Family by Choice

Entertaining, heartfelt, slow at times

This drama had depth and heartache and layered characters with complicated lives and relationships. This drama did an excellent job navigating difficult topics and although certain plot lines dragged on at times, it was still brilliant and well executed. I'd say Hwang In Youp is my favourite actor and he delivered a great performance as usual in this drama! His expressions are so great and he was the perfect choice for his character. Everyone else was great too, but he really shone brightly! Definitely give this drama a chance if you like the found family trope or heartfelt, deep, emotional stories about human connections and disconnections!

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From someone who loved Go Ahead

As most people would know, FBC was the Korean remake/adaptation of the Chinese drama called Go Ahead. I personally loved the GA and just had to watch FBC when I saw that they were remaking it. After watching both of them I can say that while both shows start of pretty similar by the end of FBC it felt like a completely different show.
GA was more focused on children ( be it our main three casts or people around them like San Ha's sister or Park Dal's character) how their situations and circumstances around them affect the way they grow up, their relationships and social interactions. It was more of a slice of life type of show with some life lessons and hard hitting dialogues.
On the other hand, FBC felt more like a romance-family drama, that focused solely on the lives of our main characters and their family situations. However, the characters felt a lot more closer because of the way they all express their emotions and talk about their feelings. The romance was also handled much much better and allowed a decent amount of buildup compared to the original where it felt too sudden and personally a bit incestuous ( because they were super super close and tight knit growing up).

The show was well made and visually appealing with most of the cast working pretty well together. The actor playing Kang Hae Jun did a particularly great job and made his whole character shine a lot more. While the show cut a lot of scenes and changed a few characters ( would be too difficult to fit 40+ eps into 16) but the show ended up with a sweet sweet flavor of its own. It felt like the show was made by someone who actually saw the original in detail and loved it and then proceeded to handle it with utmost care while making some changes that would enhance the viewing experience. FBC did lack some nuances that made the original stand out for example, the house that Ju won/Hae jun live in - in GA it is small, slightly cramped, messy but tidy, full of stuff from different people, (as it would be because it was originally two people living there but then a third moves in + 2 people partially, all managed by a single dad who works the whole day either cooking at the restaurant or at home). It felt lived in compared to the one in FBC which looked tooo clean and empty and a bit like a set. The OSTs are also not as memorable as the original.

Overall I did like the drama and I am glad I gave it a chance. It is definitely made with a lot of love and care. It is a very good show about family ties, supporting each other and finding your own comfort zone. I would recommend the show regardless of if you have seen the original or not.

Rewatch value: As much as I like the show, if I do rewatch, I would personally prefer GA.

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Heart warming family drama with multiple feel good light romances

9/10 is my rating. This is a 2024 South Korean coming of age family romance drama with 16, 60-70 minute episodes.

First I provide a unique synopsis then review

Synopsis

Yoon Jeong-jae (Choi Won-young) is a widower who is raising his young daughter, Yoon Ju-won (Jung Chae-yeon) by himself. He owns and operates a noodle shop to support them both and often provides food to friends and neighbors as a way to show he cares. Because of his kind nature kids are drawn to him as the perfect father figure. He knows that his precious daughter, Ju won, wishes to have a sibling, particularly a brother. The perfect oppa candidate moves in upstairs and the lively and engaging Ju won sets out to win him over as her brother like figure. But the young boy, Kim San-ha (Hwang In-youp) is leading a tragic life with parents who always fight, his mother who leaves, and a sister who died too young. Still Ju won's bubbly determination wears him down and he becomes a regular at Ju won's house. When San-ha's mother leaves, his father, Kim Dae-wook (Choi Moo Sung) is also drawn into the warm family environment Jeong jae provides. Jeong-jae is such an excellent father figure he winds up taking in the child, Kang Hae-jun (Bae Hyun sung) who was also abandoned by has mother and who he only knew of through a brief blind date encounter with his mother. This group forms a family of their own choosing who is all knitted together by Ju won who doesn't allow any of the to feel left out. This is a heart warming story of people who form a strong bond despite many of them not being blood related.

