Family by Choice

A Plot that Betrays the Title

This review is not for you if you haven’t watched the show. It’s a rant—an emotional outpouring—but one I believe the community of fans needs to hear.

Finishing this show was exhausting! I’ve read several reviews, yet none seem to address the glaring issue I had with it.

At first, I was captivated by the premise. The show laid a strong foundation, introducing three main characters with compelling backgrounds. It beautifully conveyed the idea that family isn’t about blood or legal ties—it’s about love and connection. I wholeheartedly agreed.

But then came the 10-year time skip, and the show completely derailed. One particular moment sealed my disappointment—Hae-jun makes an offhand joke about marriage that, in hindsight, foreshadowed the troubling path the story was about to take.

Is family just a joke in this show? How do you go from being family to being lovers?

“As long as they’re not blood-related,” some might argue. But don’t you see? That logic only works if they were never truly family to begin with. If they genuinely saw each other as siblings, the idea of romance wouldn’t just be uncomfortable—it would be unthinkable.

The relationship between a brother and sister is fundamentally non-romantic. If Ju-won really saw the San Ha as a brother, she should have consistently shut down his feelings. Instead, within an episode or two, she agrees to date him. I kept asking myself, Do you realize you’re falling for the man you called your brother your entire childhood?

The show started with a powerful message: family is more than blood or legal ties. But in the end, it contradicts itself. Hae-jun struggles with the concept of a chosen family and only finds peace when his biological mother returns. Meanwhile, San-ha and Ju-won end up romantically involved. So what was the point of it all? In the end, blood and documents still define family in this story.

Perhaps this is a cultural difference, but as an African, I know family to be sacred. It isn’t something shallow. It is taboo to even introduce the idea of romance within family.

And that brings me to my final realization: they were never truly a family. They were just close neighbors who played house as children. The show never truly encapsulated what its title promised.

I was honestly too irritated to enjoy the rest. The only way I could finish was by mentally erasing their childhood memories—because otherwise, it was unbearable.

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This remake didn’t get the memo.

First off, yes, I’m going to compare this to the original. Why? Because it’s a remake. Comparisons come with the territory—it’s like covering a hit song. If you can’t hit the high notes, people will notice.

The Korean version tried to capture the heart of the original but ended up feeling underwhelming and, frankly, unnecessary. The original Chinese version delivered on every level, which allowed its more frustrating plot points to be forgiven. This remake? It didn’t earn that grace.

What I Liked

The acting. Bae Hyeon Seong absolutely nailed his role, bringing nuance and charm to a character that could have easily felt flat. The rest of the cast did their best, but even strong performances couldn’t save a series that lacked emotional punch and coherence.

What I Didn’t Like

Sanha’s Mom: Overpowering the Whole Series
In the original, she was cruel and manipulative, but her role served a purpose. Here? She’s like an invasive species, taking over the entire show, making everyone miserable, and facing zero consequences. No remorse, no punishment, nothing. She just packs her bags, skips the country, and is probably off to destroy her daughter next (no way that poor girl grows up without serious mental health issues).

And the best part? Sanha never even gets to confront her! Instead, he spends his last scene on his knees, begging at her slammed door. What’s next—a thank-you card?

Dad of the Year (or Decade?)
How does a dad let his son rot in a toxic hellhole for 10 years? They live a few hours apart! What’s the excuse—bad traffic? His indifference is baffling, and it makes his character entirely useless. Sanha’s dad is like furniture in this show—he’s there, but no one knows why.

Forgiveness on Fast-Forward
Then there’s Hea Joon’s “forgiveness” scene. His mom abandons him for 20 years, and after a single chat, he’s ready to let it all go? That’s not an emotional breakthrough—it’s just lazy writing.

Romance? What Romance?
Most of the romantic subplots felt like someone flipped a switch and said, “Okay, you two are in love now.” No build-up, no chemistry, no explanation. Dal’s affection was the only one that felt remotely believable, while the rest were as random as strangers in an elevator deciding to get married.

