Love Affairs in the Afternoon is Channel A’s recent drama starring Park Hasun, Ye Jiwon, Lee Sangyeob, and Jo Donghyuk. The drama is a remake of the Japanese Hirugao series from 2014. It follows the story of two women who find love outside their respective marriages. The show poses difficult but necessary questions about love, infidelity, and marriage.
Love Affairs in the Afternoon: Synopsis
Son Jieun (Park Hasun) is a young woman married to Ji Changgook (Jung Sanghoon). The couple does not have children and instead raises two parrots, Love and Faith. Jieun works part time at a supermarket and has a lonely life with nothing going for her. She becomes friends with Choi Sooah (Ye Jiwon), a sophisticated woman who moves into the neighborhood with her family.
Sooah is married to Lee Youngjae (Choi Byungmo), a rich man who owns a publishing company. Sooah, however, is not content with the high-end life that her husband provides. She therefore meets with other men in the afternoon when her kids are in school.
Sooah befriends Jieun and is not ashamed to tell her about her afternoon rendezvous with other men, even though she is married. She sees this as a way to fulfil her own needs, ones that she cannot find within her own marriage. She urges Jieun to do the same by planning “accidental” meetings between her and Yoon Jungwoo (Lee Sangyeob), a teacher at a neighboring school that Jieun seems to like. Jieun starts to meet with Jungwoo without realizing that he is the husband of her former schoolmate and friend Noh Minyoung (Abel Ryu).
Meanwhile, Sooah falls in love with Do Hayoon (Jo Donghyuk), a painter who also works as an illustrator for her husband’s publishing company. However, things get complicated when her husband finds out what is going on between them.
Review
Love Affairs in the Afternoon is an enlightening story that provides insight into the institution of marriage and the difficulties that come with it. It also raises questions about love and whether the decisions we choose to make, either right or wrong, are justifiable simply because we are in love. The main characters are able to find the love that makes them feel happy and fulfilled, but the decisions they make provide a moral dilemma of sorts, even though the audience wants to root for them and their happiness.
Through Jieun, we are able to see a woman who has lost her own identity in becoming someone else’s spouse. She is unfulfilled in her duties as a wife and simply goes through her life without any motivation or purpose. When she falls in love with Jungwoo, we are able to see her blossom as she finds someone who values her presence, her thoughts, and her feelings. Nevertheless, Jieun is torn between the love she feels for Jungwoo and being faithful to her husband. With the relationship between her and Changgook worsening, it is not surprising that she is able to find refuge in the arms of Jungwoo. Nevertheless, is this reason enough for her to cheat on her husband? The show presents the viewers with a confusing situation whereby we too are torn between supporting Jieun in her newfound love and condemning her for cheating on her significant other.
On the other hand, Sooah seems to have everything figured out as is often demonstrated through her confidence and elegance. She is a good mother, wife, and host, but her need to seek other men without her husband’s knowledge is telling of the fact that there is something lacking in her life as well. When she meets Hayoon, she throws caution to the wind and fully immerses herself in the relationship to the point where she leaves her family to be with him. While we can understand her reasoning for leaving her husband, it is a different story with the children. The children suffer the most with Sooah’s decision to go with Hayoon, and they constantly try to look for a way to get her to come back home. This presents us with yet another predicament: the choices that a woman is allowed to make for the sake of her own happiness. To what extent should a woman go in the name of love? Is it right to forsake your own children in search of love and happiness?
In the end, the drama resolves its conflicts quite well and it is a befitting conclusion for the characters. Nonetheless, the issue of whether finding love outside marriage should be described as love or simply an affair takes precedence and the drama makes a good argument in justifying its characters’ decisions. It affords the viewers a conflicting situation whereby we are unable to pick sides or easily judge the characters, which is probably the highlight of the story.
This drama does romanticize affairs and it’s grotesque. However, the drama explores love, mental abuse, manipulation, and the beautiful and evil side of the human condition.
This review is based on how infidelity is presented in the drama
Love Affair in the Afternoon (2019) is a Korean drama that explores the relationship between Son Ji-Eun( Park Ha Sun) and Yoon Jung-Woo ( Lee Sang Yeob). The two keep appearing in each other’s lives after meeting one day at the grocery store. They begin to find comfort and love within each others company, and a romance soon begins. The only problem is they are both married. This is the Korean remake of the original Japanese version Hirugao(2014).
Why I recommend this drama: This drama really touched my heart. I think it has an important message and everyone should watch it before making their assumptions on whether this drama is good or bad. The drama itself does not deny affairs are wrong. It brings forth the idea that relationships should be honest, starting with ourselves. The relationships between each married couple and cheating spouses are clearly on different levels emotionally, mentally, and physically. I especially loved the symbolism of using the bird and its name as a metaphor for love. The storyline is excellent, and the character growth is impressive. It’s a drama you won’t forget. Please go watch this drama!
Jung-Woo and Ji-Eun Relationship: I cannot deny how much chemistry they have. Their relationship had me in tears, but you could see them starting to live again. Before Jung-Woo and Ji-Eun were really lost and lonely. I hate that I love them together. Because I know what they are doing is wrong. But I just wanted them to be happy finally. It just really pained me to see them throughout the drama because something so beautiful such a loving another person turned out to be despicable since it was an affair. No matter how much the audience is rooting for them, they cannot because there is so much deception and lies built around their love. They understood each other, supported each other’s dreams, and help one another find a reason to live life happy once again. It’s just so tragic that their relationship is an affair. And the drama never lets you forget that factor.
