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Drama: My Unfamiliar Family (아는 건 별로 없지만) 가족입니다
Network: tvN
Episodes: 16
Release Date: June 1 – July 21, 2020
Runtime: Monday & Tuesday 21:00
Plot
This beautiful drama is about a family who has grown distant over the years because of past misunderstandings and sufferings. Once the secrets are revealed and they start to confront the past and their fears, will this family be able to withstand the pain and grow closer? Or will the secrets further tear them apart?
Main Cast
Jung Jin Young – Kim Sang Shik
Won Mi Kyung – Lee Jin Sook
Choo Ja Hyun – Kim Eun Joo
Han Ye Ri – Kim Eun Hee
Shin Jae Ha – Kim Jiwoo
Kim Ji Suk – Park Chan Hyuk
Kim Tae Hoon – Yoon Tae Hyung
Shin Dong Wook – Im Gun Joo
Review
What a beautiful drama! To quote the mom, “What is family to you? Do you not know either? Have you never thought about it? Because I dont know either.” I think this was the main problem with their family. They didn’t know what it means to be family, not because they didn’t want to know, it’s just they grew up that way. I have always thought that the parents, both mom and dad, should be responsible for the family they created, and the children should also be responsible as part of that family. However, in this particularly family, they are so far apart from each other and I honestly would blame mom and dad.
I have no problems with Jinsook and Sangshik marrying because Jinsook was pregnant, because I can see that they were very much in love with each other for the first years together. What happened next is a big facepalm. Sangshik was always insecure that Jinsook still loves the babydaddy and is secretly meeting him and thus, he doesn’t trust any guy that Jinsook seems close to. Then an unfortunate accident changed his life forever when he decided to take responsibly for another family forever without telling his wife. Jinsook, feeling that Sangshik suddenly changed and became distant, start suspecting him of adultery, and bottled up her feelings inside. So the parents stopped communicating with each other, started getting bitter with each other’s behavior until bitterness turned to resentment and misery. All the while they never bothered to talk to each other!!! ARGH!!!
After 30+ years of this bad relationship, Jinsook’s finally had enough. She gather the 3 children and told them she is “graduating” from the marriage. Sangshik is angry, went hiking at night, got into an accident and almost died. When he woke up, his mind went back to when he was 22 years old – back when he was happy and he and Jinsook were very much in love. What a fantastic opener!
As Sangshik tries to reconcile the past Jinsook and the current Jinsook, they start to open up to each other. All the hate and anger came up and they start communicating. To be honest, I’m mostly on the side of Sangshik. I dont know if it’s because of the brilliant portrayal of the actor, that I couldn’t hate Sangshik even if i want to, but Jinsook’s character, although equally portrayed well, to me, came off as being very selfish. I know she also suffered a lot from Sangshik, but Sangshik honestly hurt Jinsook but was kind to the 3 children.
Jinsook, on the other hand, not only hurt Sangshik, but also unintentionally hurt the three children. She ran away with Eunjoo one day but eventually came back. She never apologized or explained to the family what happened; and just came back as if nothing happened. But that event changed everyone’s lives forever. Sangshik decided then that he will stop being her husband and start being the father of the kids and became a workaholic and depressed man who thought so many times of killing himself.
Eunjoo thought her mom took her because she want to kill her and left Eunhee, so the mom must have loved Eunhee more than her. She became resentful all the way when she was in college and she had to work her butt off to provide for the family, and the mom never even bothered to be grateful or appreciate what she has done, further driving Eunjoo to get married and leave her family behind. She also became very resentful towards the two siblings.
Eunhee thought the opposite. Her mom left her because the mom doesn’t love her, and only took Eunjoo (although she didn’t know what happened). She only felt resentment towards her mom and wondered what was lacking of her that her mom loved Eunjoo more than her. She is such a sweet and sensitive lady, but she became less confident and afraid to go for what she wants because she things she is not worth it.
