Reviews

Good performance, your enjoyment might vary depending on your views on the subject matter

The actors' performance was very good, particularly ML's actor who is always exceptional. The enjoyment of the story might vary about your views on the subject matter, thought. I do think that there is a bit of what I would call "self serving cynicism" in terms of the way some people try to equivocate/evade about affairs, when it really comes down to basic golden rule stuff. Would FL like to be betrayed and deceived like she did to ML? Obviously not. Would Yoon-ki? We know the answer, and it is "no". Would she like to be in the position of her lover's wife, deceived forever and not given a chance to make an informed decision about her own relationship? Again, I would bet "no". No PhD in Ethics required, it's something that anyone without a broken moral compass or completely inverted set of priorities should be able to agree on: basically, one shouldn't betray others if they don't want to be treated the same way, and if they do, they shouldn't act surprised if those people don't feel any inclination to be loyal to them in return. To deceive and betray someone that is loyal to you and didn't deserve it, and to be ready to do so indefinitely without any guilt, is pretty toxic, manipulative behavior (notice the caveat "didn't deserve it", because I did feel sympathy for the cheating wife whose husband had previously had a kid out of wedlock behind her back, see more below... but in general, I don't have an issue with "manipulating the manipulator": loyalty is a two way street, if you are disloyal you are not owed any loyalty... I wouldn't have been against Yoon-ki's wife giving him a taste of his own medicine, for example, and we know he would have objected to that, as he explicitly told us in the show, talking about his "dream").

The good news is that it would have been perfectly reasonable to expect FL to simply stop being uncommunicative and actually talk about her problems with her husband, and that most people would have done that. The choice to have a lover a non sequitur in that regard: it didn't in any way help with her schedule or address her problems, in fact if anything it should have made her schedule situation worse, though very strangely she seemed to suddenly have enough time to carry on a full blown affair.

To me, My Mister had a much more realistic and truthful approach to this, separating the unhappiness, divorce and affair pieces, because the reasons for one's unhappiness cannot be used as the reasons for the affair: the question of happiness is a distinct and different matter from the affair. One might well feel unhappy, and maybe even want to get a divorce, but that does not imply that they would feel inclined to actually treat their partner with no loyalty, honesty and respect: that's simply a non sequitur, the second does not simply automatically follow from the first, in fact it shouldn't, and there is no reason it should, if your partner never did anything to deserve such treatment. So the question becomes not "why you feel unhappy", but "why when push came to shove you chose to actually do this to someone that didn't deserve it", and in FL's case here, I would add "to do it without guilt". FL admitted that she didn't feel any guilt at the idea of betraying and deceiving him indefinitely while she had the affair, and that him and the kid were not even a consideration during the affair. That's not exactly what I would call "expected behavior", even for someone that is unhappy.

I do think that the way this drama dealt with the topic was not particularly realistic. I mean, her mother in law's reaction? The way characters that were cheated on excused away/trivialized/diminished cheating and didn't consider loyalty, honesty and respect cornerstones of relationships? FL's husband, mother in law, husband's friends, even most netizens, engaging in fawning hagiography of FL given how she turned out to be, factually speaking, unworthy of ML's loyalty and trust, by being disloyal and breaking his trust (the netizens part being particularly unrealistic, given that netizens in reality argue even about something as uncontroversial as the Moon landing). The very "tame" flashback scenes, appearing only as a plot device and then forgotten when they didn't suit the plot, with ML suddenly "healing" from his trauma, as if people could decide to heal from trauma or be happy on command? Compare this with the depiction in My Mister, the much more realistic images with him thinking about his wife with the other man, etc. And My Mister also had a much more nuanced and mature approach to cheating, as explained above, while this drama's arguments tended to heavily equivocate and evade (with some double standards, I have to say, and other double standards being used as a non sequitur: if women don't hold men accountable, for example, that's an issue that is resolved by holding men accountable, not by not holding anyone accountable, and in any case this is not some sick societal score setting exercise, ML had never slept with anyone behind FL's back).

In fact, I would say that, while she, like Yoon-ki, was willing do betray and deceive her spouse for entirely self serving reasons (well, it's not as if there are non self serving reasons for an affair), to keep doing this indefinitely, without a shred of guilt or any thought about her partner (and kid, in this case), as she herself admitted in the end, at least Yoon-ki had a reason that was connected to his actions: he wanted to have sex with other women, and he did. FL's betrayal, by contrast, was not only cruel, but also needless and entirely and easily preventable: she could have easily just reconsidered her priorities, schedule and commitments, and stopped being uncommunicative or outright lying to her spouse, who for his part was already helping out, and would have been more than willing to do more. They also had family and friends they could ask to help.

