[Drama 2020] Hi bye, Mama!, 하이바이, 마마!

[Fabbo]

I feel like i am watching certain animes because there is just so much filler material in these episodes.

 

I am doing my best to settle with all the ghost family stuff, but then they throw in that random chairman ghost.. Sorry but i really don't care.

It's a shame because the scenes about the main plot and characters were actually pretty good. But it lessens the impact and slows everything down so much. Just watch the ends of the episodes and you realize nothing happens. It is moving so painfully slow. But i am not only talking about the plot. We are almost half way through and they are still barely scratching at the surface. Where is the existential struggle i was promised?

 

That said the scene with them sharing the umbrella was cute. It just always great to see Minjung smile for once.

For me the drama was on a crossroads before this weeks episodes.

Depending on how they go about Yuri's journey and that she will have some kind of realization that her time is due. And also how they go about Minjung and not just treat her as this intruder. I liked the paths they have taken.

But i don't like the filler plots, bad pacing and lack of emotional depth in the storytelling.

[alleram95]

Hard sub preview ep 9

 

 

YR: What should I do? My mom has a weak heart
Yeon Ji (YJ): Big sis?
YR's dad: Yu Ri?
YR's dad: We are not dreaming, right?
YR's mom: She's gone?
MJ: You know about Seo Woo's pick-up helper, right? 
YR: I will make that person leave so that you don't have to see him again (talking about the ghost)
YR: You jerk
MJ: Me?
Woman: The child really looks alike with her mother
HJ: It was supposed to be Yu Ri's. That position was Yu Ri's
Man: It's time for you to let it go
YR: Mom

 

I made a mistake with my last sub. I thought the person who talked with YR's mom is GS's mother, but it was his shaman aunt. Are they perhaps twins? I knew that the same actress play for both GS's mom and aunt.

 

Prepare some tissues when you watched ep 8. 

 

[Samuel Yohanes]

Episode 8 make me cry again

 

Argh this drama is so good.

 

and now yet another mystery about ganghwa heart.

 

i believe in yuri word that ganghwa love min jung and thats make me want to know the backstory of how they got married!!!!!!!!

 

Cant wait next week!!

[poopytubby]

omg i got DESTROYED. stellar acting from all round at yuri's funeral. i was full out bawling my eyes out and crying along with yuri esp when they threw back to the "i am happy song" that they played in the first ep. it fit perfectly with the "chief mourner" persona he was wearing, putting on a stoic front when all he wanted to do was to cry his eyes out, he was shouldering so much by himself. and even when he was alone in the car, while he cried, i felt that he was still trying to hold back, trying to force himself to turn away from grief as much as he could because he couldn't face it, and the song reflected just that. and yuri was there to witness all that, i bet she was there too when he tried to kill himself, and yet she couldn't do anything, it must have tore her heart to pieces. no wonder she kept avoiding him all the while, she didn't want him to go through that heartbreak because of her again. even 5 years on jkh is still putting on the "i am happy" persona, he turns a blind eye to grief, and because of that he cannot truly move on. kth has done an amazing job throughout this drama, but her acting in this scene really impressed and moved me. lkh is stunning as always. amazing writing in this scene too. sorry im just gonna praise this to high heavens cos typing this rn, my eyes are STILL wet and it's been at least 15min since i finished it. 

 

shoutout to geunsang and hyeonjung too, they're an adorable and hilarious couple and when both of them started crying in the last scene........................ bro. my eyeballs. 

[Fabbo]

Now this episode was a lot better. Great episode. The ghost filler stories were shorter and closer tied to the main characters. I personally wasn't that moved by the wedding story but i assume it worked for a lot of people.

And the confrontation between Yuri and her friend at the what one of those things i was waiting for. Great scene.

Give me people breaking down in tears on the street and i am happy 

 

There were some important steps in this episode.

Yuri speaks out that she was one of the reasons Seo-Woo got sick. And starts to realize how his closing off and tip toeing might hurt their relationship and parenthood. 

Oh and Yuri's mother finds out about the visits at the kindergarten. There is also a lot of unspoken baggage that needs to get out. And i didn't really get this "oh no Seo-Woo mustn't find out about her biological mom". Everyone in the neighborhood seems to know. She is going to find out eventually. It would have been a good idea to be more upfront about it anyway. I guess so far Gang-hwa wasn't really ready for that and just wants to keep things buried. The problem is that Yuri's mom cares about stuff like that in the first place.

