Ideal fathers raise their children with love, support them in all their endeavors and continue to be a source of strength for their children in adulthood. But if all fathers behaved like that in our favorite dramas, they wouldn’t be dramas now, would they?
Some fathers’ actions in dramas exasperate us so much, we want to leap out of our seats, reach into our screens, and shake some sense into them. Here are six of the most disturbing “thank goodness he isn’t my daddy” moments in our favorite dramas.
They Lazily Goof Off and Don’t Pull Their Own Weight
In “A Little Love Never Hurts,” Mi Joo’s dad (played by Kang Seok Woo) spends most of his days doing stretching exercises and being catered to by his self-sacrificing second wife, who even spoon-feeds him and cuts his toenails. He’s too busy trying to preserve his healthy body to do anything for himself!
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| Song Ho Sub expects daughter Eun Joo to cater to his needs just like her mother in ‘A Little Love Never Hurts’ |
They Kidnap You and Pretend to Be Your Father
In “Scandal: A Shocking and Wrongful Incident,” a police detective named Ha Myung Geun (played by Jo Jae Hyun) kidnaps a boy and raises him like his own child. When Eun Joong (played by Kim Jae Won) grows up and discovers that his father is actually his kidnapper, his whole world is shaken to the core. But when Eun Joong gets to know his real father, he doesn’t know which is the lesser of two evils...
They Whack You When You Step Out of Line
In “Bull Fighting,” Sheng Xue’s father, Wu Ye (played by Jian Chang), is a wealthy landowner who has so many bodyguards that he looks like a hoodlum. He’s a strict father who imposes an overwhelming number of rules on his daughter, including not calling him “daddy” because he thinks the label demeans him. When his daughter does something that displeases him, Wu Ye whacks her with a huge cane! Ouch!
They Are ‘Beasts’ Who Try to Kill Their Children
In “Gu Family Book,” Wol Ryung (played by Choi Jin Hyuk) is a mountain spirit who possesses eternal life. But he tries to become human after he falls in love with a woman, only to be betrayed by her and condemned to spend eternity as a ferocious beast. Twenty years later, he returns to exact his revenge on the humans responsible for his condition and even tries to kill his own offspring from his long-lost human lover!
They Are Unfaithful and Then Lay a Guilt Trip on Their Wives for Pursuing Their Dreams
In “Holy Battle in Couleur de Rose — The Future Is in Our Hands,” Atsushi Miki (played by Tomoharu Hasegawa) neglects his wife and kids and only cares about getting ahead in his career. He has an affair, but his loving wife tries to save their marriage by improving her personal appearance and even gets opportunities to work as a professional model. But Atsushi will have none of that. He lays a guilt trip on his wife about neglecting their family to pursue modeling, but secretly fears that her modeling career will hurt his own career advancement.
They Pit Their Sons Against Each Other and Spy on Their Personal Lives
In “Heirs,” Kim Nam Yoon (played by Jeong Dong Hwan) is the ultimate, cold-hearted father who thinks he can have everything his way because he is rich and has a lot of minions. He has two sons (played by equally handsome Lee Min Ho and Choi Jin Hyuk) from different wives, and it gives him great amusement to pit the half-brothers against each other for power within his company. He also has personal investigators watching his sons’ every move. What a trusting father!
Of course, to counter-balance these outrageous fathers, there have been some pretty fantastic fathers in recent popular dramas. Our favorites are the accidental fathers Xiang Xi (Yang Leroy) and Zhen Hua (Lin You Wei) in “Two Fathers”; the caring Hong Chul (Ahn Nae Sang) in “May Queen,” the mother-father Myeon Sang (Jeong Gyu Su) in “Miss Korea”; the doting dad Ki Hwa (Park In Hwan) in “It’s Alright, Daddy’s Daughter”; and the hilarious Sung Dong Il in both “Answer Me 1997 (Reply 1997)” and “Reply 1994.”
To these great dads and other wonderful papas everywhere, we wish you a happy and healthy Father’s Day!
In “Scandal: A Shocking and Wrongful Incident,” a police detective named Ha Myung Geun (played by Jo Jae Hyun) kidnaps a boy and raises him like his own child. When Eun Joong (played by Kim Jae Won) grows up and discovers that his father is actually his kidnapper, his whole world is shaken to the core. But when Eun Joong gets to know his real father, he doesn’t know which is the lesser of two evils...
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| The two fathers and the boy that binds their fate in ‘Scandal: A Shocking and Wrongful Incident’ |
They Whack You When You Step Out of Line
In “Bull Fighting,” Sheng Xue’s father, Wu Ye (played by Jian Chang), is a wealthy landowner who has so many bodyguards that he looks like a hoodlum. He’s a strict father who imposes an overwhelming number of rules on his daughter, including not calling him “daddy” because he thinks the label demeans him. When his daughter does something that displeases him, Wu Ye whacks her with a huge cane! Ouch!
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| Don’t get on this father’s bad side or he’ll whack you with a cane in ‘Bull Fighting’ |
They Are ‘Beasts’ Who Try to Kill Their Children
In “Gu Family Book,” Wol Ryung (played by Choi Jin Hyuk) is a mountain spirit who possesses eternal life. But he tries to become human after he falls in love with a woman, only to be betrayed by her and condemned to spend eternity as a ferocious beast. Twenty years later, he returns to exact his revenge on the humans responsible for his condition and even tries to kill his own offspring from his long-lost human lover!
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| The ferocious Wol Ryung in ‘Gu Family Book’ |
They Are Unfaithful and Then Lay a Guilt Trip on Their Wives for Pursuing Their Dreams
In “Holy Battle in Couleur de Rose — The Future Is in Our Hands,” Atsushi Miki (played by Tomoharu Hasegawa) neglects his wife and kids and only cares about getting ahead in his career. He has an affair, but his loving wife tries to save their marriage by improving her personal appearance and even gets opportunities to work as a professional model. But Atsushi will have none of that. He lays a guilt trip on his wife about neglecting their family to pursue modeling, but secretly fears that her modeling career will hurt his own career advancement.
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| Atsushi can’t believe the transformation of his wife-turned-model in ‘Holy Battle in Couleur de Rose’ |
They Pit Their Sons Against Each Other and Spy on Their Personal Lives
In “Heirs,” Kim Nam Yoon (played by Jeong Dong Hwan) is the ultimate, cold-hearted father who thinks he can have everything his way because he is rich and has a lot of minions. He has two sons (played by equally handsome Lee Min Ho and Choi Jin Hyuk) from different wives, and it gives him great amusement to pit the half-brothers against each other for power within his company. He also has personal investigators watching his sons’ every move. What a trusting father!
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| President Kim is not amused when his sons don’t want to play his power games in ‘Heirs’ |
Of course, to counter-balance these outrageous fathers, there have been some pretty fantastic fathers in recent popular dramas. Our favorites are the accidental fathers Xiang Xi (Yang Leroy) and Zhen Hua (Lin You Wei) in “Two Fathers”; the caring Hong Chul (Ahn Nae Sang) in “May Queen,” the mother-father Myeon Sang (Jeong Gyu Su) in “Miss Korea”; the doting dad Ki Hwa (Park In Hwan) in “It’s Alright, Daddy’s Daughter”; and the hilarious Sung Dong Il in both “Answer Me 1997 (Reply 1997)” and “Reply 1994.”
To these great dads and other wonderful papas everywhere, we wish you a happy and healthy Father’s Day!
Are there other drama papas who have done outrageous things in your favorite shows that we haven’t included here? Let us know in the comments below!
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