Our atypical show wraps up its 13-year-old arc on a happy — or on a less than satisfying — note, depending on which side you stand on the divided opinion about the drama’s conclusion. But the show had a good run, albeit confusing at times, and we watched our characters grow and become better versions of themselves. Most importantly, they seemed satisfied with the ending they got, and maybe that’s all that matters.
EPISODES 11-12
Gwi-ju and Da-hae make up after last week’s noble idiocy, and he promises that he’ll spend a long, long time with her in the present before returning to the past to save her. But when they return home, Yi-na can barely face her dad because the news about his impending death rocks her to the core. And though Da-hae promises that she will save Gwi-ju, Yi-na remains scared and unconvinced.
In a rare moment of sibling bonding, Dong-hee recalls her modelling days and how Man-heum’s “I had a dream the lead model got hurt” made her bail out on an opportunity of a lifetime. Unfortunately, the heels for the show were custom-made for Dong-hee, so the replacement model got hurt on the ramp. Dong-hee tells Gwi-ju that the accident wouldn’t have happened if she had ignored the dream and attended the show, and long story short: “Don’t let mom’s dreams stop you [from saving Da-hae].”
Dong-hee began to stress eat soon after the accident, but even now that she has lost all that weight, she still can’t fly. Gwi-ju reminds her that she used to be chubby back in elementary school, and she flew much better then. Long story short: Dong-hee’s weight is not the problem. The missing ingredient is her happiness.
Man-heum dreams about Dong-hee and another woman crying with their hair all messed up, and she assumes that they fought over Dong-hee’s fiancé. But since she has realized — and now regrets — that her dreams end up cursing her children, Man-heum refuses to tell Dong-hee so as not to ruin her wedding plans. Da-hae, on the other hand, is not about to allow her sister-in-law-to-be marry a cheat, so she blackmails Fiancé to cough up 200 million won or else. Da-hae expects him to call off the wedding, but when he surprises her with the money, it’s time for plan B: she and Grace arrange for Dong-hee to catch him and his girlfriend red-handed. Oops!
The wedding is off and Dong-hee gets to keep the 200 million won as payback for the money she lent him to open his clinic. But in an attempt to retrieve the bag of cash, Fiancé accidentally pushes Grace out of the window. Again, oops! Left with no other choice, Dong-hee steels herself — banishing self doubts and Man-heum’s voice in her head that she can’t fly — and takes off. Yaay! She catches Grace and the two ladies go for a ride in the air. All it took was a near-death experience for Grace to experience flying with Dong-hee as she always wanted. The universe really works in mysterious ways. Lol.
When Dong-hee and Grace eventually land, their hair has been tousled in the wind, and they’re crying in joy — like Man-heum dreamed. It dawns on Da-hae that there’s always more to Man-heum’s dreams, and she informs the family that Gwi-ju can still be saved. Phew! Yi-na overhears the conversation, and a subsequent heart to heart conversation with her dad finally puts her mind at rest.
Of course, it won’t be a finale without a redemption arc for Sauna Mom, so she returns the lottery ticket to Man-heum. Apparently, she also funded Fiancé’s 200 million won loan — and I think there’s no better punishment for the scumbag than owing a loan shark like Sauna Mom. As to why Sauna Mom has turned a new leaf, it turns out that losing Da-hae as a daughter is the most cruel punishment anyone could put her through, and she thanks Da-hae for staying alive and for being the daughter she didn’t deserve. Ermm…no comment.
Man-heum and Soon-goo also make up, and this takes Gwi-ju back to a family bonding moment in his childhood — where he spots little Da-hae in the background being bullied for not knowing how to ride a bike. Of course, they somehow had to have met in her childhood. Lol. Gwi-ju pushes Da-hae’s bike round the park, and it’s all fun and games until he comes in contact with pollen from a plant and develops a rash on his neck. Yep. That’s the red spot Da-hae saw on her savior’s neck 13 years ago. In the present, Gwi-ju learns that the rash will last anything from a few days to a week, meaning the time to save Da-hae is waaay sooner than they thought. And worse, if he can get hurt by a plant in the past, then the fire can actually kill him. Well, that’s not scary at all.
