A Prefabricated Family (2024)

What's the point of all of this?

I think it was cute and all, but also so boring! I had to push myself to finish it because it was just so boringggg... and at some point there was just nothing happening.
The main characters relationship was so forced! They had no chemistry at all (which surprised me because in bts they seemed really close), and their kissing scenes where so cringy and weird.

The other two characters also didn't had any chemestry.
I was a little disappointed overall, Hwang In Yeop is one of my fav actors and i felt that in this one he forgot how to act, im sorry...
6/10 because i've seen worse, i just had high hopes for this one :/

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Mediocre?

I waited until the last few episodes to write this review and I think there are mainly 2 types of viewers:
1)the ones who have seen "Go Ahead"
2) and the ones who haven't

I am part of the audience that has watched go ahead and that is why I believe I found this drama to be mediocre...So keep in mind that my review will highly be biased based on the original

Plot:
1) As Go Ahead is a Chinese drama it has around 40 episodes and as a result there was a lot of character development and side plots that were important to the story, this drama obviously had to get rid of some of them but for the same reason it felt lacking overall

2) There was also too much focus on the romance aspect and I think it would have been much better if they just took inspiration from the original and focused on the slice of life part...I also felt like the dads didn't give off the same vibe...in the og drama the dads have a whole persona of their own but this show just seems to dumb it down


Acting:
The leads have absolutely no chemistry..Hwang In youp as an actor is fine but in this drama he just looked awkward the whole time
the crying scenes weren't sad, the romance scenes weren't magical and the only saving aspect was maybe the comedy

Other thoughts (may contain some spoilers):
Why were all three of their careers changed? It was such a minor detail that had huge implications in the og because in that drama kim sanha was supposed to be a dentist, her a craftswoman and business owner and haejun was supposed to be a pastry chef, their career choices (especially the brothers) were supposed to show how dependent they were on juwon and it played a pretty significant role

The friend group wasnt the same!!

Haejun's character confessing his love in og shows that he was desperate to be included in their family dynamic and that his abandonment issues forced him to create feelings in order to belong...

The side character were only plot devices for the leads and they lacked depth!

Conclusion:
Anyways to conclude, If you havent watched go ahead you may like this show but if you have its just going to seem like a cheap remake I would recommend that everyone watches the original if they have time, but If you don't this is a decent watch (if you watch with a blank slate with no bias you may like it more than I did)

I doubt there is anyone who can argue that this was better than (or even on the same level as) the original.

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Wholesome, Heartfelt, Chosen Family

==final ep ending thoughts. will elaborate in the future.
8.75/10
rounding to 9 for that absolutely wonderful, wholesome ending.

my mouth hurts from smiling so much 😭 the ending was so wholesome. thank you for this drama. it made my weekdays and the last two months better and warm. despite some shortfalls, it tied up well. some plotpoints left that I would have liked to be explored more - especially in regards to sanha's pain and mental health. and ofcourse his mother. so leaves me a little less content. the writer didn't push the envelope enough even she could have. maybe another drama/time.

the writer had perfect ingredients all ready to go but just didn't try/ was able to blend it together. instead went with the easier story/character w.r.t haejun and his mom issue. cuz that was a straight forward story, easier to resolve. a lot more care and attention was needed to tell sanha's story, it would have made this a masterpiece if the writer was bold enough to tackle any one of parental abuse, abandonment, trauma attachment, or mental health. instead the writer opted for none.

it's a light hearted watch, all the characters are lovable you are bound to have a good time.



i really can't forgive the fact sanha's b of a mother didn't apologize to the end. neither was juwon or the rest of the family made aware of his insomnia and struggles. i get why it's freeing him to say out loud that he's hurting too, because he as a character is written to be someone who hides all pain and lets out nothing. so it's freeing him to tell her his pain. that's fine. i don't think he was kneeling to apologise, but only in pain so that's fine too. but how can the writer turn a blind eye to the damage the mother caused him? sanha's weakness was his constant yearning for his mother's love, and her forgiveness (he did nothing wrong but he felt guilty nevertheless) - so maybe not an explicit sorry from her cuz that's too much to expect from that woman but maybe even a "i was hurting too" or something.

