What Happens to My Family? (2014) 가족끼리 왜 이래
Directed by Jeon Chang-geun, starring Kim Hyun-joo, Kim Sang-kyung, Park Hyung-sik, Nam Ji-hyun, Yoon Park and Yoo Dong-geun.
Watched 1 May 2024 - 18 May 2025 — 53 episodes (VIKI PASS/KOCOWA)
*Finally! Happy to report that I finished this family drama, consisting of 53 episodes, the longest series I have watched till date. It felt like watching a daytime soap series and it took me over a year!
*It's not that I didn't like this show (because I did) but I just didn't feel an urgency to finish it and it was so easy to pick it up again after a long time. But now, having binged the last 10 or so episodes, I kind of miss the characters. Having started the show last year May made this the longest time I have spent with K-drama characters.
*Yoo Dong-geun as Cha Soon-bong, the father, gives a good performance. He's the focal point of the show. But my favourite character by far is Kim Hyun-joo as Cha Kang-shim, the daughter. She has a strong personality, is feisty, smart and beautiful. She's a highly competent and efficient secretary, and speaks her mind. I was most interested in the development of her romantic relationship with Moon Tae-joo, a mostly comic role by Kim Sang-kyung. He can certainly distort his face in the most weird expressions! He is so silly, has the strangest eating habits, and you wonder how this man can be the director of a successful company. Though there are plenty of over-the-top humorous moments, I did find myself laughing at Moon Tae-joo's funny antics. Most of the show's comedy is provided by this character and some of his actions are hilarious (like the proposal scene with the ring and shoe laces and then proposing twice because the first time he was drunk). Still, I liked the actor and character best when he becomes serious, he's almost like a different person and so attractive! I love episode 14 when he stands up for Kang-shim against the douchebag CEO. I also love how Kang-shim supports him, how she sides with him after they disgrace him (ep. 33). I found it believable how she slowly fell for Tae-joo. She could see what kind of a person he was, despite being an idiot now and then.
*Just like in real life, spending much time with people makes you like certain persons more once you get to know them better and some positive traits are surfacing. There are a couple of characters that I really didn't like at first. Let me start with Yoon Park as the doctor Cha Kang-jae and oldest sibling of the Cha family. He acted so horribly towards his father, I just wanted him to sink in a deep hole. Then, when he was the first one to know about his father's illness, his behaviour completely turned around and he became the dependent son. I also hated Son Dam-bi as Kwon Hyo-jin, Kang-jae's fiancée, who didn't seem to have anything else to do but meddling, eavesdropping and gossiping. I thought she was the most insufferable person I had ever encountered in a K-drama. I was hoping for her to get some backbone but she stays the same whiny stupid gossipy character for most of the show. Still, in the end I could muster a bit of sympathy for her, also when she settled her differences with Kang Seo-wool (a nice role by Nam Ji-hyun).
*Also on my dislike list was Kim Jung-nan as Noh Young-seol, daughter of Cha Soon-geum (Soon-bong's younger sister, played by Yang Hee-kyung) and cousin of Kang-shim. I began to like her when her relationship with Kang-shim improved (they clashed big time in the beginning) and they became friends.
*I like Park Hyung-sik as Cha Dal-bong, the youngest son, but he was annoying when he thought he was in for some money. I like his relationship with country bumpkin Kang Seo-wool and was glad she often talked sense into him because he didn't make the smartest decisions. Seo Kang-joon as Yoon Eun-ho is Seo-wool's other love interest and I think they made his character quite attractive and likeable. I almost felt sorry Seo-wool didn't end up with him, or they should have at least included another love interest for him. I also love the development of his relationship with his stepbrother Tae-joo.
*It's probably because it's a soap series but everyone is so nosy and meddlesome (not only Hyo-jin). They stand near doors to eavesdrop, have their opinions ready (unasked), and also interfere with father's supposed love interest Miss Ko. Why don't they mind their own business?
*Though I didn't like auntie Soon-geum all the time, she's always in favour of her brother Soon-bong and I love how she supported him, because he didn't always stand up for himself.
*Love the bridal shower with the women/girls giving Kang-shim presents and crying. It was so endearing and heartwarming.
*I liked both men in the two love triangles (already mentioned Yoon Eun-ho). Song Jae-hee as Byeon Woo-tak, Kang-shim's ex-boyfriend, is a very likeable character. Of course I wanted Kang-shim to end up with Tae-joo, and there was never any indication that she wouldn't, but she could be worse off with the ex-boyfriend, and as an attorney he handled the father's lawsuit against his children with discretion.
*I really like Kim Seo-ra as Miss Ko (Ko Bok-ja / Ko Eun-hwan), a mysterious woman who becomes Soon-bong's love interest/close friend. She was always friendly and was like a fairy godmother when she had people buy tofu when Dal-bong was in trouble. I loved her relationship with Heo Yang-geum (played by Kyeon Mi-ri), Hyo-jin's mother. Yang-geum is another unlikeable character who gets more likeable towards the end.
*With father's illness progressing, it becomes quite the tearjerker near the end. I shed a lot of tears too. Love the episode with the singing contest!
*Life is making mundane moments more meaningful and special. (Yoo Dong-geun as Cha Soon-bong)