Gwi-ju and Da-hae keep mum about this so as not to distract from Yi-na’s dance competition, and the Boks and the Saunas turn up in their finest outfits to cheer Yi-na on. Yi-na’s nervousness spikes with everyone’s eyes on her onstage, and Joon-woo, as sweet as ever, says to keep her eyes on him. Soon, Yi-na is killing it on stage, and in a voice over, she tells Gwi-ju that she’s got friends she can look in the eyes now, she’s no longer invisible, and that she loves him. No, I’m not crying. Yi-na has fully come into her own, and my heart is full. Best of all, Ms. Popular — who performed with the group on Yi-na’s invitation — apologizes for locking her in the storage room, and the girls are friends again.
As the climax of our show approaches, everything begins to happen everywhere and all at once: 1) Dong-hee’s ex-fiancé lights romantic candles in one of the changing rooms at the competition venue to re-propose to her, but she turns him down; 2) Gwi-ju prepares to return to the past to save Da-hae — “because I choose to, not because I have to” — and they say their tearful goodbyes; 3) Ex-fiancé inevitably sets the room on fire — *facepalm* — and the fire spreads to the dance hall; 4) Man-heum belatedly realizes that this is the fire she dreamt about — not the one from 13 years ago. Whoa! I need a moment to breathe.
The sauna family assists in crowd control, Dong-hee flies to pull down the fire curtain onstage — in what is the coolest and most badass superpower move I’ve seen in this drama — and Gwi-ju temporarily puts off his return to the past. In the meantime, Da-hae braves her fire trauma to search for Yi-na, and Gwi-ju finds both of them crouched beside a falling wall. He steadies the wall and tells Da-hae to leave with Yi-na, and though she’s reluctant to leave him, she does as he says.
Afterwards, Gwi-ju returns to 13 years ago when Yi-na was born, and this time he thanks his late wife for bringing Yi-na to the world and for giving him this moment. For a second, the wife looks in his direction and it’s almost like she sees him standing there — just like Firefighter Sunbae “sees” Gwi-ju when he arrives at the burning school later on — and it makes me happy that Show has finally acknowledged Gwi-ju’s wife. This is totally my headcanon, and I refuse to think otherwise.
Before the competition, Gwi-ju dropped by the fire station to check out floor plans for the school building, and he’s able to locate the storage room faster on arrival. He manages to get Da-hae out through a window and onto the fire rescue mattress — but not before giving her the family’s ring. “Remember, this isn’t the end,” he says. “It’s the beginning.” Unfortunately, the building explodes with Gwi-ju still trapped inside, and since he couldn’t make it back to the present, his body is not recovered from the competition venue. The Boks hold a funeral for him without a body like Man-heum dreamed, and life goes on.
We time skip to five years later and Dong-hee’s ex is in prison, Dong-hee and Sauna Uncle are an item, and Grace is still failing her acting auditions. No one said living an honest life is a walk in the park. Heh. As for Da-hae, she has gotten over her fire trauma, and she’s no longer alone. That’s right, Da-hae and Gwi-ju had a baby! Wow! Those two judiciously utilized the short time they spent together. Lool.
Our story concludes with the introduction of baby NU-RI’s superpower: he can bring lost things from the past to the present. And what better to bring back from the past than his father? That’s right, Nu-ri brings his dad back from the fire/the dead/whatever universe Gwi-ju was stuck in, and I have no comment on this. I’m sure there’s an explanation out there that makes sense, but I’m not going to overthink anything. Gwi-ju is back alive, it’s a happy ending, and that’s all there is to it.
I could go on and on about things I didn’t like/understand about this drama, but that’s probably on me and not the show. I’m not its target audience, and that’s fine. One thing I actually liked — apart from Yi-na’s story — were the cooking and eating scenes. Right from Soon-goo making seaweed soup for Yi-na in the premiere week to the many mealtimes the Bok family shared in the finale, the food scenes brimmed with warmth, love and care, and served as an avenue for bonding and reminiscing over happy times. I’m always hungry watching food scenes in dramas, but I felt filled up watching little acts of service like Soon-goo turning off the stove for Da-hae, and Gwi-ju returning to the past to learn a family recipe. Okay, I lied. I actually wanted to eat that braised pollock. Heh.
Overall, The Atypical Family did well in its exploration of a number of themes: familial relationships; greed, and how it can ruin families; finding happiness within oneself rather than from external sources; overcoming painful pasts and moving forward, among others. The show also made an interesting choice with its presentation of majorly flawed and unlikable characters. And unlike I thought in the first week, I actually didn’t mind them as much as the weeks went by. I do cast a big side eye at everyone being handed a redemption arc, deserved or not, but if this is Show’s way of highlighting that we are all deserving of a second chance, then okay.