Found Family
To start, for anyone who doesn't know, this is a remake of the cdrama Go Ahead, which I haven't watched myself yet so this will be interesting to watch with a spoiler free mind. I know a lot of people who've watched go ahead will have a lot of their own opinions!The first 2 episodes are really good and I really hope this becomes the healing drama I see it having the potential to be. The story starts with 3 kids, Yun Juwon, Kim Sanha, and Kang Haejun, all having lost someone from their family. They meet as little kids and due to some unfortunate circumstances, Kang Haejun's mother leaves him in the care of his aunt (who's still young and in university), and so Yun Juwon's father takes him in. They grow up together and have become one big family along with Kim Sanha's father. Right now they're showing their lives in high school, each growing up to become their own person. Yun Juwon is a cheerful headstrong character who loves her two (unofficial) brothers very much, Kim Sanha is a quiet, smart, and hardworking student who wants to get into med school, and Kang Haejun is a popular basketball player. Sanha and Haejun still seem to have some unresolved feelings and emotional trauma from their past, and I hope by the end of this we'll see that they get their closure. Thankfully we have Juwon who has always been by their side to cheer them up. You can tell how much they care for each other, although you also get the feeling that they aren't simply just siblings. Yes, there are some romantic undertones of course, but nothing obvious yet, and I don't believe this gets dived into until the future when they're all adults. Yun Jeong Jae (Juwon's father) is really the mvp for taking in two extra underlings to feed. I'm always a sucker for found family and this seems to be a really solid one. They care for each other, look after each other, and tease each other as if they were family all along. There's some foreshadowing already that they won't be able to stay by each other's side forever, and I believe they all reunite again when they're in their 20s, so hopefully the journey will end with them being as happy as they can be together.
In terms of their acting, they're all doing really well so far. Especially Jung Chae Yeon (Juwon), this is my first time seeing her act and I'm in love with her and her smile already. Hwang Inyeop is as dreamy as ever and seeing the way he stands up for Juwon gives me butterflies. It's about time he gets the girl! Bae Hyun Sung is also just a cutie patootie in this, the way he's so fixated on what Juwon thinks about him. Juwon's father, Choi Won Young is such a sweet and caring father. He has such a big heart, and I also loved when he played a father in Twinkling Watermelon.
Music has very feel-good vibes, and very suited for a coming of age drama. Loving this so far as well.
Really recommend for a light and cheerful watch!
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I couldn't stop smiling the minute I clicked play
This review is written from the perspective of someone who has watched Go Ahead, the C-Drama from which Family by Choice is adapted. It is an ongoing review, the rating is not final***If you look at my watchlist you can see that I am very stingy in giving 10/10 because that is the value I want to give to the score. Only dramas that I truly love will receive the rating and Go Ahead was one of them. Go Ahead had such a chokehold of my life back then because of the many parallels I shared with the drama in my own life that I relate to. This was why I was so excited when I heard the news that it would be adapted into a K-Drama and directed by the same director for Twenty-Five Twenty-One; another one of my 10/10 dramas.
I couldn't stop smiling the minute I clicked play. Do you know how happy I was when I saw the 3 kiddos again?! Everything that they adapted over was done so perfectly and I can't help noticing the similarities done in a different, Korean style. I think so far the director has been spot on with carrying over the "key events" of the story that were pivotal and giving a small touch of his take on it. Aesthetically, it was very pleasing too. I am having a good time noticing things like the walk-up apartment, the long uphill road from the noodle store to their home, the staircase(!), and even the house layout is the same, omg! The casting so far has been absolutely on point too. The two fathers; I am so glad they got Choi Won Young and Choi Moo Sung to play the two fathers which are the most important characters of the story. CWY exudes the same warmth as Hai Chao and CMS has the same nonchalance as He Ping! The little girl who plays Ju Won is killing it!! She captured the same cheeky, feisty but cheerful and adorable little girl as the C-Drama counterpart so well! How can someone so young act so well?! I am a little bummed already that I won't get to see her so often seeing how everything is accelerated to fit the 16 episode's timeline. The rest of the cast does carry similar vibes as the original and I can't wait to see more of the characters being portrayed!
Everything so far has felt familiar yet different in its own colours and I am glad that I get to relive this beautiful story again in a different manner. From what I have seen from the direction in the first two episodes, it is giving me more confidence than not that this will turn out better than not. I know it's not going to be the same without 40 episodes but it won't matter if they are going to continue preserving the core like they showed in the first two episodes. Excited!
Moving forward I just want to say to all Go Ahead fans that it is going to be different judging by some events in episode 2 but I think it should not just be a comparison with the original as this is a work on its own too. New viewers if you do find yourself enjoying, you can always tune into the C-Drama version to see a more "extended" work; damn I'm jealous!
"Every family has a story to tell"
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This review may contain spoilers
The Most Endearing Family Indeed!!
Can “A Prefabricated Family” truly exist together for a long time?Found family is the base concept in quite a few JTBC dramas; so I wasn’t surprised when I watched the pilot episodes of “Family by Choice”. Starring Hwang In Youp, Jung Chae Yeon, Bae Hyeon Seong in prominent roles, the show is a remake of the popular Chinese melodrama “Go Ahead”. I haven’t watched the original, so I can’t comment on the dynamics between the protagonists there; but “Family by Choice” offers a fresh retrospective on your idea of a family. Do they always have to be blood related or biologically connected? Can a family exist because of the ties they formed overtime? The first two episodes were rather refreshing, and I was quickly swept into this “Slice Of Life”. The pilots don’t offer any romance with our main leads having a tight bond and behaving like close siblings; even though they don’t share the same last name (something that irks the female lead endlessly). They are innocent, sweet and naive, living a sheltered life. Let’s get to know the characters better!
Read the complete article here-
https://kcdramamusings.wordpress.com/2024/10/10/family-by-choice-first-impressions/#more-1263
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