I feel that in general it is not particularly helpful to frame this in terms of the cheater's perspective or happiness, the question should really have been whether the people that were cheated on deserved such treatment. Imho they didn't, because they never did anything similar to their partners. There are those who did: for example, the cheating woman that they mentioned in the show, whose husband had a kid out of wedlock behind her back. I was 100% supporting of her sleeping with another person behind her husband's back, because if he didn't abide by their promise, she had no reason to hold up her end of the agreement. So in that way I don't consider cheating a "black and white issue", for example I would have been completely in favor of FL's lover's wife divorcing him and having an affair on her way out (maybe with ML, as in the episode of At The Moment with a similar premise). Actually, I don't even know if I would call it "cheating" if it was done against someone that had cheated on you and had therefore shown themselves to be unworthy of your loyalty: turnabout is fair play, or, to paraphrase Ji An's words in My Mister, "don't make me laugh, you have done worse", so you have no right to complain. Though I guess that it's a matter of definition, or semantics, the point being that I do think of the act in such a situation as having entire different moral implications. Besides that, though, lying and cheating "are" a rather black and white situation: nobody likes it if is done to them, they are obviously wrong, it's not exactly a situation where you need the nuanced take of a PhD in Ethics, it's basic golden rule stuff. Don't do to other people what you wouldn't want be done to them.

I think that there was more moral clarity in the small dialogue Astrid had at the end of the movie Crazy, Rich Asians than in all this drama, to be perfectly honest. It felt kind of like the emotional abuse equivalent of seeing a Stockholm Syndrome or battered housewife going back to the criminal/wife beating drunk that mistreated them. It was exemplified, for me, in ML's female colleague thinking that Yoon-ki's wife was cool, while she had walked away from her marriage after her husband's affair. But the truth was that she did exactly the right thing: basic loyalty, honesty and respect shouldn't be something she has to fight to have, they are the basis of a relationship and if you are going to be loyal and honest, you have every right to expect your partner to treat you with the same loyalty and honesty in return. Yoon-ki's wife was miserable, and thankfully ended up dumping him. FL's lover's wife was another example of this tendency of the drama: she was very good in seeing through FL, but she couldn't see that her own husband was the same kind of person as FL: a toxic manipulator willing to betray and deceive a loyal spouse indefinitely, and to risk jeopardizing his children's happiness over a whim, by sleeping with a married woman with a kid.

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Know what kind of BLs you like

I can only say this series confirms for me that I am indeed a part of the Japanese BL target market - I am one of those audience members who really enjoys the slow-pace and the sensitive unfolding of a tender romance. This is one such drama, heartfelt and rewarding, with two well-cast leads, far from the clamour of the need for speed and thrills and urgency.

From my experience to date, the Japanese writers, directors and actors, do this kind of series very well.

I don't know the actors from previous shows, but it's interesting to note that, like their characters, they differ quite significantly in terms of their Main Role experience.

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Time Travel Can Get Weird

So, this drama was fine. Until it wasn’t. I loved the performances, and the plot was interesting, but something to note about time travel is that it can make no sense if not done well.

The ending, at least in my view, made everything the FL did pointless. Her only achievement was making the original villain have a conscience, but he still maintained the same position as emperor in the end.

You could argue that the world would be better with a kind Emperor, but he also ends up with an illness he doesn’t originally have. Who is to say that the ML won’t end up as emperor? But that is all speculation.

The ending is based on the fact that a change in conscience will result in a change in action, and I simply don’t agree. The ending in the context of time travel ruined the drama for me.

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An Alright Xianxia

I watch a lot of Xianxia’s, and there’s nothing particularly wrong with this Xianxia, but it hangs low in a sea of excellence.

The performances are excellent, but it brings nothing new to the table. I also want to add that I nearly dropped this drama in the first 16 episodes because exposition should never be that long.

The mortal arc was fun to watch, and the aftermath was tragic. But there was nothing here that felt enlightening. Now, it is called Ancient Love Poetry, so that was likely a sign, but I would have loved for the SML to pine for someone other than the FL, and for there to be less of a focus on destiny in this drama.

