The hook of The Atypical Family (νμ΄λ‘λ μλλλ€λ§) is a superpower that works like a curse. Bok Gwi-ju, a former firefighter, can travel back into his own past β but only ever to a single moment, the happiest one he has ever lived. So while his family carries the genes of people who could fly and foresee the future, he keeps falling backward into one frozen day of joy, unable to move forward through his grief. It is a fantasy premise built on depression, which tells you a lot about the kind of show this is: powers as metaphor, not spectacle.
The premise
The Bok family descends from a line of people born with supernatural gifts. In modern life, though, those gifts have faded β dulled by stress, screens, and the general flatness of being an adult. The matriarch, Bok Man-heum, can still fly, but only when conditions are right; her daughter dreams the future; her granddaughter is mute; and Gwi-ju, sunk in depression after his wife’s death, can no longer reach his own ability at all. When a con artist named Do Da-hae enters their orbit with a scheme of her own, she becomes the unlikely catalyst that nudges Gwi-ju back toward his power and forces the whole family to look squarely at its dysfunction.
This is a fantasy-romance with a melancholy streak. The supernatural mechanics matter, but the real engine is emotional β a household of people who have stopped using what makes them special, and the outsider who reminds them what it costs to stay stuck.
Where to watch
The Atypical Family ran on JTBC in South Korea, airing weekends from May 4 to June 9, 2024 β a tight 12 episodes, no padding. Internationally it streams on Netflix, where it’s listed under the same English title. As always with Netflix’s Korean catalogue, availability shifts by region and over time, so check your local library before you commit your weekend to it.
The cast
Jang Ki-yong plays Bok Gwi-ju, the firefighter-turned-recluse whose power is tangled up with his sorrow. It’s a restrained performance β a lot of the role is interior, a man retreating into a memory rather than living in the present, and Jang plays the stillness rather than overselling it. Opposite him, Chun Woo-hee is Do Da-hae, the con artist whose arrival disrupts everything; she brings the spark and the moral ambiguity that the family’s quiet grief needs to bounce against.
The supporting bench is where a lot of the warmth lives. Veteran Go Doo-shim plays the family matriarch Bok Man-heum, the one who can fly, and she anchors the household with the kind of lived-in authority you can’t fake. Claudia Kim rounds out the family as Bok Dong-hee. The show was directed by Jo Hyun-tak (you may also see it spelled Jo Hyun-taek) and written by Joo Hwa-mi.
Filming locations
Here’s where I’ll be straight with you: the production never released an official location list, so the spots circulating online come from fan and travel guides rather than the studio. Treat them as plausible rather than confirmed. The few that turn up most consistently are Daejeon O-World, the theme park and zoo in Daejeon, used for the zoo scenes; Bunam Beach in Samcheok, Gangwon-do, which appears in the first episode; and Ilsan Lake Park in Goyang, Gyeonggi-do. Various hotel interiors around Seoul and Incheon have also been named, but those are thinly sourced β so if you’re planning a location pilgrimage, the Daejeon zoo and the Samcheok coast are the safer bets, and even those deserve a double-check.
Worth your time?
The Atypical Family is for viewers who like their fantasy slow and emotionally honest β closer to a family healing drama than a powers-and-action spectacle. If you came expecting flashy set pieces, the deliberate pace may test you. But if the idea of a man who can only return to the happiest day of his life, and can’t make himself leave it, hits something in you, this one earns its twelve hours. It treats grief, depression, and the quiet labor of reconnecting as the actual plot, and lets the magic serve that rather than the other way around.
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