We will probably get a scene later on where it turns out that Seo-Woo already knew and doesn't care about it.

 

 

 

 

[kboramint]

I have this theory that YuRi is a deity which is why she came back to life when other ghosts couldn't. She just doesn't know it yet. 

[Josh Marquez]

I can’t remember an episode that I wasn’t crying lol. This drama would be the death of me, i keep feeling heart aches every time but it’s so good. I honestly just want to watch this series everyday  

[Xiao Bai]

hello, i’m new here and i just wanted to share a theory that i have come up with since watching the recent episodes. in this week’s episodes we find out that even ms. midong isn’t exactly sure about the reason why yuri was able to come back to life. we’ve learned that yuri isn’t the first ghost to curse at the deities and that she can’t be the only ghost who had died an unfair death. this places an emphasis on the most mind boggling question. why her? why is yuri the only ghost able to come back to life? what was the deities purpose for doing so? my theory is that she is given this opportunity to come back in order to give her loved ones, especially ganghwa a way to properly say goodbye to her so that they can fully move on with their lives. in episode 8 we find out that ganghwa does indeed love minjeong but is restraining himself from being the husband that she wants and needs. it causes her to feel lonely and eventually wanting to file a divorce despite still loving him and seo woo. this is probably due to the fact that he hasn’t completely moved on from yuri’s death. maybe the purpose of yuri’s resurrection is like a wake up call for ganghwa to appreciate the person beside him before she’s gone. yuri’s resurrection will be the thing that all allows him to say goodbye to her so that he can allow himself to fully love and share his burdens with minjeong? 

 

just my 2 cents lol. lmk what you guys think.

[Dramanoona]

Ep 8 was so gut wrenching from start to finish. Especially the epilogue.

Don't know whether my heart will be able to take the rest of the episodes....

[40somethingahjumma]

Done with Episode 5

 

There's certainly a lot to like about this drama. The cast, the dominant narrative, the production values and aspects of the world building. The visual storytelling is certainly exquisite. It's wonderful the way the showrunners piece together the past and the present so seamlessly with the use of changing colour palette. It's gorgeous. No doubt a testament to the continued advancements in SK production techniques.

 

To be honest, when it comes down to the nitty gritty in plot I don't know how I really feel about this drama. I know I want to like it but there are aspects of it that don't sit well with me. While it's nice to look at and the acting is stellar on every front, I have mixed feelings about how the subject matter is handled. Frankly... and I'm sorry about comparing everything to Chocolate... I think Chocolate did it a smidge better albeit coming from a different angle. Possibly because tonally it was much more consistent. The underlying message in both seems to me to be essentially the same... life is too short to have regrets or hold grudges. Prioritize your loved ones. Put your house in order, resolve all unfinished business before it's too late. Because one never knows when the end is nigh. Learn to grieve. Learn to move on. It's certainly a message worth repeating because we humans are terrible at dealing with death and loss.

 

The problem for me first of all is the reason why Yu-ri has been given 49 days to "find her place". The show insists on making the endgame to this a big mystery to YR... at least so far. (Although I'm not sure it is really all that much of a mystery) As a result everything feels to me to be in limbo while YR is groping around aimlessly running away from fellow ghosties who have a ton of unresolved emotional baggage. I really feel for Gang-hwa because he is still absolutely in love with Yu-ri. He's never moved on emotionally. Sure, he remarried probably for Seo Woo's sake but for the past 5 years he's been waiting for YR to come back to life. That's how it feels like to me. And he's utterly terrified of losing her again. Hence we have this artificial love triangle at play because YR thinks that she's interrupting a happy newly formed married when absolutely everyone is wallowing in misery in some form another. Maybe she's been so focused on SW these past few years that she hasn't noticed GH or Min-jeong's anguish in what seems to be a loveless union. The facade of playing happy families hasn't helped GH move on much. He soldiered on for Seo Woo's sake but he has done nothing for himself. Prior to her resurfacing, he hadn't stopped grieving. In fact, we discover that he attempted suicide at least once but was forced by his stoic MIL to pull himself together and get his act together.