should have just cut contact with that mother and kept only with his sister. he deserved atleast a breakdown scene infront of juwon/his dad. haejun got one but why should sanha hold off till the end when arguably he seemed to be physically ill as well. and the only opening he gets is in front of his mom?

think the writer planned something else initially and went a different way.

the mother had a push and pull relationship with him. she wanted him in her life but it then reminded her of the dead daughter. that's why her ideal ending should have been medical treatment not migration to UK where sanha has to visit. well a complete cut off isn't possible because of his sister either. so a apology could have gone a long way if they wanted to still keep them in contact.

the only saving grace of that dynamic is the two actors who did exceptionally well showing the conflict.

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Watching this is like watching a Disney's Live Action movie. There is no substance nor added value.

Condensing a 40-episode drama into a 16-episode one is no easy feat, it was obvious some scenes were going to be cut, and some characters arcs were going to be altered. But imo they butchered the story.

The acting is not that bad, the kids were great, the dad's okay, the leads meh. The problem overall is in the plot and character development.

In the FBC the family isn't really a family, just neighbors that are friends and eat together. They don't address the other father as dad, they don't address as older brother-yonger sister. Which makes the title of the drama pretty useless, "Family by choice"...what family? I see two families; it should be called "Neighbor by choice".

They made Sanha's mom even worse than the OG and in turn made the son more "well adjusted"/normal and love her more. Let's be honest, the mom in Go Ahead was really unhinged and cruel, well here she is even worse, at least in the OG, when she came back, she was sorry for leaving and wanted to make it up to her son. In FBC she was inches of calling her son a murderer in his face and her excuse for coming back is to "forgive him"....okay...what a way to make a really despicable character even worse but then why is Sanha so normal?, he has a pretty normal relationships with everybody else and even seems to communicate well with his dad, not only that but when the mom has her accident he remembers his mother talking care of him when he was a kid and he decides to care for her out of love. WTH? who wrote this?? he also cares for his little sister (that he barely knows) because it's his family, because he loves her. Where is the family by choice here? Now it should be "Family by blood"?

Some characters just feel like they come out of a comic or something like that. They don't feel like real people.... ahem ahem Haejun's bio dad.

One of the biggest flaws is the development and characterization of Ziqiu, they completely butchered his character. I think this is one of the characters that was miscasted. Zhang Xincheng is in another league of his own, but aside the acting (which to me in FBC his emotional scenes feel cringe), is that they turned the character into a pretty useless one that only know how to whine about his mom, he can't even defend his sister in a school fight.

Additionally, the script is so badly written that the emotional scenes don't hit the mark. For example, the big emotional scene where the dad gets drunk. In the original the whole point is that they are family even if not by blood, but because they care for each other and how much he cherishes his children when their own biological families treat them badly. In FBC while trying to convey something similar, fails to make the point of "family by choice". This is more noticeable in the scenes of Haejun/Ziqiu and his dad, in the OG felt that the words spoken by the dad are truly what a dad would say to his son, nothing fancy but spoken straight from the heart. FBC script just uses the same old cliché lines from kdramas.

And while some of the changes could be considered as nice. Like making Sohee (equivalent of Little Orange) a nice kid, it makes the storyline suffer. There's a point of Little Orange being so unlikeable, she has the accident while bickering with JianJian and it gives a chance for Ling Xiao to again draw the line with his mom that they aren't a family, he is in the hospital because he is responsible and filial but not because he loves them. His line says it best "What belong to JianJian I won't give to someone else, I'm not you." This not only reenforces the idea of who he identifies as family, but also takes us to the beginning of the story when he was first abandoned and show us how the emotional dependence transferred from his mom to JianJian. It's those lines, those seemingly unimportant scenes the ones that carry the show and elevate it to the next level, the ones that are missing in FBC.

The OST as well plays a huge important role in the story, I think the OG having such a great OST that helps framing the emotional scenes. In the FBC they put some generic background music that make the whole scene feel less authentic and emotional.

