Family by Choice (2024)

Fun watch but doesn't live up to the original

The Chinese version of this drama is one of my favorite dramas. I am not against remakes, in most cases I like them. I am not even against this remake. There are aspects of this version I liked more. I liked that they made the female lead less childish.

My major gripe with this version is that they shortened it and rushed the story. In comparison, the k-drama misses many of the key moment of the original. When you have watched the Chinese versions, some of the scenes in the Korean version feel superficial or not as impactful since this version isn't as fleshed out.

If you haven't watched the Chinese version, I do recommend this drama. If you want to watch both, I recommend starting with this version and then watching the Chinese drama Go Ahead.

Lire davantage

A beautiful drama about family that failed to deliver what it should.

This is my first review ever, so if you are reading this, I hope this review is helpful to you in any way.

"Family by choice" is a drama about 3 families that face different hardships but find a way to face them and solve them together, by forming a family of their own. I am well aware that this drama is a remake, however I haven't watched the original, so this review will be based solely on the Korean version.

I think the most beautiful thing about this drama is the portrayal of a family formed from scratches. We have 3 families facing completely different situations, but somehow they all come together, form a new family and help each other. For the family dynamic alone I think this drama is worth watching. It was beautiful and comforting seeing how, even tho they were not all bonded by blood, they cared very deeply about each other. This was what enchanted me.
The acting was phenomenal, everyone did a really good job portraying their characters and their emotions.

But, of course, there are a lot of problems with this drama that took value from it.
I watched the first 10 episodes quite fast, since I was hooked and wanted to see more and more. Nonetheless, it took me more than a week to watch the last 6 episodes. With the pass of time, I started realising a lot of different problems with the way this show was written, and those problems made it difficult for me to fully enjoy the last episodes. .

1. Sanha's mom.
At the beginning, I could understand what was her purpose on the show and what her stance was. But, even after 20 years passed, she was spitting the same things over and over again, causing more problems without actually having any character development and without contributing to the show at all.
She was purely there to cause the viewer rage for her character, that's it. After 20 years, she never onces changed her speech, never once had any other actual reason for being the way she was, and this became too annoying to watch in the later episodes. Her characters had no depth. She was making her son's life miserable without once having any kind of development or purpose on the series.
Also, are you seriously telling me that in 20 years you never once thought you were literally torturing your son? Sanha begged in front of a close door, crying on his knees and that was what did it for you? Her "redemption" made no sense and lacked sense. She just decided to leave the country, without ever saying sorry or showing an ounce of remorse or guilt for having mistreated his innocent son for two decades. I hated the "closure" they gave to Sanha and his mom.

2. Sanha's dad.
The mom was trash, but the dad was useless. He never once did anything to help his son. He was a grown adult that couldn't even stop his ex-wife from making his son's life absolutely miserable. Every time he had a talk with his ex-wife, he never actually contributed to solving anything and couldn't even protect his son from his clearly sick mother.
He lacked purpose as well. He was there only to complete the family and to serve as another adult in this scenario, but he had no goal and never did anything. His son spent 10 years living a trashy life with his mom and he just let that happen. He never once visited his son, never once tried to help him.
He felt more like a friend of Jeongjae, than like Sanha's dad.

3. Haejoon and his mom.
So, she abandons her son for 20 years, refusing to see him despite actually being able to, and after ONE chat, it was all resolved? Haejoon's mom issue was dragged during the entire serie, but somehow one chat was enough to solve It all and bring his mom back to his life again.
The whole murder and prison thing felt forced. They didnt give us enough details, despite being literally the main reason behind Haejoon's problems during the entire drama. This was such an important event in the drama, yet it felt brushed and ignored. They all made such huge fuss about Haejoon and his mom, only for them to have ONE talk and suddenly be perfectly fine and happy. Sanha's mom and Haejoon's mom issues were the main reason for their misery, yet the closure it was given to both was fast paced and it lacked depth.
This point brings me to the 4th problem.

4. Haejoon's mom and Juwon's dad relationship.
This just came out of nowhere. They saw each other like what? 5 times? And the next thing you know is they are getting married. This relationship made no sense.