Review

This is a very heartwarming family drama. I watched the Chinese version, Go Ahead, first, and it was an excellent series, but I think the Korean version subtly improved upon it. I believe you could watch either version and still get the same basic story. I liked it enough that I fully enjoyed watching both versions. If you like family dramas, slice-of-life themes, adoption or fostering stories, or if you're just a fan of romance anytime, I highly recommend this one. It's well-acted, with great chemistry between the leads, and everything wraps up nicely.

Spoilers

I liked that the South Korean version didn't focus as much on the time the male lead (ML) character spent with his abusive mother. What I didn't like about either version, though, was the concept that the mother deserved any level of forgiveness just because she was sad or because she was his mother. What she did to him was abuse. With some training in psychology, her behavior closely resembles Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). The ML's relationship with his mother was characteristic of a relationship with someone who has BPD-nothing was ever calm. On one hand, she adored him so much that she wanted him around her to the point of desperation, but she was always accusing him of things, getting angry with him for things that weren't even his fault, and being jealous of every relationship he had. She bullied him and manipulated him to stay with her. Many people with BPD have a Jekyll and Hyde personality, where they seem to have two distinct personalities. But with BPD, they flow between these personalities throughout the day. It is part of their personality to be so toxic and volatile. Having dealt with someone with this type of personality, I can say they are extremely hard to be around. I don't think their actions are any more excusable than those of a sociopath. So, I wasn't a fan of the fact that the story wanted us to accept and forgive her actions.

The romance was very believable. It was clear that the male lead never fully saw her as a sister, as he resisted whenever she brought up the idea of changing their names to make them the same. They weren't biologically related, so I thought their relationship was perfectly fine.

I loved the dads. One dad was so nurturing, and the other was a quiet strength. Any kids raised in that environment would thrive. They had all the love and support they would ever need. However, having worked with foster kids, I know they still long for their biological parents. No matter how good the family environment, there is always some level of yearning for biological parents, even if those parents were abusive. It can be heartbreaking, and I thought the series portrayed that well.

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So good! Compared to it's Chinese counterpart - I'd say better quality, but not more enjoyable

Loved it! It was better than the Chinese version in many ways, but I think I enjoyed them just about equally. Equal enjoyment doesn't equate equal quality. I think the overall story was better here. The found family was the best I've seen in a drama (besides Love is Science? but that is a different type of found family). In this version THERE WAS NO LOVE TRIANGLE. God that was so much of a blerg in the Chinese version especially when you compare it to the lack of one in the Korean version. The lack of the love triangle meant that they could do Hae Jun's character SO MUCH JUSTICE. I loved his character. I loved his acting. I never felt bad because he didn't get the girl and you could tell that he played an equally important role in the sister's and the family's life.
(We of course felt bad for him because of his "family situation" but not because he earned second place in his sister's affections - which became the case in the Chinese one. Then that made the relationship between San Ha's equivalent and the sister more central, overshadowing parts of the story that were better fleshed out in the Korean version.
Also, Hwang In Youp's acting was FAR superior to his counterpart. That, of course, is no surprise, because Hwang In Youp is a genius and we're all so so so so so so happy that he finally has his lead role that he deserves.
On the other hand. I will say that I didn't feel the chemistry as much. I felt his longing and love for Ju Won, but I never felt here's for him. It was almost like *snap* she's in love with him and it happened so fast and with nothing to support it and her character kind of felt flaky ever after. NOTE, I saw someone say they didn't like her character/the actress didn't do a great job. (This was before I watched it and why I held back from watching it for so long). I 100% disagree. I thought she did an excellent job. She was the glue that held the family together and she did a perfect job at it. It isn't her fault that they didn't do her justice in giving her the opportunity/reasons to fall in love with San Ha (besides the fact that his love is so apparent and genuine and all-encompassing, but having someone love you that much doesn't equate you loving them, and I just was never convinced. They fit together well and were a cute couple, there was just never the spark that got Ju Won there.)
On that note, while San Ha's counterpart's acting wasn't that good, I did think the couple from the original Chinese version had chemistry that their Korean counterpart lacked. Which is confusing. How can a poorer actor be in a couple that has better chemistry? I think it was directing/how the story played out. I still remember the scene where San Ha's counterpart says he's going to marry her early on... you just have to watch the whole thing.

