Air Date:  September 28, 2024 – January 26, 2025

Episodes: 36

Where to Watch: Viki

Genre: Family Rom-Com

Starring: Kim Jung Hyun and Geum Sae Rok

A 3-generational family owns and runs a neighborhood dry cleaners.  Though their business is well established and respected, money has always been tight.  And when they find out that the youngest daughter requires an expensive medical procedure to keep her eyesight, they become desperate to find a way to pay for it.

So when the grandparents stumbled upon a bag of money buried on the mountainside, they can’t help being tempted to steal it.  Hiding the treasure under their bed, they resolve to only spend the money when necessary.  But as the local police dig deeper into the missing money, each family member will be forced to make difficult choices revolving around family and money.

Gang Ju appears cold and withdrawn, but he is actually very sensitive and eager for love and affection.  Although they get off to a rough start, Gang Ju really wants Da Rim’s family to like him.  And slowly, each member learns to appreciate Gang Ju’s loyalty and desire to do what’s best for everyone.  I enjoy Kim Jung Hyun as an actor.  I think he plays the haughty rich kid with a heart of gold well.  And I think his character was the best part of this drama.

Lee Da Rim is innocent and optimistic, in spite of her difficult health struggles.  As the baby of the family, she has been loved and caudled, particularly by her mother.  But she has used that emotional security to love and care for those around her.  Geum Sae Rok is a good actress and this role was a nice fit for her.  

I enjoyed watching the relationship between Seung Don and his two “sons” develop.  And to his credit, he didn’t just abandon Gang Ju after divorcing Gang Ju’s mother and finding his biological son.  Their “family” story was nicely done and I loved the way the three of them strutted into the Lee house at the end.  

I’ve mentioned this in other places, but I really liked this 36 episode format.  It was long enough to offer all the family storylines needed for a weekend drama but cut short enough to not get repetitive.  Compared with other weekend dramas, this one felt consistently paced, with an appropriate number of episodes.  

Da Rim was such a sweet character, but I really didn’t like her sister or brother very much.  The sister acted like a spoiled brat and honestly she didn’t deserve Tae Ung at all.  And the brother was so stiff and uninteresting.  If they had shown a bit of his love story with his wife, I might have been more invested in his character.

In some ways, money was the star of this show.  Every character’s story wrapped back around to the theme of money and how it influenced their life.  While it worked as an over-arching theme, I could have done with a little less money talk and a little more character development in other aspects.  

‘Iron Family’ brings everything around for a happy ending.  But for a drama that was mostly light and fun, this last episode felt brutal.  Gang Ju’s mom eventually gets her money back.  While the children are declared innocent by a judge, Mu Rim is suspended as a police officer.  Mom and the grandparents end up spending a year in prison.  And in their absense Mu Rim runs the dry cleaners.  

Cha Rim continues working at Jiseung Group with Tae Ung and they get engaged.  Da Rim breaks up with Gang Ju, quits the company, and takes a job selling house fixtures.  But when Gang Ju ends up in the hospital after trying to save his mom’s money from the thugs, Da Rim sits by his bedside until he wakes up.  After the year is over, mom and grandparents finally come home and Seung Don, Tae Ung, and Gang Ju all show up together to have dinner at the Lee House for an in-law get together for the engaged Cha Rim and Tae Ung.

‘Iron Family’ is a shortened form of the traditional weekend family drama.  At 36 episodes, the pace is better than many other family dramas while still following a whole family of characters.  The multi-generational cast is well-utilized to give a wide range of stories and characters.  The plot is silly and ridiculous, but the cast make it so fun.

For some, a 36 episode drama is still too much of a commitment.  This drama is obviously not for them.  It’s also not really realistic or serious, if that is what you are looking for.  All the talk about money sometimes overshadows the actually characters, which can be disappointing at times.  But I thought the cast and story were fun and as a fan of the weekend dramas, I loved the 36 episode format.  I give “Iron Family’ an 8 out of 10 ramen.

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If this review has made you curious about where your other favorites stand, here is break down of the other reviews by rating.  Links to both spoiler-free and full reviews are available on each page. Feel free to explore all the wonderful dramas I have watched.