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K-Drama Premiere: “My Unfamiliar Family” Narrates An Inviting Story About The Difficulties Dealt By Families
Exploring the ups and downs in every relationship, My Unfamiliar Family presents poignant and lighthearted moments we can learn from.
Depicting pragmatic situations in every household, the pilot week of My Unfamiliar Family bids a roller-coaster ride of emotions while instilling life lessons about relationships, not just with family but in general. It presents families that treat each other as strangers, and strangers that treat each other as family.
Premiere Week Rating: 
My Unfamiliar Family may seem like the usual household story upon first glance, but to examine it closely, it is not. The gradual plot buildup started by giving a glimpse about the current state of the relationship of both parents, the siblings and the parents between their children.
Together with its admirable characters, My Unfamiliar Family takes the viewers into a family that grows apart due to indifference and lack of communication.
Premiere Week Recap
Kim Eun Hee, the second daughter, is busy getting ready for work, ignoring her mother’s call. Soon, as she answers the phone call for the second time, her mother starts yelling and getting mad at her for not picking up. Due to her dedication at work, she rarely comes home. Thus, the unsolved issues with her family drew them apart.
Meanwhile, the eldest daughter of the family, Kim Eun Joo can be seen with her husband going to their clinic. The not-so-loving vibe between the married couple starts soon as her husband asked her wife about the young man she hangs out with.
The Longest Day In Kim Eun Hee’s Life
Being one of the company’s diligent and best employees, Kim Eun Hee fulfills her duty as a publisher and meets one of her client authors. Considering that the author specializes self-reflection and meditation, she joins the session and has had her time to reflect and ponder her thoughts.
Soon as she closes her eyes and retains the past memories, she comes across with the period in which she has considered the longest day in her life. It was March 10, 2016 when almost everything that happened became a huge turning point in her life.
Preparation for Divorce
In her memory, she sees her old self looking at her mother, faintly crying. Without even asking the reason of her tears, she let it pass like it’s nothing. Little did she know before, her mother was preparing for divorce.
A Relationship of “Just Being Together”
Being in a relationship for a long time doesn’t guarantee that you’re with the right person and Kim Eun Hee is no exception.
A woman named Hye Soo (Han Ji Wan) comes to her one day introducing herself as the girlfriend of her current boyfriend. The woman then accuses Kim Eun Hee of having an affair when in fact she is the real girlfriend. To cause Eun Hee an emotional outburst, the woman mentions that her (Eun Hee) best friend (Chan Hyuk) knows about them.
She realizes that despite being in a relationship for nine years, time will eventually come that they grow apart. That their concept of “relationship” is just being together for a long time, yet bare and empty.
5-Year Sisters’ Dispute
Feeling completely betrayed by the people she considered family, she turns to her sister (Kim Eun Joo) for advice. She is yearning for encouragement and care from her sister, yet Eun Joo uses rough words and points her mistakes. She tells her to just get over it.
Due to extreme heartache and sadness by what her sister said, she flares up and cuts off ties with Eun Joo. She has no idea that her sister is in grief due to a miscarriage.
Until the present time, they haven’t called nor text each other. The miscommunication and argument that they should have talked over eventually shattered their relationship as sisters, reaching to five years of having no contact with each other.
The 22 Year-old Father
Kim Sang Sik (Jung Jin Young) is a truck driver and the head of the Kim family. He is the usual father we get to see everyday. Like some other families, Kim Sang Sik is not in good terms with his wife. They rarely talk to each other, but even if they have to, their conversation is stiff and formal.
Her wife Jin Sook (Won Mi Kyung) abruptly discusses her desire of leaving their tie. Since a divorce is normally complicated and exhaustive for both parties, they will instead “graduate” from their marriage. However, Sang Shik dislikes and opposes the idea. But the moment she gets emotional and telling the things she hates about their relationship, Sang Shik feels outraged and tells her wife to leave. But instead of leaving, she gives a cold shoulder and tells him to leave.
Later on, he halfheartedly agrees. He takes some time off to think and takes up his night with hiking. All of a sudden, he gets into an accident and suffers memory loss. Due to distorted memory, he perceives himself as 22 years old. The last things from his memory are the things that happened till the year 1982, which means he can’t remember his children either.
He is also completely unaware of the marriage graduation. His cold and crude attitude before turns into a sweet and gentle one. Now, the question is, “Will the marriage graduation push through?”
Premiere Week Afterthoughts
Fair and completely honest, My Unfamiliar Family gave us enough reasons why we should anticipate the succeeding episodes. While some of situations inside their family are extremely relatable, viewers can either laugh or learn from it, which for me, seems admirable.
What makes it interesting are the potential relationships that have yet to flourish. Let’s take the Kim sisters as an example. Kim Eun Joo the eldest, is on the verge of divorce with her husband because of their lifeless marriage. Apparently, she has this friendly yet strange connection with the young coffee shop part-timer.
Meanwhile, Kim Eun Hee is quite the reckless daughter. A new executive vice-president got transferred in the publishing company she works at. To warmly welcome the new VP, they had a team dinner. And being under the influence of alcohol, both felt whirlwind of emotions leading to a night they won’t forget.
Another thing that caught me off my guard is when the amnesiac father asked his wife if their eldest daughter (Kim Eun Joo) knows that she is not her father’s biological daughter.
The memorable and epic scenes mentioned above are just bits of what happened in the pilot episodes. With shocking twists and revelations, My Unfamiliar Family spares no time for slow and boring story-telling, making it one of the most promising shows on tvN so far.
My Unfamiliar Family airs on tvN every Monday and Tuesday at 9 PM KST.
Catch its latest episode on Viu.
Images and Videos From: tvN