5. Sanha and Juwon's romance.
Contrary to a lot of people, I was really looking forward to this romance. It never felt like incest to me, because the writers made it clear the difference between Sanha and Haejoon. Haejoon always had this sibling vide, while Sanha was different.
The thing that bother me the most about the romance was how fast peaced it was.
In the first episodes, you get glimpses of Sanha's feelings towards Juwon, but it's not the main focused and Juwon always thought of him as a brother. Having this in mind, I thought that, for this romance to actually happen, we would get Sanha trying and winning Juwon's heart and seducing her, but that never happened.
In one episode, Sanha confessed to Juwon, she rejected him 2 or 3 times, and then all of a sudden we got a kiss and the start of a relationship. Juwon never thought of him as anything more than a brother, so the fact that it took too little time for her to suddenly change her view of him ruined their romance for me.
I was expecting at least 3 episodes of Sanha flirting with her and she realising slowly that she doesn't hate the idea of dating him and slowly changing the way she saw him. The romance was too rushed, and it started without previous setup.

6. Haejoon's view of his family.
Last but not least, this was something that bothered me a lot while watching the drama. Haejoon never really seemed to consider Jeongjae, Sanha's dad, Sanha and Juwon as his family. He was always looking for more, always wanting his blood-bond relatives.
And of course, this makes sense in his teenage years, since during adolescence one is on their path to discovering themselves. But even after 20 years, he was still saying things like "being the odd one", "being the one left out", even tho he was NEVER considered something other than a member of the family. He never really seemed to actually think "this people, even tho we are not related by blood, is my family and they are enough for me". He was always separating himself from them.
For me, the fact that he never came into terms with his situation kinda ruined the whole message of the show. This was supposed to portray that family Is not only the people related to you, but those who love you and care for you unconditionally, but Haejoon failed to deliver this.
One thing was Sanha, since he had his father with him. But Haejoon was literally adopted by Jeongjae, but he didnt seem to be satisfied with this family.
Also, the fact that Jeongjae and Haejoon's mom married and they became a legal family took away the whole "family by choice" concept.

I enjoyed this show during the first episodes, but I found myself skipping a lot of parts in the later episodes.
Even after saying all of this, I still think this show is worth watching. However, it pains me the poor job of the writers at some moments.

Lire davantage

Who cares about the original?

It's natural for adaptations to differ significantly from the original (because why else would anyone want to adapt?!) and it's equally natural for those who have seen the first iteration to compare the following ones. What matters is judging each on its own terms and contexts. I haven't seen the original but I also don't care about a single review that finds this kdrama pale in comparison. In fact, I would say that I've been distracted by such reviews, and this is the danger of reading reviews while one is still watching the drama, because it prevents me from judging it on my own terms.

This easily is one of the loveliest, heartfelt dramas with emotions running the entire gamut of laughter and tears and empathy.

I have two main sticking points in the storyline:
1. The villainisation of all the mothers (regardless of how it concludes and may recuperate them [still on episode 13]). While I very much appreciate the unusual portrayal of maternal and understanding fathers, it grates on me that it's the mothers who get caught between extremes of good or evil, and then you are left with comparing the good mother vs the bad mother. For ex: why does Sanha's mother have to be so obsessive and 'hysterical', we're never told.
2. Kim Sanha being too perfect in all respects compared to the clutzy, simpleminded Hae Jun--nothing in his character development particularly showed why this would be the case. He was sensitive, but how come so perfect? And why doesn't Hae Jun become emotionally intelligent until so much later? Was a bit frustrating.

Apart from this, I do love everything about the show--the cast, the pace, the atmosphere--it is pure comfort, slice of life, family, genre kdrama at its best. I look forward to the concluding episodes!

Lire davantage

Perfect Example of How to spoil an lovely Adorable story to a uncomfortable drama

The KDrama started with beautiful caring simple yet beautiful and pure concept of a family where kids not related by blood started living emotionally and share there relationship as pure brother and sister till their teens and schooling. This a clearly evidently mentioned many times in starting 6-7 episodes that they share brother and sister emotions and relation. The story was adorable.

But the story started becoming uncomfortable to watch with family when a brother falls in love with his sister and started looking his sister as lover. May be in many countries, regions and cultures this relation is seen as forbidden.

A family exist when their is emotional attachment and caring among the relations, it doesn't matter whether they are blood related or not. How could a brother emotion changes to lovers emotion for his sister? Isn't it a taboo relation? Its a disturbing relationship. Majority will agree it will impact the mindset of brothers and sisters in a family watching this KDrama. The story becomes even sickening when the sister says her brother that she looks him as oppa (big brother) and still weird minded oppa trying to persuade his sister to change the relationship from siblings to lovers by starting it over again.

