Early Access: My Unfamiliar Family E1 (Patreon)

E1. So far, I find this very promising. It feels like a lot of the things I like in family dramas, condensed into a more efficient 16 episodes rather than a sprawling 54 episodes, presented with more polish, and sprinkled with a harder dash of reality, than the average family drama. It feels.. kinda spicy, so far, in that it tastes interesting and it has my attention, and it also feels like it has the potential to make me cry. Color me intrigued.

I feel like these family members know one another so well, and yet, don't know one another at all, sometimes. There's so much built-up tension through various hurts and grudges, that it feels like they might be stuck in these relationship patterns forever, if something doesn't happen - and of course, that's why we're here, so that Stuff can happen, and throw these unhealthy dynamics into disarray.

Out of all the characters that we've met, Eun Joo perplexes me, because she feels so cold, almost all the time. In the little that we've seen so far, she's distant and coldly logical to the point of being abrasive, to almost everyone. The only people she seems warmer to, are Dad and the young man from the cafe. I don't know what's up with her, and I'm sure Show is going to give her a reason for behaving the way she does, but from where I'm sitting, I feel that she's overly harsh to her family members.

In that flashback when Eun Hee seeks her out to tell her about how her boyfriend Jong Min had been cheating on her, Eun Hee shows no sympathy whatsoever. Eun Hee makes excuses for Eun Joo in retrospect, saying that she hadn't known then, that Eun Joo had been dealing with a miscarriage. But.. there's no rule that says you can't show some kindness when you're having a difficult time yourself. In fact, when Eun Joo and Eun Hee talk about it in the present, Eun Joo claims that it had nothing to do with the miscarriage; that Eun Hee had always blamed others for things. Eun Joo also says that she'd told Eun Hee that Jong Min wasn't a good guy all along, but Eun Hee hadn't listened.

And, Eun Joo might be right about those things. But.. it still strikes me as especially hardhearted and cold, to basically go on an "I told you so" rant about how bad an impression Jong Min had left on her, and tell Eun Hee not to cry if she hasn't even decided what to do about the cheating boyfriend, when she could've shown some sympathy instead. I feel like I can't rationalize away Eun Joo's behavior as part of her prickly personality, when it seems to me like she basically kicked Eun Hee when she was already down.

To that end, Eun Joo seems cold to Mom as well, and doesn't show a shred of sympathy for the emotions that Mom must be feeling, to even broach the subject of graduating from marriage. I can't say I feel kindly to Eun Joo, so far.

Eun Hee is far more likable, in that at least she apologizes, when she feels that she's in the wrong. It took her a long time to do it, but once the memories had been re-surfaced and re-examined, she was open enough and humble enough to acknowledge where she'd been wrong, and apologize to both people for her wrong, even though when it comes down to it, both were situations wherein both parties should apologize.

I feel that Eun Joo should apologize for being so brusque and unfeeling when Eun Hee was feeling so low, and I also feel that Chan Hyuk's reason for not telling her that Jong Min was cheating on her, was weak. It's probably true that Jong Min had asked Chan Hyuk not to say anything, so that he could tell Eun Hee himself, but if that cheating then proceeded to carry on for three years, Chan Hyuk should've certainly done something to give Eun Hee a heads-up, as a friend.

So while it's good that Eun Hee's apologized, I feel that she also ought to receive apologies from both Eun Joo and Chan Hyuk.

It's quite sad to see the state of Mom and Dad's marriage. It doesn't look like Dad did anything specifically huge or bad; it just seems like they grew apart after years of marriage, and Mom's goodwill basically ran dry, after being taken for granted by both husband and children all these years, which we observe in all of the little moments this episode.

It looks like Dad's accident will be the thing to change everything's course, so I'm curious to see how things unfold from here. I'm also curious to see more of these characters and get to know them all a bit better.