Summary
Typhoon Family eases off on the romance until the end of Episode 11, filling the time with a much drier business focus that is ultimately a mixed bag.
The last thing Typhoon Family needed was to get drier, but here we are in Episode 11, “Tomorrow Comes Love”, with Tae-poong trying to secure a government contract. The signs were definitely creeping in, but seriously – has there ever been a “fun” version of bureaucratic toing and froing? It just doesn’t seem like the right fit for Tae-poong’s boundless energy and freewheeling sensibilities. It’d take a remarkable amount of charisma to make all that feel upbeat, and even Tae-poong doesn’t have that much.
On the upside, though, this is, I suppose, more reflective of the time period and serious subject matter, and I’ve complained before that the show is sometimes inclined to flounce its way through that kind of thing to get back to the K-Drama shenanigans quicker. Ironically, I now find myself hoping that’s going to be the case here. Although the late dollop of romance after sidelining that dynamic for much of the episode is appreciated either way.
The change of scenery – which hasn’t escaped the attention of Hyun-jun – leads to some brainstorming here, which wends its way to the idea of government contracts, sending Tae-poong and Song-jung off to the Public Procurement Office. Maybe it’s just me, but I kind of like the new digs, by the way; they have a sense of cosy intimacy that this show really benefits from but doesn’t utilise especially often.
Much less cosy is the PPF itself, where, after some comedic fish-out-of-water bumbling, Tae-poong manages to find his way into a Foreign Office meeting about procuring supplies for an African aid program. In a far cry from safety hats and shoes, Typhoon’s newest responsibility is to find surgical gloves, which don’t have a domestic supplier. Tae-poong’s confident, as ever, but a small company dealing in government contracts is a big step for Typhoon Trading, and it quickly becomes evident when the bureaucrats want to reject them out of hand.
What’s required is someone with more relevant expertise, and that turns out to be Mr Koo, at least after he has extricated himself from some kind of Y2K cult (it takes an effort to remember that sort of thing now, but you couldn’t move for that kind of paranoia in the late 90s.) It turns out the secret to dealing with bureaucratic pencil-pushers is to threaten them with overwhelming amounts of paperwork, so when it becomes obvious that Typhoon Trading won’t be rejected without a fight, the tide turns.
However, Typhoon Trading also brings their issues with them in the form of Hyun-jun, who pettily tries to bid for the surgical gloves himself just to spite them. It’s not the right play for him, but his ego wins out, leading to a competitive bidding war that leaves Typhoon scrambling and having to deal with technical issues, but those, too, thanks again to Mr. Koo, are eventually dealt with, and the bid is in. It’s a nice growth moment for the company and probably a turning point for Tae-poong, even though he required a lot of help to get there, but it also has the unfortunate consequence of sidelining the romance between him and Mi-seon purely by virtue of giving them limited time together.
Most of the romantic development in Typhoon Family Episode 11 is second-hand, coming through in the leads’ respective conversations with third parties, but it’s not an especially effective way of dealing with it, especially when we already know how both of them feel, so it’s nice that the latter stages of the episode really commit to this element. Mi-seon’s having some second thoughts about the obligations of a romantic bond, especially when she’s so used to doing things for herself, so it’s time for a bit of frankness.
And Tae-poong’s frank revelation is that he’s in love with Mi-seon, even if she doesn’t love him back. She clearly does, of course, but the question is whether she can deal with that at the same time as navigating a new career. And it isn’t like Tae-poong is giving her much choice, since he makes it pretty clear that the idea of just being colleagues isn’t really on the table. This could all end in tears, but I think those of us who have seen enough K-Dramas can be pretty confident that it probably won’t. Not tears of sadness, anyway.
RELATED:
