# Familiar Wife (2018)

> A man given a chance to revisit his life finds his marriage and career have shifted into an unfamiliar, unhappier shape.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/69193

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 16
- Episode runtime: 60 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama, romance, science fiction
- Created by: Lee Sang-yeob, Yang Hui-seung
- Network: tvN
- Cast: Ji Sung, Han Ji-min, Kang Han-na, Jang Seung-jo, Cha Hak-yeon, Son Jong-hak, Park Won-sang, Kim So-ra
- TMDB rating: 7.6/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8487786/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: none
- Tone: wistful, melancholic, intimate, sincere, cathartic

## What critics say

Audiences broadly embraced the series as a positively received, emotionally sharp Korean drama with a strong time-travel premise and committed performances.

## Synopsis

Familiar Wife (2018) is a South Korean television drama created by Lee Sang-yeob and Yang Hui-seung for tvN, a single-season run of sixteen hour-long episodes. Ji Sung plays Cha Ju-hyeok, a man who receives a strange chance to go back in time and wakes to find his whole life altered, including the wife he married. Han Ji-min plays Seo U-jin, the woman at the center of his marriage, while Kang Han-na plays Lee Hye-won, whose presence reshapes his choices. The engine of the series is a man trying to understand what changed and whether he can repair a marriage and a working life that have drifted apart, with each episode built from workplace friction, family tensions, and small domestic confrontations. Set in present-day Seoul, the story moves through office corridors, apartments, and family dinners with a grounded, emotionally heavy register. The tone is wistful and sharp, mixing romance with a painful look at marital regret and second chances. Fans of About Time, Crash Landing on You, and Life Is Beautiful will find resonance in its blend of time-travel longing and everyday intimacy.

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