Juwon: What Happened to Her?
Young Juwon was vibrant and full of personality, but her adult version? A shadow of her former self. She had one great moment confronting Sanha’s mom, but the writers snatched it away before it could mean anything.

Pacing and Storytelling
The pacing had two speeds: snail and chaos. Either nothing happened, or everything happened all at once. The narrative felt unbalanced and disjointed, as if the writers had no idea how to structure the story.

Missing the Heart of the Original
The worst offense? This remake forgot to be about family. The original had warmth, heart, and a genuine “found family” vibe. Here, that emotional core was nowhere to be found.

Family by Choice is a watered-down remake that lacks the bittersweet realism of the original. It felt like the writers forgot what made the original so compelling in the first place.

If you loved the original, skip this. If you didn’t watch the original, skip this anyway.

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meh

ok! i watched the cdrama og ver of this and i enjoyed how the lines between brother vs not were clear… cuz lowk that was incest LOL. and also enjoyed how there wasn’t a love triangle cuz that’s so yucky. additionally rly rly loved dal in this one. plus the couple was soo cutie. except why was he so dumb and i wish he liked her more throughout and we could see that. main couple was cute ish, good looking. not a lot of character tho!!! like erm idk what their personalities are like… also the dad liking the runaway mom girl was weird for me cuz huhhh how did he like someone so fast. ya this was jsut ok for me pretty cliche and not rly anything new.

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This was a total disappointment. I love Go Ahead. I have watched it so many times. Most Chinese dramas can’t bring out the emotions in you like most Korean dramas do.
Episode 1 was going great. I thought this would be a good remake. But after 2nd episode it went downhill. In go ahead we can see how much importance a mother has in everyone’s life. Especially in the female lead’s life.
But this remake has not even a single scene of that.
I couldn’t see their siblings bond. We can see from the start that Juwon is biased towards Sanha. In go ahead both the male leads had each other's back when they were young. There were no unnecessary fights. The pain of being abandoned by their mother was understood by them. But here haejun was always fighting with Sanha.
I don’t like that.
The birthday scene where the aunt spoke nonsense and the father took a stand for the second lead was so perfectly portrayed in Go Ahead. But here it was not good.
I couldn’t understand Sanha’s mother's character as well. And according to me she never felt sorry for what she did. It was in the last episode where she cried when Sanha told her about his wounds. But I was accepting a sincere apology.
In 16 episodes they could have covered a lot of details from the original one but they didn’t.
I wanted more of Sanha’s trauma. When the female lead got to know about what he has been through I wanted more of that.
The writing of this drama is sometimes so lacking.

One thing I liked most about this drama is how amazingly the kids did their job in the first episodes, especially Sanha’s and Juwon’s Kid version.

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It had the potential to be great but it was just mid:(

I like the start of the series. The kids are amazing actors, really so talented. They could really awoke some feelings within viewers. The plot was great at the beginning. I like the concept of family by choice and not the blood.

Both father figures were great, you could really feel the love they had for the kids. But both mother were infuriating, i was so mad while watching so yeah great choice of actors on both sides.

I like the cast overall and didn’t mind the time jumpes, but what irks me the most is this - when i read about what this series was about its says that juwon was mad at them for leaving her (as she should be). And then all of this to just resolve in a couple of minutes?! They left her behind for 10 years! And withing (I think an episode) they come back, she stops being angry with them, and starts daring San-ha? Like what?

I get that they could not prolong the plot but still they should film maybe 20episodes not just 16. Everything seemed rushed. It would be way better for them to take it slow i mean we all know san-ha liked her before but it would be way better for junwo to realise her feelings on her own as the time passed. I was kinda disappointed.
I mean she was mad at her oppas and then the next moment she was dating one of them?? Also the description kinda implied rivalry for her love? I was really disappointed.

Also San-ha was traumatized, suffering with ptsd, it was a great opportunity to talk more about mental health but it was just brusher under the carpet. This was another great example of rushing through.

I think it maybe is my fault for expecting too much of it, but after watching love next door and hearing all the praise it got of course i had higher expectations because family by choice also got a lot of praise over social media.

