Nominated for Best Drama and Best Screenplay at the 57th Baeksang Arts Awards, My Unfamiliar Family tells us about the dynamic story of an ‘imperfect’ family.
“Family always comes first.” But, what if each of the family members does not have the intention of being honest and taking care of each other? Many misunderstandings arise. Thus, the family members inevitably might experience hurt.
The title of this series is an irony about a family, although they share the same blood, it is unavoidable that they feel the most unfamiliar with them.
- Main Casts: Jung Jin Young, Won Mi Kyung, Choo Ja Hyun, Han Ye Ri, Shin Jae Ha, Kim Ji Seok
- Supporting Casts: Shin Dong Wook, Hye Jeong
- Streaming Site: Viu, iQiyi
- Thrill/Addictive Meter:
- Overall Rating:
- Rewatch Value:
- K-Dramas of Similar Vibe: You Are My Spring| Navillera | Birthcare Center
My Unfamiliar Family Quick Plot Recap
From the outside, Kim family looks like an ordinary family, but on the inside, they have many secrets they keep. Not being honest with each other, it slowly drives them apart.
Kim Eun Hee (Han Ye Ri) is the middle child of this family. She works at a publishing company and has a prospective career. She is the one who always becomes an intermediary when conflicts arise.
One day, Kim Sang Sik (Jung Jin Young), the father, falls into temporary amnesia and he only remembers the memories he shared when he was deeply in love with Lee Jin Sook (Won Mi Kyung), the mother.
When their relationship has become far apart, this unexpected situation drives the whole family to care for each other and open up about their personal secrets.
My Unfamiliar Family Series Peak Points (Spoiler Alert!)
Dishonesty Brings Separation and Pain
It’s such a fairytale if someone says that family is the sole source of happiness. Having a family is equal to experiencing heartfelt happiness for most people.
However, it is not true at all. Inside the family, there are many conflicts and untold stories that we cannot bring up that easily. It is normal to have that kind of conflict because there is no family born perfect.
My Unfamiliar Family depicts conflicts inside the family that probably happen in our daily lives. Becoming old and not feeling the same as when they first established the family can drive the members apart.
Sang Sik has been keeping a secret from their family that he has been actively taking care of an unknown son. In the past, he hit a child with a truck and made him limp permanently. He wants to take responsibility by giving expenses to this child until the child grows up to be a father.
Sang Sik’s only caring for this child grows a misunderstanding to Jin Sook, who thinks that he has an illegitimate child from an affair.
On the other side, when the parents are not being honest with each other, the child also suffers dishonesty in her family. The eldest daughter, Kim Eun Joo (Choo Ja Hyun) marries a man who has a different sexual orientation.
The husband keeps his secrets for a pretty long time and it makes the wife feels pain as her husband has never given much affection to her. The most painful part is when the wife has already felt love and romantic feelings toward her husband, without knowing his real secret.
These are just some examples of this Kim’s family’s dishonest stories toward each other, there is still more conflict that leads this family into pain and hurtful memories.
A Mediator and An Advisor
Being a middle child makes Eun Hee assume as a mediator when conflicts arise. It is interesting because she is the one who knows almost all of the family problems. She always tries to resolve the conflicts by herself and pours her heart out to give her best, even though sometimes her ways are not true.
What lacks in her mediating though is she only focuses on making things peaceful, without her concern for each family member’s feelings and thoughts.
Beside Eun Hee, there is Park Chan Hyuk (Kim Ji Suk), Eun Hee’s longtime best friend. He is the one who is considered Kim’s family’s advisor as he has known too many things about this family although he is an outsider.
It is satisfying to see how Chan Hyuk gives advice and concerns to Eun Hee when she is struggling to find the best way to resolve conflicts. Chan Hyuk is an external observer, but he knows too much. It wants to tell us about the reality of human relationships: even though we live side by side, it can’t guarantee that we know each other that well.
“A Family Peaceful Through Love”
This slogan is being displayed in Kim’s family living room and how ironic is it when we see their relationship. There is no peace and there is no love.
However, slowly, their relationship is developing significantly; they learn to accept each other; they learn to be more honest to each other; they learn to be more considerate and caring, and finally, they establish love again after a long struggle.
Family is the closest relationship to all of us, but sometimes family is hurt the most. There will never be a peaceful situation in a family because we live in the same house with different personalities. But family is the place we can gain love and pure affection.
Aesthetically Pleasing Vibes and Sets
In this series, Eun Hee is the main character and we can see her life through events involving her love, friendship, and work. She works in a publishing company and she loves to write things. The work itself is related to books and it makes the whole series have identical aesthetics and healing vibes.
The sets are decorated to be simple, but comfortable in a way. Even when the conflicts are pretty complicated and heavy, the soothing vibe of the set designs are giving the scenes a heartwarming ambiance.
The whole series wants to tell us about the reality of a family that seems to be too complicated, but comforting, as we can find ‘home’ through our own family.
My Unfamiliar Family Series Musings
This tragic-but-heartwarming slice-of-life story of Kim’s family teaches the viewers many values about family. The majority of us live together with our family and we have to be grateful as someone who is still having one.
Living in a family is not that easy and happy as many things come through our relationship. It is normal if we sometimes fall into a conflict because a family is a bunch of different people living in the same house.
One thing is for sure, we have to be communicative and be honest with each other, even for the slightest things. It is because we can clear many misunderstandings that lead to apartness.
Your family may become unfamiliar because we only focus on ourselves without being considerate to others. It’s okay because slowly you will come back to your familiar family.
The literal title of this series is: “I don’t really know, but they’re my family.” After all, yeah, family is home and that’s where you belong, always and hopefully forever.
Photos/Videos: tvN | Viu Singapore | Stone Music Entertainment
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