 

I'm not sure if this is deliberate on the part of the showrunners but making the endgame a mystery is double-edged sword. YR thinks she's just here for a short time to sort out things with SW. It doesn't seem to occur to her that SW isn't the only one struggling. The problem too is that her presence is giving GH hope. But she doesn't necessarily want to give him false hope so she's keeping her distance. When I look at him and his reactions I see a man who desperately wants the love of his life back where she belongs. He wants to hug her and kiss her like the way she embraces their daughter. Unfortunately he can't because everyone is being considerate and inconsiderate of Min-jeong. Poor woman has been playing second fiddle to YR right from the start. A substitute mother for SW but never the wife and certainly not the lover.

 

I also don't particularly like the fact that YR is keeping vital information from her loved ones. That's the part I'm most uneasy and frustrated about. It's a strategy on the part of the show to create a push and pull that doesn't really need to be there. That's in part why the subplot comes across as being fillery rather than integral. I don't understand why YR is wasting so much time complaining about the other ghosts when she could be spending more time with the people she loves. Except that she spends several episodes dodging them.

 

Can I say how much I adore Lee Kyu Hyung in this? I love seeing him in a completely different context from Prison Playbook and Life. He can always be relied upon to bring his A game to each project and it's fantastic to see his star rising because he is genuine acting powerhouse. There are traits of those other characters that he has brought to this role but he is also clearly differentiating Gang-hwa from his previous outings, playing out his emotions as a grieving husband and father. My only complaint with regards to him is that we don't see enough of him. 

 

My guess is that since everyone related to YR is weighed down in perpetual grief that they're gunning for a happy ending. I can't be sure of course. But it feels like they're setting up a scenario whereby they can justify a reunion where YR returns to GH, SW and the rest of the extended family. A kind of back-to-front It's A Wonderful Life scenario. On top of that the unhappy MJ has already initiated the paperwork for an imminent divorce long before YR returned.

 

Frankly I don't feel that the Ghost World subplot integrates well with the main one. For all we know it could be another drama entirely. For one reason or another I'm not interested in what happens to these ghosts especially when they're largely used as comic relief presently. The set-up was good but the integration not so much. Now that YR has returned to the land of the living interacting with people from her former life, the divide seems more conspicuous. That said the arc featuring the childcare kid ghost worked because that had direct connection with her family issues.

[Nancyzak]

 

Kim Tae Hee, Lee Kyu Hyung, And Go Bo Gyeol Share Favorite Moments From “Hi Bye, Mama” And What To Look Forward To

https://www.soompi.com/article/1389490wpp/kim-tae-hee-lee-kyu-hyung-and-go-bo-gyeol-share-favorite-moments-from-hi-bye-mama-and-what-to-look-forward-to

 

 

 

 

 

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Still cuts, drawings and promos from/by tvN.

 

 

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[alleram95]

Preview for ep 10

 

 

Hardsub

 

YR's mom: Where does she keep going these days?
YR: I don't have many days left. I have to make her stop seeing the ghost
YR: You are a dead meat
Kim Seul Gi: Are you a shaman too?
DD: Yes I am
GS's aunt: Peek-a-boo
GS's aunt: Stop running!
GS: Did you mean that Min Jeong-ssi feels worry because the helper looks like Yu Ri?
GS: Perhaps, are Min Jeong-ssi a pervert?
GS: I am ba...
YR's mom: You (MJ) too are Seo Woo's mom
Grandma's ghost: Even though we are died, our children is still our problem
SW: Mom!
MJ: I can do it. Let me do it. I will become Seo Woo real mother

 

[Josh Marquez]

Lol I’m starting to ship yuri with minjeong.  Their scenes are really cute hahahaha 

[poopytubby]

@Josh Marquez HAHA IKR and seo woo is so happy with her 2 mums 

 

i can't believe this drama made me cry for the first 20min and then claw my hair at someone eating eggs in the last 10min........... kanghwa and geunsang are such idiots i love them HAHA

[WANGYEO]

Yuri and Minjung have more chemistry than Ganghwa and Minjung
 

Instead of feeling jealousy and sad, Yuri was happy when Minjung came into GH’s life. She makes him happy again. That’s all Yuri wants. 
 

I guess MJ know in next ep but The teasers

are really misleading lol. I thought YR gonna try to be in GH’s wife again.  can’t really trust it no more. 

 

I guess YR comes back to fix everyone hearts and will left in a happy note; help GH & MJ marriage, SW seeing ghost, YR’s family grieves and disconnection with SW, and also her friend grieve too. Also help the ghosts with their problem too. 
 

