“Family by Choice” is an introduction to a Korean show about family. Three teenagers from different families are brought together and raised under the same roof. The beginning of the show begins with the childhood of the three leads’ stories. Viewers see their situations, as well as how they ended up in the same household.
In those first few episodes of the 16-episode series, each lead story was emotional. Ju-won (Jung Chae-yeon) struggled with bullying, and her classmates looked at her differently because she didn’t have a mom. San-ha also struggled, but his mom always blamed him for her actions and was full of hatred against him, and just like Ju-won struggled with the kids, so did San-ha; (Hwang In-Youp) his classmates would say stuff about his mother. Overall, Hae-jun (Bae Hyun-Sung) was really happy, and while he didn’t have a father figure, he was still a joyful kid.
The first eight episodes feature them in their teenage years as high schoolers. The boys are some of the most popular people in school, and Ju-won has them as her brothers. Though the high school years were a bit slow, Hae-jun did well in basketball and as captain representing a good team, and so his father rolls into town offering to take him to the United States because he knows how good he’s been doing. He kept on insisting and secretly visiting to check up on him and what he had on his mind.
Unwinding their tightly-woven household, after speaking with Ju-won’s dad, Hae-jun decides the best decision is to go to the United States. At the same time, San-ha makes the decision to leave town and move to Seoul. This ends up being the best move for him, as after the time skip, he becomes a doctor. Ju-won carries resentment into her adult years; she feels as if they left her behind, and she grows up and becomes a cafe owner because she loves cake. Then comes a special occasion: it’s near her birthday. Her brothers always promised her they would be there, and they finally committed to what they said: they come home for good, but they are not treated the same. This family doesn’t feel the same.
Eventually they gain Ju-won’s trust again, but San-ha feels as if he still has feelings toward Ju-won, after all those years he now feels like they could be something, but wondered if she ever felt the same way. Which was confusing, she never saw him that way before only saw him as a brother. He always made it seem like he had feelings for her, but she never showed it until later on. But the question was how would Ju-won’s dad feel about this?
This part of the show was confusing as viewers could never really understand where everyone’s head was at. It seemed as if the plot had everything just dropped all at once because the next half of the series was from Ju-won’s dad’s point of view when it comes to love. He runs into Hae-jun’s mother and starts seeing her, which is good because Hae-jun spends that time rekindling his relationship with his mother. This part of the series felt like it was sped up, but overall it was a good drama with an unexpected ending and deserves a 7 out of 10 rating. For those who love a little romance, it’s worth watching.
