Early Access: My Unfamiliar Family E2 (Patreon)

E2. This drama feels familiar and yet fresh at the same time, and that is a pretty exciting feeling. I like this a lot, so far.

At first glance, this feels approachable because there are elements that I recognize as hallmarks of the typical family drama, even though this show's handling of them are more restrained (which I count a good thing): there's friction and familiarity baked into the relationships among the family members. Even the sisters who'd been estranged for literal years, can read each other like an open book. Eun Joo doesn't even need to be told, and she's hit the nail on the head, that Eun Hee's got something going on, in the romance department. Another familiar thing, is the presence of multiple relationship threads. Plus, by the end of the episode, we have an indication that there's a birth secret as well, which isn't that unusual for a family drama either.

At the same time, Show's trajectory after episode 1 seems to take an unexpected sharp left, and we open the episode with Eun Hee having slept with her new boss that she's just met. That's not something I expected. 

The frank way in which she talks about it to Chan Hyuk is a little unexpected too, since, based on how Show's set up, I kind of expect Chan Hyuk and Eun Hee to have a loveline. I'm quite charmed that Chan Hyuk's kept Eun Hee's photos with him all this time; he's obviously fond of her. At the same time, he also seems somewhat resigned to being in the friend zone, since he doesn't attempt to make more of the reconnection when it happened last episode, and he also readily talks to Eun Hee about her relationships with other men.

I do like how comfortable they are in speaking their minds with each other, even though they've only just reconnected after years of being estranged. It's like they fall back into their friendship, almost without missing a beat. There are some indications in their conversations that they've been apart for quite some time, but at the heart of it, the trust and ease is fully intact. Also, from the way Chan Hyuk responds to Eun Hee, when she texts him in a panic about what to do, now that her boss is approaching her in the parking lot, shows just how well he knows her. I already feel like Chan Hyuk's good for Eun Hee; he seems so down-to-earth and grounded, at least in his emotions and how he sees her. 

The other thing I wasn't expecting, is Dad's amnesia, where he only remembers up to the age of 22. It's so poignant and thought-provoking that he's so different now, compared to when he had his more recent memories. It really begs the question of what happened between then and now, since he'd been so happy and adoring when he'd asked for Mom's hand in marriage.

Mom had looked as uncomfortable and unhappy then, and she does now, and with the reveal that Eun Joo isn't Dad's biological daughter, it appears that Dad had adored Mom, and when Mom had gotten pregnant by someone else, he'd stepped in to give her and the baby a family. That would certainly explain why Dad's always seemed partial to Eun Joo; he must've been working extra hard to make sure that he loved her as much as - if not more - than the other kids, and overcompensated, in the process.

The idea that Dad had possibly gone up into the mountains to die, is a sad and sobering one. I'm curious to see how Dad's fresh perspective affects his relationship with Mom. Will that enable her to fall for him in a way that she hadn't been able to, before?

I wonder if Eun Joo actually knows her birth secret, and if she does, perhaps that's why she's so distant and cold..?

Eun Joo's marriage certainly doesn't appear healthy right now. But, it seems that they'd been trying for a baby, so it's possible that they'd been fine until the baby-making plans fell through, and maybe they're both now finding solace elsewhere? Besides Eun Joo's soft spot for the barista, Tae Hyung is chatting online with someone going by the handle Tinkerbell, and he does appear to want to keep that secret. Does he also have someone that he's growing fond of?

As for Eun Hee's new boss, he does appear quickly taken with her, and he looks so clean-cut and boyish and earnest, but what's this that Kyung Ok says, that he'd tried to get handsy with her when she was drunk, and had tried to get into the cab with her? Was Eun Hee a Plan B? And then there's the thing about him having a fiancée that he's due to marry. That's not adding up well at all, for the guy that's just swept Eun Hee off her feet. Also. What kind of new boss flirts with and beds an employee he's just met? Or at all?

That dynamic, of people getting snapped at, and then snapping at others in turn, is so true to life. I couldn't help but chuckle at how Tae Hyung snaps at Eun Joo, who then snaps at Ji Woo, who then snaps at Eun Hee, all about the exact same thing. It's like that classic passing of the fruitcake nobody wants to eat, except this is them passing on a bit of a lashing out, just like families are wont to do.