*** 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.