Character growth is at its highest this week, with our former basketball player coming to terms with his past and our resident doctor learning to open up to others about his pain.
The girls have their moments too and while our heroine steps up for our boys, our cute lawyer amazes us with one hilarious yet much-awaited confession.
Episode Recaps: 01 & 02 | 03 & 04 | 05 & 06 | 07 & 08 | 09 & 10 | 11 & 12 |
Family By Choice Episodes 13 and 14 Highlights
“You are the one who handed Kim San-ha to me.”
Unlike San-ha’s toxic mother, who only thinks about herself and keeps throwing fits, blaming San-ha for her condition, Hae-joon’s mother genuinely cares for him and only avoids him out of concern her criminal record would make his life tough. (The look on San-ha’s face while wondering how different those women are broke my heart.) Luckily, Ju-won’s words about how much Hae-joon misses his mother get through to Hae-joon’s mother, but it might take some time for Hae-joon’s mother to muster up the courage to reach out to him.
Awaiting San-ha at home is a terrible surprise in the form of his mother, who has come to throw another fit about how selfish San-ha is, leaving her behind. That woman needs a mental checkup! And when San-ha stands up for himself, she slaps him. Poor San-ha has difficulty breathing and wants to reach out to Ju-won so badly, yet he stops himself short before he rings the bell and crumbles before the door.
Dropping off clothes for San-ha, Ju-won asks him about what happened with his mother and if he was okay. Acting tough, Ju-won tells San-ha to return to Seoul if needed, promising to visit often. But San-ha wants to stay with Ju-won, asking her to hold onto him and not let him go. Running into San-ha’s toxic mother at the hospital, Ju-won stands her ground and reminds San-ha’s mother of how she handed San-ha over to Ju-won when she left away. Thus, Ju-won won’t let her take San-ha back. Way to go, girl!
“While you were living like that, all I did was resent you.”
Spotting San-ha’s insomnia pills, Hae-joon scolds San-ha for keeping his pain to himself. If he can’t sleep, they can go for a run or drink together. Hilariously, the two guys spend the night drinking and get knocked out unconscious. Over lunch, San-ha tells the family how much he missed them while he was in Seoul but couldn’t come because of his mother. It might be a baby step, yet it is still progress. Hopefully, San-ha will stop keeping things to himself and open up to his family about his pain.
Returning the favor, San-ha visits Hae-joon’s mother. He knows she has never abandoned Hae-joon. But it is Hae-joon who needs to hear those words from her so that he can be at peace Unluckily, the mother and son’s meeting happens before either is ready. Confronting his mother, Hae-joon argues he came to see her every day but couldn’t make sense of why she hadn’t reached out to him even once if she was doing fine. Both mother and son are crying, yet unless Hae-joon learns the truth, he will keep hurting.
Reaching out to Dal, Hae-joon realizes he should have asked his mother about her reason for not coming to see him instead of staying mad. But when Hae-joon learns his mother couldn’t come to see him because she almost went to prison after she accidentally killed a man who tried to sexually harass her, he gets fuming. All this time, he resented her and tried to hate her, wholly oblivious to how tough her life was.
Things get worse when Hae-joon realizes Dad Yoon knew about it too, but kept it from him. Why does everyone around Hae-joon make him out to be stupid? Hae-joon is crying his eyes out and his mother is crying too. It is such a tear-jerking scene, but at least everything is out in the open now. Everyone, minus Dad Kim, gathers for a meal, giving us a parallel from when our trio had their first meal together as children with Dad Yoon and Hae-joon’s mother. Who knows? Hae-joon’s mother might join the family soon, given Dad Yoon’s obvious crush on her.
“Have you gone mad? Get away from her.”
Meanwhile, San-ha and Ju-won get caught out by Hae-joon who is shocked to hear they are dating and doesn’t take the news well, worried that he will be the odd one out if Ju-won and San-ha end up getting married. Luckily, it doesn’t take long for Hae-joon to realize he is being unreasonable and come around, playing Ju-won’s elder brother, setting rules for San-ha and Ju-won to follow and offering to mediate if the dads oppose San-ha and Ju-won’s relationship. We end this week with San-ha dropping the news and the dads too shocked to say a word.
Further, we get some progress about the other two, with Hae-joon getting worried about Dal staying out overnight and feeling relieved when he learns she doesn’t have a boyfriend. When Dal sprains her ankle, Hae-joon acts like her caregiver even after she takes the cast off. But this is it. Clueless Hae-joon still believes Dal’s first love is San-ha and the poor girl has to spell it out to Hae-joon so that he realizes she likes him. Embarrassed, Dal flees away before hearing Hae-joon’s reply. And I just can’t with those two. There is only one week left. Date already!
Family By Choice Episodes 13 and 14 Musings
I am happy with where we got this week in terms of romance and character growth. San-ha learned to share his pain and Hae-joon reconciled with his mother. Still, Ju-won standing up to San-ha’s toxic mother tops it all for me. Dal confessing out loud in the street was hilarious yet that was the only way to get through Hae-joon’s thick skull. Hopefully, they will soon join San-ha and Ju-won in the romance department. The dads might be shocked at the news for now, but I doubt it will take long to get their blessings.
With only one week left, I hope we quickly wrap up San-ha’s mother’s arc so we can relish in the happy endings of those beautiful characters. And I won’t mind getting a wedding for Dad Yoon and Hae-joon’s mother and maybe another one for Ju-won and San-ha too.
Photos and Videos: JTBC Drama