All in all, the changes don't add to the story, only helping to enhance the romance which isn't even the focus in the original drama. There are too many cliche scenes added to make the romance more obvious and frame it as a typical kdrama.
The problem is that this show doesn't even know the meaning of family they want to convey, or even if family is the core of the story because so far this show is Love next door 2.0.
Perhaps the main fault of this drama is the producers wanting this to be a teen romance drama instead of a serious one, because it lacks subtlety in every way, every single thing they want to convey they give it to you in your face.

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A FAMILY THERE IN NEED IS A FAMILY INDEED DOESN'T MATTER WHETHER ITS BY CHOICE AND NOT BY BLOOD

So here we are a remake of popular Chinese drama go ahead as someone who didn't had any expectations from this drama as I haven't watch any dramas of the main leads so I was hesitating that the Chinese one was 40 eps had a lot of material how will they fit the whole drama in 16 eps I must say even in Chinese drama I liked the drama until there was the family part the romance part looked kinda forced over there as their siblings bond was too strong from the start but here the writer made sure to differentiate the way fl interacted with ml and sml it clearly shows how she treated the sml as brother but her relationship with ml doesn't fell like siblings and for people saying it is incest it is not neither they blood related nether legally related and they lived as neighbors not even in the same house the brothers bond here was much healthy and strong as compared to go ahead I liked how they show the bond between haejun and sanha how haejun helped sanha overcome his mental crisis the small sister of sanha was not as toxic as the original I also liked idk what people say but romance here was done more well here as compared to the og the second ship which I didn't expect came and it became my fav ship the relationship between haejun and his dad was unique and wonderful overall it is a great adaption give it a try thinking that it is a light adaption of go ahead with balanced amount of family and romance moments most of the review here are from the go ahead fans who rated it without watching it so everyone should have it a try truly a comfort show

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cutting a complex & powerful story in half - remake lacks depth of the original

I watched Go Ahead a year ago & felt it was one of the best modern C-dramas I've seen, with a compelling, human story of the most difficult childhood traumas of abandonment & betrayal & how it affects everyone involved. The strength & power of a "family unit", in which ever way that can be defined, is one that works when the children matter. So it was with much anticipation that I started watching this K remake, knowing that it would require much skill to match the quality & spirit of the C original. The fact that this drama can cross borders to be retold in another country & culture only shows that this is simply an amazing story.

The premise of the drama is complex: 3 broken families coalesce into one, with two dads working together to raise 3 kids. The story spans 20 years of their lives. It's an intricate & emotional exploration of the meaning of family & what constitutes being a parent.

The most significant role, in terms of importance & performance, is the character of the 1st father Yoon Jeong Jae. He is the family glue who has the most compassion & understanding, which enables him to take Hae Jun under his wing, as well as look out for San Ha in addition to raising his daughter. Choi Won Young does a decent job of conveying Yoon's quiet & steady strength in protecting the 3 kids from all the forces aiming to attack & separate them for not being a "real" family.

The influence of growing up in an all male household might be the equivalent of being raised by wolves, which the baby of the family, Ju Won, is perfectly suited to tackle with her fearlessness & spunk. However, as a major milestone in a girl's life, I notice references to menstruation is a line K-dramas don't seem to cross, but C-dramas have no qualms about it whatsoever. In Go Ahead, Jian Jian's femininity is thrown in everyone's faces when she proudly announces the arrival of her 1st period, at the breakfast table, no less. It's a very funny scene. The ensuing awkwardness highlights her father's realization of his limitations in being a father to a daughter, but also shows the complete trust she has in her family. Although older in real life, the baby-faced Tan SongYun played a much more convincing mischievous imp (one who pulls down her brother's pants as a prank) than Jung Chae Yeon in their character's teen years. This character was much livelier in the original version.

This K remake is only half the total length of the C original, so I expected a much more condensed version with fewer characters & secondary arcs. One of the things I liked about GA was the time it took to develop each of the characters & give much depth to all of the background stories. No single character's trajedy is less than another's, but FBC still managed to cover all the major conflicts & plot developments. In the final 1/3 of the series with the kids as adults, however, I felt a separation from the original as FBC took on a more typical K romance vibe. What made GA special was that it was not typical.

