My Unfamiliar Family: Episode 14

by quirkycase

After all the turmoil and revelations our characters have experienced, it’s time for a fresh start. Our sisters are moving forward with greater knowledge of themselves and those around them, living their lives more confidently. Our maknae is grappling with a big life decision of his own. But our family isn’t out of the danger zone yet, and it looks like another storm might be headed their way. Hopefully, they’re strong enough now as a unit to face it.

 
EPISODE 14

At home, Eun-hee cries as she looks through old planners full of notes and goals. She narrates that when she found herself too lacking to date, she “planted a single seed and waited for it to bear fruit.” Eun-hee then permanently deletes the folder with her writing projects on her laptop (nooo) and packs away her old planners and notebooks.

After her break up with Jong-min, she decided to change her life and got her own apartment. She and Sang-shik were both emotional as he helped move her in. That simple separating from her loosely held-together family made her lonelier.

Presently, Tae-hyung arrives at Jin-sook’s. He planned to talk to her alone, but Jin-sook already called Eun-joo who is on her way over. Outside, Eun-joo shares that she didn’t get a chance to tell her mom since it turned into a family gathering. Tae-hyung figured that would happen. Even though his family treated her like a guest, her family welcomed him from the start, so he knows them well.

Inside, Tae-hyung says they’re divorcing and apologizes to Jin-sook. Eun-joo states they no longer have feelings for each other, but Jin-sook wants to hear the reason from Tae-hyung. Eun-joo intervenes, but Jin-sook knows her well enough to know she loves Tae-hyung and doesn’t buy her explanation.

Jin-sook asks Tae-hyung if he’s seeing another woman, which he and Eun-joo both deny. So why? Tae-hyung divulges that he married Eun-joo to escape his family and mistakenly thought she’d married him for the same reason.

Jin-sook is horrified Eun-joo disliked them enough to jump into a marriage and asks Eun-joo if it’s true. They’re both crying as Eun-joo sits silent. Tae-hyung responds that he still has a bad relationship with his family, but he now knows Eun-joo loves hers. He didn’t know her well at all.

Eun-joo looks at him in despair while he continues that he thought they could live as friends, but she needs someone to love her. He’s not qualified to do that and can’t stand to make her even unhappier. Jin-sook turns away, trying to control her emotions.

Once Tae-hyung leaves, Jin-sook wonders if her own marriage graduation had anything to do with Eun-joo’s divorce. Eun-joo assures her mom that’s not it and commends Jin-sook’s bravery in having her in the first place. Wouldn’t it be a shame for such a daughter to live a forced, fake life?

Jin-sook looks at her daughter with pride and suggests they live together. Eun-joo is happy she’s taking the news well, but she’s not about to move in with her mom.

Jin-sook lets her know that Sang-shik is aware Eun-joo found out about her birth situation. She offers to tell him about the divorce, but Eun-joo plans to tell him personally. She encourages her mom to just think about herself from now on.

At home, Eun-joo stares at some jewelry and acknowledges the truth of Tae-hyung’s statement: they didn’t know each other well. Meanwhile, Ji-woo has a video call with a young woman who seems to be teaching him English.

At work, Seo-young speculates to Chan-hyuk that something is off about Ji-woo’s supposed girlfriend in Toronto. Chan-hyuk tells her to ask Ji-woo if she’s so curious, but she feigns disinterest. Eun-hee texts Ji-woo to ask when Chan-hyuk is taking the driving test, and Chan-hyuk looks mighty happy at her interest.

They have some kind of one-on-one consultations at P&F, and we learn that Eun-hee intends to leave the company at the end of the current year. Geon-joo asks if she has a plan to which she succinctly replies “yes.”

Later, Eun-hee meets Chan-hyuk and asks if he regrets what he said last time; it kept her up all night. But he isn’t the type to say things impulsively. What kept him up at night was when she told him she used to think about him before falling asleep.

He admits that, after their falling out, he frequented places he thought she might be, hoping to run into her. But he never did. Maybe if they had, they would be celebrating 1,000 days together.

Eun-hee felt insignificant back then and attributed Jong-min leaving her to her own lacking. She made all sorts of plans to write and read with the intention of changing her life. Looking back through her files, she realized she never finished any of the works she started.

