Friday Feature: Keep it in the family

No need to go searching afar for conflict when the pain in your ass is sitting right next to you, in your living room. Family in K-dramas are a reliable source of laughs, drama and competition.  Here are some of our favourite family ties that bind.

Emergency Couple

The craziest of crazy moms comes in the form of Yoon Sung Sook (Park Joon Geum). There’s no doubt that she loves her son, Oh Chang Min (Choi Jin Hyuk), but she has an odd way of showing it. She spends much of the show alternating between attempting to browbeat Chang Min into marrying a woman he’s not attracted to, trying to get his ex-wife, Oh Jin Hee (Song Ji Hyo) fired, and throwing spectacular temper tantrums. I may not want her as a mother, but she was pretty entertaining as a character.

“Emergency Couple” also features the cutest family member in a drama ever, Jin Hee’s nephew, Baby Gook. He didn’t do much other than be cute, but who cares? Look at that adorable square head! – Only 만

Secret Garden

Joo Won (Hyun Bin) is an arrogant chaebol running a department store. His cousin, known to his fans as Oska (Yoon Sang Hyun) is a Hallyu star who makes the woman Joo Won is interested in, Ra Im (Ha Ji Won) swoon. Joo Won is an antisocial weirdo, so he finds it hard to compete with his charming cousin. The only thing Joo Won can do is resort to petty actions, like throwing away Ra Im’s Oska socks while she is unconscious, and hope to catch Ra Im’s attention with a series of eye watering track suits.

Of course, when Joo Won and Ra Im swap bodies (don’t ask), Joo Won takes the opportunity to coldly reject his cousin while in the guise of Ra Im. Ra Im also makes the most of the situation by turning Joo Won and Oska into kissing cousins. – Junggugeo Kaenada 중국어 캐나다

The Heirs

“The Heirs” depicts the miserable lives of the children of the rich, trapped in the middle of internal family battles. Kim Tan (Lee Min Ho) is the son of his father’s mistress, who is barely allowed to leave the house for fear of discovery. His half-brother hates him, his stepmother is out to take control of the company, and his father happily sends him away to the States to get him out of the way. His arch nemesis, Choi Young Do (Kim Woo Bin) is hardly better off: his mother abandoned him, while his father uses him as target practice at judo and slaps him when he loses fights. At least, Cha Eun Sang (Park Shin Hye) has a nice mom; it almost makes up for the fact that her sister ran off with all their money. – 만

My Love From the Stars

Song Yi (Jun Ji Hyun) may be a top actress, but she gets no respect from her teenage brother, Yoon Jae (Ahn Jae Hyun). Fortunately, the source of their conflict improves as the series progresses. Initially, Yoon Jae blames Song Yi for the break up of their family. Then, Yoon Jae is disapproving of Song Yi’s drunken antics, and her sleepover with extraterrestrial neighbour, Min Joon. By the end, the siblings are fighting over Min Joon, who marvels at how messy and rude they both are. Song Yi and Yoon Jae also share the opinion that the other is undeserving of the alien. – 중국어 캐나다

I Hear Your Voice

Jang Hye Sung (Lee Bo Young) is an abrasive, friendless, self-involved lawyer with no interest in her job, aside from collecting her paycheck. The only thing that saves her as a human being is the love of her mother, Uh Choon Shim (Kim Hae Sook), a strong-willed woman who single-handedly raises Hye Sung and puts her through law school while running a fried chicken restaurant. Sure, her brand of love isn’t particularly gentle, but it is unconditional; when Hye Sung is falsely accused of injuring her boss’s daughter, she quits rather than let Hye Sung admit to something she didn’t do, and makes a spectacular exit while she’s at it. If there was a contest for best K-drama mother, she’d win hands down. – 만

You’re Beautiful

They may be twins, but Mi Nam is training to become a K-pop idol whereas Mi Nyeo is training to become a nun. When Mi Nam suffers a hazard of the job (botched plastic surgery), Mi Nyeo is recruited to stand in for him in his idol band, A*N.JELL until her brother recuperates. The twins obviously have nothing in common, and they do not appear to be close. In fact, they never appear together. It is an inexplicably estranged relationship that can be wholely attributed to the fact that both brother and sister are played by Park Shin Hye, and the production budget did not allow for them to be reunited on screen.  – 중국어 캐나다

Readers: which K-drama family members do you wish you were related to?

Plot out your dream family tree in the Comments below.