9/10 is my rating. This is a 2017 South Korean drama series with 52, ~65 minute episodes.

First I provide a unique synopsis then review

Synopsis
This is a drama about an average family living in Seoul. Things change when a struggling celebrity shows up claiming to be a son of the family. The series follows the family through many events from joyous to challenging. Through it all the strong family bond sustains them. Each child finds their way and pursues happiness in jobs and relationships.

Family members:
Byun Han-su/Lee Yoon-seok (Kim Yeon-cheol) He is the father and head of the household. He was a Judo athlete prior to being accused of a crime he was innocent of. Through a series of events he wound up swapping names with his friend and keeping it to mask his criminal record to avoid hardship for his family. When the son shows up it is because of this name swap and Yoon-seok takes him in out of respect for his friend. He soon sees the young man as a true son and member of the family.

Na Young-sil (Kim Hae-sook) Mother and wife of the family. She is a nurse who learned of Han su’s past when he was treated in the hospital. She knows he is innocent and helps him hide the past from the children and others.

Byeon Hye-yeong/Lee Hye-yeong (Lee Yu-ri) The eldest daughter of the family. She is a successful lawyer and has diligently worked to prove her father’s innocence.

Ahn Joong-hee (Lee Joon) is a former idol who is now struggling at acting. When he loses a role because he cannot understand the emotions between father and son he seeks out whom he believes is his missing father.

Byeon Mi-yeong/Lee Mi-yeong (Jung So-min)— A middle child of the family she has struggled to find a career path since quitting as a Judo athlete following an injury.

Byun Joon-young/Lee Joon-young (Min Jin-woong) The eldest child of the family, He has struggled for years to pass the civil service exam.

Byeon Ra-yeong/Lee Ra-yeong (Ryu Hwa-young) is the youngest child of the family. When she is not annoying her other siblings, particularly the eldest sister, she is either on social media or teaching yoga.

Review

This was a very compelling family drama that provides a roller coaster for your emotions but ends happy. The main plot point revolves around an, at first, mysterious event from the past involving the father. You are quickly let in on the secret and it is then a matter of when and how the rest will find out and if it will be resolved. There are some sad moments, but the story overall is uplifting. I would watch this again and highly recommend it. It is a relatively long drama with over 50 episodes that are over an hour but it allows time character development and believable romances.

Spoilers

Hye-young the lawyer daughter is my favorite character. She is no nonsense yet does everything with such dramatic flair it was enjoyable every time she was onscreen. Her boyfriend turned husband, Cha Jung Hwan (Ryu Soo Young), is a mama’s boy at first but watching as Hye young deals with the over bearing mother in law and the overly filial son is entertaining. He comes around and it is part of what makes him her perfect match.

Joong-hee, the idol turned actor, was also my favorite. His deep desire for a father was heart feels. It showed how famous people are still very much human beings. His romance with Mi-yeong was the highlight of the show and one of the best romances I have seen even compared to series where the romance is the key focus. Having them both drawn to each other even when they thought they were related illustrated the depth of their connection. He never gave up on himself and I loved that, I understood his anger when he found out he was deceived but I still thought the writers took it too far. He would have known the father did not know about his existence so was unaware that deception was hurting a child. He and the father had formed such a bond it was hard to believe he would not have understood the genuine nature of that connection. The father could have let Joong-hee contact him then let that fade as Joong-hee seemed ready to but he kept bringing him meals and showing up to develop a relationship. There was nothing for the father to gain from forging that tie. But people do act irrationally when they get hurt emotionally.

The kids acted so mean to Joong-hee when he was first in the house. The father kept saying my kids are kind they will accept this or that but they really were not completely kind especially in some of the situations. They acted spoiled and immature multiple times both individually and together as a group. The grandmother was so mean to him in the beginning. But that does reflect some previous generation‘s response to orphans and illegitimate children. My father was illegitimate in the US born in the 50s and he was treated poorly by the elders and society in general so it is a thing that unfortunately happens not just in South Korea but elsewhere too. It is an ugly streak in humanity to treat the innocent children poorly when the adults create the situations.

The sister-in-law, Kim Yoo Joo (Lee Mi Do) was truly horrible in the beginning. To go through sweet Mi-yeong’s memories of being bullied by her was heart wrenching. I loved the way they handled it. It was cute when Joong-hee bullied her back a bit. I did not think it would be possible for me to forgive that character because I absolutely detest bullying and have stepped in to stop bullies in the past. In my school days I was not bullied as I had a very strong personality and no-one bullied others in front of me or they had it turned on them. I even shielded multiple people as an adult subject to workplace bullies. But there was a situation where I was bullied in the workplace and have experienced how miserable those situations can be. But Yoo Joo did finally see the light and changed and offered apology in the right way so even I could understand Mi-yeoung forgiving her.

I was so conflicted about the mother, Young sil. On one hand she was a great wife and mother who was always there for her family. The way she took in Joong-hee and then all of the sons in law and the daughter in law was one of the sweetest components of the story. I felt both annoyed and understanding in the way she emotionally blackmailed Yoon-seok to take on his friend’s identity. It seriously would have felt like a sign from the Gods with the way the mix up originally happened. But it was definitely a character flaw that lying and hiding things seemed to be go to responses for her.

It was hard and I was torn about whether there was justification to deceive about his identity. On one hand he was unjustly accused, and there is such a strong, social stigma on people that commit those type of crimes that carries through to their children so it was understandable. Conversely lying is never good especially about something so monumental. The writers did a good job of laying that conflict out there and examining how the different characters thought about it, and how people in general might think about it. It was unfortunate that while we did get to learn there would be a retrial we did not know the outcome of the retrial. I felt beyond frustrated when you found out that his friend was the one that had originally betrayed him, and then he was so unwilling to talk about it even all those years later. I certainly never felt sympathetic towards that character as I thought what he had done was completely unforgivable. I loved when Hye-young lost it with him and was like look you will do the right thing or I will put it on blast what you did. The father told her to stop and was a bit apologetic about it but that dude more than had it coming. I do not think he would have been willing to testify without the threat of some personal consequences. Even if his mom had taken money he should’ve still told the truth and let the chips fall where they may. You don’t let an innocent man go down for a crime because your family member accepted a bribe. His unwillingness to help right the wrong showed he was just a completely unrecoverable character. The other piece I felt wasn’t well tied up was I would’ve liked to have seen his conviction overturned and then find out what happened to the people that had actually beaten that poor kid to death. A lot of times when that sort of thing happens, those type of people go on to commit other crimes. While Hye-young mentioned that if the conviction was overturned, they could reopen a case against the actual perpetrators we never got that level of satisfaction.


#MyFatherisStrange
#KimYeonCheol
#KimHaeSook
#LeeYuRi
#LeeJoon
#JungSoMin
#MinJinWoong
#RyuHwaYoung