Review of Family by Choice / 조립식 가족

Lately, I’ve been on such a grind when it comes to television shows. I never used to be into television, but as of 2024 this has become my new obsession. I think writing a master’s thesis on Korean women’s literature helped, as I was deep in the trenches of academic theory and wanted something that didn’t hurt my brain at the end of the day.

Korean dramas were the reason I ended up studying Korean and living there twice. Ironically, it was The Heirs that sent me down this massive rabbit hole, and I’ve never been able to come out.

I’m fine with that though if we’re going to be honest. I did somewhat come out of the hole for a while, but then fell even deeper. That’s how I ended up doing my master’s thesis on Korean literature and went back to Korea to intensively study the language over at Pusan National University.

But as of late I’ve been watching more Korean dramas because I came back from living in Busan and really missed Korea. It was ironic because I kept saying I wanted to go home towards the end of my time there, as I just really wanted Middle Eastern food that was what I grew up with, but then when I came home I kept saying I missed Korea.

So I watched Family By Choice each week as episodes were dropping on my Viki account. It was a tad bit too slow for me at times, I’ll admit that, but I toughed it out and decided it was worth it to keep going.

Here’s my review! I don’t want to ramble too much in the introduction.

Three teenagers, from different families, are brought together and raised under the same roof.

The premise of this show begins right at the very beginning of the three leads’ story: their childhood. We get to meet them and their situations, as well as how they ended up in the same household.

There are two boys, Kim San-ha and Kang Hae-jun, and one girl: Yoon Ju-won. It’s San-ha’s and Ju-won’s fathers who come together to raise them, and we spend the first eight-ish episodes in their teenage years as high schoolers. Immediately, we can get the sense that San-ha has a crush on Ju-won, but isn’t going to really act on it.

At this point in time, they kind of just see each other as siblings—or at least Ju-won does. This sets the scene for how betrayed she feels when she has to come to terms with the fact they are not actually related, nor do they have to live in the same household for most of their lives.

But for now, as high schoolers, the boys are some of the most popular people in the school, and Ju-won has them as her brothers. Life is good when it’s like this, until suddenly everything starts to change for them. I found the high school years of the show to honestly be a bit slow, and kind of wishes we started in the present day and wove in flashbacks.

Hae-jun’s father rolls into town eventually with a fancy car and offers to take him to the United States. When something happens in San-ha’s family, this gets the ball rolling for what will unravel their tightly woven household. Hae-jun ends up deciding, after talking to Ju-won’s dad, that the best decision for him is to go to the United States.

At the same time, San-ha also 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. As we can expect, a reunion is due to happen in the second half of the series, despite the underlying tensions they left behind.

Ju-won carries resentment with her into her adult years because of the fact they left her behind, and even discussed that fact without her knowing. She becomes a fairly successful cafe owner, and when the boys come back into town, she’s not going to forgive them that easily because of it.

There’s also a romance element between San-ha and Ju-won, which I found a bit odd for the show. Like we get the sense that he’s always kind of liked her, that was obvious, but she didn’t seem to be that into him for a while either.

Then when it comes time to confess and talk about feelings, she’s smitten. For me, this just didn’t work that well as a romance, and I would have been fine if this were a show only about platonic relationships and found families.

Overall Thoughts

For me, this is just an okay drama. I thought the first half of the series, set during the high school years, had some pacing issues. Then when we got towards the end I also thought that it was beginning to slow down too much for me.

I mentioned a little bit earlier about how I might have been happier if this were a show about platonic relationships. Upon reflecting on it further, I really do believe in this. Not everything has to have a romance element, and it would have strengthened the family by choice element.

Regardless, those elements are still there. I found this concept to be pretty unique and important, but the drama just didn’t land on its execution of it for me.

Someone else might love this drama though, and that’s okay. Taste is subjective. For me it was just fine; for them it’s an all-time favorite. That’s completely fine and neither of us are wrong.

So go watch this if you’re interested and see it for yourself. You may read a more negative review and think you might not like it, but you might be surprised.

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