Netflix’s Typhoon Family started off on a really slow note, but as the show has gone on, I’ve really come to like it loads. However, having said that, the show has lost momentum yet again in episode 11, specifically because it’s now focusing on the bureaucratic stuff instead of the fun friendship, romance, and family stuff, which definitely feels a bit dry. But I’m sure as we get closer to the end of the show, we’ll be back on track for some of the more fun stuff. Of course, this is no “King the Land,” and there’s some actual serious obstacles to deal with here, plus it’s set during the crisis of the 90s, so for it to be an impactful show, something bigger has to happen. While this turning point already came once when Tae-Poong’s dad died., we need it to turn around and focus on improvement, on betterment. So that’s going to happen real soon, but until then, we just need to be a little bit patient. Meanwhile, it’s a shame we don’t get to see much of the romance until the final few moments of this episode, but man’s gone and dropped a bomb, so we’ll see how things turn out soon enough. With that said, let’s get straight into episode 11.
Spoiler Alert
Does Tae-Poong Find the Next Lifeline for Typhoon Trading?
It feels like Typhoon Trading has been jumping from one sinking ship to another all season, and their recent move to a former chicken restaurant has made things seem both more desperate and more cozy (not a bad place for a chicken shop date). Though the episode starts off violent with a terrifying Mr. Pyo threatening Ms. Cha for his promissory note, the tone quickly shifts to the friendly atmosphere of Typhoon’s new office. In the middle of everyone bantering about how to find more contracts, the topic of government contracts comes up, and it turns out Ma-Jin and Ms. Cha used to work for a different trading company back in the day, where they did some work on government contracts, so they have a bit of experience there. This inspires Tae-Poong to head down to the Public Procurement Office, the PPF, with Bae Song-Jung. Before all this happens, though, we’re shown that Pyo’s son, Hyun-Jun, has personally come to their office to snoop around.
At the PPF, everything looks super confusing, and the Typhoon kids are flustered by all the people walking around speaking foreign languages. One short episode of bumbling around later, Tae-Poong somehow ends up being pushed into a conference room where the Korean Foreign Office is organizing an aid program to help build schools and hospitals in Africa, and it’s a very intimidating affair, with every word being translated into French by a live interpreter. Tae-Poong gets his hands on a list of supplies the project will require and gets very excited about it, before finding out that nearly every item on the list has already been procured. However, nobody’s been able to get their hands on surgical gloves yet, since there’s no domestic supplier, which makes it a less lucrative good to bid on. Nevertheless, Tae-Poong’s decided that this is the basket he wants to put his eggs in, so surgical gloves it is.
In the middle of this, Ms. Cha is fretting over the missing promissory note Mr. Pyo wants, and she gets all the more panicked when she sees Tae-Poong going through the company’s financial records from 1990. It seems she meddles with the files too, given Tae-Poong notices later that she’s rearranged the files, judging by how they’re in the exact order she usually puts them in. He’s had a keen eye for detail from the start, going right back to the fiasco at the textile factory. Anyways, to get everything right, they need to talk to someone who has lots of experience dealing with the PPF, and this someone happens to be Mr. Koo. Though it’s almost like something out of a spy movie, the way his wife gives them a slip of paper through a nearly shut door when they try to find him. Turns out, he’s gone and joined a cult that’s obsessed with Y2K, and he shoos them off when they try to come to him for advice.
In the meantime, a bureaucrat at the PPF notices Typhoon Trading’s name on the list of suppliers and scoffs at the idea of a small company supplying a government program, promptly crossing their name out and faxing them a rejection notice. This is when Mr. Koo shows up all of a sudden, and his expertise shines through clearly. He knows the one thing bureaucrats hate most of all: doing their jobs. So he gets the company to threaten the PPF with formal complaints of discrimination, unfair practices, and a whole host of other misdeeds, intimidating the bureaucrat into submission so she doesn’t have to handle any more paperwork. And just like that, Typhoon Trading is in with a shot.
