The Sticker
Hi Bye, Mama has so far done a very good job at tugging on the heart strings as we watch poor Yu-Ri making the ultimate sacrifice to make sure her daughter is happy. Kim Tae-Hee has so far managed to portray her character in a selfless and caring way while Seo Woo-Jin is adorable and wins everyone over as Seo-Woo. We begin episode 12 of Hi Bye Mama in 2013 with Yu-Ri and Gang-Hwa sharing a takeaway. We see that Gang-Hwa never used to like spicy food before jumping forward in time a little as he decides to try eating and starts liking spicy chicken feet with Min-Jeong. As we cut back to where we left off last episode, Seo-Woo puts a sticker on the photo frame claiming it to be Yu-Ri, which shocks her father. He later goes out to relay this to Yu-Ri who starts crying as she realises that Seo-Woo has been watching her when she was a ghost. She decides to tell Gang-Hwa that it must be because Seo-Woo heard her name from Hyeon-Jeong and asks him to make sure she doesn’t mention it infront of Min-Jeong. Gang-Hwa wants to her to be Seo-Woo’s mum and tells Min-Jeong the truth. This makes Yu-Ri cry as she is unable to give him an answer. Hyeon-Jeong returns home feeling frustrated with the situation while Yu-Ri comes face to face with Guk-Bong, telling her he is here for her daughter. Fortunately, Mi-Dong comes to the rescue as she insists that she will take care of things. Guk-Bong leaves, promising to come for her and her daughter. Yu-Ri then speaks to Mi-Dong about the exorcist and wonders if she gets rid of more ghosts it will make him go away. Mi-Dong asks her why she doesn’t want to take her place back. She replies that Seo-Woo loves Min-Jeong and is happier with her. Mi-Dong understands but explains that he will be back and that Seo-Woo will become one of them so Yu-Ri vows to protect her. After hanging a picture of her two new friends from the night before, Min-Jeong gives an umbrella to Gang-Hwa before he leaves for work. As he looks at the picture, he then suggests they find another pick-up helper. Min-Jeong leaves shortly after and finds Yu-Ri waiting for them to walk together. Meanwhile, Yu-Ri’s father and sister wonder if Yu-Ri has seen Seo-Woo yet. Eun-Sook replies that she has so they suggest seeing the little girl. Eun-Sook tells them it is a bad idea as the little girl doesn’t know Yu-Ri is her real mum and who they are. In the hospital, Geun-Sang and Gang-Hwa discuss Yu-Ri and her situation. Gang-Hwa thinks that she is hiding something and recalling his wife’s words, Geun-Sang wonders if she knows anything. They decide to follow her and ask if she ever said her name infront of Seo-Woo. She replies that she didn’t so they tell them that some of things Yu-Ri knew and talked about were strange. In the evening, Min-Jeong comes out of her lawyer’s office and tears up the divorce papers. We then see a flashback from earlier in the day when Yu-Ri gave her some self-defence weapons incase someone came to kidnap Seo-Woo. We then cut back to Gang-Hwa speaking to his ex father-in-law as he doesn’t know what to do anymore. Moo-Poong replies to carry on with his life and thanks him for raising Seo-Woo so well. At the same time, Eun-Sook tells her daughter that she should stop being the pick-up helper and tell the truth to Min-Jeong, asking her to see Seo-Woo from time to time. Yu-Ri apologises as she knows she must miss her granddaughter a lot. Eun-Sook replies that she has missed her even more. In the charnel house, we see Hye-Jin visiting her mum who is protesting outside her old work. She explains to Kang-Bin how she was bullied which led to her suicide. She tells him she regretted her actions as soon as she did it as she realizes she had her family in her life and that her job wasn’t everything. Gang-Hwa brings Seo-Woo to Yu-Ri and asks her to babysit for a bit. Yu-Ri brings the child to her father and her family who are delighted to spend time with her. As we cut to Gang-Hwa, we see that it was a plan to get the little girl to be with her grandparents and lied to Min-Jeong; telling her him and Seo-Woo are spending the day with Geun-Sang and his son. Unfortunately, Min-Jeong happens to see Hyeon-Jeong and her son outside on the street. After picking up Seo-Woo from Yu-Ri’s house, Gang-Hwa walks her home. Looking away for a second, Seo-Woo hears her name being called and walks towards Guk-Bong. Suddenly, Gang-Hwa runs towards his daughter and grabs the exorcist asking who he is. He replies that he is Yu-Ri’s friend and reveals that Yu-Ri is a ghost that has been following him and Seo-Woo for 5 years, just as Hyeon-Jeong admits the same thing to her husband. This prompts Gang-Hwa to run back to Yu-Ri and tell her he knows she has been around this whole time and wonders how she was able to stand it. We then see a montage of ghost Yu-Ri watching her husband dating, getting married and Min Jeong raising her daughter. The episode ends with a flashback of 2015 with a depressed Gang-Hwa trying to live his life. Ghost Yu-Ri tries to tell him what to do but even if he is not able to hear her, he still does everything she asks as it was what she always told him to do. As Gang-Hwa finally realizes his wife has been around all this time, he can’t help but feel devastated knowing that she had to helplessly watch his life and Seo-Woo’s unfold in front of her eyes. This will probably make him more determined to reveal the truth to his daughter and wife but I am sure Yu-Ri will try to convince him not to. She has quite the admirable quality as she realizes that her daughter loves Min-Jeong and wants to do everything she can to keep their lives as undisturbed as possible. Hi Bye, Mama might be a little slow at times but it has enough interesting story lines for its main and secondary characters to make it worth watching. There are not many episode left though, so I hope the show will manage to wrap up all of those different plots completely, including all the different ghosts. If the drama manages to do so, Hi Bye, Mama might make the list of best Korean dramas of the year!