Chan-hyuk stops her. He’s about to get his license – must she self-reflect now? Ha. Eun-hee says she’s starting to like her predictable, boring life. The ring she gifted herself (Crisis averted! Gah, this drama and its red herrings …) signifies “day one” of her relationship with herself.

After working on her low self-esteem, Eun-hee promises to think about what he said. Chan-hyuk thinks her self-esteem can’t be that low if she so confidently acknowledges it. He wonders if he should gift himself a ring too for “day one” of his relationship with the new her. Ha!

Chan-hyuk looks at peace and says, thanks to her, he finds the driving school less painful. She wishes him luck when his name is called for the test.

Sang-shik and Jin-sook sit with a doctor who explains the surgery process for his brain tumor. (Why can’t anyone just have something mild in dramas?) It turns out even Sang-shik’s memory problems were due to the tumor, not the accident, and they could return without surgery.

Sang-shik is worried about work and wants to delay the surgery, but Jin-sook wants him to follow the doctor’s orders. His reasoning that he should take care of it alone since they’ve already done the marriage graduation doesn’t fly. Jin-sook encourages him to think of the kids and do the surgery immediately.

Tae-hyung’s mother walks by with a group of doctors and politely greets Jin-sook and Sang-shik like they’re strangers. Jin-sook is furious and laments sending Eun-joo into that household.

Chan-hyuk passes his driving test, and Eun-hee proudly congratulates him. She warns him she’ll be a tough driving practice coach. On social media, Chan-hyuk has seen lots of couples coaching each other and then fighting. They should give it a try, too. Oh, he’s loving this.

Elsewhere, Ji-woo looks at rings in a jewelry store. Ooh. At home, he hugs his mom and says, “You know how much I love you, right?” (He’s moving abroad, isn’t he?) It’s about time he starts living independently, and he encourages her to let his dad move back in.

Sang-shik advises Young-shik to return to Ulsan to wait for Yong-gyu’s mother. Sang-shik admonishes him for not treating her better and says he’s just like him. Young-shik was insecure and lashed out because he thought she’d leave him on account of his leg, right? He should wait patiently since she’s important to him.

Eun-hee searches for the lounge in a building housing multiple law firms and finds herself getting help from the supposed male version of herself Yoo Min-woo. Meanwhile, Ji-woo confuses Chan-hyuk by rejecting a permanent position in the company. He wants to stay freelance.

Seo-young cuts in that he must not need things like medical insurance. Maybe he’s not going to be living here. Ji-woo suddenly says he’ll think about it.

In the lounge, Eun-hee overhears some lawyers talking about her sister’s divorce. The guys suggest “comforting her” in her hour of need. Ugh. Eun-hee cocks her head in interest as Min-woo speaks up for her sister and tries to change the subject.

When Eun-joo walks in, Eun-hee bolts up and loudly proclaims, “Lawyer Kim Eun-joo, your sister is here!” Ha! The men look around nervously and file out. Except Min-woo who excitedly joins the sisters uninvited at their table.

He’s been dying to meet Eun-hee, his “alter-ego.” Pfft. Eun-joo sits annoyed as they chat, and it’s clear Min-woo worships the ground Eun-joo walks on. He and Eun-hee carry on about their younger days until Eun-joo stands up and leaves. Heh.

Eun-hee watches amused as Min-woo chases after Eun-joo to give her some info on office spaces he found. She’s apparently going to start her own firm. Eun-joo coolly states she already found somewhere. In the car, Eun-hee pesters her about Min-woo, but Eun-joo insists they were never close.

She found the way he asked her to go easy on him after making a mistake reminiscent of Eun-hee, and she goes on a tangent about how important criticism is. Eun-hee points out that “no one makes mistakes as a hobby,” and it’s hard enough to handle without Eun-joo throwing salt on the wound.

Eun-joo sees Eun-hee’s ring and asks with distaste if it’s from that guy she met in front of her place. Eun-joo is incredulous when Eun-hee says she’s trying to fix her submissive ways and love herself more, so she bought herself a ring. She thinks Eun-hee loves herself plenty and wonders how much more she needs. Ha.

They arrive at Sang-shik’s trailer, and he assures Eun-joo he’ll move to a better place soon. She finally manages to get him to accept the bankbook by explaining that his insistence on paying her back makes her feel like she should be indebted to him for everything he ever spent on raising her.

