‘Typhoon Family’ Episode 10 Recap – Prison Is the Cure For Sexism

Sometimes it takes failure to show you what success really looks like. This is the idea that underpins Episode 10 of Typhoon Family, which, like the previous episode, spares a lot of time for the steady development of Tae-poong and Mi-seon’s relationship against the backdrop of things going increasingly wrong for Typhoon Trading. But the way some of the realisations manifest is sometimes… let’s say questionable. If a brief stint in jail is being posited as an instant remedy for sexism in a show that is trying its best – when it isn’t being overly reliant on Tae-poong’s charisma and outside-the-box thinking – to be fairly grounded and serious, I think there are some minor problems with the storytelling fundamentals here.

The question is whether the joy of the relationship between the leads, and the lingering peril over how things might turn out, especially with the late re-involvement of Pyo Bak-ho, is enough to steer the show through the back half of its season despite all this. And while the whole thing seems to be flying under the radar somewhat, without a great deal of mainstream attention even from the weekend K-Drama stalwarts, I’m beginning to have my doubts.

I should reiterate again how much I’m not buying the idea that Tae-poong and Mi-seon’s efforts to spring Ma-jin from prison have somehow cured his deeply-held sexist values overnight. This does seem to be where we are, though. After Ma-jin’s release, he and Mi-seon have to race to customs to collect the safety helmets, which are due to be impounded, and when they don’t make it in time and most of the stock is destroyed, Ma-jin takes the opportunity to admit to being wrong about her in the first place. It’s a nice sentiment in theory, but “maybe as an adult man I may start to respect women” isn’t exactly the illuminating character arc the show seems to think it is.

But it represents a theme – the idea of learning through failure. This is the first time to my recollection that Typhoon Trading has taken a proper blow – aside from being dissolved in the first place, obviously – and been unable to rescue a product or make a life-saving sale. And if the experience can cure Ma-jin’s sexism, what else can it achieve? Could it help to reiterate Mi-seon’s self-worth and sense of value as she continues to try and prove herself as a trader? Could it be a reminder for Tae-poong that freestyling your way through every problem simply isn’t sustainable? These are decent dramatic questions to be asking, I’ll give Typhoon Family Episode 10 credit for that.

But the focus is really on the romance. Tae-poong’s determination to keep telling Mi-seon how he feels isn’t really an outgrowth of lessons learned from failure, though, and more him continuing to persevere in spite of it, which, to be fair, has more or less the same outcome. But one of the more interesting aspects of this show is, I think, the juxtaposition of how Tae-poong treats business – with a kind of cavalier what-will-be-will-be attitude – and how he treats Mi-seon, with increasing tenderness and seriousness. They kiss, and they mean it, but wires are still crossed, and Tae-poong’s conflicting approaches don’t help that. He realises he can’t afford the office and instead rents half of Nam-mo’s pub to do business out of, which is all very short-term when he could stand to take a longer-term view about everything, not just Mi-seon.

But this will, I suspect, end up being the least of his problems, since Pyo Bak-ho is coming after that promissory note, and there’s still a degree of mystery involved in the secretive business of Tae-poong’s late father. Whether this will be enough to sustain the remainder of the season, though, is really anyone’s guess.

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