Family by Choice

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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Heartwarming family drama with touches of romance, and a lot of tears

*** SPOILERS ALERT ***

I started to watch the cdrama Go ahead before Family by choice because I wanted to compare the remake with the original story and to be perfectly honest, I dropped it after ep 6 /7 and skipped to later episodes to see how the story will develop and what I saw didn’t convince me enough to continue watching… It’s not because it was bad, but I feel like the pacing was so slow and I simply don’t have the patience to watch 40 episodes of the same series. Furthermore, I had a hard time connecting with the Fl characterization, too childlike in comparison with her “brothers”. Certainly, the cdrama had more time to explore in depth the relationships between all the characters and felt more “raw” in its characters and emotions whereas the kdrama felt like it was a prettier and “polished” version of the story. (Please don’t attack me because I like the remake better, it is my opinion, and I still respect the original story and those who love it.)

So, here’s a quick review of what I liked/disliked in this remake:

Pros:
- The acting is phenomenal! Especially the main trio, they were absolutely perfect! Big kudos to the Fl’s actress, I’m not very familiar with her but she was convincing and her acting kinda reminded me of the actress in Lovely runner, who I like very much. Her character was overall very loveable and caring, a little childish sometimes but it wasn't too extreme. Of course HIY was a safe bet, I adored him in True beauty and his acting here is so touching, especially when his character showed despair in difficult moments. Then we have Kang Hae Jun’s actor who was a total revelation for me! His duality convinced me entirely and I will keep an eye on his future projects for sure.
- Great chemistry between all the cast, be it platonic or romantic relationship, it all felt very natural and mature.
- Speaking of romance, I actually really liked the romance between the main couple, I knew it was gonna happen since I read some spoilers in the Go ahead MDL page. Personally, I don’t think their relationship was weird, because I considered them more as very close childhood friends than the brother/sister type of thing. Also! The Fl wasn’t just a wooden plank when it came to intimate scenes and it was very refreshing to see. The second couple, Hea Jun / Dal, truly developed their relationship in the very end of the series, so we didn’t get to see much of them together but they were still cute nevertheless!
- The friendship between Ju Won and Dal was so cute!! I was afraid of a possible love triangle between Ju Won / Dal / San Ha but fortunately they chose to keep it simple and that was a very smart decision coming from the writing team.
- The OST and cinematography are also great, and I also really liked the fact that we could hear them speak a dialect different from what we are used to hear in kdramas.
- Of course, the other star of the show, Ju won’s dad! Such a generous and selfless individual! I’m sure such a person can exist in real life and I wish them the very best.
- Great balance of humorous and sad scenes. The sad scenes were STRONG that’s for sure but the humor was there to lighten up the mood without being forced or out of place.

Cons:
- Some scenes/events were a little repetitive in the end, especially with Hae Jun’s storyline, but I’m still glad they didn’t add 36 subplots to the main story.
- For the romantic relationship between Ju Won and San Ha, I agree with some comments that Ju Won accepted San Ha’s feelings a little too quickly, we saw that he had a crush on her since high school but for her it wasn’t shown at all. They should have added some little scenes in which she questioned her feelings for him way before his sudden confession. Of course, they had to concentrate all the story and character development in only 16 episodes so the pacing was understandably very fast, but I still liked it very much because their chemistry was still great in my opinion.
- I didn’t understand the final development between San Ha and his mom… She threatened Ju Won and asked her to put an end to their relationship (fortunately she didn’t listen but still) and we saw San Ha begging her to…. what? Love him finally? After all she put him through? And then she flew to the UK with his sister, leaving him alone (at last!!) on a whim? The last episode was a little disappointing in this aspect, and I sincerely hoped she would seek psychological help in the end to become less of a burden to her son and make amends… But alas it didn’t happen. I guess they wanted to show that some people don’t want to heal themselves and prefer to continue their toxic relationship with their family. IDK but the pacing here was way too fast for my taste.
- Finally, the 10 years or so of no-contact between the main trio was a little hard to believe, especially for San Ha because he was only in Seoul whereas Hae Jun stayed in the US for a few years so it was a tiny bit more understandable but still… They tried to give explanations later as to why they wouldn’t/couldn’t maintain any contact with Ju Won and her dad but yeah, I understand it was necessary for the story to properly develop but it was still weird.

So that’s all for me! Give it a try because it was still a great and entertaining watch, despite some negative aspects. Especially if you didn’t watch the original series already, or if you like a more fast paced family story with great acting.

