‘My Wife’s Having An Affair This Week’ Might Become Most Popular Series By JTBC — Why Are K-Drama Fans Loving A Series Based On Cheating? [Video]

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It seems Korean television companies are getting bolder when it comes to the content they are showing in their K-dramas. For this Autumn and Winter season, the hot topic is taboo relationships and their place in Korean culture.

For example, in Jealousy Incarnate, they had two men, Lee Hwa Shin (Jo Jung Suk) and Go Jung Won (Go Kyung Pyo), and one woman, Pyo Na Ri (Gong Hyo Jin), not just dating but living under the same house. It is already frowned upon when an unmarried man and woman who are not family live in the same house, so the angle used in the popular Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) series must have blown some Koreans’ minds. And in another example in Sweet Stranger and Me, a not-related-by-blood incest angle is developing between the step-father Go Nan Gil (Kim Young Kwang) and step-daughter Hong Na Ri (Soo Ae).

Now there is a new K-drama currently airing that is utilizing a relationship considered a taboo but is more common in South Korea than the aforementioned relationship exampled above: extramarital affairs. The K-drama is very straight-forward in utilizing said relationship as it is titled My Wife’s Having an Affair this Week. Nevertheless, the JTBC series is quite popular and might become the most-successful series the Korean premium network has ever produced. However, we must ask why a series utilizing cheating in a relationship is doing so well in the first place?

Before we dive in and analyze why My Wife’s Having an Affair this Week is so popular, it is best to explain what the JTBC K-drama, starring Lee Sun Kyun, Song Ji Hyo, Kim Hee Won, Ye Ji Won, Lee Sang Yeob, and BoA, is all about. According to a synopsis of its plot, Do Hyun Woo (Sun Kyun) is a decade-long veteran producer who finds out his wife Jug Soo Yeon (Ji Hyo) is having an affair. They have been married for eight years in what he believes was a strong relationship until he comes across signs that Soo Yeon is about to cheat. To embarrassed to turn to his friends and family for advice, he instead turns to social media asking anonymous people online to figure out what he has to do to save his marriage.

Given the seriousness of the concept used in My Wife’s Having an Affair this Week, the series should probably be failing right now. At this moment, the domestic Korean viewership is into light-hearted romcoms. However, the viewership ratings provided by both AGB Nielsen Korea and TNmS Media Korea say otherwise. First off, the nationwide viewership for the first episode was 2.653 percent for the former and 2.1 percent for the latter, an excellent start for a series on a Korean premium pay channel. By the fourth episode, TNmS Media Korea registered a nationwide viewership of 2.6 percent. And by the fifth episode, AGB Nielsen Korea registered a nationwide viewership of 3.072 percent. Taking to account all of the JTBC K-dramas this year (and even last year), My Wife’s Having an Affair this Week is turning out to be the most popular K-drama by the Korean television company in a long time.

The question that needs to be asked, as mentioned earlier, is why a K-drama utilizing cheating in a relationship as a plot angle is so popular in the first place? It is known in Korean culture that extramarital affairs are considered a major taboo. It is also hardly recognized given the fact Koreans are well-known for honorifics, good manners, and a strict respect for morality even surpassing the Japanese. So cheating, even in a fictitious setting, would be frowned upon right?

The safest bet on why My Wife’s Having an Affair this Week is so popular is Song Ji Hyo. For those who do not know, she is currently one of the most popular Hallyu stars in the business today being able to hold her own against the likes of Song Hye Kyo and Bae Suzy. My Wife’s Having an Affair this Week marks her K-drama return for 2016 since her last K-drama acting gig was last year back in May and June for tvN series Ex-Girlfriend’s Club.

A more speculative reason why My Wife’s Having an Affair this Week is that despite extramarital affairs being taboo, it is far more common than Koreans are willing to talk about. This is definitely true after the infidelity law, the one that jailed people for adultery, ended back in 2015, as reported by the Telegraph. According to their report, South Korea experienced a surge in adultery when the law became outdated. A survey conducted by Macromill Embrain shows an increase of infidelity by 2.4 percent among men and 4.3 percent among women.

Despite the facts, extramarital affairs are still a silent matter. My Wife’s Having an Affair this Week brings it to the forefront in an entertaining way. Yet, Koreans are able to relate to it as it brings insight into a taboo that most of them are still uneasy to talk about openly. But once again, this is just speculation but one backed by a basic understanding of Korean culture, or even Asian culture overall.

My Wife’s Having an Affair this Week airs on Fridays and Saturdays at 9:30 KST on JTBC. For those who do not have access to Korean premium pay channels, it is available to watch for free, with ads, on both DramaFever and Viki pending region.

[Featured Image by JTBC]