Early Access: Uncle E1

E1. So when I first read this show's synopsis, I knew that I'd be drawn to the heartwarming theme of a loser uncle coming into his nephew's life, and becoming the father figure and hero that he needs. Plus, it's Oh Jung Se in the lead role, which is a huge draw for me as well. What's not to love about Oh Jung Se getting the spotlight for a whole drama, right?

At the same time, even though I didn't have a super clear idea of what I was expecting, I still felt rather surprised, by certain elements in this drama world.

For example, I wasn't expecting the snooty moms thing, with all the moms hyper-focused on the success of their children, and very vocally disdainful of people who don't measure up to their standards of affluence and success.

That kinda gives me SKY Castle and Melancholia vibes, and with my recent run-in with Melancholia ending with me dropping the show, it feels a little soon, for me to be exposing myself to more snooty, probably scheming, over-ambitious parents.

Additionally, the whole thing with Joon Hee's ex-mother-in-law scheming to get her grandson back - while possibly putting Joon Hee's life at risk - also has more chaebol-flavored makjang about it than I'd been prepared for.

On top of this, I was also not quite prepared for the cartoon effects (sound and some visual) that we get, through this episode.

Somehow, in my head, this was a heartwarming, earthy sort of story, and all these elements - the hyper-privileged school stuff, the potentially makjang chaebol stuff, AND the cartoon elements - that I've mentioned, kind of make this a rather different creature than I'd imagined.

However, Show has enough going for it, that I feel like I'll be able to enjoy this one well - particularly if Show manages to settle a bit, into something more earthy.

First of all, there's Oh Jung Se, as our titular uncle.

Show goes slightly ham this first episode, establishing just how losery Joon Hyuk is, from having lost his money, his rising music career, and his girlfriend, in one fell swoop.

Yet, Oh Jung Se doesn't play him as all that losery, really. He's poorly dressed and he smells of fish, from having just come from the fishing port where he works, but he doesn't cower when people say snide things about him. He stands up for his rights as a person, like to the snooty moms at the tail end of the episode, and I rather like that about him.

I also like that for all of his bluster about not wanting to connect with his sister, and not caring what happens to her, he shows up for her, and for his nephew, whom he's not met, until now.

It brings him no end of trouble this first episode, with him being mistaken for a kidnapper or a pervert, and he swears up and down to his sister that he doesn't ever want to hear from her again - and that he doesn't have a nephew, even - but he still chooses to show up for his nephew, whom he knows is attending a parent-child event, without a parent.

Aw. That's so caring of him, despite his bluster. Plus, he shows up all cleaned up in a sharp suit, because he knows what kind of judgmental environment Ji Hoo is in, and doesn't want Ji Hoo to be judged because of him. Ahhh. THIS is the moment that I feel like I'm really going to like this show a lot, in the end, despite my disconnect with some of Show's tonal choices.

In just this first episode, we're already starting to see a connection form between Joon Hyuk and his nephew Ji Hoo, despite them getting off to a very unfortunate start, and that glimmer of Ji Hoo wanting to connect with Joon Hyuk, is really precious stuff.

From what we're told, it seems that Ji Hoo's likely had a rough childhood, since his school transfer is classified because of domestic violence. Show isn't specific about whether the violence is experienced by Ji Hoo or his mom or both, but I think it's very likely both. Even if it's just limited to his mom, it must be emotionally scarring for Ji Hoo, to have likely seen or heard his mom getting abused.

That already makes Ji Hoo a bit of a wounded puppy in my eyes, and he definitely needs a father figure in his life who will demonstrate to him that you don't need to be violent in order to live successfully. The fact that Ji Hoo wants to make music too, which Joon Hyuk used to do, makes me root for this uncle-nephew pair to connect even more.

Lee Kyung Hoon's doing a solid job of playing Ji Hoo so far, in that, even though Ji Hoo is impassive a lot of the time, there are times when I feel like there is nuance in his gaze. It's kind of hard to say how well he will do in future episodes, with likely more difficult scenes, but for now, I feel like this is a reasonably promising start.

Last but not least, I love that Ji Hoo's mom, Joon Hee, is played by Jeon Hye Jin. She's so versatile, and I'm already liking the nuances that she's giving Joon Hee.

So far, I feel like Joon Hee has a good amount of fear, but she's being brave and strong for Ji Hoo's sake. The job that she takes on at the restaurant is a tough one, which she's not done before, but she's determined to make it work, for the sake of her son.

Also, it's brave of her to have taken this step to live in secret, away from her ex-husband and ex-mother-in-law, especially since ex-mother-in-law seems perfectly capable of stooping to illegal means to find her.

Overall, this was a pretty solid first episode that I enjoyed nicely. Besides the uncle-nephew connection, I'm also looking forward to the healing of this brother-sister relationship. And of course, I'm looking forward to seeing Joon Hyuk find his way out of this seemingly never-ending valley in this life, to reach better and brighter days ahead, too.

Next episode notes will be out on: Wednesday, 19 Jan 2022!

*This show will be covered on the VIP Early Access (US$15) Tier*