There were more differences in storyline detail, perhaps to match specific aspects of the culture in Korea such as compulsory military service, but I think some of the spirit of the original was lost. A big difference between the productions was in Kang Hae Jun's story. His character's falling out with his birth father while abroad was not mentioned in the remake. In GA it was pivotal in his return home & wanting to become independent rather than relying on his father's money. In GA, he is the one setting up his own bakery, while in the remake he seems to drift aimlessly day to day without purpose or determination. This is a huge change in character.

By the last few episodes, each character comes to the point from where they have reconciled with their pasts & are able to move forward to happiness. Along the way, a lot of time is spent on questions of belonging & the pacing slowed in spite of having to condense the original story. The drama lost cohesion, like so much of the original story was cut out & couldn't be filled back in.

The concept of filial piety has only served to make parents treat their biological children as if they owe them, which makes the parent-child bond merely transactional. And yet, we expect the parent-child bond to be unconditional. These two situations cannot co-exist. In the end, the family that is one by choice is the one that's indestructable. This remake can certainly stand on its own as a good show but I prefer the C version for it's depth & heart.

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Family by Choice...A CRITIC.

BEFORE READING, PLEASE KEEP IN MIND I WILL BE REVIEWING THIS AS OBJECTIVELY AS I CAN. However, as I do have a bias for Go Ahead, this will be filled with comparisons and critics (as the title says). If you can't take it, move along.

LIKES: Cast (especially the kids), OST, STORY, Some of the character changes (Ju Won becoming a baker), the lack of a love triangle and the brother ending up with the friend.
DISLIKES: Sanha's mother, inability to capture my emotions, Sanha's resolution. (READ FURTHER FOR DEEPER DIVE INTO THIS)

I went into this with little to no expectations as I am not really fond of remakes, however I had nothing else to watch at the time. First few episodes surpassed those expectations as it really managed to get most of the major points across...until right before the time skip. I discovered that during the first couple episodes, I wasn't comparing this to the OG but then as it went on, it started to get harder to not compare, especially after the time skip.

Without too much spoilers, here's a few things that made the show ratings drop for me
- The fl's character was inconsistent. As a kid she had more drive and was more of the bully but then she suddenly lost that in HS? AND YES I KNOW PEOPLE CHANGE but it just felt off.

- Sanha's family, specifically his parents. There's 3 things I found super hard to ignore and really disliked in this point...
1. Sanha's father's lack of a backbone. It's hard to explain without comparing so imma compare anyway. In the OG, Ling Xiao's father also didn't have a solid backbone but when he needed to stand up for him, he did so with zero hesitation. In this though, I found Sanha's father a bit weak even during confrontation. It was as though the mother always had the upper hand. WHICH BRINGS ME TO MY SECOND ONE.
2. Sanha's mother. OMG SHE WAS INFURIATING. I didn't think I'd ever hate this character more than the Chinese one but damn!!! I hated the fact that the writers let her have the upper hand the whole time? Like ZERO REMORSE TILL THE END. She was the major reason for everything Sanha faced and even till the end, she never once apologized? THIS WAS A MAJOR REASON for another drop in rating.
3. Sanha's resolution: WHY??? WHY??? I felt as though the writers decided to just skip over all the trauma this boy went through with "Insomnia" and "Abandonment". While these are two major things he dealt with, they completely glossed over his PTSD and depression AND THEY basically ended it all with a talk with his brother and a shared drink??? ALSO EXCUSE ME??? WHY DID SANHA HAVE TO BEG THAT WITCH?!!! SHE NEVER APOLOGIZED!!!!! This PISSED ME OFF FR. I was hoping he'd leave her. I hated the mother being able to simply just be forgiven in the OG but I hated this one more. At least there, she actually realized her fault (albeit too late).

