Summary
Typhoon Family does some solid work in Episodes 5 & 6, developing Tae-poong and Mi-seon’s relationship well while finding an imperfect balance between the dramatic rhythms of a K-Drama and the very real, very dour fact-based backdrop.
There’s a peculiar predicament that Typhoon Family finds itself in, I think as a consequence of being backdropped by a very real financial crisis. You can feel its responsibilities as a K-Drama chafing against its mandate of being respectful and reasonable about an event that ruined many, many lives. In Episodes 5 and 6, the triumphs have to be short-lived because the scope of the difficulties is too wide. And yet there always have to be triumphs, however minor, because Tae-poong is the “hero” and needs to chase a victory, even if he only seems to be digging the hole deeper for himself.
I don’t think this makes Tae-poong unlikable – on the contrary, actually. But it does mean that he has to make decisions that sometimes strain plausibility, which can make it feel like he’s an engine for driving the plot rather than a three-dimensional character. His chemistry with Mi-seon does humanise him here, though, and there’s a nice sense of togetherness cultivated by the fact that almost everyone is definitionally in the same position.
It’s the small things, I think, like Mi-seon finding Tae-poong and Jeong-mi asleep in the office and inviting them into her home. Those connections are really nice, and help to counterbalance the grim stuff, like what happens in Nam-mo’s shop. I also really like Jeong-mi mothering Mi-seon’s family, too; the closeness here is very much the emotional firmament of the drama.
And these people need some stability. As predicted, Tae-poong’s rash shoe deal backfires. When he goes to the factory in Busan, he finds it empty, Park Yun-cheol having been beaten to a pulp on account of owing a hefty sum of money to unsavoury types. That means that the shoes and Tae-poong’s down payment are gone, used to try and pay off the debt. All Tae-poong is left with are the patents.
Again, Typhoon Family Episode 5 lives not in the ups and downs of Tae-poong’s shoe deal, but in Jeong-mi being there for him when it seems to have fallen through. There does seem to be a way back, but it involves drumming up 5 million won to acquire 500 pairs from a loan shark, which isn’t exactly an ideal – or even viable – solution. But again, the point isn’t the problem; it’s Mi-seon gifting Tae-poong the money his father left in a savings account for her as a solution. This is where the show works.
Of course, it isn’t this easy. When Tae-poong goes to pay off the loan shark, Hui-gyu, he finds Yun-cheol in a terrible state, and “heroically” agrees to recoup 100 million won – Yun-cheol owes Hui-gyu 50 million – by selling 700 pairs of shoes. But he also signs a contract that puts his eyeballs on the line if he can’t do that, which also means paying the interest on top, with gangsters not necessarily known for their favourable borrowing rates. It’s a rash move, sure to backfire.
Once again, this is a decision that Tae-poong has made without Mi-seon’s complicity, and she’s shocked to see a whole fleet of vans turn up to deliver more than ten times the amount of shoes she was expecting. There’s good development for Tae-poong and Mi-seon’s relationship here, not to mention it being a nice eye-opener for Tae-poong, who is beginning to realise that he can’t approach business as recklessly as he has all the other things in his life. This should apply to his relationships, too, and you see a bit of a reflection of a more grown-up mentality in his interactions with Mr. Park.
Tae-poongs next bright idea in Typhoon Family Episode 6 is exporting all the shoes to foreign buyers in the West, and as part of the sales pitch, he films a video proving how hardy the safety shoes are. He manages to land a client in Mexico and ships off 5000 pairs, which is almost the entire haul. You can see Tae-poong’s growth in this development, as it’s the first instance of proper business instead of shot-in-the-dark idealism. He works through his potential markets, finds the USP of the product, and campaigns around that. It’s not just a win, but an earned one.
This success shouldn’t distract from the hardship elsewhere, though. Jeong-mi’s still struggling, first to find work and then to keep up with her younger, more experienced colleagues, and Mi-ho’s downgrade from air hostess to department store clerk ends in literal tears. But there’s still a strong sense of resilience and family threaded through all this, which gives it a nice texture. I do think this is quite a heart-warming show, and it’s going under the radar a little bit on that basis.
Oh, you hadn’t forgotten about Hyun-jun, had you? Naturally, he arrives just in time to cause even more problems, badmouthing Typhoon Trading to the shipping company they were using to export the shoes, preventing them from getting the order to Mexico in time. The only other option is a local trawler, but that might be easier in theory than execution. Tae-poong and Mi-seon are definitely getting somewhere – and also covered in salt – with both their relationships and their business, learning some harsh lessons along the way, but the conditions are so resistant to success that they’re going to have their work cut out even if they manage to get on the same page.
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