Summary
Typhoon Family approaches the end in Episode 15 with as much energy as it can muster, but the show is past its best now, and you can really feel it flagging.
We’re finally on the penultimate episode of Typhoon Family, and about midway through, I realised I’ve checked out. I suppose it was inevitable. The recursive structure, combined with a too-long season order, has made a lot of it feel too rote and cyclical, and Episode 15 isn’t immune to the problems that have plagued the whole thing. That odd chafing feeling between the fact-based IMF crisis backdrop and the soapy needs of a weekend K-Drama never went away, and while there’s a sweet romantic and found family story here, it’s saddled with too many contrived ups and downs. This is perhaps why I’ve scarcely heard anyone talking about this show since it began.
Naturally, this being the final weekend, it’s only right that we reach our most dramatic personal and professional circumstances. You may recall that the previous episode ended with Song-jung turning up almost at random to announce that his old man was on the cusp of taking his own life, so the early going finds Tae-poong and Mi-seon accompanying him to help save the day in this regard. And while we’re on the subject, I feel like this whole thing really neatly encapsulates the problems described above.
The backdrop here is powerful stuff; Song-jung’s father hasn’t been able to pay his employees for three months, and he has reasoned that they’d be better off if he were gone rather than feeling burdened by his circumstances. This is very raw and real, and it even echoes some of Tae-poong’s own arc with his father and the responsibility he has felt in the aftermath of his death. But it’s also a little silly in its presentation, with Tae-poong saving the day again in a way that can’t help but feel a little contrived.
And, of course, it also represents a business opportunity. Song-jung’s father’s company creates a lot of cool products with international appeal, and they’re competitively priced, so it’s a viable avenue for Typhoon Trading. It’s a neat and tidy turn that is arguably a bit too neat and tidy. It creates a self-fulfilling idea that Tae-poong and the company will always be okay because the script won’t allow him not to be, which in a way undermines the whole thing with Hyun-jun having kept Mr. Pyo locked away so that he can take over the company. Since he gambled his CEO status over the promissory note, which he’s not actually in possession of, Tae-poong seems to have lost everything, but never for a moment did I think it was going to take.
Typhoon Family Episode 15 is all about last-minute difficulties, with Hyun-jun seemingly having the upper hand, and the scrappy Typhoon underdogs doing everything they can to try and save Song-jung’s dad’s company while Hyun-jun thwarts them. There’s a bit here about how regular working people were blamed for the financial crash, but Hyun-jun gloating about everything saps some of that serious personal energy for me, making the whole thing feel more the domain of fiction than a real-life crisis.
And we know where it’s all going. You can see the pieces of Hyun-jun’s deal with an enigmatic international client slotting neatly into place, everything where it needs to be to be leveraged when the tables turn, as they inevitably will. The quasi-tension of the gang’s office break-in and Mr. Koo almost stumbling on the captive Mr. Pyo isn’t especially effective, even if it’s fun enough in the moment. “Fun enough” will have to do at this stage.
We know where it’s all going, too. Even before Tae-poong realises he has found the promissory note, it’s really obvious that’s what he has stumbled on, and it’s similarly obvious this is the get-out-of-jail-free card Typhoon needs to bring about the happy ending we all know is coming. At this point, it’s just tying up loose ends and delivering the appropriate payoff.
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