A woman who loses her husband is a widow, a man who loses his wife is a widower and a kid who loses his parents is an orphan. But there’s no word for parents who lose their child. It’s because there’s no word in this world that can describe that excruciating pain.
This pain was shown very realistically in the Netflix series ‘Hi Bye, Mama!’ which aired from 22 February 2020 to 19 April 2020, presenting a story about a woman named Cha Yu-ri who has been a ghost since she died in a tragic accident five years ago. She refuses to be reincarnated.
She lingers around as a ghost so that she can look after the well-being of her daughter Seo Woo. She says, “At first, I just wanted to see her walk. Then I wanted to see her talk, eat and run. I know I have to leave but I want to stay a little longer. Just a little longer”.
However, everything gets messed up when she curses the deities out of anger because she can’t save her own child from danger. As a form of punishment, she gets her life back, though only for 49 days. During those 49 days, she must get her place as her husband’s wife and daughter’s mother back or she must pass on. But the problem is her husband is now remarried.
After becoming alive again Yu Ri goes on with her new claimed life and decides to work at Seo Woo’s kindergarten to see and protect her. Seo Woo can see ghosts and this might put her life in danger. That's why protecting her became Yu Ri’s new goal in the 49 days she was given.
As time goes by, Yu Ri decides to just live her days happily and then leave. After experiencing the 49 days' life once again, will Yu Ri change her mind and claim her place?
This drama is all about a mother's selfless, unconditional love for her child, and it's a core message that is reflected through the different characters in the show. It highlights a mother's sacrifices and resilience and shares various lessons on moving on and letting go. All these make the series heart-wrenching yet heart whelming at the same time. The characters are totally relatable, and it's easy to laugh and cry with them.
The script is prepared with so many good realisations about life and living. And the dramatic scenes are well-balanced with lighthearted, funny moments. Even though Yu Ri was hit in an accident, she decided her child stay alive over herself. Yu Ri’s mother is an example of a mother’s pure love. As revealed later in the drama, Yu Ri comes back to life because of her mother's prayers, which proves that no matter how old you get a mother will always love her child unconditionally and will stop at nothing, not even at death.
What's so special about this drama is that there are no 'bad guys' in the story. You can't get mad at anyone in each episode, because they're all victims of different circumstances. In the series, no one really wants to cause anyone pain, and the reason why all the characters are hurting is just that life has been really unfair to them. Unlike other K-dramas, the whole story focused on different kinds of love and relationships.
Seo-woo's stepmother Min-Jeong is one of the kindest people in the drama, the total opposite of the evil ones we're used to seeing in fairytales. Wouldn’t it all have been so much easier to take her place back if the stepmom was evil just like in the fairytales? A cruel seductress would be easy to justify Yu-ri's return to her home and family. But the reality isn’t like that at all, she’s too nice for her own good. She quits her job to take care of Seo-woo full time because she wanted to be Seo-woo’s real mom. She abandons her morning coffee to get Seo-woo up and fed.
There was always a smile on Min-jung’s face until she drops Seo-woo at daycare, when it fades at the other mothers’ callous remarks. They point out that Seo-woo looks nothing like her mother, while others share the gossip that Min-jung is not her real mother. Once after getting hurt by these comments, she said, “All stepmothers in fairytales are evil. Why? Why are they all evil? Just because they’re stepmothers? Stepmothers are mothers too.” Seo Woo truly loves and considers Min-Jung her favourite person.
Beyond the story of Yu-Ri, we are also treated with side stories from her ghost friends, who still linger in the mortal world as they continue to guide their children. There’s a family of ghosts who linger around their son because they’re afraid he isn’t eating well enough because he was left all alone after their death. The story may be impossible in real life, but it still leaves us with a real lesson to value and appreciate every single moment of our lives.
Each episode has three parts: a prologue, the episode itself, and an epilogue that works well in story building as it shows Yu-Ri before she died. The epilogues are also flashbacks, showing how people deeply grieved her death. It just simply proved how beautiful life can be even though it will end at some point. Sixteen episodes and more than a box of tissues later, the series ends on what the original intent of its creators was.
This drama shows how beautiful life can be and how we should value it. Our life is really precious and in just one single moment, everything we have could be taken away from us. “Live your life to the fullest” is something we should actually live by. We should not regret anything that we did, learn how to value even the smallest thing in our lives, and be thankful for the people in our lives.
This drama is worth watching, especially in this time of pandemic when you need to keep your family closer.
Rumaiysa M Rahman is a 9th grader at Viqarunnisa Noon School and College, Dhaka.