Onna no Naka ni Iru Tanin

Based on a 1966 movie, The Stranger within a Woman is about a wife (Tanuma Yuriko) who finds out her husband has accidentally killed his lover who happens to be the wife of his best friend and instead of leaving him, helps cover up the crime to protect their family.

I was really attracted to the premise of this show. Anything dark and nihilistic is right up my alley. Unfortunately, I did not like the execution very much. Firstly, its very soap opera-ish. Not just the acting but also things like characters doing inner monologues out loud and directing style.

Secondly, the pacing is too slow and 7 episodes is too long for a movie adaptation. They presumably added the subplot about the wife's old best friend but it just distracts from the main story which is the psychological breakdown of the husband and the wife who wants to save her family at all cost.

I still finished Onna no Naka ni iru Tanin. I haven't watched a jdorama with Japanese subs in a while its great for Japanese study. Thanks to keiko1981 for timing the subs. The show can be downloaded from the private tracker AOX. Other than watching a show with Japanese subs, I would not go out of my way to watch it. I just feel WOWOW would have done a much better job with this adaptation. Meh.