My Unfamiliar Family: Episode 4

by quirkycase

Relationships are complicated, and we usually know less about those around us than we think. There are more revelations this hour that cast loved ones’ behaviors and even identities in a new light, forcing our family members to face the fact that their understanding may be incomplete. Things are starting to unravel, but sometimes that’s necessary to create a stronger, more cohesive whole.

 
EPISODE 4

Seeing her younger self in the photos from Chan-hyuk that Ji-woo sent, Eun-hee wonders what her now 22-year-old father is feeling. Currently, said father is feeling confused as Young-shik greets him. Jin-sook thinks back to being a young mom when Sang-shik started coming home late and getting calls from women.

He was careful at first, but he became more shameless. “My happy home turned into a hell I could hardly breathe in.” She decided to endure it to “protect the home” for her kids. Now, she walks toward Young-shik and her husband.

Sang-shik asks politely if Young-shik is referring to him as “father.” His colleagues catch sight of Jin-sook and quickly try to cover that lots of younger colleagues call Sang-shik “father.” As if to corroborate their claim, a man yells “father” from somewhere nearby. They nervously head inside.

Elsewhere, Tae-hyung divulges to Eun-joo that her dad tried to commit suicide, judging from Sang-shik’s medical records and the medicine bottle the EMTs found. Eun-joo doesn’t want to believe it but hearing her mom asked the doctors if he’d taken sleeping pills cements it.

Tae-hyung was planning to talk to Sang-shik as soon as his memory returns, but now he has to attend this conference. It’d be better for Eun-joo to talk to him. Eun-joo doesn’t think she can since, although she knows she shouldn’t, she hates her mom for this “marriage graduation” stuff.

At Geon-joo’s place, Eun-hee shares her own nine-year relationship story. Did Jong-min also tell the woman he cheated with that he and Eun-hee were “drifting apart?” Even though she accuses Geon-joo of sounding like a jerk, he’s “relieved” at her response. Having this in common means she understands. He calls it fate. Wow.

Eun-hee asserts she’ll keep the secret and stay hidden. She’s not going to concern herself with their issues. She shows Geon-joo the photos of her from college, and he gets competitive upon hearing that Chan-hyuk took them.

While Chan-hyuk flips through Eun-joo’s wedding photos at the office, Seo-young explains to Ji-woo over drinks that her and Chan-hyuk’s moms know each other. Ji-woo is jealous she studied abroad, but she clarifies she got kicked out after a year. She thinks Ji-woo is going to ask about it, but instead, he wonders how old she is. Seo-young suggests they start speaking casually to each other.

Eun-hee and Geon-joo stop making out when they hear the door. Eun-hee imagines Geon-joo’s girlfriend walking in and gets nervous, but it’s just a drunk guy who got the wrong apartment. Still, it’s enough to send Eun-hee home.

She tells Geon-joo that the her in those pictures wasn’t happy, although she was independent and free. She spent so much time trying to please others, especially her boyfriend, that she had nothing left for herself. Geon-joo doesn’t want her doing that with him, and she assures him she won’t. This time, she’ll do as she pleases.

Geon-joo encourages her to figure out why she became like that and find someone to talk to. Eun-hee smiles and says she has a “personal safe” she can tell anything. Inside, Geon-joo sees the photo of him and his girlfriend back on display and slams it into the drawer again.

Sang-shik takes Jin-sook to a nearby beach he used to like. She suspiciously notes that he claimed his first time in Ulsan was when he started driving trucks, yet he knows the winding alleys so well. She accuses him of lying about not remembering anything.

Chan-hyuk joins Seo-young and a very drunk Ji-woo at the bar. Seo-young told him Chan-hyuk likes Eun-hee, but Ji-woo emphasizes they could neeever be in that kind of relationship. Chan-hyuk somewhat defensively wants to know why not. Ji-woo just never got that vibe from them.

Seo-young thinks he’s too close to see the truth, and Ji-woo morosely states that family does deceive each other. Ji-woo abruptly asks when Chan-hyuk is going to visit Eun-joo and giggles about how much he looooves his big sister.

Sang-shik and Jin-sook sit on the beach where he reveals that Ulsan is his hometown. He was struggling to survive on his own at age 14, barely able to eat, and ended up in Seoul after helping a truck driver. The college-educated Jin-sook seemed out of his league. He’d tried hard to hide his country roots.

He blinks away tears as he admits he worried over when to tell her, and it seems he never did. Jin-sook gets up, reminding him they need to catch the last train. Sang-shik wants to stay the night there and watch the sunrise together. Jin-sook mutters she can’t get used to this and walks away.