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Worth a watch with better and worse things.

Personally I am a fan of Go Ahead. The bonds, the friends and family connections and yes even the romance because from my pov, Ling Xiao loved JianJian all his life and never considered her as a sibling. Now to make more sense, about why this worth your time and what I personally thought was did wrong lets list it out..

The Good:
1. Actors did an incredible job. Absolutely made me cry a million tears just like original did. The dads were perfect and so were other, well mostly.
2. The romantic angle of Sanha and Juwon, romance was done better in this one somehow, more mature, more stable and more heart fluttering.
3. The second pairing, thank the lords for that. I wanted the best friend to fulfill her first love and I am glad they got their chance here.
4. Better ML. While Ling Xiao was good but Sanha is incredible, he is more vocal about his feelings, he lashes out when he should and also InYoup for this role was perfect. He did it more justice than the OG. For me he carried the show with the two dads. And his character was the one that made this adaption more on a good side that OG.
5. FL's career choice. I loved how she ended up as baker because she loved cakes and also how they put the sports injury line because that broke my heart.
6. Bromance, in this one brothers were better connected and more comfortable with each other. Well done!

The Bad:
1. FL. I love the actress but Juwon's character was a downgrade for me from Jian Jian. The school Juwon is not as bubbly and quirky, and the adult one is also not as good but still better. She was not as charming at the OG FL for me.
2. The living in Seoul and not meeting for 10 years with a girl you love so dearly, umm...should have send him abroad tbh to make this more believable.
3. Leaving out the adult friendships of females from the OG. I wanted to see that because I absolutely adored it.
4. The SL, he was good but compared to OG, wasn't as mature which I kinda missed.
5. Reunion and FLs reaction. It feels like FL didn't grew up all those 10 years and still whines like that. Any aspect connected to FL was better in OG.

And since Good is a bit more than Bad, I would recommend it. I binged it and it made me cry. Loved bits of it, just didn't end up loving it as much as the Go Ahead.

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A really bad remake of a REALLY good Chinese Drama

I am always sceptical towards remakes but also looking forward to them with the hope of them doing a fair job of the original.
This fell flat on its head. If this was a standalone korean drama It would be average, now when you compare it to the original it feels so shallow in every single way.
After I finished this remake I went back and re-watched Go Ahead and confirmed it again, how superior Go Ahead is.

Go Ahead is one of my favorite Chinese dramas, even that had flaws in the storyline which was fairly annoying. But it was overall a GREAT drama.

Go ahead obviously changes some things here and there which is common in a remake and I don't mind that.

I have several issues with the drama personally.
Acting: The acting is no where near the level of the Chinese drama.
Go ahead managed to show such intense emotions you could literally feel the sorrow deep within you. I hardly felt that all with this, everything felt so shallow and "fake"

Meanwhile the comedic parts was nowhere near Go Ahead, you could see they tried to bring it in but not even close, and some parts were just so horribly bad and fake it was sad to watch.

The progression was WAY to fast, I thought Go Aheads youth pace was way to fast. This just plows through stuff. Obviously Korean dramas are not as long as typical Chinese dramas, but it felt bad after watching the original.

It was a good try, but not no where near good enough.

If you only watched this Korean remake I STRONGLY suggest you watch the original Go Ahead.