- FINALLY, The show's inability to evoke strong emotions from me: If you look at my ratings, the lowest is it's rewatch value. This isn't because I don't rewatch shows but it's because I doubt I'll have reason to rewatch this. And that's because this show was unable to capture my full attention and evoke strong emotions within me.

I have rewatched Go Ahead at least 4 times since it came out and I can tell you each time, I CRY. Not just silent tears slipping down my face but full blown sobs. While watching this, I found myself smiling more than crying and sometimes falling asleep (the last two eps were a drag). I mentioned Sanha's resolution and I wanna just point out that his LACK of resolution was the final reason for my rating dropping from a 9 (in the beginning) to a 7.5. In the OG, there's a few scenes that made my heart HURT and the ones that hurt the most were the scene where his father finds out about the pills he had to take to survive those years with his mother. The fact that his kid was broken and he had no idea. - This was the resolution Sanha did not have.
And the scene where Ling Xiao's mother comes uninvited to his house and sees Jian Jian and Ling Xiao finds out, breaks down, runs to Jian Jian's apartment and embraces her. This scene showed his attachment to her, it wasn;t a pure romantic love but it was A "I need you to be able to survive" kind of attachment. Yet another scene that would've given the viewers a deeper insight into Sanha as a broken person.
However, a lot of the scenes that should've evoked big emotions were changed/not included in this and it just made the show fall flat for me. Less focus on the romance in the last 2 eps and more on resolving their trauma would've made this way better

Oh also, someone mentioned that there was a lack of "familial" bond amongst the siblings as they made it so that Sanha was in love with her from start and I cannot agree more. The feelings this character should have for fl isn't just romantic love, It's deeper, more twisted than that...but alas.

END: WHY is this rated a 7.5 and not lower?: All in all, I think this show as a standalone and not an adaptation/remake would've been a masterpiece. However, it's sad that it is after all an adaptation and cannot be free from comparisons. I want to also say, I think the cast was amazing especially Bae Hyeon Seong who plays the role of KANG Hae Joon. They did fully embody the characters to the best they could. Kudos to the little kid actors too, loved loved loved little Ju Won. Ju Won's father was amazing as always!

If you made it this far, You deserve a cookie! Thanks for reading and being a part of my ramble/rant session!

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3 Families Under 1 Roof - Poor Adaptation.

I did watch Go Ahead when it aired and really enjoyed the drama and it's poignant storyline and acting. When I heard there was a Korean remake, it prompt me to start watching it when it aired as well.

Overall, it's okay. I think what disappoints me is all the important parts of Go Ahead was watered down especially the talk between Sanha and his mother after Sanha started dating. However, both mothers were definitely a pain in the ass. The Korean mother seems to be screaming way too much. She seemed to be screaming over every little thing.

Yun Ju Won played by Jung Chae Yeon is a bubbly girl who tends to be very positive about her family dynamic. I enjoy watching her act. Unfortunely, due to how short of a length this drama was, I felt like her relationship with Sanha was not natural. One minute, she feels digusted by Sanha's confession, the next minute she had a pivotal moment, and suddenly she's in love with Sanha in a romantic way. It just felt like something was missing, in my opinion, they should've just stayed siblings. I couldn't find a connection between the two, in facts its the same for all couples.
One moment they're being rejected, the next they're together! The pacing is just too quick for me to connect with their emotional scenes.
Sanha played by Hwang In Yeup. There's not much to say about his acting, he has subtle facial expressions which he portays nicely. But overall, his character is just bland. Not to say the Chinese counterpart wasn't bland, both were bland. lol But what makes the Chinese counterpart better is the scriptwriting. For example, as aforementioned, the argument between Sanha and his mother. In the original, the mother argues that Ling Xiao cares more for his neighbors more than his real family, Ling Xiao shouts, "They love me, why don't you love me?" That was the heartbreaking moment for me, and I was expecting this to happen in the Korean version but it didn't come. The Korean version was lackluster.
Kang Hae Jun (Bae Hyun Seong) seems to have anger issues compare to his Chinese counterpart. I understand he felt abandoned, and angry that everyone was trying to protect him in their own way. But anger is not needed in certain scenes. The actor's ability to cry was very natural though.
Overall, the acting of everyone was okay.
Due to kdramas being only 16 episodes, everything was cut short so it made it difficult for me to connect with the characters. I felt like they should've marinate the emotional scenes a bit more.
I also want to point out something. Was this a low budget drama? Why are 2 of Sanha's classmates ALSO doctors and why is it always these three treating the main and second leads? Yun Ju Won's cafe feels like it's her home cafe because barely anyone is ever there! LOL??? The setting felt unrealistic basically.

