Family – Times Two, Part One

part 1 of a 3 part series

A number of months ago I stumbled upon an Asian TV drama with a theme rooted in adoption. (Come to find out, apparently many of their dramas/mini-series touch on this topic.) Nonetheless, this one captured my attention and then my heart and, despite reading subtitles for over six months, I thoroughly enjoyed all 58 (!) episodes. It was extremely well acted and moved my heart beyond words. Unique to this series is that adoption is showcased through two generations and from the viewpoint of both birth and adoptive parents through international and foster care adoptions. Being an adoptive parent myself, it piqued my interest. That one of my best friends adopted brothers from Korea gave me a further reason to watch. I found its core was about how healing adoption can be. It talked about bridging gaps and broadening views regarding what it takes to adopt a child. And that what it takes to parent is, in part, not as much a question as a decision.

Several major storylines intertwine: an Asian man became a doctor in America and returns to serve his birth homeland bringing the medical expertise he gained at Johns Hopkins Hospital, and also hopes to search for his birth family. As he and his wife look for and secure a place to live, viewers learn that he had been in foster care and adopted in the States when he was a young child (presumably six or seven). Another storyline shows parents in their sixties searching for their son. He went missing at around age five after an unexpected fire explosion in the street separated him from his family. They continued to search for him for over 30 years. Finding him was the focal point of their lives.