tvN 'Typhoon Family' Lee Joon-ho stirred a powerful emotional typhoon in living rooms with a single look in just two episodes.
tvN weekend drama 'Typhoon Family' (directed by Na Jung Lee and Dong-hwi Kim, written by Hyun Jang, planned by Studio Dragon, produced by Imaginus, Studio PIC and Tree Studio) drew strong praise from the first week of broadcast. The 'Kang Taepung' played by Lee Joon-ho is a young man who lost everything amid the 1997 IMF crisis but gets back on his feet, and from the first week delivered laughter and tears and a deep aftertaste at the same time, leaving a strong impression.
In the first episode, Lee Joon-ho vividly portrayed Kang Taepung, a 1990s youth who symbolized freedom and romance. Appearing on the nightclub stage with his friends as 'The Backstreet Boys,' giving himself to the music and rhythm and dreaming his own world, Taepung was the very freedom of youth from that time. But when the chill of the IMF hit, that sparkling youth collapsed overnight. Faced with the reality of having to save a company on the brink of bankruptcy, Taepung put down his dreams and romance and began to take on responsibility as a 'real employee.'
Above all, Lee Joon-ho changed a character's temperature at will with a single look, perfectly expressing every shade of youth. In the eyes of his previously free youth there was a sparkle, before the wall of reality there was desperation, and at moments of loss there was pure sorrow. Especially when faced with his father Kang Jin-young's (Sung Dong-il) sudden death, shock and remorse crossed as if he could not accept reality, and in eyes that did not shed tears more complex emotions were written, which were fully conveyed to viewers. Later, the scene in which Taepung, who didn't know whether to cry or be angry, found his father's "bankbook letter" and released long-held longing swept an emotional typhoon into living rooms and drew praise that "Lee Joon-ho's eyes are the narrative."
Also, at the end of episode 2, Taepung lay down in front of a cargo truck carrying fabric bound for Daebang Textile to prevent Misa from being at risk of miscarriage. Snow began to fall then, and the drifting snowflakes looked to Taepung like falling petals. To his young son, who once thought flowers quickly fall and are trivial, his father told him, "Flowers are not falling; they are doing their best to win so they can bear fruit."
Recalling his father's lesson, Taepung finally smiled through tears. It seemed to say that his current situation was him doing his best to win within the storm. And his eyes, filling the screen, captured complex emotions that crossed between crying and laughing, leaving a deep aftertaste. This scene was underscored by an original soundtrack sung by Lee Joon-ho himself, which further raised the emotional intensity.
Jang Hyun, the writer of 'Typhoon Family,' said, "Kang Taepung is actually not an easy character to portray. He is an Apgujeong playboy who likes flowers, a filial, kind and handsome figure, so he had to have cuteness and toughness at the same time. I wondered if it would be possible, but actor Lee Joon-ho accomplished that difficult task," and praised, "On the first day we met he joked that he had to become 'the nation's son, the nation's boyfriend, the nation's boss,' and seeing him achieve all of that made me feel really amazed."
In fact, in just two episodes Lee Joon-ho completed a three-dimensional youth narrative that embraced warmth and responsibility, romance and realism, and both laughter and tears. In the process where youth that bloomed like a flower hardens into fruit, it delicately portrayed the heated faces of young people enduring the era. Taepung's coming-of-age story of learning to win in his own way without collapsing even in the storm called IMF, and the reason to look forward to the "national Kang Taepung" that Lee Joon-ho will complete, are all the more compelling.
All eyes are on what kind of emotional typhoons Lee Joon-ho's eyes and acting will bring next. 'Typhoon Family' airs every Saturday and Sunday at 9:10 p.m. on tvN.
Meanwhile, the first episode of 'Typhoon Family,' which premiered on the 11th, recorded nationwide household ratings averaging 5.9% with a peak of 7.1%, and Seoul metropolitan area household ratings averaging 5.7% with a peak of 7.1%, ranking first in its time slot across all channels including terrestrial broadcasters, and it also ranked first among first-episode ratings for tvN weekend dramas in 2025. The 20-49 target ratings also ranked first in its time slot across all channels with a nationwide average of 1.8% and a peak of 2.4%. (based on paid platforms that combine cable, IPTV and satellite / provided by Nielsen Korea)
[Photo] tvN
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