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Mothers so toxic, the drama should’ve come with a hazmat warning

I was hesitant to watch this remake of a Chinese Drama that I watched and then dropped shortly after. I remembered I couldn’t stomach the emotional abuse that was going on during the first episodes of the OG, that I thought I wouldn’t have picked up this drama until I saw the teasers, which looked promising. 

Having said that, I went into this drama without a source material so hopefully, I can be more objective and not be spending my time comparing it to the original.  

The first half of the drama started out great. I was impressed by the performance of the child actors and their sweet disposition. Also, I appreciated the subtle gentleness Yun Jeong Jae showed as a father figure, and how the children who became his sons loved him dearly, despite the lack of legal adoption.  

Growing up as a trio, San Ha, Ju Won and Hae Jun’s closeness as pseudo-siblings were endearing, if they only stayed as such. What refrained me from giving this drama a perfect score is the contrived romance between San Ha and Ju Won, and to a lesser extent between Hae Jun and Park Dal. There’s no chemistry to speak of, and I would have been satisfied if they stayed as siblings. This drama is fundamentally about a chosen family and their dynamics, which is why it’s called “Family by Choice,” and not “Lovers by Coincidence”.  

If there was any romance that needs to be explored here, is that between Ju Won’s father and Hae Jun’s mother. Their awkward shyness was fun to watch, especially when San Ha’s father was teasing them. Speaking of which, Dae Uk and Jeong Jae had more bromance chemistry between them than either of the main couple. But this would be too scandalous, so I get it. Despite everything, I was impressed by how these two men, despite their inexperience, raised resilient and kind children in the show. 

While I was very proud of the men’s representation, the same couldn’t be said for the mothers. I almost had a coronary just watching these horrible mothers treat their sons as if they are disposable. I anticipated their dismissal in the latter part of the narrative, yet they reappeared and focused solely on self-gain.

Though wrong, Hae Jun’s mother’s decade-long silence was at least understandable, given her grievances. But San Ho’s mother takes the award for “Mothers Who Shouldn’t be Mothers”. She did not deserve any ounce of sympathy from her son when she accused him of something that clearly was her own fault (and the father’s too). Her gaslighting irked me to no end, and I felt frustrated by Han So’s misplaced sense of loyalty.

The character development in this drama was lackluster, and the closure was also weak. In fact, they doubled down on excusing San Ha’s mother’s actions as justifiable because of a traumatic past. The writers must have somehow forgotten that San Ha suffered too.

Not to say that the acting by the three main cast members were sub-par, but I probably enjoyed the personalities of their child version more; at least they had spunk, tenacity and an unadulterated innocence that would have fit a lot better in a narrative about familial bonds.

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a great ride

this is for the cliche loving gals. but its a good one.
predictable, dramatic, cliche, but someimes that what you want k?
is it amazing??? no. but its goodddd.
its just a kdrama that is a good watch. reminds me of those 2017 kdramas (makes sense considering all).
its not pretending to be something its not- which is great.
its full of heartwarming moments of parenthood and brothership and family.
it also has many horrible parents sprinkled around so just take note i guess.
the cast is just perfect, i think it really does a lot, they really feel like a family and its adorable

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Good Enough

Korean Drama '' Family By Choice '' is a family melodrama with some romance thrown in the mix.

The drama has a solid family drama plot, as it navigates the dynamics of multiple families and their atypical family arrangements. Thus, it is filled with emotional scenes and many twists.

On the other hand, the romance was predictable and full of cheesy scenes. It was also overshadowed by the family drama, fortunately, which had a stronger plot.

In addition, the performances were all great by every actor and actress in the cast.

So, overall, seven out of ten.

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Interesting premise

I am not going to wade into the "which is better, the original Chinese drama or this" controversy. I have never watched the Chinese original (and don't intend to) so I can't comment.

The only thing I want to touch on is the mental and social commentary stemming from this drama. First, I find it interesting that this 'alternative' family arrangement has been highlighted, perhaps as the writer's hope that single-parent families and alternative family arrangements will one day become normalised in Korea. It is often not their fault that such families end up the way they are, and they shouldn't face discrimination because of it. Not everyone is fortunate enough to have a happy 'standard' family and as society, we shouldn't comment on what makes another family happy.