Sang-shik thinks she should look for her birth father, but Eun-joo isn’t interested. Her mom never reached out to him for a reason. Sang-shik speculates that could be because of his insecurities. People would talk about why Jin-sook was with someone like him, and he started fixating on Eun-joo’s birth father. He knows Eun-joo’s the type who needs to know everything, so she should look for him.

Back at Eun-joo’s place, she admits to Eun-hee that she couldn’t tell their dad about the divorce since he was already blaming himself for everything. As always, Eun-joo tells Eun-hee to leave – she wants time alone.

Eun-hee finds Chan-hyuk waiting outside her apartment and jokes that he must miss her. Why did he come all this way? Chan-hyuk unabashedly says that he may not be able to see her that often, but he wants to spend whatever time he can with her. It’ll help her make her decision.

Chan-hyuk enjoys watching her get flustered before he admits he’s actually there because of Ji-woo. She’s shocked to hear Ji-woo no longer wants to be a permanent employee. Eun-hee didn’t know about his girlfriend, but that’s natural at his age. Plus, family is usually in the dark about each other’s love lives. She doesn’t think it’s a big deal.

Chan-hyuk suggests getting some food. As they walk, their hands brush, and they both try not to notice. When a group of kids almost bowl Eun-hee over, he pulls her out of the way and uses that as an excuse to hold her hand as they walk.

She lets him for a while but then pulls away getting all awkward, which he finds cute. They eat, each placing the dishes the other likes near them, and Chan-hyuk can’t stop grinning.

While Jin-sook nervously signs the surgery consent form at the hospital, Eun-joo stops by the clinic where Tae-hyung is packing up. She returns the jewelry box to him. He comments on her clean break, and she calls what he did to her a “mistake, bad lie and fraud.”

Tae-hyung understands and apologizes. Eun-joo leaves after telling him not to do that to anyone else. On her way out, her (ex) mother-in-law calls.

Jin-sook enters Sang-shik’s hospital room to find him stretching. He tries to assuage her worries by insisting he’s healthy; he’ll be fine. He’s still against telling the kids, though, since he doesn’t want to burden them.

Eun-joo meets with Tae-hyung’s mother who is much more compliant since Eun-joo accepted the alimony her lawyer offered. She asks Eun-joo to keep quiet about the reason for the divorce.

Eun-joo comments that Tae-hyung is still shielding the family, but to do that, he got on his knees in front of her mother. Giving his mother much more credit than she deserves, Eun-joo believes she’s in more pain than even Eun-joo herself. His mother can’t stop the tears from falling.

Man-ho takes Jin-sook to Sang-shik’s truck which she plans to sell. He knows how much buying this truck meant to Sang-shik and worries he’ll be livid if they sell it without his knowledge. Jin-sook claims she’s scarier when she’s mad. Heh. She’s afraid he’ll want to drive it even though it would be unsafe, and people could get hurt.

In the truck, Jin-sook finds a notebook with Eun-joo’s wedding invitation and a list of names. Sang-shik had wanted to invite a hundred people, but he deflated when Eun-joo allotted him only 10 invitations. He told Jin-sook to use his invitations – he wouldn’t invite anyone.

Jin-sook also finds his patient journal where a picture of her smiling prettily in a hanbok falls out. It’s a daily log of what made him happy, sad and angry. The first two vary with each entry, but the third is always “me.” One day, he wrote about her hiding the fruit.

He’d been exhausted from driving and found the fruit under the sink. Sang-shik tossed the bag and smashed the glass he was holding on the table (ah, so that’s where he got confused thinking it was a glass pane). In the present, Jin-sook cries, her eyes lingering on the entry, “I want to die.”

Tae-hyung’s mother recalls how much Eun-joo has always respected her father for working so hard for the family despite having no advantages. She reveals she saw her parents at the hospital and could tell it was something serious.

Eun-joo calls Tae-hyung to have him find out what’s going on. She suddenly recalls her father taking pictures with her and Eun-hee on their recent visit.

Elsewhere, Seo-young catches Ji-woo coming out of the bank looking chipper. She asks about his girlfriend who was an elementary and middle school classmate. They reconnected coincidentally through an online game. So why’d he send her money? Ji-woo draws the line, calling it personal business.

