Hi Bye, Mama! – K-Drama Episode 13 Recap and Review

Many Tears

Hi Bye, Mama returns after a week’s break and certainly delivers another emotional and dramatic episode as Gang-Hwa realises what Yu-Ri had to endure while watching him all these years. It was quite the heart breaking scene to watch along with the three parents looking for Seo-Woo which was very tense too.

Episode 13 of Hi Bye Mama begins in the past as we see a montage of Gang-Hwa and Yu-Ri through the years, showing how happy they were until a day after Yu-Ri’s death with Gang-Hwa looking very sad while ghost Yu-Ri tries to comfort him. We then see a conversation he had with Hyeon-Jeong where she tells him to start dating Min-Jeong because he shouldn’t put his life on hold anymore. She explains that if it was the other way around, he would want the same for Yu-Ri.

Back in the present Gang-Hwa runs to Yu-Ri, telling her he knows she has been with him the whole time. Crying, he asks her how she was able to stand it all and apologises. She tells him not to cry as she is unable to hold back the tears herself. Meanwhile Hyeon-Jeong and Geun-Sang discuss Yu-Ri’s situation and why she didn’t tell Gang-Hwa straight away; he went through a really hard time. Suddenly, Min-Jeong comes to their house, looking for her husband. Geun-Sang and Hyeon-Jeong lie and say that he had an urgent call to go to hospital.

Sitting on a bench, Gang-Hwa asks Yu-Ri if it was painful to watch him. She replies that it was but it hurt more when she saw him cry alone so she was relieved to see him smile again. She also tells him that she knows he loves Min-Jeong and that she is not his anymore so he can let her go. He then reveals that he found out the truth by a strange man dressed in black. This worries Yu-Ri who explains that Seo-Woo can see ghosts because of her so she repeatedly apologises. He tells her it is not her fault before leaving to go home with his wife and daughter.

The next day, Yu-Ri visits Mi-Dong and frantically asks her where the exorcist is. Mi-Dong tells her to calm down while we see Pil-Seung’s family talking about being careful as they want to see their son get married before going up. Mi-Dong tells Yu-Ri that Seo-Woo can stop seeing ghosts but that Yu-Ri has to focus on her job and what she wants to do as she only has a few days left. Yu-Ri then meets her mum who has been praying in the temple and they go home together.

We then cut to Gang-Hwa who we see has been following Seo-Woo very closely. Min Jeong asks why he mentioned choosing another pick-up helper so he tells her to meet him in the afternoon and he’ll explain everything.

In hospital, after talking to Geun-Sang about Yu-Ri and what he found out, Gang-Hwa is visited by Professor Jang who tells him that he has to observe his surgeries. He tells him he is not sure he is ready while the trio of women meet in Hyeon-Jeong restaurant. Before leaving, Min-Jeong asks if they are friends. Hyeon-Jeong replies that they are which makes her happy.

After buying friendship bracelets for her new friends, Min-Jeong comes face to face with a mother who tells her that she should change her pick up helper as people think they are having an affair after they were seen crying in the playground.

In the afternoon, Yu-Ri takes Seo-Woo to the park to play with her father, Moo-Poong. Yu-Ri leaves to get drinks and after a woman falls to the floor, Moo-Poong helps the old lady up. Seo-Woo then follows a group of kids while her grandad is not looking. As we cut to the little girl lost and crying, the exorcist slowly approaches her. After Yu-Ri returns and realizes that her daughter is missing, Gang-Hwa and in-Jeong are soon alerted too and a frantic search starts.

After looking for hours, Min-Jeong collapses in tears in Gang-Hwa’s arms. Yu-Ri arrives too and tries to apologies but Min-Jeong lashes out at her. Suddenly, a ghost appears and points at a slide. Yu-Ri rushes over and finds the little girl, much to everyone’s relief.

We then cut back to earlier in the day, where Pil-Seung’s family are looking at their son as he drives to work. They tell each other that they will go once their son is married and has a family of his own. Suddenly, they see the exorcist approaching Seo-Woo and decide to distract him while the mother and sister take Seo-Woo away. They manage to make her walk to the playground and get her to climb in the slide. Both women run back and see that the exorcist has the father. He asks them where the little girl is and as they don’t reply, he tells them that they will have to go up.

Back home, Gang-Hwa speaks to his wife who is crying. He tells her it is not her fault but she blames herself as she hired a pick-up helper because she went back to work.  She then mentions Yu-Ri and how he never wants to talk about her. Because of him not opening up, she can’t truly be Seo-Woo’s mother. He then finally reveals that the pick up helper is Yu-Ri who came back to life.

The episode ends with Eun-Sook singing a song to Yu-Ri who sang the same one to Seo-Woo when she was pregnant with her. We then cut back to the three women in the restaurant. After Yu-Ri and Hyeon-Jeong leave for a bit, Min-Jeong sadly looks at an old picture of Yu-Ri and Hyeon-Jeong with their husband smiling happily.

Poor Yu-Ri has had quite the emotional and harrowing journey so far as she believes that her return to earth was more of a punishment than anything else. Personally, I think that she was sent back to help her move on as she now realizes that Seo-Woo loves Min-Jeong as a mother and her place is not there anymore, as Gang-Hwa also loves Min-Jeong. Perhaps Yu-Ri telling him to let her go is what he needs to truly open himself up to his wife.

It also looks like the Pil-Seung family might have been caught and sent away by the exorcist as they helped Seo-Woo. I do hope it is not the last we see of them and Yu-Ri finds out what they did for her. With Min-Jeong now aware of the truth, it will be interesting to see what will happen next and just what will happen to Yu-Ri when she runs out of time.