Summary
Things continue to look up and then down for Tae-poong in Episode 4 of Typhoon Family. His youthful energy and general good fortune are carrying him for now, but one does get the feeling there’s something grim on the horizon.
Tae-poong has a lot of admirable qualities in Typhoon Family, but the guy’s pretty unlucky. Even when things seem to be looking up, as they often do in Episode 4, since it’s building on the sense of excitement in Tae-poong-becoming CEO and Mi-seon joining him as a trader, circumstances always conspire to return us promptly to mid-’90s financial ruin and all of its messy consequences.
He’s starting on the back foot, to be fair. After getting stiffed by Pyo in the previous episode, Tae-poong is no longer in possession of the Italian fabric he’s hoping to sell back to the Italians – not all of it, anyway. In a stroke of good fortune, one of the truck drivers retained some, which would mean that if Pyo were to sell the stock they have back to the Italians, they’d be in violation of the contract for returning less than they were sent. This gives Tae-poong and Mi-seon the opportunity to sell Pyo the fabric they’ve held back at triple the price.
If nothing else, Tae-poong is good at thinking on his feet. He’s also stubborn – he refuses to sell his father’s business under any circumstances, which is probably just as well since we wouldn’t have a show if he did, but there’s also something clearly afoot within that business, something his father was secretive about, which is what Pyo is primarily interested in (things were hinted along these lines in the premiere, if you recall). It’s also nice to have a villain, or at least a vaguely villainous figure, who can effectively loom over proceedings to add a bit of jeopardy. As if the financial climate didn’t offer enough peril.
Speaking of the financial climate, Typhoon Family Episode 4 sends Tae-poong and Mi-seon to Busan to explore the trading markets there, giving things a new look and angle. Tae-poong’s invited by a trader friend of his father’s and takes Mi-seon with him, conveniently allowing her to meet a woman who can teach her the ropes of her dream profession. But what’s also lingering in the background of all this is that Tae-poong is still young and impulsive, and his run of figuring things out last-minute can’t be sustained long-term.
Case in point: While in Busan, Tae-poong comes across a company making virtually indestructible shoes for workers, and almost immediately signs a contract with the factory without any proper due diligence or consultation with his supposed partner. It might all work out just fine. In fact, given his success rate thus far, it probably will. But it would be a more fitting – albeit harsher – lesson if it didn’t. Not that harsh lessons are in short supply here.
Case in point again: When Tae-poong gets his home, he discovers his house has been sold from under him and that he and his mother are technically homeless, forced to sleep in the office. Even this doesn’t seem to dissuade Tae-poong, who’s still on cloud nine about the shoe deal, but he’s putting all of his eggs in that basket, which is rarely ever a good idea, let alone in unstable conditions. There’s a part of me that worries there might be some real trauma and failure to reckon with in the immediate future to build some more drama around the midpoint of the season, especially with Pyo still lurking in the margins. After all, everyone’s luck runs out eventually, and Tae-poong is using any he might have had in reserve at an alarming rate.
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