Fireworks explode in the sky, and Sang-shik’s face lights up like a kid’s. Jin-sook watches him, wondering what he likes so much about those difficult years that she’d long forgotten.

In the station, Sang-shik compares Jin-sook to the fairy in the fable “The Fairy and the Woodcutter.” Like the fairy who flew back to heaven with her two children, he was afraid Jin-sook would fly away. That’s why he wanted three kids who’d have a better life than him. “Miss Sook, you’ve done a great job.”

Sang-shik’s voice breaks as he tells her he hopes he’ll remember soon. He turns to hide his tears, and Jin-sook is reminded that he used to cry easily. She narrates that a man who believes in fated love and a woman who doesn’t met. We see a montage of their early days when they were happy and in love.

Eun-hee shows up at the bar to collect a passed-out Ji-woo. Chan-hyuk confides that Ji-woo seems to have a secret. She should try to get it out of him since it seems serious.

Chan-hyuk guesses she’s been with Geon-joo, so Eun-hee brings him up to speed, even admitting her embarrassing overreaction when someone was at the door. While there, she saw a photo of his girlfriend but pretended she didn’t. Chan-hyuk advises her not to fixate on the girlfriend if she’s going to be with Geon-joo.

Eun-hee blames his photos of her and wonders if Jong-min gave them to him. Chan-hyuk is flustered, but before he can respond, Ji-woo dramatically falls out of his chair. Time to go home.

In the car, Ji-woo loudly proclaims they’re due for a siblings’ night and orders her to go to Eun-joo’s. Ji-woo confesses he’s always felt more comfortable with and liked Eun-hee more – she’s offended by the past tense – but now he’s really upset about it. Eun-hee glances at him in concern.

At home, Tae-hyung snaps his laptop shut when Eun-joo enters his room. He asks if she’s talked to her sister about Sang-shik yet. She just tells him she’ll handle it. In her room, she considers calling her mom but doesn’t.

Eun-hee tucks Ji-woo in on the couch. Looking at the photo of her parents, she muses that this is likely the first trip her parents have gone on together. Her mother must feel strange. Cut to them asleep on the train, Jin-sook’s head resting on Sang-shik’s.

At work, Geon-joo smiles at Eun-hee playing it cool and telling him not to make their relationship obvious, but he follows her wishes. Later, she’s surprised to see Tae-hyung looking for her. He asks her to check in on Eun-joo often while he’s in New Zealand; he hopes they can get closer.

Eun-hee finds that idea cringey but assures him she’s always on Eun-joo’s side. Worried Eun-joo won’t say anything, Tae-hyung shares that Sang-shik tried to commit suicide. Later, Eun-hee sits at her desk, going through her texts from her dad in disbelief.

While Chan-hyuk’s media team is filming at a factory, Ji-woo animatedly jumps around trying to get Seo-young’s attention. She takes out her earphones, wondering why he didn’t just tap her, but he says she would’ve been too startled.

Seo-young marches over to Chan-hyuk and accuses him of telling, but he chuckles that Ji-woo is just observant. She doesn’t buy it since all guys his age are jerks or idiots. Cue Ji-woo unable to balance on a stool. Ha.

Eun-hee spots her mom getting into a car with the fruit shop owner YOO SEON-IL (Seo Sang-won) and goes to the shop to investigate. His daughter shares he went on a date, making Eun-hee drop a piece fruit in shock.

At home, she snoops around her mother’s room and finds all her books have a sticker from Seon-il’s shop. In the kitchen, Eun-hee gapes to see her father cutting fruit, but he’s just as surprised he didn’t even do this much before. Sang-shik proudly tells Eun-hee her mom is learning poetry at the cultural center and will be back late.

Sang-shik turns serious and asks if he and Eun-hee got along well. “Was I a good father?” Jin-sook seems mad at him. Eun-hee is unsure of how to respond but says there’s something she’s curious about.

Cut to them at a noraebang; she’s always wondered about his singing ability. They have fun jamming out, but Eun-hee fights tears when she recalls Tae-hyung’s revelation about Sang-shik attempting suicide.

On the way home, Eun-hee speculates that her dad must feel like Marty from Back to the Future, time traveling where everything he knows is different. Jin-sook is now older and cold. Sang-shik defends Jin-sook and attributes the problem to his memory loss.

Eun-hee honestly states that she sometimes disliked her dad for favoring Eun-joo so much. She’s always been on her mom’s side. They apologize to each other, and Eun-hee gets him to promise to tell her first when his memory returns. She takes his hand and thinks she’s grateful to him for surviving.

