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Dana

East Coast, USA

Dana

East Coast, USA
What Happens to My Family? korean drama review
Completed
What Happens to My Family?
9 people found this review helpful
by Dana
Oct 10, 2017
53 of 53 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 9.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 4.0
Korean comedy and I don't get along, and more than fifty episodes of comedy was daunting at the start.  But if you're willing to put in some time and effort to get to know the characters of WHTMF and make it through the comedy scenes, I think you'll be rewarded.  I definitely was.  I realized afterward that the comedy was a good balance to the heavy the drama held for later.

Story
We all get distracted with school, work, romance, dramas...it's so easy to do.  We lose sight of the good things life gives us in favor of the stresses, and WHTMF captured the story of a broken family too preoccupied with those stresses to realize how broken they are.  Kang Shim and Kang Jae dedicated their lives to their careers and Dal Bong searched in vain for acceptance yet wasn't willing to put in the effort to focus.  Soon Bong believed coddling his children in their selfish desires was better than confronting them about their mistakes and neglect.  Sul Hee was more concerned with media image than giving her son what he needed, not to mention the supporting cast and their own list of troubles.  They all pushed aside the idea of family in one way or another, some much more stubbornly than others.

The only reason I wasn't able to give this section full marks is because there was a significant focus on comedy, and I have a hard time enjoying korean comedies these days.  Other than that, I enjoyed every bit of seeing the characters evolve.  The writer blended in the shorter side stories with the overarching plot well, and it all revolved around one message:  Life is unpredictable, and we must take each moment to appreciate each other and what we’ve been given.  WHTMF had quite a few heavy moments, but it balanced them with comedy and a focus on the positive.

Acting/Cast
The standout in this drama was the cast.  The story only struck home the way it did because of the acting.  Park Hyung Sik especially proved himself as a versatile actor with the delicate emotional scenes as well as that signature Korean comedy.  The seasoned actors also had strong performances, especially Yoo Dong Geun.  I will have a hard time seeing him as anyone besides the genuine, bespectacled Cha Soon Bong that danced to the radio in his tofu shop each day.

Some of the characters in the drama will test you, and it was surprising how vicious they got.  One character especially was so heartless that I swore during the drama that I would never forgive the things they did.  How could they be so mean?!  But the weight of regret they carried when the day of reckoning eventually came was enough for me by the end, and I embraced the cast as a whole.  It was a journey, sometimes arduous and frustrating, but worth it.  I encourage you to watch this if you are in the mood for a heartwarming story about an imperfect family needing a push in the right direction to find togetherness and healing.

Music
It isn’t very often that you hear a drama ost from an aged voice such as Choi Baek Ho, and I loved it!  I also loved Yozoh’s lighter counterbalance.  The choices the music director made were perfect for the drama plot and characters equally, and they heightened my emotions at the right times.

Rewatch Value
Parts of this are very rewatchable, though I don’t know if I would commit to rewatching the entire thing any time soon.  It was light, but it was also extremely heavy.
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