I don't understand how actors (Hwang In-youp and Jung Chae-Yeon) accepted such forbidden relation concepts? Are they so desperate to make money and agreed to do the Kdrama?

If the story demanded the romantic relation the director of the KDrama should have taken care of the script and should not have mentioned the relation as brother and sister between the two characters right from the beginning, then this would have been one of the all time great KDrama.

Lire davantage

Documentation

I watched the drama after it finished and I think that helped me in liking and focusing on the drama more. No stops no nothing just hours of watching. What also really made it enjoyable was the cast. I've seen them from the start of their acting careers. Which is a little bit crazy cause it was only by coincidence that I saw there first gigs as supporting or side characters. I also saw the dating show that Seo Ji Hye joined in years ago and she resembles her characters to a degree, very cute and a little bit naive. It just fascinates me that I grew up with there career's, which is similar to seeing child actors getting older. About the story, I really enjoyed it, that's it, it picks up the pace quite a bit after the time skip. Also the romance is quite fast, which is acceptable as their is a ten episode set up for them to be in a relationship. Really enjoyed side characters like the grandma and Huiju. After a long time of watching dramas ever since I was a kid, I mostly get annoyed with how bad a plot or how bad the editing is rather than intentionally annoying characters. The chemistry between all four was amazing, pretty much the highlight. Also the improvement of the girls in acting was great to see. I wish they the girls could get casted more. Everything was good or great so yeah. This is a great recommendation for beginners. It's not too draggy but not too fast. Also wish the second couple had more screen time such cuties.

Lire davantage

Great remake of a great original...

I was a bit reluctant to watch this since I loved the original drama, for its portrayal of the less fit mother, toxic relationships and found family. So much that it made way to most of my series articles abut family relationships in dramaland. But with that said I did have some issues with the original, issues that I did not have with the remake.

If you have seen the original and loved the story, you will probably love this one as it has just enough (very slight) differences to make you, or at leas me wonder how will they handle XYZ scene... While still sticking to the original story.

The acting and casting is really good, the chemistry is there and while I admit I loved the male lead in the C a lot more this one does a decent job, balanced up by the male leads who I enjoyed watching slightly more then the ones in the C. So basically they made up for it.


For those who have not seen the original C, this is drama that portrays family and bonds from many different perspectives and shows great contrast between different ways to be a parents well. I loved how this drama showed both the scares, pressure and pain created by the combination societies prejudice, expectations about parenthood and lets face it bad parenting as well as the sheltering/compensating affects of the good parenting, the found family and friendships can create.

The first time I saw this story I was obviously upset about some of the parts but it was also the first time I saw a character portrayed that was so close to my own mother, that I could overlook all the issues I had with it...

A good drama, an easy binge, but also a painful watch that is bound to make you feel a lot of things...

Lire davantage

Better Than Go Ahead

Just finished the drama so my opinion is fresh when I write this.

I watched Go Ahead a few weeks back while this kdrama was still airing. And guys, I'd say the cdrama is good as it is and the kdrama is good in its very own way.

Things I love here are:
1. How they have fit 40 eps in 16. I mean the character deletions and additions are on point.
(Unfortunately , Sanha's mom had to stay here for the plot ).
2. The relationship between haejun and dal.
3. The way there is not an actual love triangle but a more family based plot.
4. The close knit bond between Haejun and Sanha as brothers cause I think the original drama didn't potray that too well.

I love the part where Haejun opposes to Sanha and Juwon being together, in a funny way. I love those banters. Its so funny in the last episode he found out where Juwon was all night LMAO.

I also really like listening to the Southern/Busan satoori is so soothing to my ears. Particularly, Haejun's satoori is so pleasing.

Overall, a must watch drama. I really liked it.

Lire davantage

The best Drama to wind up 2024, just go for it....

I watched Go Ahead which is the Chinese version of "The Family by Choice". I really Love FBC more than GA because there was certain scenes where I didn't like in Go Ahead eg. A slight love triangle between the 3, though many of them says that the 2nd brother did it out of desperation, there was a scene in bakery where 2ML looks intimately towards FL. It really didn't make sense to me. 2nd FL fell love with ML in GA. 2nd ML was left alone in GA. These are all the things I didn't like.