Elsewhere, Mi-Ho seems to be fitting in well at work, getting on with her colleagues and going out of her way to be kind to them, even fixing one’s hairpin when it comes loose. When she’s walking away afterwards, this colleague looks at her in a way that suggests she knows something about her; could this be Mi-Ho and Mi-Seon’s mom, whom we haven’t seen yet? Regardless, Mi-Ho’s not lacking for love, be it for her sister or for her beau, Nam-Mo. On a rooftop date, he asks Mi-Ho what her dream is, and she says she wants to save up enough to send Mi-Seon to college because, though the older sister was smarter, it was Mi-Ho who got to study. She feels guilty in a way. When asked the same question in return, Nam-Mo says his dream used to be to become a massive singer, but now he has a new dream, Mi-Ho.
Cutting away from this sugary sweet relationship, when Mi-Seon and Tae-Poong go to the PPF to turn in their bid for the surgical gloves, they happen to bump into Hyun-Jun, who literally grabs the form out of their hands to see what they’re bidding on. Though he was going to bid to supply the orange juice his aunt had sourced for him, he’s so vindictive he changes the application on the spot and says he’ll supply surgical gloves instead, leading to a heated confrontation. Even though the bureaucrat tries to calm them down, and Hyun-Jun’s assistant is desperate to get him to change his mind, neither one backs down, and the frustrated bureaucrat has to signal the start of competitive bidding. As Typhoon Trading starts scrambling to pull together all the documents the PPF wants from them, one problem stumps them. They’ve bought a special keyboard to type in French for the manuals they need to send in, but the printer can’t recognize what they’re feeding it, and it spits out gibberish.
This is where Mr. Koo comes to the rescue, donning his work sleeves (weird padded forearm bracers) and writing out the entire manual by hand with perfect calligraphy and diagrams that’d bring a tear to your eye. Finally, the bid’s all done, and the team can all celebrate, though Mr. Ko splits off after a while to contemplate something alone, which Tae-Poong notices, offering him some coffee and his company. Their conversation seems to make Mr. Ko realize Typhoon Trading’s in good hands; he’d been the one who was watering the office plants in secret, but Tae-Poong tells him now that they’d been overwatered and their roots had started to rot away. Tae-Poong was the one who’d rescued the orchids by cutting away the rotten roots and moving the plants to larger pots. There’s probably some sort of metaphor in there somewhere.
What Happens Between Tae-Poong and Mi-Seon This Episode?
In this episode, Mi-Seon and Tae-Poong don’t really get any alone time. When they’re with their colleagues, Song-Jung can’t stop telling Mi-Seon to get over him. He thinks she’s being extra nice to him because she has a crush on him, but Tae-Poong knows better than anyone how far that is from the truth. However, Mi-Seon doesn’t tell anybody who she’s truly interested in. Meanwhile, Song-Jung does tell Tae-Poong that he knows he has a special relationship with Mi-Seon, but he thinks they’re just best friends (funny). But when the couple finally gets some time to themselves, Mi-Seon tells Tae-Poong that she’d rather not depend on such an emotional bond because she’s not used to it. She’s not used to someone looking out for her, and it’s probably getting to her. I feel like this is a realistic reaction considering their characters.
At the end of Typhoon Family episode 11, when things seem to be going smoothly at work, and since Tae-Poong’s a little drunk, he admits to Mi-Seon that he can’t keep things strictly work-friendly because he’s fallen in love with her. And it’s a little more intense than that. He admits to her that she’s his first love, even if it’s a one-sided first love. He follows that up with his trademark grin, leaving Mi-Seon properly shook by his sudden mic drop. She clearly has feelings for him, but becoming a successful trader is the most important thing in the world to her, and she doesn’t want to let a pesky thing like romance get in the way, difficult as it might be with her boss being head over heels for her. Will she change her mind (probably)? We’ll have to keep watching to find out.
