Reviews

Hurts to be healed.

Episode 15:Timeline 2:Xue Min resigned from his job, and Xia Guo remained with the company. He went to meet her at the company's restaurant, showing her that their relationship is solid, and this problem wasn't going to tear them apart. Li Qiu and Xue Min's daughter said goodbye to him, and agreed that he would always visit his daughter at Christmas. He said it was his fault that he had lost the child like that, lost a lot of time in his relationship with his daughter.Timeline 1:Enter taking care of Xia Guo, about to be born, her son. And taking care of the sister who tried to kill herself, Yu Jian's mother and Yu Jian rushed YuYan to the hospital. At home, the water bottle on Xia Guo's belly came loose, and Yu Jian's father took her to the hospital. The child was born but was in danger of dying as he was losing oxygen.Xia Guo's mother, after that, took charge of Xia Guo and the child, not allowing them to return to Yu Jian's house. They spent 3 days at the door of the ward without being allowed to meet the baby. A nurse went to ask Xia Guo for Yu Jian so that he could meet the baby.He met him, he was so happy that he left crying when he showed the photo of his son to the two nurses. Yu Yan received the officer with the divorce papers at her home, and she accepted, calming her father and brother who were angry with the officer. Moments earlier, Yu Jian had been at a police station for having a fist bump with Yu Yuan's husband.Yu Jian accompanied Xia Guo, her mother, and the baby to her mother-in-law's house, and asked Xia Guo that his parents be allowed to see the child, but she didn't allow it. Xia Guo's mother and Yu Yuan had a mother-daughter conversation, and she told her hurts to her mother, and mother, in her own way, settled with her daughter.How is Yu Jian going to bring back his wife and son close to him?

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Well, episode 4 of The Atypical Family was…

Well, episode 4 of The Atypical Family was the best until now! It’s great to see such an interesting plot back on track. Now, that we have more information on Da-hae’s past and her relationship with Il-hong and the others, the plot has suddenly taken a turn for the better. We also have a background on Bok family’s powers and it seems, their powers are inherited from a long chain of historical ancestors.Even though the origin of their powers is unknown, this little information greatly improves the setting of the show. Character motivations have also become way clearer than in the previous episodes, where we now understand why Man-heum has her suspicions about I-na’s parentage because it’s impossible for her to not have any powers. This suspicion might even be the basis where she thinks that Se-yeon’s second child is illegitimate as well.The highlight of this episode was hands down, the Gwi-ju’s time travels and how well they are placed in the episode, where all incidents from the past and the future connect in harmony. There are some unclear details though, for instance, how was he able to take the flowers from the present and give them to Da-hae in the future? How could nobody see the flowers until Da-hae held them?We have no clear answers and so, we can only suspend our belief regarding these little details since the show itself is quite entertaining at the moment. It is possible that we’d soon get an answer in the following episodes.Dong-hee’s character had a shining moment in this episode where her otherwise stereotypical character was portrayed in a good light. It might not be ideal but this is definitely a great beginning to her character development.Lastly, the last scene was a stroke of genius with Da-hae manipulating Gwi-ju’s situation to advance her plans. It is clearly in line with Man-heum’s comment that when others find out about Bok family’s powers, they either run away or take advantage of their powers. Since, Da-hae hasn’t run away, she’s definitely chosen the second path to follow.

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The Atypical Family episode 3 was definitely…

The Atypical Family episode 3 was definitely a step up from the previous chapter. This time around, we understand Gwi-ju’s power as a symbolic manifestation of his depression.He suffers from guilt and trauma that arises from the harrowing event of the past and cannot help but revisit his past, mulling over it while neglecting his present – his family.From the episode, it’s clear that Se-yeon had enough of Gwi-ju’s time-travels and was planning to leave him due to his continual absence. The events of her death only heightened Gwi-ju’s trauma, leading to the loss of his power. At the same time, Da-hae’s literal colourful arrival in his life signifies a renewed connection, a chance at coming out of his illness.Amidst all this, the show keeps on getting mysterious and interesting at the same time as we ponder upon the reasons for the last scene, where Gwi-ju’s reflection did not appear in the mirror. Is it an after-effect of his time travelling power? Or does it highlight that he’s a person who doesn’t exist in the present? We don’t know that yet but it’s certainly exciting.However, a point to note is that in many monochromatic sequences of Gwi-ju’s travels to the past, the viewing experience is subpar owing to the odd editing and low production quality. It seems as though Gwi-ju is cut and pasted on the film separately and it makes the entire sequence look unpolished and abrupt. Another thing with the episode is the under-developed characters and plots. Da-hae and Gwi-ju’s romance arc seem slightly forced and unrealistic in terms of how quickly Gwi-ju feels connected to Da-hae despite claiming to suffer from serious depression.Dong-hee’s character is nothing but a cliched stereotype at the moment. The only well-rounded character in the series until now seem to be I-na and so, it would be exciting to see her character development.

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Sacrifices for Love

Timeline 2:Xia Guo proposes the use of Li Qiu's project in one of the company's needs, uniting it with Xia Guo's project. Xia Guo and Xue Ming get along better and better, and their relationship solidifies despite many difficulties. But Li Qiu has a lot of trouble to disrupt their relationship, (using their daughter to persuade). She always makes Xia Guo feel insecure in her relationship, always pointing out what will happen in the future.Xue Ming doesn't introduce her as his girlfriend when talking to a friend who meets him at the restaurant, Xia Guo questions him for it, and he explains why. Xia Guo's friend is fired after discovering that she is dating a colleague. Xia Guo talks to her mother at the restaurant, and her mother approves of her courtship of the well-heeled boss.Xia Guo realizes that her mother doesn't take care of herself anymore as soon as she used to. Li Qiu keeps pressuring Xue Ming using their daughter as an excuse. Upon discovering Xue Ming and Xia Guo's relationship, the two are implicated. Xia Guo submits her letter of resignation, but learns that Xue Ming resigned earlier to protect her so she could keep her job.

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Important choices.

Timeline 2:Xia Guo had to see Xue Min, Li Qiu, and their daughter together to feel totally uncomfortable with the situation, to the point of punching an inconvenient colleague in the restaurant where everyone was celebrating the birthday of the child, Xue Min's daughter. She goes again to talk to the bartender, who says: that's the nature of men, no matter what age. But Xue Min shows up, but refuses to talk to him. Xia Guo's proposal for a project in the company defeats Li Qiu's proposal, who gets very angry and blames Xue Min, who tells her that it was the choice of the majority, and not just his. At the supermarket she meets with him again and they embrace.Timeline 1:Xia Guo wants to make the food and Yu Jian's mother doesn't want to, but she does it anyway. Xia Guo and she are happy looking at the clothes bought for the baby. Yu Jian presents his mother and Xia Guo with a red envelope. Yu Yan arrives from the United States, she reveals that she is pregnant and wishes to get rid of the child because her husband wishes to divorce her. Yu Yan's foreign husband arrives and makes her very unhappy (he wants a divorce and doesn't want the child). But Yu Jian and Xia Guo's mother advise keeping the child even if she has to separate from her husband. Yu Yan starts drinking, and Xia Guo scolds her. And they advise her Yu Yan who is happier and talks to the baby in Xia Guo's belly. "Seriously, wife, do you know that you have the most beautiful pregnant belly in the world?" Yu Jian said lovingly to his wife.

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