involved with Wu-jin, he’d only make her a cheater. Many will get hurt because Ju-Hyeok can never be contented. He can’t have everything, but he is just greedy.

It’s nice that he helped Wu-jin look for her mom, but we don’t think lying to Hye-won was necessary. But because he lied, Hye-won will only think he’s hiding something. Wu-jin will also get in trouble. If Wu-jin gets tangled with the couple’s problem, Jong-hu will also get hurt. The old man gave good advice to Ju-Hyeok. It was short but straight to the point. He told Ju-Hyeok to just be happy for Wu-jin because he couldn’t return to his previous life. But if the man knows that much, does that mean he has powers? Magic? Well, how is he the only one besides Ju-Hyeok who knows what really happened?