Family: The Unbreakable Bond is a comedy spy drama about a skilled NIS agent (Jang Hyuk) who works undercover as an office worker unbeknownst to his loving wife (Jang Na Ra) who also has a secret.
Jang Hyuk plays Kwon Do Hoon. He is a secret agent with the NIS and an expert sniper, but he keeps his identity hidden as he lives as an average family man with a wife and child.
Jang Na Ra is Kang Yoo Ra. She is Do Hoon’s wife who is a caring mother. She has a secret of her own though which brings trouble to her and her family.
We have Lee Soon Jae as Kwon Woong Soo who is Do Hoon’s elderly father. Then there’s Shin Su A as Kwon Min Seo who is Do Hoon and Yoo Ra’s daughter.
Next is Ji Hoon (Kim Kang Min) who is Do Hoon’s younger brother. He is married to Mi Rim (Yoon Sang Jung) who is expecting their first child.
Oh Cheon Ryun (Chae Jung Ahn) is a Chief with the NIS who Do Hoon reports too. Finally, Tae Goo (Kim Name Hee) is a mysterious man who brings trouble with him.
Family: The Unbreakable Bond was an interesting drama to say the least. Of course, the main reason I had to check this series out was because of the reunion of Jang Hyuk and Jang Na Ra. I love this couple, and getting to see them on screen together was a delight.
They always have great chemistry, and this was no different. We get to see them start off the drama as a married couple though which is certainly a change of pace. They have quite a few issues from minor ones to very big ones, and we watch as they have to deal with them.
They each gave a great individual performance too. I was absolutely thrilled to get to see the comedic side of Jang Hyuk again and hear his iconic over-the-top laugh. That always brings a smile to my face. It was fun to see him as a husband and father.
Then he became quite serious as an undercover spy. We get to see some of his intensity here. His full range of acting capabilities was on display.
Jang Na Ra was also fantastic. She is as sweet as can be as a housewife and does her best to keep things running smoothly for her family. She’s strong and knows how to get things done.
She has a secret too though, and that lets us see a much more serious side to this character as she will do anything to protect her family.
Now, here’s the thing with this show. It was a very odd experience because in many ways I felt like I was watching two different dramas. There’s a family comedy side that felt almost like a sitcom and then there was a serious spy action side. The contrast between the two was so stark that the show felt very tonally uneven to me. Switching between them sometimes gave me whiplash.
The first part of the drama has more of the family comedy element with lots of fun family hi-jinks to explore. The spy story is woven in during this time, but it feels more in the background.
I quite liked the family shenanigans as a whole as each character played their part well. It was all very fun and entertaining. Lee Soon Jae is always hilarious as the grandpa while Shin Su A put in a good performance as Do Hoon and Yoo Ra’s daughter. Kim Kang Min and Yoon Sang Jung were also quite funny. The family dynamics were very fun overall.
As the drama progresses, we go deeper into the spy story with a big mystery. And let me tell you, this story was incredibly dark! It involves children being kidnapped and turned into snipers. The more we learn about what happened to these children, the more depressing it gets.
It’s all very heavy, and I was continually surprised by how dark it kept getting. By the latter part of the drama, the tone leans much more serious as a whole. Be forewarned, this story does have a fair amount of plot holes, and people aren’t the best at being secret agents.
SPOILERS BELOW
I liked that Jang Na Ra was able to get in on the action when it was revealed that Yoo Ra was one of the children raised to be a sniper. She had been in hiding all of these years and just wanted to live a normal life but still retained her skills and was more than ready to use them when needed.
Probably the biggest disappointment though was that after Do Hoon finally found out about Yoo Ra as well as her finding out he was a secret agent. There was some great lead up to this, and both actors really delivered some complex scenes between the two that were packed with subtle emotion, but for the most part, they barely even talk about any of it!
This is the kind of thing you want to see play out, especially with these two, and they just skirted around it. Talk about disappointing! The ending is also a bit messy and not the best as a whole.
END OF SPOILERS
So, in the end, Family: The Unbreakable Bond was a nice enough drama. Jang Hyuk and Jang Na Ra are the standouts and both put in fantastic performances. The family comedy aspects were also quite fun.
The spy story initially felt weak, but as we went deeper, it was more complex. It was a bit dark for my tastes, but it was done well enough. Tonally, the drama felt very uneven which gave it an odd feel, and the drama as a whole was a bit sloppy. This is a difficult one to know who may like it, so I’ll just wish you best of luck if you do decide to go for it.
My Rating: 6.5/10
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