Back to the Basics: "Dad! Where Are We Going?" Episode 97

I don’t think I’ve discussed it in any of my previous highlights of this show, but lately, “Dad! Where Are We Going?” has been branching out and trying new ideas. As fun as some of these ideas have been, I felt it was due time to return to the foundation of this show and have the main cast of child and father go on a trip to a small town in some obscure part of Korea again. This week, we finally return to the basics.

We are back to the main cast: Kim Sung Joo, Kim Min Yool, Ryu Jin, Lim Chang Jung, Jung Woong In, Jung Se Yoon, Yoon Min Soo, Yoon Hoo, Ahn Jung Hwan, and Ahn Ri Hwan. Sung Bin and her brother Sung Joon have gone to cameo with their father Sung Dong Il in a movie based on the Chinese remake of “Dad! Where Are We Going?”

They did great, so without further ado… back to the basics!

Basic #1: To the small town they go

The trip opens with the fathers and their children being driven up a tiny road to the top of what seems like a mountain. When they arrive, they are greeted with a small rural village of South Korea that I longed to see them travel to again.

Basic #2: House picks

This literally goes back to the first episode. It’s also one of the reasons “Dad! Where Are We Going?” got so popular right off the bat when it first aired- picking houses. Basically there are good houses with plumbing and boilers and bad houses with bugs and holes in the wall. They are numbered, the children pick numbers out of a hat, bad decisions are made, and tears flow.

Poor Min Yool… the famous first tears due to house picks are actually from his older brother, Min Gook, in the first episode. I guess bad luck for house picks runs in the family…

Basic #3: Get your own ingredients

Actually, the show started with buying your own ingredients at the nearby market, but it’s pretty close. Both the fathers and children have to go around the town and obtain their own ingredients for lunch. And then, of course, they have to make their own lunch. I am extremely impressed at how much the fathers have improved in cooking since they first started… well, most of them anyways.

Basic #4: ONLY fathers

At least, the episode started out that way. At the end of the day though, they are told that some people have come to surprise them. One by one, the surprise guests are revealed. They are none other than…

…MOM!

Everyone’s mother except Ri Hwan’s has come to join their families. Se Yoon’s little sisters So Yoon and Da Yoon have also tagged along. Next week promises to be exciting.

The episode began by going back to the basics, but by the end, reverted back to the unpredictable, “unconventional” format of “Dad! Where Are We Going?” Actually, I am very satisfied with this set-up. I’ll be honest: I’m not one of those people who are upset when the mothers join the family for a “father only” formatted show. (The most recent controversy about this issue was not for this specific show, but “Superman Returns,” but it’s still applicable.) I think it increases the familial value of the show and exhibits important and relevant aspects of the full family dynamic. Basically, the mothers are just as fun and entertaining as the rest of their families, so what’s not to like?

Let us know what you think about that in the comments below. Or if you just want to say anything about this show or the episode, comment away!

[tv]Watch this episode of Dad! Where Are We Going? on SoompiTV! [/tv]