Monday, June 3, 2024

The Atypical Family: Episode 1 Summary

Do Da-hae (Chun Woo-hee), motivated by greed (seeking fortune), stumbles upon the Bok family's extraordinary secret: superhuman abilities

  

Bok Man-heum (Go Doo-shim) is deeply troubled by her family's loss of superpowers. Originally from a special family with extraordinary abilities, her son Bok Gwi-ju (Jang Ki-yong) has lost his 'time slip' power due to his wife's death and depression, his daughter Bok Dong-hee (Claudia Kim) has lost her 'flight' power due to her weight gain, and her granddaughter Bok I-na (Park So-yi) has not yet developed any superpowers. 

Even Man-heum has lost her 'premonition dream' power due to insomnia. Standing on a high cliff overlooking the sea, Man-heum cries out to her family, "Let's all jump into the sea together!" but she is unable to follow through.

In this situation, Gwi-ju suddenly falls into the sea, and Da-hae, who is at a nearby beach, rescues him. 

Gwi-ju mistakes Da-hae for his deceased wife and embraces her, but soon realizes his mistake and leaves without even saying thank you. 

A few days later, Man-heum visits a massage parlor and, by chance, falls into a deep sleep after drinking tea and receiving a massage from Da-hae, who works there as a masseuse. Man-heum didn't know she worked at that massage parlor and was pleasantly surprised to discover her there by chance. Finding Da-hae appealing, Man-heum invites her to her home. 

While trying to help Gwi-ju open a wine bottle, Da-hae deliberately breaks it. Unaware of this, Man-heum watches Da-hae clean up the mess and finds her pleasing, considering her a potential daughter-in-law. 

Da-hae then tells Man-heum, "I have no parents or family. I've been married twice, but both marriages failed. My first husband cheated on me, and my second husband was an alcoholic and abusive. I hastily married because I wanted a family.“ However, Man-heum responds, "Gwi-ju has similar scars." She explains that Gwi-ju lost his wife in an accident seven years ago and still lives with that pain. Man-heum wants Da-hae to marry Gwi-ju and build a stable family together. 

Man-heum invites Da-hae to Gwi-ju's daughter I-na's birthday party. She encourages them to support each other, believing that people with painful pasts can find solace together. However, Gwi-ju's sister, Dong-hee, disapproves of Da-hae due to Man-heum's condition of leaving a 50-billion-won building as an inheritance to the first child who marries. 

Gwi-ju also dislikes Da-hae. He warns her, saying, "Today is my daughter's birthday. It's hard enough for her to understand the situation, and she's 13, going through puberty. If you try to discipline her, she'll see you as an abusive stepmother." 

Despite Gwi-ju's harsh words, Da-hae approaches I-na warmly, cooking seaweed soup for her. In response, I-na warns her, "You should leave and not get involved with this family. Haven't you noticed something strange? Our family has superpowers, but we've lost them due to modern-day ailments." 

Later, when Gwi-ju learns that I-na has eaten dinner through Da-hae washing the dishes, he is puzzled. Da-hae shares, "Someone saved me once. I thought I was going to die, but I survived like a miracle. It felt wrong to be the one who survived. Someone else should have lived instead of me. I had nothing and felt lonely for surviving. But because of the person who saved me, I decided to live if I could. Gwi-ju, you remind me of that person." 

She then reveals that she saw Gwi-ju wade into the water to retrieve a doll dropped by a girl at the beach that day. Gwi-ju responds, "I couldn't save anyone. Don't expect me to save you just because you saved me. I'm a depression patient. Becoming family means promising to protect someone, and I'm not capable of that."

Back home (at the jjimjilbang), Da-hae confides in Baek Il-hong (Kim Geum-sun), Grace (Ryu Abel), and Noh Hyung-tae (Choi Gwang-rok) about the secrets of the Bok family. In reality, Da-hae approached the Bok family to exploit their wealth. Her two previous marriages were also scams, aimed at obtaining the men's assets.