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Pierce Conran

This article contains spoilers.
Lead cast: Jang Ki-yong, Chun Woo-hee, Go Doo-shim, Claudia Kim
Latest Nielsen rating: 4.2 per cent
Writers of Korean dramas love to incorporate novel fantastical elements into their stories. These help jazz up the usual storylines we have come to expect from them, be they about romance, family or corporate malfeasance.


The rules of these fantastical conceits tend to be fairly malleable. However, in the right hands and with the right emotional through line, a charming idea can go a long way.
Thankfully this has been the case in The Atypical Family, a show that gives us a family of superpowered individuals whose powers are all affected by their personal or lifestyle issues.
The most prominently featured power is that of Bok Gwi-ju, the character played by male lead Jang Ki-yong (My Roommate Is a Gumiho).
Before the seven-year-long depressive funk he has found himself in following his wife’s untimely death in a car crash, Gwi-ju was able to return to happy moments in his past. He could relive these moments but had no power to change anything within them.

His power returns following the appearance of Do Da-hee (Chun Woo-hee, Delightfully Deceitful), who enters the orbit of the Bok family and begins changing their lives for the better.
What they do not know is that she has deliberately approached them to swindle them, under the instructions of loan shark Baek Il-hong (Kim Keum-soon), who took her in in exchange for her late father’s debt.
But what Da-hee does not expect is that she has a mysterious effect on Gwi-ju. His power returns, but it has changed. He can now only return to happy moments he has spent with her, but most surprising of all is that she can see him and he is able to interact with her. This means that he can now change the past.
Da-hee is shocked to discover the Bok family’s powers, let alone that she has an effect on them, but after entering their household and building relationships with Gwi-ju’s mother, Man-heum (Go Doo-shim), and his neglected daughter I-na (Park So-yi), she starts to have a change of heart about scamming them.

Her presence brings Gwi-ju back to life, but it also helps I-na to open up. Da-hee is the first to discover her secret power. When I-na isn’t wearing her glasses, she can read people’s thoughts when she looks into their eyes. But since she would rather not know what people think about her, she is seldom seen without her spectacles.
Da-hee hands Gwi-ju a fake marriage certificate and tricks Gwi-ju into believing that a future version of himself gave it to her. Yet when their wedding day eventually comes, she exposes the con at the altar and calls off the wedding.
Il-hong is furious but, after she learns about the family’s powers, she senses even greater opportunities ahead. Gwi-ju, undaunted by Da-hee’s revelation, proposes a deal to Il-hong: make Da-hee have happy memories with him and in return he will return to her with gifts from the past, such as stock tips or winning lottery numbers.
While this is playing out, the show has also been teasing another big mystery. Da-hee almost died in a fire 13 years ago and was saved by a mysterious person. Gwi-ju’s partner – he used to be a firefighter – perished in the very same blaze, which occurred on the day of I-na’s birth.

There’s little doubt that Gwi-ju was the person who saved Da-hee, but the show is still saving that big reveal for some cathartic moment later on.
The first time that Gwi-ju was able to return to one of his memories with Da-hee was a big moment in the show. Yet while we have had many similar time-travel scenes since, they continue to hold sway over us.
That is owing to the clear-eyed performances of Jang and Chun, but also in no small part thanks to the stirring score by Jung Jae-hyun, with a theme that does not seem to get old no matter how often the show repeats it.
Also working in the show’s favour are its side characters. Usually, we expect an uneven group of secondary plot lines in dramas, but here everything is well integrated with the main story, and many of the characters and performances are engaging, especially those of Park as I-na, Ryu Abel as Da-hee’s fake sister Grace Chang, or Roy as her stoic fake uncle Noh Hyeong-tae.

With two weeks to go, will the Bok family manage to fully restore their powers? Will Da-hee gain her freedom from Il-hong? And will our leads go off into the sunset together?
The Atypical Family is streaming on Netflix.


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Jang Ki-yong (left) as Gwi-ju and Chun Woo-hee as Do Da-hee in a still from The Atypical Family.

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When Do Da-hee (Chun Woo-hee) enters the orbit of the Boks, family members find their superpowers, which they had lost, suddenly restored
The show’s fantastical element keeps us on the edge of our seats thanks to strong performances from the leads and supporting cast. How will it all end?


The Bok family once had superpowers, but have lost their gifts. When Do Da-hee (Chun Woo-hee) enters their orbit they are restored. Well written, well acted and well made, how will this Netflix show end?


Netflix K-drama midseason recap: The Atypical Family – Jang Ki-yong, Chun Woo-hee in fantasy romance that fires the imagination

When Do Da-hee (Chun Woo-hee) enters the orbit of the Boks, family members find their superpowers, which they had lost, suddenly restored The show’s fantastical element keeps us on the edge of our seats thanks to strong performances from the leads and supporting cast. How will it all end?

When Do Da-hee (Chun Woo-hee) enters the orbit of the Boks, family members find their superpowers, which they had lost, suddenly restored

The show’s fantastical element keeps us on the edge of our seats thanks to strong performances from the leads and supporting cast. How will it all end?