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Educational

This drama is not unique in the world of C-Dramas. It talks about the struggles of women and how men underestimate them. But the female lead is interesting, in that she follows her goals while also pursuing romance.

Although I hated the SML, the yearning between the emperor and the FL carried me through. This was helped by the amazing music, and the emperor helping the female lead to achieve her dreams.

I believe romance is done best when the couple help each other. The FL and ML could not be together, but they supported each other. The romance carried me through, and I loved it. Not a boring moment.

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Not worth watching

This drama is a merry go round that made me want to get off very quickly. I powered through this drama, because I thought it could redeem itself with the FL and ML making it to the end.

I only say this because the FL is chasing the SML throughout the majority of the show, and so by the time she finally opens herself up to the ML, BOOM!

The mother of the SML needs the FL’s help and she has to go. I felt betrayed, and as heartbroken as the male lead. It dragged to the very end.

If the ending had been more satisfactory, I may have increased the ending, because it would have made the chaos worth it, but instead I got slapped.

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Communication is important and requires actually telling your partner about your problems

re: hefejit285, I do agree with the point, but I would add that not only you cannot expect your partner to be a "mind" reader, and even more so you cannot expect them to be a "future mind" reader, give that we are talking about an issue that FL herself had not realized she had at the time.

It would be good if he did realize it, but it cannot be a strategy. Communication ought to involve actually communicating, i.e. talking with your partner. And more than being uncommunicative, there is the issue of outright lying: it was not about not saying anything, it was about pretending that it was about putting up a facade of it being all peachy and that there was no problem, and even outright lying to him when he asked. ML was not simply unaware, he was deceived. He trusted his wife when she presented a facade of everything being fine, and he trusted her not to betray him.

I am kind of separating the two things because I guess that if she had not cheated on him, but he had been served divorce papers, he would have still been quite baffled by the fact that she had been pretending everything was fine until the day before, and never actually had a conversation with him about being overscheduled, something that, given he was already helping out, he would have been more than willing to help with. Aside from that, she should have probably considered dropping some of the commitments anyway, such as pandering to the other moms.

In any case, the dynamic was: her not noticing there was something wrong in the first place, and then noticing, and not telling her spouse, but rather continuing to deceive him by putting up a facade of everything being okay, just like she would then continue to act as if nothing was going on while carrying out a full blown affair behind his back.

Again, while it would be good if would have been good had ML noticed something she herself was not aware of, he was neither a "mind" reader, nor, in this case, a "future mind" reader, and expecting one to be is simply setting yourself up for failure.

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I expected a lot....

I expected a lot of this drama.. In fact, the FL is one of my favorite actresses, discovered her in the movie Tune in for love and Kdrama The king eternal monarch.
She was still pretty good in Goblin, but it was so boring.... a lot of flashbacks, a plot twist kind of dull...I do not understand the hype AT ALL.
The story didn't make any sense for me.. how is a "God" acting like a child and in love with a woman that is 20 years younger than him...
I was so blocked by the age gap.. for me it was huge and physically he looked very old, right? Bref. I had issues finishing it, it was very difficult for me. I hoped that next episode will be better, but I ended up skipping it..
I finally dropped it and I feel so at ease now.
You can try if you want but for me, it is a NO.

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Not your typical time travel story

The Atypical Family is incredibly well written with complex characters who change and grow in surprising ways. Though many of the characters are morally gray the show's lens is deeply humanistic and you'll grow to care for these very flawed human beings. The show's central message is don't regret the past or worry about the future, live in the present and love the people close to you.

Time travel is handled very differently in this show than in dramas like Lovely Runner and Twinkling Watermelon. In those shows, time travel creates different timelines and it is possible to change the past and the future. But The Atypical Family is more like the film 12 Monkeys, which has a single closed time loop. It's not possible for the time traveler to change the past or the future because their actions simply cause events that were going to happen anyway.

The closed time loop turns this into a very Buddhist story. Buddhism puts a huge emphasis on the idea of non-attachment, which means letting go of what you can't control and focusing on the present moment. There is also the central idea of loving-kindness, viewing yourself and those around you with compassion, generosity and empathy.

