Family by Choice: Episodes 9-10

by starrygazer

Even though the boys and their stories have been the main focus of our show so far, it’s nice to see our female protagonist coming into her own after the time jump. Will our three musketeers be able to build bridges and reconcile? Not sure about you, but I’m sitting here with my cuppa wrapped in a blanket ready to find out.

 
EPISODES 9-10

After accidentally letting their departure out of the bag last week, our boys have very telling exit storylines. First of all San-ha’s departure focuses on Joo-won. Managing to upset her, San-ha tells Joo-won he has “responsibilities” — that’s why he’s leaving — leading her to surmise that she isn’t one of them. Whoops. Joo-won is avoiding the boys as much as she can after this conversation; she’s really hurt that they’re leaving. And when San-ha eventually catches up to her, she is scarfing four cakes at her favorite bakery. Haha – girl after my own heart. *Pausing to go grab some cake*

A very sincere and emotional San-ha promises Joo-won that when he returns after college that he will never leave again. It’s a touching scene and Joo-won believes him. Not only is Joo-won taking this hard, but both of our dads are too, drinking and bickering with each other like the old married couple they should be haha. It broke my heart a little when San-ha explained to his dad (Dad Kim), that he is leaving because his mother keeps trying to commit suicide. Dad Kim understands San-ha’s point, but he’s worried about San-ha shouldering all of that responsibility alone.

Hae-joon’s exit storyline brings him together with Dal. Finally! Dal has liked Hae-joon for a while now but he is too naive to notice. In a cute “saving Dal from a football to the face” moment, Dal seems to fallen even more for Hae-joon (and just before he leaves for America). Hae-joon is so sweet when seeing her off, I feel bad for her wailing on the side of the road. (But it was a teeny bit funny.)

Of course Dad Yoon and Hae-joon make me cry again (multiple times) — every week these actors bring their “A” game and I just can’t handle it. It turns out that Hae-joon plays basketball because of Dad Yoon encouraging him when he was young. He’s such a sweet kid, and this just highlights the bond between them. Dad Yoon tries to get through to Hae-joon before he leaves, telling him he just wants Hae-joon to be happy and he can come home at any time. But Hae-joon wants to come back successful; will he listen to Dad Yoon?

The time jump is very nicely shown through Joo-won’s longing for the return of her “brothers.” Joo-won has come to accept that both boys would return after college. And we see her slowly lose her spark with every passing birthday, and a dwindling contact between the three of them as the years roll on. Now in the present day, Joo-won avoids her birthday altogether and concentrates on running her bakery. (Side note: it’s cutely called Daldal.) And talk about turning a passion into a job — good for you Joo-won. *High fives the air*

Dal lets Joo-won know that someone warned her that there has been a weirdo lurking around the bakery. Joo-won, as fearless as ever, doesn’t seem too bothered until she goes into her store and the lurker is inside. After a comical altercation between Joo-won and said weirdo, they end up in the police station. Our weirdo turns out to be Hae-joon – haha! And Joo-won, unlike our two dads, is not pleased to see him. Then San-ha rocks up to the police station after visiting the bakery and seeing the mess to find everyone there.

The best thing about the family gathered at the police station was the detective trying to make sense of who was related to whom – meanwhile Joo-won is adamant the boys are strangers. It seems that Hae-joon had been doing his military service after dropping out of college and giving up basketball. Wow, I’m intrigued to know more about what happened to Hae-joon – but he could have picked a better way to say hello. Haha.

Sitting down for a tense meal, the dads are thrilled and our three musketeers are not quite sure where to start. Joo-won is angry and hurt even after ten years (!) have passed and the boys have relayed very little about their time away from home. The boys say they are back for good, and Joo-won confides in Dal that she thought she would be happy about this but it’s just awkward. She intends to avoid them.

Good luck with that Joo-won, because can you believe who now lives next door to the girls (who share an apartment)? That’s right — it’s San-ha, who is now in medical school, and a seemingly down-on-his-luck and half- naked Hae-joon. (Dal’s squeal and half-hiding her eyes at Hae-joon’s lack of clothes made me laugh.) Joo-won gives Hae-joon her card to buy some sneakers (because he looks like a hobo haha), and while he’s out and about he’s also shopping for property to buy Dad Yoon a bigger restaurant. Just what did happen with Hae-joon?

We get a little bit of an answer to that question at Joo-won’s birthday meal with the family. After putting Hae-joon on the spot about not contacting them for five years, San-ha tells the family that Hae-joon got seriously hurt and had to give up basketball. Hae-joon had called San-ha because he thought he would never walk again and he still needs to be careful. The two dads and Joo-won are understandably upset, and not being informed about this adds fuel to Joo-won’s feelings of being left out.

Get the tissues ready because Dad Yoon and Hae-joon are at it again. Ugly crying will commence when you see Dad Yoon take Hae-joon’s hand and tell him that he should have come home. Dad Yoon continues that he told him not to overdo it, and just do what he wanted to do and enjoy it. “You worked hard. My son has grown so much.” My heartstrings can’t take these two every week; it’s wholesome yet sad at the same time.

Hae-joon’s story finishes this week with Joo-won’s birthday meal at her shop with her friends. There are familiar faces from high school, some welcome and one definitely not haha. After a lot of booze, Hae-joon evacuates everyone from the bakery — he clearly senses Joo-won’s disappointment at San-ha being held up at work. And there is a little flirting between Hae-joon and Dal over some hangover soup the next day. Please get together you two!!

For the moment, we don’t know an awful lot about what has happened to San-ha over the last ten years either. San-ha’s mum is in a wheelchair currently and So-hee is in high school. It seems mum is still trying to pressure San-ha at every turn, so I doubt we’ve heard the last of her. San-ha is working at the local hospital with the boy that liked Joo-won in high school (who he pumps for information on Joo-won) and Hae-joon’s ex from high school who was a bit of a mean girl in previous episodes. I think she’s just there to stir things up, to be honest.

But it’s very clear that San-ha has come back for Joo-won, taking every opportunity he can to see her and buy her things. Joo-won isn’t very acceptant of these gestures, but she doesn’t understand the intention behind them. Yet. During the last scene, San-ha learns Joo-won is going on a date and he’s in a rush to stop her. My jaw was nearly on the floor when he just blurted out he likes her, and has for ten years. That was (kind of) unexpected. I thought San-ha would chicken out! It will be a shock to Joo-won’s system — I wonder how she will take it?

There is still a shroud of mystery when it comes to what happened to our boys in the decade they were away. Hae-joon’s Real Dad hasn’t been mentioned yet, so where is he? Teenage So-hee seems to be on San-ha’s side when it comes to his mum’s manipulative behavior, but how bad has it been? Will San-ha have the willpower not to go back to his mum? There are a lot of gaps from the boys’ pasts to be filled, and a lot of scope for the budding romances to flourish.

Joo-won still has her sparkle, but she is marred by her hurt. If she can let go of that and accept her old family for who they are now, things could get very interesting. It feels like the high school part of the drama was setting the scene for the meaty storylines to come, and I’m definitely here for it.

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