My Thoughts Regarding the Drama: I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this masterpiece. It was so beautiful and wrong at the same time. It’s filled with desperations, love, hopelessness, lies, and deception. But I cannot deny how much I love the main leads Ji-Eun and Jung-Woo even though I fully agree with how they went about their relationship is morally wrong. It’s sad because everyone got hurt in the end. They learned to let go and grow. But the effects hit hard on everyone involved. As for Soo-Ah, her children suffered the affects of their mom’s infidelity. And I love that the storyline included all the kid’s opinions and perceptions on their parents cheating and how it profoundly affected them due to the changes in family dynamic. Lastly, I love that everyone is able to find their place in life and have true happiness formed from an honest love. Including loving themselves and learning to forgive those who hurt them the most. Life isn’t perfect. We as humans make mistakes, and this drama is just that. The characters are flawed, but there is a lot of truth inside this drama.
Loveless Marriages: The female lead and male lead both come from marriages with partners who are too selfish. Ji-Eun and Jung-Woo are both nice, gentle, and passive, never express their emotions, and for that reason, get taken advantage of by their significant others. They do not communicate with their partners. Their characters want to love and be loved but cannot find that in their marriage. As time has shown, their partners seem like strangers who co-live with each other. Does this forgive the act of adultery? It does not, but one can agree that in this drama, everyone played a role and needed to accept some sort of responsibility. The lack of self-realization and truth to how we live our lives lead to infidelity in this drama. No one wanted to acknowledge they were living a lie, to begin with, which lead to a greater disaster. I think instead of judging the characters in this drama; one should try to understand them. Even if their act is morally wrong, the act of living a truthful life is something everyone deserves.
Why I love this drama: This drama is not something I expected to enjoy. It’s very different from what I imagined. The act of adultery is presented in a manner where you either love or hate the characters. You understand the situation, but it does not excuse the cowardliness of the characters. However, I love how the character’s often fought with their own emotions. The question of morality and what humans need is often presented in the drama. It was sad, tragic, heartbreaking, and also satisfying. Once the characters learn to move on, they begin to live again. Everyone who got hurt eventually learns to grow as a person before trying to live again. I guess this drama’s message is that even when you make unforgivable mistakes, life still goes on and more than often we have to pay for the consequences. But everyone should live their life the way they genuinely want to achieve happiness and not try to fill that void in ways that are destructive to the people we love and ourselves. I cannot recommend this drama enough. You have to watch it, to make your own conclusion but I personally found it disturbingly beautiful and healing.
The Effects of Infidelity: Everyone lives a lie. Nobody wants to accept the truth that they are no longer in love. In the drama, a pattern is present when the affair is made known to the husband/wife. The husband/wife becomes enraged, and in the process of trying to take control of the problem, they become more obsessives, delusional, and possessive. They being to lose touch with reality and try to make something that doesn’t work go their way. Even when divorce is brought up by the cheating spouses, they refuse to let go. It becomes a vengeful place where they are in control, and they get to decide.
Ji-Eun’s Character: She is very frustrating. But I cannot help and feel sorry for her. She is timid, quiet, and lost. She does not know what she wants. She’s mentally in an awful place. Her character seems lonely and passive. She never says what she wants and does as others say. Through meeting Jung-woo, she starts to become selfish and want him more and more. She begins to realize what she truly wants in life. However, the thought of having an affair is killing her mentally. She is continuously in agony from betraying her husband. She deals with a significant amount of regret because she loves another man. Through her thoughts, it’s presented, she does not want to divorce in the beginning since she is afraid to lose everything. She does not want her life to be interrupted. Only when she learns to be truthful can Ji-Eun begin to live the life she truly wants.
Jung-Woo’s Character: His character is based on more actions than words I would say. Only when Jung-Woo is with Ji-Eun does he begin to let out his personality. The jealousy, sadness, and selfishness appear when he’s about to lose Ji-Eun. Jung-Woo’s character is showcased as lonely and controlled. He agrees with everything his wife says. He is often ignored. And when he does speak, he can barely get out his words. Once his character does develop courage, it’s short lived. His side of the story isn’t very clear to the audience. Only his love for Ji-Eun is visibly present.
What shocked me: I often found myself hating Ji-Eun’s and Jung-Woo’s spouses. I wanted everyone to divorce even if it meant not being with the other. They all just needed to stop living a life full of lies. I wanted everyone to find their happiness. Yes, even including Ji-Eun’s and Jung-Woo’s spouses. No matter how much I thought, Ji-Eun and Jung-Woo were a perfect match. They went about it the wrong way. So much pain and dishonesty could have been avoided if they had done the right thing from the beginning. The ending is the only comfort I found in this drama. It’s a new beginning rather than end. A story starts where it ends.
Are you planning on watching this drama? What are your thoughts regarding the heavy subject matter presented?
Does Love Affairs in the Afternoon have a good ending?
An anonymous reviewer wrote “The ending was pretty much well thought out and it ended on a good note…. Sawa managed to divorced her husband, Rikako sadly had to go back to her husband and everything else seemed like they were going back to how their lives were before the affairs.