Jin-sook and Ji-woo are anxiously waiting for Sang-shik when they return. Sang-shik runs up to Jin-sook like an excited kid, and the siblings relocate to the playground. Ji-woo can’t get used to his dad’s newfound youth and the shifting family dynamics.

Eun-hee worries about her mom’s lying while Ji-woo’s leg bounces in anxiety. When he won’t tell her what he’s worried about, she embarrasses him by dramatically quoting and then singing BTS lyrics at him.

Inside, Sang-shik is happy Jin-sook was worried about him, but he assures her he’s fine. He’ll even start working soon, maybe starting in Ulsan. Jin-sook doesn’t respond and goes to her room.

Geon-joo’s girlfriend shows up at his place, and he’s decidedly unhappy about it. He thought she wasn’t ever coming to his apartment, but she argues she never agreed to that. She covertly turns off his phone before informing him she ordered food and beer for them. She plans to stay for the weekend.

Eun-hee tries calling Geon-joo from his apartment parking garage, but his phone is off. She pushes the button for the elevator. When his doorbell rings, Geon-joo stops his girlfriend from answering. She scoffs to see he took their picture down again. Downstairs, Eun-hee changes her mind and leaves.

At the café, Tae-hyung recognizes the book Hyo-seok is reading as the one he bought for Eun-joo. After Tae-hyung leaves, Hyo-seok picks up an envelope (money?) on the counter.

The next day, Eun-joo drives Tae-hyung to the airport. He compliments her driving and encourages her to get used to driving this car. When she asks rhetorically how often she’ll do so, he gets an odd look. (He’s acting like he’s leaving for good…)

Eun-joo stops by her parents’ to check on her dad and calls her mom out to talk. She brings up a time in elementary school when her mom took her and left home. Why didn’t she bring Eun-hee? Eun-joo remembers clearly that her mom put medicine in the juice bottle, and she was afraid she’d have to drink it. Whoa.

Jin-sook cries as her daughter accuses her of wanting to kill them both and insists that’s not the case. It was an herb that she was going to use to abort Ji-woo. Jin-sook cries that her sin is great.

At home, Sang-shik calls Young-shik and asks to meet. Outside, Jin-sook explains that she feared being entirely stuck if she had another kid. Eun-joo sarcastically asks if she’s like the fairy and her dad is the woodcutter, making Jin-sook chuckle.

Eun-joo finally gets to her main point: she knows Sang-shik wanted to commit suicide. Jin-sook argues he didn’t take the pills, but Eun-joo thinks him carrying around the bottle is telling. What will her mom do once his memories return? Jin-sook unequivocally states they’ll separate as planned.

Elsewhere, Ji-woo tells Chan-hyuk that Eun-hee set up an appointment for him with Eun-joo about registering a trademark. He can make it on time if he leaves now. Chan-hyuk panics about the fermented soybean smell from the factory on his clothes.

We flash back to March 2016 where Chan-hyuk nervously primped before meeting Eun-joo. She’d been glad to hear Jong-min was moving out and asked Chan-hyuk for a favor. Eun-hee was bound to leave things ambiguous, so could he help make a clean break for her?

She asked him to get rid of anything of Eun-hee’s Jong-min left behind. Also, she knows the two of them have a joint savings account which will need to be split evenly. He’d agreed. Chan-hyuk was going to give her the wedding photos until she commented lightheartedly that he’d taken too many pictures at her wedding.

Eun-hee is shocked to hear they met after the blowup. Chan-hyuk explains this is how he ended up with the pictures of her he’d taken for Jong-min. He asks if she isn’t meeting with Geon-joo this weekend, but she reveals she couldn’t get in touch with him. “We must be slowly drifting apart.” Heh.

She’s decided not to contact him either and proudly extols her coolness, but Chan-hyuk thinks it’s just benefitting Geon-joo who would appreciate the freedom since he potentially has many secret lovers. He advises her to keep their lives distinct and not to leave traces of the affair.

Eun-hee has an epiphany, reasoning that must be why he’s only ever asked her to his house and not populated places. Chan-hyuk scoffs that he’s a pro.

When Eun-joo arrives at the café, Eun-hee and Chan-hyuk notice her speaking to Hyo-seok casually. Eun-hee is way too invested in the potential scandal, gasping about their “whispering” and Eun-joo’s body language. At the counter, Hyo-seok asks where Tae-hyung is and freezes when she says he’s in New Zealand. He tries to collect himself once she goes to the table. Hmm…

Elsewhere, Sang-shik speculates he never told Jin-sook the truth about his hometown because he was embarrassed and feels lacking compared to her. She guesses he thought she’d leave him, but he doesn’t answer. He pesters her to go with him the next day to Ulsan.