Second, what really bugs me is the lack of acknowledgement of mental health. San Ha's mom clearly has narcissistic personality disorder in the way that she manipulates everyone around her and never admits her responsibility for her own situation. Threatening suicide is one such example of manipulation. She needs psychiatric care. This in turn has caused San Ha untold mental anguish as manifested through his constant anxiety and insomnia. Just 'talking it out' won't make either sets of symptoms go away. This is unrealistic and I wished the drama could have handled it better.

Especially in a high pressure society like SK where there is already such a high incidence of suicide and other undiagnosed mental health ailments, this is the best opportunity to normalise help-seeking. As a doctor, Sanha really should have known better than to play to manipulation. There isn't even a need to make a big deal out of it - him putting his mom in a psychiatric ward would have made me feel so much better about her ending rather than letting her run away again!

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3 no-sibling

Beautiful relationship of these 3 "no-sibling", so different but so close and protective each other.
The meaning of family in this case is a choice of a "protective community" and not blood relationship.
A truly touching drama that made me cry for the difficult situations these abandoned kids found themselves in.
I appreciated how they gave continuity to the daughter's character, who was strong and determined when she was little with a predilection for one brother (the little girl was so cute) and she also had this character trait when she grew up.
I like hear dialect slang with different inflections.
I loved seeing the father who raised 3 children as his own.
I love the cast in generally.

On the contrary, it was a bit fantasy that after 10 years in contemporany come back the mother with a new child (a little sister), the other mother to pay the debt and also an unknown father.
Then the two boys left on the same day but even after 10 years they return on the same day?!
I hated the mother who pointed the finger at her poor son, again and again, even 10 years after abandoning him. Crazy! A toxic person.

PS: Bae Hyeon Seong looks a lot like Park Bo Gum.

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Light hearted and easy to binge watch

As a huge fan of the original C-Drama, I was really looking forward to the Korean remake. Knowing that the kdrama would have to fit in the entire story into 16 episodes, I was quite intrigued as to how the producers and writers would do so whilst still keeping the main themes of the story.

This was in general a good watch and I would recommend to anyone who wants a light drama. I won't go too much into the differences between the two dramas, but if you want to watch the one with more emotional scenes, then watch the CDrama. FBC was lighthearted and easy, every episode had a pivotal moment and there wasn't anything that I felt I had to skip.

I sympathised slightly more with the "bad guys" in this adaptation than the other which shows that the writers did a great job in making the characters human with flaws. The acting of the main 5 characters was good, nothing felt too awkward. The second lead couple were very cute and I personally would have liked to see more of them.

Overall, FBC was a nice watch, it wasn't heavy and I didn't cry while watching this in compared to the other adaptation. I liked how the big theme of family was the central point in this and that it was evident throughout the show. I also like the chemistry between the ML and FL way better in this drama than the other so in the romance side of things, FBC wins. But this was definitely a "watered down" version of the original. If you want a drama that has emotional impact, this one doesnt have it. Like stated before, this was an easy watch.

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I’ve never watched go ahead

I’ve never seen go ahead and this drama was mid to me.
At first I loved it. the first couple episodes I loved it and was really excited for the series especially bc hwang inyeop was in it. But it somehow it got boring and lackluster really fast not long after they were in high school. I just kept thinking when is it going to skip ahead? I don’t usually skip in dramas but I skipped a lot. There were many scenes in high school that gave no emotion and had no actual purpose or plot. it was so emotional and gripping at the start but it’s like they also had too many emotional scenes, that it got repetitive and it was no longer emotional it was annoying.
For the characters i liked Kang haejun the most, I was surprised because I love hwang inyeop so much but there wasn’t enough emotion or character from him or the FL. I don’t think the right actors were chosen for those two parts. it got boring and repetitive and im not a picky watcher but this could’ve been so good but turned out mid. I don’t know how it is rated so high. I think it would be better if sahna and joowon didn’t have feelings for each other it just wasn’t natural I wish they didn’t make them become romantically involved. overall I found myself wanting the drama to just end

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best storyline with great acting

I felt bad for everyone in this drama at every point but haejun was so alone and sad for most of the show...I expected more scenes of haejun's relationship with dal and finally being happy !!! Tbh I was more invested in the second couple because he is so cute TT . I wanted more of happy moments of dal and haejun :((( . but this kdrama overall was really good . their acting and the chemistry , i loved the character of yuwon's dad . he was the sweetest character in the whole series . cried a lot watching the scenes of haejun and his dad , they were soo sweet !!! I would love to watch another drama of haejun :(

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