I do feel like the side ghost stories are filler  but also have connection with YR life. 

[Fabbo]

@Xiao Bai  Yep. Good take.

 

@40somethingahjumma

Yes i feel like they want to keep up all this mystery and secrecy and i don't know why. It's clear where it's headed and that shouldn't be the intruiging part in the first place. It should be about dealing with all those different relationships. And not physically hiding from people.

But i think you are wrong about the 'happy ending' and her coming back alive for good. To be honest i can't even seriously consider that thought. And how would that be a happy ending? The implications are horrifying.

As you said and you are spot on with is. I am still convinced that it is what is coming down to:

 

On 3/17/2020 at 8:36 AM, 40somethingahjumma said:

The underlying message in both seems to me to be essentially the same... life is too short to have regrets or hold grudges. Prioritize your loved ones. Put your house in order, resolve all unfinished business before it's too late. Because one never knows when the end is nigh. Learn to grieve. Learn to move on. It's certainly a message worth repeating because we humans are terrible at dealing with death and loss.

 

 

The reunion of Yuri and her mom and the family kinda left me cold. I don't exactly know why. I think maybe they could have done a better job setting things up and make me care about them. 

Like i had a stronger emotional reaction to the little scene when Yuri gave Minjung the coffee. Those were lovely scenes. 

But i wish they would tell her already. And at this point everyone else knows.. It's getting kinda uncomfortable to watch. The only good thing from it is that Yuri and Minjung are developing a bond of their own. And that can make it more complex and intense when it gets revealed. There is a personal break of trust just between them two as well.

It reminds me of the drama Mama. There you have a terminally ill mother coming back to korea to find the father of her child. She got the child without him knowing. Well and she befriends his wife who doesn't know about it. It's an underseen drama and the focus of the friendship between the two women (played by Song Yoon-A and Moon Jeong-Hee !!!) is very unique in kdramas.

 

 

The gost plots were filler again. Turns out the chairman wasn't such a bad guy after all. Who would have thought? (irony). I am sorry but i still don't care. As for the ghost baseball player. At least that's a bit connected to the story.

 

 

6 hours ago, poopytubby said:

i can't believe this drama made me cry for the first 20min and then claw my hair at someone eating eggs in the last 10min

 

Yeah.. Ok he didn't see it for the first egg. But for the second egg?? What's wrong with him

 

[40somethingahjumma]

@Fabbo

I'm certainly quite prepared for a weepy melodramatic ending because it would be, as you've noted, the logical outcome.  But I don't rule out a happily-ever-after either because they're making such huge deal about the endgame.

 

I saw a J drama years ago that took a similar premise but the titular Ghost Mama character knew that she had a limited time to put things right and get her family to move on without her. It was actually a really bittersweet, moving show. I cried buckets. I even liked the subplots. So initially I was thinking that this drama would follow a similar trajectory. But I really don't understand why they're making such a big mystery of the 49 days and "finding her place". That's what got me scratching my head. What's the point? And then there's Gwang-ha. I can't see him falling in love with MJ in the next little while. They've practically sledgehammered the fact that he is still emotionally tethered to YR. So what are they going to do with his character? Of course there's nothing to say that he has to stay in that marriage with MJ even with YR finally moving on. People have divorced for a lot less.

 

To me it's like a person who has a terminal illness being told that they have 2 months to live. Instead of making the most of the time with the people they love, trying to help them move on and prepare for the eventuality of your passing, you're lying that everything's okay, giving the false impression that you'll be around for a lot longer than the prognosis suggests. Meanwhile you avoid them, go to the beach, the pub and spend most of your time with fellow cancer sufferers in a support group.There might be some people who do this, I don't know. That's never been my experience. But IMO it's downright cruel. 

[Fabbo]

Can you remember the name of the j-drama? Sounds great.

[kiefshi1056]

KIM TAE HEE is so good in this drama, i always get carried away with her scene . i hope she get to cast in a new drama series after this. such a waste of talent if she ain't.

[nat_phoenix88]

Just finished eps 9. But when I saw preview, MJ said to YR, please teach me how to be a good mothe to Seo Woo. I cried. I think after 49 days YR will left her family. That's why the writer made MJ as a character of a good step mom. So the viewers and YR don't hate her.