Don’t get me wrong it’s not the worst kdrama i watched but it is definitely overrated and overhyped. But maybe if you don’t have any expectations it could be okay. I dont know.

So to conclude - great actor choice, lovely meaning about family, but rushed plot. Its kinda sad it really had all the potential:(

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Lack of Romantic Chemistry

I have watched both versions and I think Go Ahead is much better. More stress and angst from the moms but overall much better. San Ha mom is as selfish as ever.
In this version San Ha and Ju Won had lukewarm chemistry at best.
Hae Jun and Dal works best as friends. No romantic chemistry. She is very nice, cute and timid. Unsure how she would make a good Attorney but that is another topic. The vibe I got from the plot and the way Hae Jun looked at Dal it seems more like pity and feeling sorry for her since he is such a nice guy . In the long run it does not make sense for him to fall/crush on her. He never had any feelings like that for over 10. Not even a hint. I can understand Dal crush all these years though because Hae Jun is nice and attractive.
Oh well.

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ILLOGICAL

Haven't seen the original and don't plan to do so. I'm reviewing this as a stand alone series.
I'm a sucker for family centered dramas and the concept of being a family by choice not blood relation or marriage is interesting but nothing makes sense here. Even if I haven't seen the og I can clearly see they had a hard time putting everything in 16 episodes. Its too fast paced for its story. It looks like they had a list of all the plot points of the story and they were going through them to make sure they included everything without bothering to give them any explanations or enough screen time. Everything is eighter half baked or ignored.

San has mom is one of the most disgusting characters in kdrama I've ever seen. A whole psychopath. She comes and goes as she pleases and says and does whatever she wants without any consideration. She is self centered, manipulative and violent. My blood pressure went to the roof any time she was on screen. They never try to help us understand her character. I don't think anyone had the slightest idea about who this women was or what she wanted, not even the writers. Her presence is really over powering but we get to the last episode and there isn't any time left to make any sense of this story so the writers just physically remove her from the story where she moves to England. The AUDACITY. So what now? She has moved her living place many times and it never helped. She can comeback any time she wants. We never see her get redemption. We also never see her get the sweet sweet karma. The way they handled it is just infuriating.

San ha never gets a real confrontation nor any closure. His relationship with his parent is as broken as ever at the end. He is one of the main characters for god sake.

San has dad is a cowardly sad excuse of a man that didn't have the gut to stand up for his son or himself, never made any effort to understand his own son and just hide himself behind his ex wife or Jowons dad. They tried to glaze over his share in San has problems by turning him into a dorky goofball but I don't buy it.

jowon is such an annoying character both as kid and a teenager. I can understand kid Jowon but when she grew up she was straight up gaslighting her family members with all her nonsense and not once she was called out on it. Thankfully that habit doesn't stay in adult Jowon but now she's just bland. Im not sure if its the way the story is written or the way she is played by the actor but I know I just didn't care about her at all.

Hae joon is a weird character. He is warm, kind, friendly, popular and athletic. At times he could be very intelligent, confident and out spoken. He could say what ever he felt and thought. Other times he had two digit IQ level, completely oblivious to most simple things in his surrounding or having random outbursts of emotion that no one seem to be able to help. He was very hot and cold. Don't get me wrong I like him the most out of the main trio, he is quite charming but I think they went overboard in some aspect when writing him

Dal is fine. Seen many other characters like her in kdrama land. its quite cliche but I don't hate it. She and Hae joon were cute as a couple. Wished we saw more of them

This couldve been alot better if it was longer I think. I hated almost all of the characters behavior right from the start but I had hope that it would get better. it never happened.

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What's the point of all of this?

I think it was cute and all, but also so boring! I had to push myself to finish it because it was just so boringggg... and at some point there was just nothing happening.
The main characters relationship was so forced! They had no chemistry at all (which surprised me because in bts they seemed really close), and their kissing scenes where so cringy and weird.

