Jang Ki-young's depression keeps him from time traveling in 'The Atypical Family.'
As the title of the Korean drama The Atypical Family might suggest, the Bok family is not like most families. They’re not even the family they used to be. Grandma Bok Man-eum, played by Ko Du-shim, bemoans the fact that they all used to have superpowers and now they are ordinary. Even worse, they are unhappy.
Man-eum would love to return to the golden days when they had special abilities, but doesn’t know how to reverse things. Even if they never got their superpowers back, it would be wonderful to see her children and grandchild happy. Suffering from insomnia, she no longer has dreams that predict the future. So, she can’t even predict what their chances at future happiness are.
Bok Gwi-Ju, played by Jang Ki-young, is not sure the past was all that golden. For years he’s been emotionally paralyzed by the loss of his wife. Pale and morose, he can’t summon his former superpower—the ability to return to a happy memory in the past.
Chun Woo-hee's character is not who she claims to be.
When Gwi-ju lands in the ocean, after what seems like a suicide attempt, he’s saved by Do Da-hae, played by Chun Woo-hee. Man-eum decides that the kindhearted Da-hae is just what Gwi-ju needs to avert his self-destructive tendencies, so she plans to set them up. However, Dae-hae is not what she seems. She comes from a family of schemers looking to capitalize on the Bok family fortune. While Man-eum should have done a background check on Da-hae before welcoming her into the family, it’s probably good she didn’t. Even though Da-hae’s intentions are not pure, she may be just what the doctor ordered.
The Bok family is extraordinary, yet they suffer from the modern ailments that trouble many ordinary families. Gwi-ju owns a gym, but he doesn’t actually work out, preferring to drink incessantly and lie around in a stupor. His sister, Dong Hee, played by Soo Hyeon, stress eats as much junk food offscreen as she does on her mukbang show. She’s gained so much weight she can’t fly any more. Gwi-ju’s daughter I-na, played by Park So-yi, lives inside her own bubble and would rather look at her phone than interact with others. No one is sure if she has the potential for a super power. One theory holds that the family’s super powers could be restored by facing some of their self-destructive habits. Is it time to hire a trainer? Or to find Gwi-ju a wife?
There’s a lot to recommend in this drama, an interesting storyline about superheroes that need to shape up, dispatched with wry dark humor, and some great color-in-black-and-white time travel scenes. Jang, who delivers a convincingly forlorn and darkly brooding Gwi-ju, also appeared in Now We Are Breaking Up, My Roommate Is A Gumiho, Born Again and Search: WWW. It’s Jang’s first leading role since completing his mandatory military duty in 2023. Chun who recently appeared in the dramas Delightfully Deceitful and Be Melodramatic, can also be seen this year in The 8 Show. Soo Hyun aka Claudia Kim recently appeared in Gyeongseong Creature.
The drama is written by Joo Hwa-mi, who wrote the screenplays for My Shy Boss and Marriage, Not Dating, and directed by Jo Hyun-tak, who directed Snowdrop, SKY Castle and Who Are You? The JTBC drama airs on Netflix