When it comes to FBC, woah It was neat and ENDED IN ''PERFECTION''. The ending was so satisfying to me. The entire crew of FBC did a wonderful job in creating this Drama. The actors where carefully chosen to nail each role to the perfection. The Bromance between them was so indulging to watch, making us to think that we need that kind of family.

The emotions they delivered went straight to the heart. Hats off to the actors. I love them. I love FBC. One of the dramas to be cherished.

Lire davantage

The ultimate k-drama remake

Family by choice started of decent, the elder-brother and second brother are kept the same except one thing that they changes, in go ahead the second-brother had no ex-girlfriend and was single however in family by choice he had one. Their might be some slight changes, but the characters are kept the same and the drama gets better each episode and has a lot of potential. Hoping to see the episodes progressing to a good standard, which I don't think will disappoint! Hwang-yeop is finally casted as the ML which I'm quite stoked about, he manages to play high school kid quite well!!

Lire davantage

A masterpiece this far

Even though it’s not finished yet, I can already tell this is going to be one of my favorite dramas of all time—and definitely of the year.

The acting is amazing; you can see that not only are the actors super talented, but the directing is on point too. It avoids the usual mistakes you see in a lot of K-dramas. The female lead is especially great—she actually has a real personality, not just the usual extremes of being overly annoying or overly sweet.

And the romance? Perfect. It’s a slow burn, but it never feels boring, so you get to enjoy it at a relaxed pace without feeling impatient for things to happen.

Lire davantage

Not The Same As Go Ahead!

When I say it isn't the same - it isn't as great as Go Ahead at all!

It's not bad, but nothing like it's Chinese neighbour.

I have seen Go Ahead maybe 3 times even though it has something like 46 episodes.

Going forward I will refer to Go Ahead as GA and Family By Choice as FBC.

With FBC it misses the humour that GA has when the children were young - even as teens and adults.

In GA, both boys were top students in school whereas the girl wasnt. One boy became a dentist, the other a chef/baker and the girl became a sculptor whereas in FBC it looks like one has become a doctor, one a dropout and the girl a cake maker.

Not sure about the dropout being a proper dropout just yet!

In GA, the one that became a dentist would supervise the girl with her homework at times and around episode 5 told her he was going to marry her someday. There was also this moment he didn't want her sniffing his bed and being in his room as he was starting to develop feelings for her so he told her off. The humour when they were teens in the original version was excellent whether at school, just with each other or at home.

In FBC, the one that becomes a doctor, doesnt say anything about marrying her as teens and doesnt really do too much when she smells something different about his bed which is actually a pertinent moment in the original version. Although they all get along really well - it just isn't on the same level as GA.

When ten years elapses in FBC it seems like the boys have just gone for the weekend then returned as their hairstyles haven't changed nor their faces in age.

With GA they all transitioned from teens to adults which was believable and noticeable like 10 years really had passed.

The good thing about FBC is that it is only 16 episodes so will give you a taste of what the Chinese one is like, but it doesn't have the same depth or characters. One character missing is the one that became a flight hostess in GA.

In FBC, it seems like they are bringing two characters together that were never together in GA. Personally, I don't like that at all.

Another change is the real younger sister of the oldest male seems to be more mature and not so bratty in FBC compared to GA.

Overall, I prefer GA over FBC because of the characters, their stories and the unquestionable dynamics between all of them as well as close bonds - including the parents.

FBC made some obvious changes which shouldn't have been the case - like losing the humour and certain characters, for example.

Still recommended if you want something shorter than the original even if not on the same level.

Lire davantage

"Blood is thicker than water"? Aniyooo..

"the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb" will be well depicted in the drama
Food analogy: Well Balanced korean meal with fried eggs, and lot of other banchans.
I started this with the hopes of watching happy rainbows and pink cotton candy clouds but boy, was I forced in a rollercoaster? Yes. Am I complaining? No. You know, what I like about these "family oriented" stories is that there will be at least one angle (amidst multiple angles and storylines for e.g. romance, tragedy, warmth, distance e.t.c) that everyone could relate to, somewhere or the other, relatibity takes centre stage and strum at out heart strings.
I am solely writing this to tell everyone reading this to dive into this deep warm bubble bath of "family by choice. "

Spoiler ahead:
P. S: I totally relate yo Juwon. She is right to be hurt and angry.

Lire davantage