Gwiju starts out from a place of: I need more control, I need to control my own destiny. He wants to change his past and future and it's his repeated failures to do so that turn him into a depressed alcoholic. But after Dahae enters his life, he gradually realizes that he can't change his fate but he can change how he reacts to that fate. He can become a more loving and responsible person no matter what has happened in the past or what will happen in the future.

Gwiju isn't the only person who has to learn this lesson. Dahae needs to detach from the idea that she can avoid the pain of her traumatic past by manipulating and controlling the men she scams and instead embrace her found families. Dong Hee needs to detach from the idea that her weight has anything to do with whether or not she can fly and instead allow herself to eat joyfully and be happy. Bok Eomma needs to detach from the idea that her prescient dreams will keep her and her family safe and stop using them to control people. And even Ina needs to detach from both her fear of her mind reading powers and her belief that those powers can be used to manipulate people into giving her friendship and understand that she is a loveable and worthwhile person.

I think it's this emphasis on detachment and acceptance that truly sets Atypical Family apart from other time travel stories. What's amazing is that despite a philosophy that sounds like it would lead to stagnant, boring storytelling, the drama is absolutely gripping and the last half hour is hugely cathartic. I cried buckets at the end.

In addition to the amazing writing and the interesting philosophy of the drama, I have to shout out the acting performances which are uniformly great. Special mentions for Jang Ki Yong in his first post-military drama; Chun Woo Hee for portraying a morally ambiguous female lead and making us care about her; Park So Yi for more than holding her own with the adult actors; and Claudia Kim for humanizing a character who could've been an offensive caricature.

I also have to mention the amazing cinematography and the OST which is phenomenal, probably the most sophisticated OST I've ever heard in a drama.

There are very few things I disliked about this drama but many people struggle with the FL's behavior in the early episodes, as well as the ML's neglect of his daughter due to alcoholism and trauma. There are also a lot of people who don't understand the time travel rules in this universe and had trouble understanding the ending. I even made graphics to explain it: https://x.com/daebakpodcast1/status/1800000910699147378

Verdict: So far this is my favorite drama of the year and one of my favorite dramas ever.

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Not your usual romance

I think I really enjoyed this drama. I initially watched it for Kenny Lin but his character in this drama gave me frustrations beyond compare. However, I came out with a lot of lessons about life. I think it is a drama I would recommend to people who love matured themes and want to enjoy stories about relationships told from a realistic point of view. It is the tale of rose but the lesson is not everything is a bed of roses. I love the acting of the actors and actresses. Most are actors that I’ve skipped multiple of their dramas but now I will go back and watch whatever is on the table.

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Cute and Sweet

I originally wasn't planning on watching Only Boo, but I kept seeing people talking about it and they finally convinced me. While it may have not been the most innovative or exciting show, it was a very fun watch and a really cute romance. Don't expect too much from the plot or characters, but just enjoy the little romance between the main characters and you'll have a good time.

Moo (Keen) is sent to the country side by his mom to focus on school instead of focusing on idol auditions like he has been. His mom says he needs to finish high school before he can think about becoming an idol. However, Moo refuses to let go of his dreams. While in this new school, Moo meets Kang (Sea), a curry rice seller near his apartment. Moo very quickly develops feelings for Kang, and has to partition his time between school work, secretly practicing for idol auditions, and flirting with Kang. However, even after he starts winning Kang over, Moo realizes there a lot more problems to come in this relationship if he wants to be an idol.

Truly the best word to describe this drama is "cute". A high school romance between Moo and Kang develops slowly and eventually turns into a relationship between them, but still has its ups and downs. I think the characters could have had a little more depth, and I wish we got even more back story of both of them to really flesh out their characters more. For a lot of the series, they felt a bit one-dimensional. I also think that the conflicts towards the end could have been sped up a bit just to get some more time with Kang and Moo together. Overall, an easy and fun watch!

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amigas...esto es cine ??

la termine ayer y sigo pensando en lo buena que fue? es de las pocas series que SI volviera a ver (no suelo repetir series) me encanto todo, todo, me obsesione tanto q hasta que no la termine no fui feliz, es que la forma en la que yuan demostraba su amor y sacrificaria todo por su amado es tan qksjwkakak, ay dios q viva el amor señores, y cuando le dice que su vida se resumen en dos palabras Y ES EL NOMBRE DE EL ?????

hay q admitir q las dos relaciones q se desarrollan en la serie son cuestionables, pero me encanto la maners en la q la desarrollaron en vdd, que pecado?

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