At the café, Eun-joo says she’ll handle Chan-hyuk’s trademark case personally, surprising Eun-hee who didn’t know Eun-joo is freelancing now. Chan-hyuk uses this opportunity to give the wedding photos to Eun-joo. She pauses on a photo of her and Tae-hyung looking grim.

Seo-young and Ji-woo are still at work, and she orders them food while ignoring all of Ji-woo’s preferences. She nonchalantly suggests they start dating. Ji-woo: “I have a girlfriend.” Seo-young looks suspicious when he claims he’s never talked about going on dates because she lives really far away.

Chan-hyuk and the sisters go for a nice dinner. Eun-joo compliments Chan-hyuk on his judgment when Eun-hee shares that Chan-hyuk called Eun-joo “cool and perfect.” To Chan-hyuk’s embarrassment, Eun-hee suddenly recalls Jong-min once telling her Chan-hyuk liked Eun-joo.

After Chan-hyuk heads to the restroom, Eun-hee asks when Eun-joo was going to tell her about their dad. Things are tense when Chan-hyuk returns to the table. In the morning, Eun-hee wakes on Eun-joo’s couch and recalls her embarrassing drunken behavior.

Eun-hee wanders around looking for a power outlet and ends up plugging her phone into Tae-hyung’s laptop. Her eyes go wide and she gasps at the open chat window. Eun-joo enters, making Eun-hee slam the laptop shut. Eun-hee tries to stop her from looking at it, but Eun-joo opens it anyway, revealing a chatroom for closeted gay men.

 
COMMENTS

I thought there had to be more to Tae-hyung’s situation than just cheating given the strangeness of Hyo-seok’s behavior. Tae-young being closeted certainly explains his apathy towards his marriage and his life in general. His life must feel suffocating. Although he hasn’t said anything directly, it looks like he’s been dropping hints; the book he gifted Eun-joo is a Japanese manga called “What Did You Eat Yesterday?” by Fumi Yoshinaga about a middle-aged gay couple. I’m always glad when dramas have LGBTQIA characters and address these culturally taboo topics, but it’s a toss-up how well non-heteronormative characters are presented. With this kind of family drama that emphasizes connection and empathy, I think there’s a better chance that they’ll portray Tae-hyung and his struggles respectfully and thoughtfully.

I love how the relationships in this drama are revealed layer by layer. This episode shed more light on why Eun-joo is so cold to her mom. She’s been carrying around that awful memory for so long, and I’m sure that’s colored her perception of her mom ever since. See what happens when you don’t communicate? Not only did Eun-joo have that horrifying misconception, but Jin-sook has held so much in that her kids view their dad as the victim in this marriage separation situation. Hearing her say she decided to live only for her kids and forgo her own happiness was sad, but I’m glad she finally got the courage to stand up for herself, even if it’s decades late.

I get that Eun-hee wants to put herself first for once in a relationship, but this Geon-joo situation could blow up in her face. She may not be the one cheating, but she is aiding and abetting the crime, so to speak. It’s one thing if she thinks there’s nothing wrong with it, but her hesitation and guilty reaction when she thought the girlfriend arrived said otherwise. Eun-hee seems to find it unethical but is doing it anyway, which is just hypocritical and selfish. In that case, it’s likely to do her more harm than good on a personal level. I love Eun-hee as a character, and I’m really rooting for her to learn to respect herself and go after what she wants without sacrificing her own values.

Ji-woo has been in the background mostly, but I do hope we get to focus on our family peacekeeper and mascot soon. From what we’ve seen, he’s observant and thoughtful, always trying to ensure everyone gets along and feels comfortable. In a lot of ways, he seems the most together of the bunch. But who knows? Maybe he’s got crazy secrets too. I was as surprised as Seo-young when he said he has a girlfriend, since there’s been zero mention of her from him or his family. On a side note, I didn’t expect Seo-young to be interested in Ji-woo so soon given the attention she pays to Chan-hyuk, but maybe she doesn’t want to waste her time on someone who isn’t interested.

Thanks to Eun-hee, we know that Chan-hyuk did have a crush on Eun-joo back in the day. Well, that’s according to Jong-min, but Chan-hyuk’s reaction to the accusation lends it credence. I had wondered why Chan-hyuk got so upset when Eun-hee mentioned falling out with her sister, but knowing that Eun-joo came to him on Eun-hee’s behalf, it makes sense. If only Eun-joo could’ve shown some of that caring to Eun-hee rather than acting so cold to her face. These two are such opposites, but there’s a lot they could learn from each other if they’d stop fighting long enough to see it.

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