The Atypical Family – K-drama Episode 2 Recap & Review

Episode 2

In episode 2 of The Atypical Family, we meet a young Bok Gwi-joo, who wins a candy fish in the lottery game. But when he returns, his mother breaks his prize and punishes him for not heeding her advice about the accident waiting to happen nearby. It is this moment that Gwi-joo time travels for the first time. He realises soon enough that neither can people from the past see or touch him nor can he change the past either. Once he stops finding joy in a memory, it also fades and he’s never able to return to that moment.

We are transported into the present where Gwi-joo finds that I-na has thrown out all the teddy bears that he gifted her. Since I-na feels responsible for her father’s grief, she feels guilty celebrating her birthday and thinks that she doesn’t deserve presents. After she leaves for school, Gwi-joo notices a strange man lurking around their house.

Realising that I-na did not like the teddy bears, Gwi-joo sets off to the mall to find her a present. Only, he’s terrible at it. Meanwhile, Da-hae’s uncle is following him around and signals to her. Da-hae appears to help Gwi-joo select a present for I-na but he feels uncomfortable and leaves. Later, Da-hae finds him drinking alone and gives him a pair of shoes as presents for I-na. Gwi-joo uncomfortably leaves with the bag of shoes after leaving a lot of cash behind for Da-hae. Soon, a fire alarm rings and Da-hae’s past trauma with fire kicks in. A little while later, she finds a bewildered Gwi-joo holding her hand but he soon disappears when the announcement for a false alarm is made.

Meanwhile, back at home, I-na loves her new shoes and catches her father looking at her before leaving. Da-hae visits the Man-heum’s gym for a massage session. It’s clear that Man-heum wants her to marry her son and Da-hae is acting unsure to avoid suspicion. Moreover, it’s evident that Bok Dong-hee is extremely insecure of her body, especially because she wants to marry first and inherit her mother’s building. At this time, Gwi-joo comes to the gym and Da-hae thanks him for holding her hand but he thinks that she’s lying to please his mother.

The next day, Man-heum opens the topic of marriage again and insinuates that although she loves I-na, I-na might not be Gwi-joo’s child since she hasn’t inherited their family superpowers. Gwi-joo takes offence at this and so Man-heum leverages this opportunity to ask him to act like a proper father.

At school, I-na is almost invisible and keeps to herself. Her teacher calls Gwi-joo and asks him to be more caring towards I-na. Gwi-joo is taken aback and finds many school papers that I-ha had stashed in her room without ever asking for his signature on them. However, somehow, he isn’t able to sign them and goes looking for more alcohol. Finally, Gwi-joo’s father is able to coax him to come to a restaurant for a drinking session but when they reach, it’s revealed to be a date with Da-hae. As Gwi-joo is forced to participate, he keeps drinking by himself.

Elsewhere, it’s revealed that the clinic Bok Dong-hee used to work at, belongs to her boyfriend. When she visits him, she soon gets paranoid and conjures inappropriate images of the doctor with his patient. When she goes inside though, he’s just having a regular session with the patient who turns out to be Grace. Later, when Dong-hee asks him to get married, he says that he cannot marry her until he repays her the money that she had lent him for opening the clinic. Devastated, she returns to the gym and aggressively starts working out on the treadmill. She’s almost able to fly when Grace stops the treadmill and Dong-hee collapses, crying.

Meanwhile, I-na is followed by the same stranger and she finds cover in a public restroom. She tries to call everyone in her family but nobody responds. In the end, she reluctantly calls Gwi-joo but Da-hae picks up instead. Post the call, Da-hae tells a drunken Gwi-joo that I-na seems to be in danger and he rushes out the restaurant to find her. When the two reach the restroom, Gwi-joo finds the same stranger lurking around, who turns out to be Da-hae’s uncle, and drunkenly punches the man’s helmet.

The man pretends to get hurt and leaves on Da-hae’s signal. When they finally meet I-na, it seems that I-na was not worried about the man but she had gotten her first period. Da-hae helps her with it and they safely drop her home. Gwi-joo feels thankful towards Da-hae and asks if she would want to have another drink with him.

While drinking, they talk about how Gwi-joo cannot find any happiness in the past to go back to. Da-hae thanks him for holding her hand again and explains that he held her hand back at the mall. When Gwi-joo says that it wasn’t him, Da-hae jokes that it must be him from the future.

Later in his room, while signing I-na’s school papers, Gwi-joo humours Da-hae’s idea and tries to focus. And, in a split second, he finds himself in the mall. He goes over to Da-hae who’s having a tough time due to the fire alarm and is able hold her hand.

The Episode Review

The Atypical Family is certainly intriguing, especially the plot, but at times in the episode, it seems like something is missing. Firstly, we have no clue about where the Bok family’s powers come from, what’s their source? Secondly, the plot pace feels a bit too rushed with Gwi-joo and Da-hae’s love story arc. It’s like we are skipping a lot of detail to rush to the point.

We are also unsure if Da-hae’s scammer family is her real family or just a group of con artists. Although from the clues, the latter seems to be the case at present. There are also inconsistencies associated with the character motives and dialogue. For instance, in this episode, Gwi-joo mentions several times that he’s depressed and feels uncomfortable being set up with Da-hae. Later in the episode, he’s worried that he’d depend on her to look after I-na. This transition happens a bit too quickly since they’ve barely met each other enough.

Moreover, somewhere in the middle of the episode, Gwi-joo appears at the gym only to declare that it took him a lot of energy to get to work as a depressed person and he immediately leaves for home. Such instances of forced appearances and inconsistent and badly written dialogues leave a weak aftertaste in an otherwise interesting plot. However, since we are only at episode 2, there’s much left to be unravelled.