Jiwoo, the youngest, grew up with such a tense environment – fighting siblings, silent parents that he wanted to run away because he doesn’t want to turn out like his father. He wanted to be free of his own family. He grabbed the first opportunity that he can and got completely scammed.
So yes, between the two, I think Jinsook was the worst parent than Sangshik.
What’s worse is the parents let the children grow up that way. It was only in episode 15 when the mom finally had enough and scolded her children’s behavior, something she should have done years ago. She is the mom. She has the right to tell her children when they are acting up or wrong. But she didn’t now and now she is getting angry and wants to be free of her children and do whatever she wants. The minor thing that i didn’t like about this drama is how in the end, the mom didn’t seem to fully apologize for what happened. Sure, she talked and opened up to her children individually, but she always made it look like she was the victim. that she suffered all this time for them. But not being accountable for why her children were like this.
But I could also understand her. She just wanted to get away and be free for once in her life and not taking in all the problems and bottling it up. So yes, I didn’t mind that she left the family for a solo trip for a year. I thought it was a great idea and you can clearly see when she came back, she looked so peaceful and happy.
And to Sangshik, it was definitely wrong to hide the accident from his wife and making her misunderstand. Maybe if he told the truth years ago, this wouldn’t have happened. They might still be happy and their children are not traumatized by their childhood.
I loved that Sangshik and Jinsook were able to rediscover their love again once they were able to talk about their issues. They looked so happy, especially in the end when they decided to let their adult children live their own lives and they live on their own too 🙂
Eunjoo was one of the saddest characters in this drama. She finds out her husband is gay and she is not her father’s daughter. All her past resentment as mentioned above, no wonder Eunjoo grew up cold. I love that her voice is like honey but her words are sharp like arrows shooting (to quote Eunhee). I disliked her character at first, I knew she was a direct person but you can be direct without being tactless or hurting other people. But as we find out what happened to her, I grew to understand her and what she went through. She mellowed during the last few episodes, when she learned to accept her family and other people’s “faults” and differences. I hated her husband for hurting Eunjoo, but i loved how they wrapped up their story. In the end, they will always care for each other because they were family once. I also loved the relationship between Eunjoo and Eunhee. Two sisters who couldn’t be more different. Yet, they are sisters and they are now able to lean on each other.
I was surprised to see Kwon Yul in the last couple of episodes. I thought he was just a cameo but surprised he ended up being the friend that Eunjoo needed. He looked so handsome and adorable with his sunshine-y personality and cute smile. and he is like the male version of Eunhee!
My favorite characters in this show are Eunhee and Chanhyuk 🙂 I loved them so much. From the time we see them fighting while the cheating boyfriend looked on, until they finally told their feelings for each other. It took almost 14 episodes of push-and-pull that I almost gave up on them. Eunhee kept friendzoning Chanhyuk and Chanhyuk not doing anything when he thought he missed his chance. I’m so glad that Eunjoo finally spoke to Chanhyuk and told him that Eunhee thinks she isn’t worth it that’s why she pushes people she likes because she thinks she wont get them anyway. Because of that, he finally found the courage to speak up and tell her what he felt so long ago, especially when he confirmed that Eunhee has always liked him too! (Hello, almost everyone in their college circle thought they will end up together except them!) I just love the friends to lovers trope!
I especially loved that he proposed in that wall where it almost started. All the 3 scenes – when they were younger, when Eunhee imagined kissing Chanhyuk and Chanhyuk finally kissing her were all beautifully shot, i want to go to that place!! 🙂
I’m happy when they got together and it was all worth it! (The amount of kisses they shared in the last episode made up for the long wait!) 😍
Overall, i really loved this drama. Despite the heavy storyline, i was able to bingewatch this show in less than a week! if you have time, please go and watch this amazing drama because I think each one can relate to the characters or situations at some point in our lives.
To quote the ending, “As complicated as I am, we have family”.
KDrama Dreaming 