At the office, Chan-hyuk notices Ji-woo’s desk looks unusually empty and panics to see it’s been cleared out. Just then, Ji-woo texts him that he’s at the airport fulfilling a long-time plan he’s kept to himself. He thought his family would hold him back if they knew. Leaving them doesn’t feel as good as he thought it would.

He wants Chan-hyuk to break the news to his sisters and comfort them so they in turn can do the same for his parents. He apologizes. A stunned Chan-hyuk tries calling, but he can’t reach Ji-woo. When Seo-young comes in, he shows her the text.

Eun-hee calls, so he goes over to her place to show her the text. She wants to go to the airport, but Chan-hyuk reasons he’s already on the plane, likely to Toronto. Seo-young is digging through social media for more info.

Eun-hee is hurt, wondering if this is all she meant to her brother. He really wanted to leave them so badly? “We didn’t know anything about each other.”

When she starts to cry, Chan-hyuk moves to sit beside her and takes her hand. Ji-woo is an adult, so it’s his prerogative to leave if he wishes. Chan-hyuk rubs her back comfortingly.

Later, she and Eun-joo wait with their mother while Sang-shik undergoes surgery. It’s successful, and they gather around his bedside. His eyes open momentarily, but then he falls unconscious. He flatlines, and the family is forced to wait outside the room as the medical team tries to revive him.

 
COMMENTS

Of course, we can’t evade the cancer/fatal illness trope. I knew it’s where we were heading, but I find it unnecessary. His accident was enough of a catalyst (and could’ve been the official reason for his memory loss), and the family has been through all kinds of disasters already. I’d have preferred to just focus on the upswing rather than adding this into the mix. Although we’ve had a lot of dramatics in this show, they haven’t felt manufactured for cheap emotional twists. Everything had a purpose for character development and growth. This late in the game, though, I’m not sure how much this one will contribute to our characters’ journeys. Maybe it’ll be used well, and I’ll take my complaint back next week. But as of now, I’m not a fan of this plotline.

If Sang-shik does die, Ji-woo might not forgive himself for leaving without saying goodbye. *Sigh* Poor decision making really does run in the family. He may technically be an adult, but he has some growing up to do. If you want everyone to respect you and see you as a grown up, you don’t run away and leave your mess to someone else. Chan-hyuk should not have to play middleman between Ji-woo and his family. Ji-woo has every right to leave and live whatever life he wants, but he should’ve taken responsibility for his decision and personally told his family. Not only that, but he didn’t even officially quit his job! You don’t get to ignore all professionalism and protocol just because your boss is a family friend. I’m quite disappointed in the maknae. I thought he was more responsible than this. Goes to show that age an adult does always not make.

Between Ji-woo up and leaving and her dad’s possible passing, Eun-hee is definitely going to need someone to lean on, so it’s good timing with Chan-hyuk. As I hoped and expected, the ring was indeed a red herring. Eun-hee’s reaction to his confession, though, is better than I had anticipated. I’m so glad she isn’t pushing Chan-hyuk away like I thought she might. These two are such a great fit, and I doubt either could find someone they’d connect with better. He’s practically giddy at his new almost-boyfriend status. Just imagine how happy he’ll be when she’s all in.

Now that we know Eun-hee is leaving her current position, I’m curious what her plan is. She deleted all her writings at the beginning of the episode, but maybe she just wanted to start over with a new project. We keep hearing that she’s a writer and even won an award, but we haven’t actually seen anything she’s written or seen her write. If we’re supposed to view her as a writer, it would’ve been nice to see actual evidence of her writing somehow rather than hearing about it secondhand. Then again, maybe she’s planning to move onto something else, so it won’t matter.

It looks like both sisters are embarking on new career paths. Eun-joo will do great with a law office of her own, I imagine. I loved the scene with Eun-joo sandwiched between Eun-hee and Min-woo, hating life. I really enjoy the late addition of his character, and I hope we see more of him. He’s like an eager puppy that follows her around begging for attention while being endlessly sunny. Ooh, maybe they could open a firm together! They’re both in patent law, and with their contrasting personalities, they could court a wide range of clientele. And she’d get to throw all the shade she wants his way while he remains impervious and adoring.

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