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its fun yet can be serious when it needs too

genuinely one of my fav kdramas and I rewatch it a lot, sure the side couple were a bit boring but the main couple made up for that.

the fl is quirky and cute but not enough to the point where you get annoyed. the ml is mature and serious but not in a nonchalant way. you can tell that he genuinely loves and cares for her. the two together are abousutly perfect.

also the family issues really stick despite being very far from the average person. you understand when Hae Jun gets mad at San Ha for not welcoming his mom with open arms, and you sympathize when Ju won is at the hospital in Seoul to visit San Ha and thinks San ha sees her as less than his biological family. and also when Ju won overhears that the two guys are going away after highschool and leaving her to be alone.

also for the people who were off put by the whole ‘foundfamily’ trope my general rule of thumb to see if it’s acceptable or bordering incestual behavior is if the two don’t consider eacother family.

in San Has case he never considered Ju Won as an actual younger sister the way Hae Jun did. he doesn’t call her things like younger sister or banter the same way as Hae Jun does, there’s a clear difference in the way the two treat her.

for Ju Wons case she did Consider him family once but after 10 years of not seeing eacother or talking regularly they grew apart. and added onto that is the way they left things when the guys left home. Juwon took it as confirmation that she’s the only one who consideres them as her brothers and from that point on she considered them as ‘people she used to be close to and live with’. also there’s a huge difference in the way she treat San Ha after he’s back.

anyway a fun show that also delves into the themes of complicated families.

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Not Flawless, But Deeply Felt: Why Family by Choice Worked for Me

Even though there have been a lot of criticisms about this series, for me it was deeply touching, heartfelt, and truly string-tugging.

The acting was incredibly strong, especially Juwon’s dad. His performance brought so much depth and warmth that it was impossible not to feel moved. Throughout the series, you’re constantly wrapped in emotion because of the family bond they share.

My only wish is that there were more episodes showing Juwon’s emotional development toward Sanha. That part felt a bit rushed, especially when compared to the storyline of Dal and Haejun. With them, you could clearly see how Haejun’s feelings for Dal slowly unfolded. How he didn’t recognize them at first, denied them, struggled with inner conflict, and eventually gave in. There was space for that emotional journey to breathe. He even openly admitted that he might not feel as strongly as Dal yet, which made it feel honest and real.

Despite everything, the series is a beautiful, emotional experience. One that reminds us that family is not always about blood, but about choice, love, and being there when it matters most.

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An Improvement On the OG (imho)

I'm glad I finally got around to this version!

It was a breath of fresh air after (mostly) slogging through the original Cdrama. The original has a very nostalgic quality to it, for sure (in a way that Reply 1988 managed to capture, too), and does a good job capturing the passage of time and the messiness of life (I think because it took more time to pause, meander, and just let characters and scenes and shots "be" without always moving the plot forward deftly and swiftly like in the Kdrama), but everyone was a bit too much of a hot mess for me (almost in a way that the drama itself didn't seem to own up to as being problems, which bothered me).

I mean, Li Hai Chao (the father of the FL in the original) was an actual saint compared to every other adult. He was an amazing character, and by far my favorite. In contrast, many of the characters were made into healthier versions of themselves in this drama, so Yoon Jeong Jae (this drama's Li Hai Chao) felt more like a typical awesome, loving dad (as opposed to a saint 😅) in this since everyone else wasn't terrible by comparison.

This version overall tempered the unrealistic or problematic themes or scenarios of the original, and really improved them, in my opinion. There were things portrayed as "normal" or "okay" in the original that at times just made me really uncomfortable (and while we're on the subject of uncomfortable, can I just express my puzzlement over romance Cdramas having scenes with the FL on her period? What's up with that? 🧐). This drama also had a much faster pace, and condensed quite a bit, leaving out filler/annoying plots and things that made the original drag. All my favorite parts from the original were included, and I didn't feel like anything was missing to complete this version.

For instance, regarding an "inprovement": the "brothers" never fight over the FL in this (oh, what glory!) and instead Hae Joon was always just Joo Won's brother, and nothing else. San Ha was responsible and mature like in the original, but far more gentle, sensitive (he's the best at picking up on nonverbal cues that someone is not okay), empathetic and functional in this version (Joo Won isn't what helps him to cope, like a drug that he needs to "get by" (like the original); instead, he gravitates to her because she's always been there for him, and rooted for him), and also, Hae Joon and San Ha had a much stronger friendship and bond with each other than in the original. In the original, it feels more like the brothers tolerate each other because of the FL, and wouldn't have much to say to each other if it weren't for her (especially later when the leads start dating and the boys start fighting over her like a toy they both want 🤢).

