Gwi-ju’s fate in The Atypical Family finale became inevitable as his mother’s premonition came true, but fans are scratching their heads with answers on how Gwi-ju’s death and return works.
The Bok family and Da-hae have known of Gwi-ju’s impeding death and it comes true in the finale when a fire at In-a’s school forces him to go back in time. To save his daughter and Da-hae in the present, he successfully saves Da-hae in the past during her own school fire.
However, due to now being able to get hurt in the past, he dies in the fire and therefore present time. The Atypical Family finale then threw a curveball with a five-year time jump.
Gwi-ju and Da-hae have a son thanks to Bok Nu-ri, whose powers to retrieve lost items allowed him to bring back Gwi-ju. Fans theorize that Nu-ri went back in time to get his father before he died in the school fire after saving Da-hae.
Gwi-ju’s return from the dead needs some heavy explanation with fans having some insight into how it all works.
“So actually, Gwi-joo is ‘dead’ in the present time, so that’s why he trapped in the past time because he supposedly to be dead in the present time. He wasn’t supposed to exist in the first place, so he couldn’t return and kept wandering through time,” explained a fan on X/Twitter.
“His son has the power to bring back the ‘lost things’ from the past. As Gwi-joo wasn’t supposed to exist in that time in the first place, so he’s kinda labeled as a missing thing in the past. In conclusion, Gwi-joo is alive because his son summoned him to the future.”
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YESS THIS! SAME AS WHAT I UNDERSTANDso actually, gwijoo is "dead" in the present time, so thats why he trapped in the past time because he supposedly to be dead in the present time. he wasn't supposed to exist in the first place, so he couldn't return and kept wandering through… https://t.co/xVrhAM9zlW pic.twitter.com/mKkdKwJrD6
— kiyongie 💫🧡 (@into_jky) June 9, 2024
Another fan commented, “So the reason there was nobody in the talent show fire is because Gwi-ju went to the past. And Gwi-ju couldn’t return to the present (talent show fire) because his son took him to the future (Gwi-ju’s pov)??!!”
In theory, Gwi-ju is dead in the present time because he wasn’t meant to exist in the first place. Due to his death in the past and his powers having evolved, he’s also unable to travel back to his present timeline and remains stuck or lost.
With his son having the ability to retrieve lost items, he was able to find his father in the past. But this version of Gwi-ju is interesting.
It’s speculated that another reason why Gwi-ju couldn’t return to the current timeline is not only because he can’t, but because his son appeared instead. Nu-ri appears right before Gwi-ju’s death and brings him 18 years into the future.
In the end, Nu-ri brought back the Gwi-ju from the present then went back in time to save Da-hae and now exists in the future.
The Atypical Family is available on Netflix. You can watch more time travel K-dramas, what happened in Lovely Runner, and what Netflix has in store for 2024.