LA_Drama Fan

Good taste prevents me from say what kind of a #@#% move that was for the Chairman to invite his stepson over for coffee, and then kick him in the teeth. I hope the company goes under, thanks to TU.

Agreed, it was terrific how they held the plot together across all 120 eps.

I took a break from the KBS dailies, last year. They just went downhill after Bravo My Life 2022, with stinkers after that like The Love in your Eyes, Apple of My Eye and Unpredictable Family . Once Again may have been the high-water mark as mjcsfla1 notes.

I get it, it's tough to be consistent for 120 episodes, but it has been done well in the past. With the move to 30 ish episode weekenders, I think KBS is on the right track and this show does shine when the writers stay focused on the main story-line. For instance, what is the point of the Chairman/TaeUng sub-plot, if only to provide a means for more pain & rejection for GangJu? The cover photo for the show is of the leads, not all the secondary characters, so just keep focused on their journey with everyone else taking a truly secondary role.

On one of the recent weekenders (THRC?) we joked that there must have been 2 teams of writers: One that did the even-numbered episodes and the other did the odd-numbered ones, because the odd episodes were so much better consistently. 50 one-hour episodes is asking a lot I guess, so I'm hopeful that the change to 36 episodes will help.

It seems that when the writers focus on just the leads and the main money plot, the episode suceeds (21). But then in 22, they expand and bring in the side characters (was the drinking in the chairman's house scene really necessary?) and the plot starts to wander around. 21 was vastly more entertaining, and the beginning of 22 started out well (GJ, Mom & DR) but then they lost focus and the show wasn't that great. IMO, of course. It's still worth watching, but we're seeing something that happens a lot with KBS dramas lately: inconsistent writing between episodes.

I"m not saying they need to kiss yet....she just needs to see him for the guy he is and how good he's been to her.

The only part of Ep 21 I didn't like was that they blew another opportunity for them: When he went to her on the rooftop, why didn't he hug her while she cried? I got the feeling that was cut out in editing, because it would have been logical: He still has strong feelings for her, and he wouldn't just let her cry alone (after all, he went to the rooftop!). At some point DR has to have the curtains pulled from her eyes and realize he's been there for her everytime...this would have been a great chance.

THAT (21) was a GREAT episode!

YES!!! Would it kill them to toss us a little spark, after all???

Yes, if this doesn't end with something happening with them in a crosswalk, it will be a disappointment.

I'm not sure what to say about Ep 19, except that KJH and KHE were superb in portrayals of Gang Ju and his mom. Otherwise it was frustrating and disappointing in where they could have gone, but didn't....

Highlights: GangJu dropping his anger at DR when he sees her crying in the (what else?) crosswalk. It pains me to see this guy so smitten with her and yet his feelings are unrequited. I had to chuckle when he started grinning when he heard her sobbing because 2ML won't return HER feelings. Also, the entire scene with the Chairman and his wife, beginning with her pulling alongside his Volvo and ordering him home NOW. She was great and that whole extended scene was well done. The re-arrangement of the main theme song while she sobbed in the closet was the highlight of the show for me. EXCELLENT!!!! Frankly, it's HER house (courtesy of her Dad) and she should have thrown HIM out. Lastly, the scene with BongHee & MuRim at the police station was pretty funny...best scene he's ever been in.

Lowlights: I get it, by the end of the show the Chairman is like "wait a minute, I didn't even know this kid existed until a week or so ago", and it IS unfair to be treated like this because of that, BUT his treatment of GangJu and tone-deafness to ANYONE'S emotions irritate me to no end. Also, I'm sick and tire of 2ML's attitude, at least he's been honest with DR, not so much (maybe) with CR? BongHee's sit-down with her daughters could have been a funny scene, but DR's torch-carrying is really over-the-top, while CR's smugness makes my skin crawl. She and 2ML deserve each other...they both suck. IMO the writers really missed a golden opportunity for DR & GJ at the end of her sob-fest in his car for her to realize how good GJ has been to her....all this for more "drama". DUMB.

FWIW, I wish they had titled the show "CROSSWALK". I think it would have made more sense and drawn attention to the lead's and their star-crossed relationship. Twice now, we've seen critical moments in their relationship take place in crosswalks. They need to get on it and start the ball rolling with DR +GJ if there's to be any hope of romance in this series other than her Aunt.

"clueless" is an understatement with this guy.

Agreed! Ep 19 was HER episode and her dressing-down her husband in the dining room was really well done. The actress did a great job portraying this complex character who steadfastly defended her son against her robot-husband.

Random observation:
I really like this drama and look forward to the new episodes on the weekend. I'm not sure why, maybe because it's so different from what we've seen from KBS weekenders lately. The elders are amazing together, and the story has many different plot angles, all tied together by the robbery/recovery of the 10 million....errr make that 7 million dollars.

I feel good for Kim Jung Hyun that he got a meaty role to be in after his work in CLOY. I'm kinda ambivalent to the rest of the cast, for many of the reasons given here: CR is a gold-digger extraordinaire, DaRim is so clueless (but can be forgiven due to her naivete to how the real world works), their mother should take some of the cash and get menopause therapy, for crying out loud, I'm getting tired of her red-cheek makeup. TaeUng and his father are brooding, emotionally-inept robots, GangJu's team at work is dysfunctional as all get-out, his mother is a head-case, and MuRim and SuJi are the least interesting couple I've seen on TV in a while. I cringe every time he's on screen.

Bright spots: I like the role of MiYeon. I've known enough women in her spot, and I like how she's being portrayed, plus there is the promise of a relationship with the Grill owner. The acting of Soo Yeon as Bom continues to impress (she was one of the few bright spots in THRC), and the aforementioned elders makes me chuckle.

Anyways, we're half-way done, and so far, so good. I'm not hating on it (yet).

Both of the mothers see the other son as a threat to their being an heir to the company. This is very common in historical dramas (princes vying for succession power and their mothers plotting against each other), so I guess they are carrying it onto this drama as well.

And 3 years later, she was the fraudulent sister in 2020's Once Again. She really gets around.

The only reason I could think of, is so that they can now implicate BongHee in taking the illegal cash???

I'm with you 100%. I really liked Ep 7, but Ep8 was so obvious that it was disappointing. And other than the elders, no one is really likeable in this.

I agree as well...we're only a quarter of the way in. Considering that the theme for this family is "false hope", which played out in the burning of the initial wad of money, might return if the surgery isn't all that it was hoped for.

I'll be honest....about halfway thru Ep 3 last night, I found myself asking "Why am I watching this show?" I can't figure out the relationships between characters presented in this ep, the ML is acting just plain stupid, I get nothing from the FL, and with exception of the Elders (who would be golden in just about anything together) none of these characters interest me. I'm getting a "Revolutionary Sisters" vibe here. I know we're only at Ep 3, but gosh.

BT, I should have known better, but sheer curiosity got the better of me. I am giving Iron Family a chance, only because the cast is great (but we've seen good actors choose bad scripts before) and I want to see if they can maintain a shorter series better than we've had with even the better 50-episode ones that inevitably fall apart in their last 3rd of the series.
Fingers crossed!

PS -(and FWIW) I still think this was supposed to be a parody of typical family k-dramas, with the over-the-top script cliches and over-acting. It's the only way I can try to make sense of it.