The other two characters also didn't had any chemestry.
I was a little disappointed overall, Hwang In Yeop is one of my fav actors and i felt that in this one he forgot how to act, im sorry...
6/10 because i've seen worse, i just had high hopes for this one :/

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Found Family

To start, for anyone who doesn't know, this is a remake of the cdrama Go Ahead, which I haven't watched myself yet so this will be interesting to watch with a spoiler free mind. I know a lot of people who've watched go ahead will have a lot of their own opinions! Edit: I also wanted to say that I really don't get the hate for this just because it's a remake - I watch both cdramas and kdramas, and I'm gonna be so honest, cdramas are like a palate cleanser for me. They're usually what I watch when I need something a little less serious, and something more light hearted (no I am not referring to historial/wuxia/xanxia cdramas - I know these are traumatic but I LOVE them). But in terms of the modern cdramas - NO OFFENSE TO ANYONE but in my opinion they're usually just a little too long and sometimes tell the story with a bit too many unnecessary side stories. SO yes, I suppose the original is a little more flushed out and has more moments to explain this and that and moments people found important - but keep in mind this is really only a 16 episode kdrama, we don't have forever to add more of these moments. And yes, there is an apparent difference in the acting between cdramas and kdramas, where I find that kdrama acting just has a bit more maturity and realistic emotion in theirs. While I do love dramas with silly and fun characters, sometimes it can be a little too much in cdramas which take away that level of seriousness and realism that I want to experience while watching dramas. So far I am loving Jung Chaeyeon's acting because she's genuinely such an endearing character and such an amazing actress. SO PLEASEEE PLEASE PLEASE STOP COMPARING HER SO MUCH TO THE ORIGINAL ACTRESS - OF COURSEE I DON'T EXPECT A REMAKE TO HAVE THE CHARACTERS ACTING EXACTLY THE SAME - let them each embody the character in their own way.

The first 2 episodes are really good and I really hope this becomes the healing drama I see it having the potential to be. The story starts with 3 kids, Yun Juwon, Kim Sanha, and Kang Haejun, all having lost someone from their family. They meet as little kids and due to some unfortunate circumstances, Kang Haejun's mother leaves him in the care of his aunt (who's still young and in university), and so Yun Juwon's father takes him in. They grow up together and have become one big family along with Kim Sanha's father. Right now they're showing their lives in high school, each growing up to become their own person. Yun Juwon is a cheerful headstrong character who loves her two (unofficial) brothers very much, Kim Sanha is a quiet, smart, and hardworking student who wants to get into med school, and Kang Haejun is a popular basketball player. Sanha and Haejun still seem to have some unresolved feelings and emotional trauma from their past, and I hope by the end of this we'll see that they get their closure. Thankfully we have Juwon who has always been by their side to cheer them up. You can tell how much they care for each other, although you also get the feeling that they aren't simply just siblings. Yes, there are some romantic undertones of course, but nothing obvious yet, and I don't believe this gets dived into until the future when they're all adults. Yun Jeong Jae (Juwon's father) is really the mvp for taking in two extra underlings to feed. I'm always a sucker for found family and this seems to be a really solid one. They care for each other, look after each other, and tease each other as if they were family all along. There's some foreshadowing already that they won't be able to stay by each other's side forever, and I believe they all reunite again when they're in their 20s, so hopefully the journey will end with them being as happy as they can be together.

In terms of their acting, they're all doing really well so far. Especially Jung Chae Yeon (Juwon), this is my first time seeing her act and I'm in love with her and her smile already. Hwang Inyeop is as dreamy as ever and seeing the way he stands up for Juwon gives me butterflies. It's about time he gets the girl! Bae Hyun Sung is also just a cutie patootie in this, the way he's so fixated on what Juwon thinks about him. Juwon's father, Choi Won Young is such a sweet and caring father. He has such a big heart, and I also loved when he played a father in Twinkling Watermelon.

Music has very feel-good vibes, and very suited for a coming of age drama. Loving this so far as well.

Really recommend for a light and cheerful watch!

