Hi Bye, Mama! — the popular supernatural K-drama featuring the Korean small screen return of Kim Tae-Hee on the Total Variety Network (tvN) — is a quarter way through the series.
Being one of the first series of the winter-to-spring K-drama season, it has kept fairly decent viewership both domestically and internationally.
In the K-drama, Cha Yu-Ri (Kim Tae-Hee) has become human again for 49 days.
Within that time, she has to “make things right” with her family, which includes getting rid of the ghosts hanging around her daughter, Jo Seo-Woo (Seo Woo-Jin), who can see them.
However, there seems to be a twist in the upcoming plot that will surely throw viewers for a loop. Is it possible that Oh Min-Jung (Go Bo-Gyeol) can see ghosts too?
Foreshadows of Oh Min-Jung seeing ghosts
The possibility of Oh Min-Jung being able to see ghosts appears through certain scenes in the fifth episode of Hi Bye, Mama!.
The first scene occurs when Min-Jung goes to a convenience store to buy alcohol for herself.
Oh Min-Jung first reaches for soju just before a flashback of her enjoying soju at home.
In the flashback, Cha Yu-Ri, who is a ghost at that time, is standing next to her and commenting on Min-Jung’s drinking.
Apparently, the flashback was Min-Jung remembering that moment as she suddenly decides to buy beer instead.
In another scene near the end of the episode, we see the emergency c-section Cha Yu-Ri goes through after she is hit by a vehicle.
By chance, Oh Min-Jung works in the neonatal unit and is called in to retrieve Jo Seo-Woo after the emergency surgery.
While holding Jo Seo-Woo, Oh Min-Jung looks into the surgery room, and we see Cha Yu-Ri dead on the surgery table. It can be assumed she is looking at Yu-Ri on the table when her ghost appears right in front of Min-Jung.
That moment looks as if Min-Jung sees Yu-Ri as a ghost.
The reason for family issues?
Throughout Hi Bye, Mama!, we learn Oh Min-Jung’s marriage to Jo Kang-Hwa (Lee Kyu-Hyung) isn’t exactly perfect.
Kang-Hwa attitude has changed since Yu-Ri’s death, so he seems more distant and aloof. There is even the possibility that he doesn’t care for Jo Seo-Woo as much as he should.
As for Oh Min-Jung, she can never really get into the role of wife and mother despite being married to Lee Kang-Hwa.
Is it possible the reason she has divorce papers is not that she does not love Kang-Hwa, but as long as Cha Yu-Ri is around, either alive or as a ghost, Min-Jung can never truly be a wife to Kang-Hwa and a mother to Seo-Woo?
Viewers will find out more as Hi Bye, Mama! progresses onward. Subsequent episodes will air on Saturdays and Sundays at 9 p.m. KST, up to 16 episodes on tvN.
For international viewers, Hi Bye, Mama! is available in all regions through Netflix. Take note viewers will need a subscription to the video streaming service to watch the K-drama.