Family By Choice – K-drama Episode 1 Recap & Review

Episode 1

Episode 1 of Family By Choice starts in 2003 with Ju-won, a primary school student, who is picked up by her father after school. The kids call Ju-won’s father, Jung-jae, a ‘widower’ and tease him after she mentions the word in school. Jung-jae asks Ju-won how she learned the word and discovers that their neighbour – Madam had taught her the word.

On her walk with her dad, Ju-won asks him for a friend (oppa) that she can play with as her father is busy with work. At the same time, a family of three shows up in the locality. Ju-won is excited to learn that the family has a young child –  San-ha, who can be her friend and play with her. Jung-jae makes a joke about the family living on the third floor which does not sit well with the boy’s mother – Jung-hee.

That night, Jung-hee fights with her husband – Dae-wook over Jung-jae’s joke. She states how they were making fun of the tragedy in their family. The neighbours call the cops over the noise from Dae-wook’s house. However, the cops are shocked to see their Sergeant, Dae-wook. The cops leave without a word, empathising with their boss whose family was having a hard time after the death of San-ha’s sister – So-hee.

San-ha goes outside that night as Jung-jae and Ju-won go home. The two spot San-ha sitting on the stairs and ask him to come watch TV with them. San-ha says he was going back inside his house. Inside, Dae-wook tells San-ha that his mother was not angry at him but was grieving.

The next day, Jung-jae is with Madam who mentions that San-ha was the only one home when his sister died and that his mother blames him for the incident. Jung-jae is concerned for the young boy. San-ha gets home after school and cleans up the beer bottles left by his mother. He is about to make himself a pack of ramen when he recalls his sister’s death.

San-ha eats the uncooked ramen on the staircase where Ju-won spots him. She invites San-ha to her house but he refuses. Inside the house, Ju-won tells Jung-jae that San-ha is having uncooked ramen for dinner. Jung-jae prepares a meal for San-ha and asks Ju-won to try and lure him inside their house. However, despite Ju-won’s best efforts, San-ha refuses to go inside.

The next morning, a woman – Seo-hyun brings her young son – Hae-joon to the neighbourhood to meet Madam. Jung-jae accidentally throws water on Seo-hyun and Hae-joon. Inside Jung-jae’s house, Madam tells Ju-won that she was trying to set her father up with Seo-hyun. Ju-won is not impressed by the idea of having a stepmother.

She scolds Madam for trying to bring someone else into her life when she only wants an older brother. She gets upset with Hae-joon too and refuses to talk to him. Inside, Seo-hyun and Jung-jae bond while Ju-won runs into San-ha who is returning from school. Ju-won notices that San-ha’s classmates are talking badly about him. She pushes the boys who push her back.

Hae-joon fights with the boys, defending Ju-won and San-ha joins them as well. The three kids are taken back to the neighbourhood after the fight. Jung-jae asks Ju-won to apologise to the bully kid. Ju-won states that the boy was bullying San-ha. Jung-jae asks the woman to get her bully son to apologise to San-ha for hurting his feelings.

Hae-joon is impressed by Jung-jae which Seo-hyun notices. He invites San-ha for lunch where the three kids have a hearty meal. Jung-jae drops Seo-hyun and Hae-joon off. He asks San-ha to accompany Ju-won for a while. The two play in the park as they bond. Jung-hee watches San-ha play in the park with Ju-won.

That night, Ju-won tells San-ha about her late mother. She brings up San-ha’s late sister. On the bus ride back home, Hae-joon is excited about the box full of food Jung-jae had given them. However, Seo-hyun gets a distressing call that causes her to tense. On the other hand, San-ha goes home and cleans up as usual. He goes to his desk and looks at a photo of his family taken when his sister was still alive.

Jung-jae puts Ju-won to sleep as she asks him not to get married. The next day, Madam wonders what went wrong with the date as Seo-hyun hadn’t called Jung-jae. Meanwhile, Seo-hyun leaves Hae-joon with her sister, asking her to take care of her son while she settles down in Seoul. Dae-wook and his subordinate cop arrive at Jung-jae’s restaurant.

There, Ju-won asks Dae-wook if San-ha can have a meal at their house. Dae-wook is shocked to learn that San-ha has eaten with them. That afternoon, San-ha is excited about the bowl of handmade noodles that Jung-jae had made at his restaurant. As San-ha and Ju-won eat, Jung-jae gets a call from Seo-hyun. She asks to borrow some money from him and reveals that Hae-joon is living with her sister.

Jung-jae decides to visit Hae-joon and is shocked to see the condition of the house. He stops Hae-joon from eating the pack of noodles for dinner and offers him some dumplings. He offers to take Hae-joon home with him promising to look after him until Seo-hyun returns. San-ha and Ju-won are walking back home after school when he mentions how his mother is grieving.

At the same time, Jung-hee goes into San-ha’s room and finds the family photo. Dae-wook is on his way home from work. He finds that Jung-hee had torn the family photo and was drunk. She causes a scene at home and fights with Dae-wook. San-ha overhears the argument and learns that his mother is trying to leave. He goes inside and apologises for trying to mingle with Ju-won and her father.

San-ha promises never to go back to their house and begs his mother to stay with them. Meanwhile, Ju-won gets upset when Jung-jae brings Hae-joon home. Hae-joon asks if he can call Jung-jae dad which makes Ju-won even more upset. She gets angry when Hae-joon has a meal and throws a tantrum. The next day, San-ha tells Ju-won that he will never return to their house.

Jung-hee leaves the house with her bag as San-ha watches her go. Ju-won asks if San-ha can stay at her house and live as her brother. Jung-hee tells Ju-won that she will allow it and leaves. A few months pass as Ju-won asks San-ha to play with her. Hae-joon plays with Ju-won while San-ha studies. The three kids start bonding and grow close to each other.

The episode jumps to 2013 where Ju-won, San-ha and Hae-joon are high schoolers. Hae-joon goes out for a morning run and calls Dae-wook and San-ha down for breakfast that Jung-jae had prepared for them. Together, Ju-won, Jung-jae, Hae-joon, San-ha and Dae-wook had breakfast as a family.

Ju-won suggests that they should sign an adoption contract to make them a family. San-ha mentions that doing so would make him her uncle. The episode ends with Ju-won saying that she is determined to make sure they all have the same last name.


The Episode Review

Despite all the chaos around the release of the show, Family By Choice is finally here and it is perfect! Many are comparing this K-drama with the original Chinese show –  ‘Go Ahead’ and are talking about the controversial trope of romance between the Forster siblings.

The first episode makes it clear that the trio of Ju-won, San-ha and Hae-joon are by no means related as they haven’t signed any legal adoption papers. Now that Ju-won insists on getting adoption papers signed, it may complicate the relationship between the three friends-turned-foster siblings.

While both mothers can be seen as selfish in this episode, I wonder what Seo-hyun’s reason for never returning to take her son home for 10 years might be. Since we have another episode that has already been released, we will hopefully have more clarity on the characters of this show.

 

Next Episode

Expect A Full Season Write-Up When This Season Concludes!

  • Episode Rating
    (4)
4

Leave a comment