Overall, what really made this adaption fall short, at least for me, was the poor script and pacing.
I wouldn't recommend this version if you watched the Chinese version.
If you didn't watch the Chinese version, I would recommend that if you want better script and emotion connection with the characters compare to a fast pace adaption of it. The choice is yours.

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A trip from China to Korea!

finished 9/10 🌟
based on the 2020 cdrama go ahead... for me personally I liked this version better... they made necessary changes and some things were kept as the original version
I think the mothers' plot was well addressed, the romance theme as well, it didn't make me feel as cringe as in the other plot, which I appreciated 😅
The main characters did seem cute to me and I felt a lot of chemistry between them... the supporting characters won my heart. I wanted a happy ending for that particular brother so badly and Korea far surpassed it 👏
I still think that the parents' "marriage and love" is something that is completely out of nowhere and poorly thought out in many ways, but the important thing is that everyone was happy and a great family ❤️

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ILLOGICAL

Haven't seen the original and don't plan to do so. I'm reviewing this as a stand alone series.
I'm a sucker for family centered dramas and the concept of being a family by choice not blood relation or marriage is interesting but nothing makes sense here. Even if I haven't seen the og I can clearly see they had a hard time putting everything in 16 episodes. Its too fast paced for its story. It looks like they had a list of all the plot points of the story and they were going through them to make sure they included everything without bothering to give them any explanations or enough screen time. Everything is eighter half baked or ignored.

San has mom is one of the most disgusting characters in kdrama I've ever seen. A whole psychopath. She comes and goes as she pleases and says and does whatever she wants without any consideration. She is self centered, manipulative and violent. My blood pressure went to the roof any time she was on screen. They never try to help us understand her character. I don't think anyone had the slightest idea about who this women was or what she wanted, not even the writers. Her presence is really over powering but we get to the last episode and there isn't any time left to make any sense of this story so the writers just physically remove her from the story where she moves to England. The AUDACITY. So what now? She has moved her living place many times and it never helped. She can comeback any time she wants. We never see her get redemption. We also never see her get the sweet sweet karma. The way they handled it is just infuriating.

San ha never gets a real confrontation nor any closure. His relationship with his parent is as broken as ever at the end. He is one of the main characters for god sake.

San has dad is a cowardly sad excuse of a man that didn't have the gut to stand up for his son or himself, never made any effort to understand his own son and just hide himself behind his ex wife or Jowons dad. They tried to glaze over his share in San has problems by turning him into a dorky goofball but I don't buy it.

jowon is such an annoying character both as kid and a teenager. I can understand kid Jowon but when she grew up she was straight up gaslighting her family members with all her nonsense and not once she was called out on it. Thankfully that habit doesn't stay in adult Jowon but now she's just bland. Im not sure if its the way the story is written or the way she is played by the actor but I know I just didn't care about her at all.

Hae joon is a weird character. He is warm, kind, friendly, popular and athletic. At times he could be very intelligent, confident and out spoken. He could say what ever he felt and thought. Other times he had two digit IQ level, completely oblivious to most simple things in his surrounding or having random outbursts of emotion that no one seem to be able to help. He was very hot and cold. Don't get me wrong I like him the most out of the main trio, he is quite charming but I think they went overboard in some aspect when writing him

Dal is fine. Seen many other characters like her in kdrama land. its quite cliche but I don't hate it. She and Hae joon were cute as a couple. Wished we saw more of them

This couldve been alot better if it was longer I think. I hated almost all of the characters behavior right from the start but I had hope that it would get better. it never happened.

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