This Hwang In-youp, Jung Chae-yeon, and Bae Hyun-sung starrer story is the funniest, sweetest, wholesome and a highly bingeable adaptation of the Chinese drama ‘Go Ahead.’ Only two episodes have been released so far, but let me just say it straight – You want this, everyone wants this.
If I am to think practically, Family By Choice shouldn’t work at all because the plot is already known and yet this one’s a keeper. If you are in need of a good family drama that makes you laugh all while leaving you embarrassingly gooey inside, do yourself a favour: follow Family By Choice, new episodes will drop every Wednesday on JTBC for South Korean fans and the international audience can tune in on the drama on Viki.
It follows Kim Sanha (Hwang In-Youp), Kang Haejun (Bae Hyun-sung), and Yoon Juwon (Jung Chae-yeon), who are not related by blood but are raised as a family since childhood. If you haven’t watched the C-drama, take it from someone who has – this story will soon turn into a classic will-they-won’t-they-tale, a love triangle, and by the end, you’ll root for the one who gets the girl but also be heart wrenched for the one who doesn’t.
So far the K-drama has managed to retain all its vital ingredients: Sanha and Juwon’s sparking chemistry, Haejun and Juwon’s funny banter and the obstacle – key for any great family drama – childhood traumas. Sanha is struggling with the memories of the horrific death of his sister, Juwon, who lost her mother in childhood, yearns for a family (on paper), and Haejun faces abandonment issues after being left by his mother.
All three deal with their problems and their on-screen chemistry, more importantly and even more potently their bantering, teasing conversations in between, is something special and a joy to watch. Hwang In-youp is such a revelation, his Sanha is flinty, vulnerable, committed and relentlessly deadpan. Bae Hyun-sung who meters out his character’s hidden strength behind a funny demeanour is unmissable and Jung Chae-yeon is beautiful, cheeky, and everything bubbly. I look forward to seeing more of her work in the future.
Elevating the plot in the far-fetched convoluted circumstances of the lead characters could be difficult and overbearing. But Family By Choice is mercifully streamlined despite its addition of a mean girl adversary and consequential parental subplots. The focus on the triangle is never shaken.
Family By Choice is running at a fast pace when compared to the original but it is another sensitively crafted creative decision, a step in the right direction. The characters work their feelings out in ways that are not messy and confusing, never missing any emotional beats or leaving behind resentment. What keeps the K-drama on track in heavy moments, is its central trio of accomplished young actors, for whom this project will surely become a substantive and well-deserved uptick in their careers.
There’s magnetic chemistry, both romantic and platonic, between the three characters and even when the formula is at its most predictable, they manage to smoothly paper over any cracks. And getting to see the comforting formula followed faithfully is exactly why you would want to watch this K-drama, so it’s a job well done.
The most important thing, Family By Choice isn’t the exact copy of ‘Go Ahead’, it has its own elements, the way the story progresses follow the C-drama’s plot but has its own rhythm. It’s a different, deeply nice take on the family drama that we’ve watched before with new sensibilities that is extremely watchable.
From the love/hate setup and the must-dump sibling rivalry to the well-crafted storyline, Family By Choice hits all the emotional and heart fluttering beats (Side note: Expect the fireworks soon). Beneath it all, the stakes feel real. Next week, we’ll see Haejun’s biological father and Sanha’s estranged mother return to reclaim their rights on the kids, whom they once shamelessly abandoned. There are genuine problems to deal with and obstacles to happiness with no obvious answers yet. But I shall be with them to what I know will not be a bitter end.
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