In this drama, the brothers stand up for each, support each other, and fight for one another's flourishing. All three "siblings" do this for one another, and it was lovely to watch. (They even give Hae Joon a loveline, and allow second leads to end up together rather than leaving them to pine in misery--way to go, writer!!).

It's still got some very dramatic characters and moments that lean into melodramatic soapiness, but it was a joy to watch. Episode 16 was just darling, and had me grinning from start to finish. You should definitely give it a go!

It demonstrates the power of love to heal, transform and empower, and affirms found family as an alternative to toxic "blood ties." Sweet stuff!

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funsies kdrama def recommend

family by choice is a fun drama centered around the relationships of haejun, juwon, and sanha who have a sibling-like bond but have no blood relation to one another.

what this drama does great:
- gives us a multifaceted view of all the main characters. we're able to see life/the timeline of the drama from all 3 of them which i thought was great! getting to know each character felt so personal.
- haejun and juwon's dad had some of the most sob-worthy scenes ever. their relationship was so heartwarming. haejun's healing journey was so great to watch and also to see dal and him help each other through hardships throughout their lives.
- their take on familial troubles wasn't shallow and actually felt very realistic.
- every episode while all having pretty sad moments at times always felt really giddy it's just a really fun watch overall it makes you wish you could be there too
- NO love triangle thank the lords

what could've been done better:
- while sanha's 14 year long or however many year long crush on sanha was well drawn out, we never got that from juwon. it was just her being flustered by sanha's confession(s) and then dating him. i wish they could've either added scenes where maybe in their younger years she thought of him that way too or have done like flashback scenes idk it just. for a childhood friends to lovers trope was not a very deep romantic relationship
- haejun's america storyline was idk all over the place and needed better integration to the plot. also similar to my issue w juwon he should've had a gradual liking to dal while im happy they got together at the end he literally said in that ep that they aren't good together and then later asked her out

overall lovedddd this show chaeyeon is such an amazing actress

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Remake, but still worth watching

As someone who had already watched Go Ahead and loved it, I was hesitant to watch it's remake because I was afraid that it would ruin my fav cdrama for me.

My primary reason to watch this drama was that I heard Hwang In Youp got the girl in this one (Han Seojun fever ifykyk 😭).

(This is my first time of writing review, so please don't mind if I say something inappropriate. )

I love Go Ahead, it's one my favourite cdramas. And Family By Choice? I love this too.

Initially, I expected it to be the exact copy of Go Ahead. Although, the canon events Aren't changed, yet there were some small changes in this one. I liked the changes, as they were mostly what I found controversial in the original one.

In my country, if you call even a random stranger brother, then he is your brother - there is no scope for romance (I think you can guess the country). So, in Go Ahead, when the main lead got together, and Brother He too said that he liked the girl, it felt weird to me. But in FBC, the brother sister relation of the main leads is not much shown, so it doesn't feel so weird. And the brother wanting to marry the FL is also shown very less, so it all feels comforting and natural.

As for the acting, why I gave 9 and not 10 was because I felt more connected to the characters in Go Ahead. Yeah I said I found somethings weird, but I still felt more drawn to them, especially Brother He (portrayed by Steven Zhang). I'm not saying that Bea Hyunsung didn't do well. He did great too. All the other actors did well too.
The boyfriend's mother? I hated her like I did in GA.
The Brother's mother? I liked her like I did in GA.
The fathers? I loved them both, and shipped them both 🤭 like I did in GA.
The main leads? I loved them both more than I did in GA!

So, in conclusion, I would say that..
Although it's a remake and is very similar to the original one (obviously), yet there are some things which make it worth watching 🫶🏻

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