Edit: WARNING THIS IS ACTUALLY NOT A LIGHT AND CHEERFUL WATCH. IT IS ONLY OCCASIONALLY CHEERFUL AND SOMETIMES IT MAKES YOU WANT TO SHED TEARS OH MY GOD. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ALL THEIR FAMILIESSSS THEIR SITUATIONS ARE MAKING ME BAWL. UHMM I HOPE THEY ALL END UP SO HAPPY IN THE END FOR REAL.

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Mediocre?

I waited until the last few episodes to write this review and I think there are mainly 2 types of viewers:
1)the ones who have seen "Go Ahead"
2) and the ones who haven't

I am part of the audience that has watched go ahead and that is why I believe I found this drama to be mediocre...So keep in mind that my review will highly be biased based on the original

Plot:
1) As Go Ahead is a Chinese drama it has around 40 episodes and as a result there was a lot of character development and side plots that were important to the story, this drama obviously had to get rid of some of them but for the same reason it felt lacking overall

2) There was also too much focus on the romance aspect and I think it would have been much better if they just took inspiration from the original and focused on the slice of life part...I also felt like the dads didn't give off the same vibe...in the og drama the dads have a whole persona of their own but this show just seems to dumb it down


Acting:
The leads have absolutely no chemistry..Hwang In youp as an actor is fine but in this drama he just looked awkward the whole time
the crying scenes weren't sad, the romance scenes weren't magical and the only saving aspect was maybe the comedy

Other thoughts (may contain some spoilers):
Why were all three of their careers changed? It was such a minor detail that had huge implications in the og because in that drama kim sanha was supposed to be a dentist, her a craftswoman and business owner and haejun was supposed to be a pastry chef, their career choices (especially the brothers) were supposed to show how dependent they were on juwon and it played a pretty significant role

The friend group wasnt the same!!

Haejun's character confessing his love in og shows that he was desperate to be included in their family dynamic and that his abandonment issues forced him to create feelings in order to belong...

The side character were only plot devices for the leads and they lacked depth!

Conclusion:
Anyways to conclude, If you havent watched go ahead you may like this show but if you have its just going to seem like a cheap remake I would recommend that everyone watches the original if they have time, but If you don't this is a decent watch (if you watch with a blank slate with no bias you may like it more than I did)

I doubt there is anyone who can argue that this was better than (or even on the same level as) the original.

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Remake?.... sorry but maybe we didn't need one!

Q: What's a remake? Answer: cutting out the most important scenes, hiding the emotions, making a realistic drama seem unrealistic :D

I understand it's not easy to remake every episode or dialogues just like the original one but this one is pure nonsense.
1. More than half of their childhood scenes are missing. Their childhood part, how they stood up for each other and never let anyone behind play a major role in building their relationship's foundation. Without this, there's no point in calling them a family.

2. In the original story, all the 3 leads have equal screen times, priorities and affection for each other. In the remake you can clearly see the that the FL is biased towards Sanha. For ex: when they both decide to leave, the FL doesn't shed a single tear for Kang Hae Jun, just asks him "will you come back?". I mean...is that all for a sibling you've lived together for years?

3. In the original story, FL is suppose to be a happy go, cheerful and healing personality (both when she is young and adult) which is also why the 2 boys always feel indebted to her.. but here omgggg I have no words literally!! in the last 10 episodes i have only seen her smile for like 3-4 times max. She has the same poker face in every scene, always either frowning or annoyed lol.

4. The 2 fathers chemistry is also just ok compared to GA. All the characters lack depth, quality and insufficient history behind.
Another funny part is that they all look the same even after 10 years lol. Not even a single strand of hair is different than how it was 10 years ago.

Overall, you cannot even say "inspired by" because most of the inspiring scenes from GA are missing in this remake. Totally disappointed with the selection of the cast as well. WRT acting, except for Choi Won Young and Hwang In Youp, the others are just doing an okok job with their role. The FL casting has gone totally wrong! Everything feels rushed and is performed for the sake of it. So both the head and the tail of the story is missing.

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