Cover These K-drama families will melt your cold, cold heart for the holidays. (Photo: PRIME)
These K-drama families will melt your cold, cold heart for the holidays. (Photo: PRIME)
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Looking to fill your holidays with some Hallyu classics? Binge the stories around these touching K-drama families
Every holiday season, we tell ourselves we’ll avoid the emotional landmines: no crying over fictional people, no late-night “just one more episode” bingeing and no fantasising about moving into someone else’s TV family. And yet here we are. K-dramas have a terrifyingly efficient way of turning food tables, cramped kitchens, and overbearing parents into something sacred: families that feel messy, loud, frustrating, and so real it hurts.
These aren’t fairy-tale households—they bicker, overcook the soup, slam doors, and still show up for each other when it matters. This is the kind of chosen-and-blood family energy that hits hardest when the air smells like food and the year starts to feel heavy. Put simply: these families don’t just warm your heart, they emotionally ambush it.
In case you missed it: 10 most powerful chaebol families in K-dramas
The Ssangmundong neighbours from ‘Reply 1988’ (2015)
Above The Ssangmundong neighbours from ‘Reply 1988’ is what they mean when they say “it takes a village”. As a bonus, the gold standard for neighbours will feed you until you burst (Photo: IMDB)
The Ssangmundong neighbours from ‘Reply 1988’ is what they mean when they say “it takes a village”. As a bonus, the gold standard for neighbours will feed you until you burst (Photo: IMDB)
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You cannot wonder about K-drama families without including at least one from this neighbourhood. Reply 1988 isn’t just a set of families; it’s an emotional ecosystem. The Sung, Kim and Choi households function like one sprawling organism, with doors that are never fully closed and kitchens that always seem to be mid-chaos. Parents discipline each other’s kids, feed them, scold them and protect them without hesitation, creating a version of family that feels communal rather than biological. What makes them so powerful is the lack of perfection. These people are flawed, loud, sometimes selfish and endlessly human. They fight over food, money and small pride, but grief and joy are always shared, never held alone. Watching them feels like stepping into a childhood you don’t remember having but somehow miss.
The Han-Go families from ‘Go Back Couple’ (2017)
Above ‘Go Back Couple’ is time-travelling emotional ambush that makes you want to hug your parents immediately (Photo: IMDB)
‘Go Back Couple’ is time-travelling emotional ambush that makes you want to hug your parents immediately (Photo: IMDB)
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The 2017 drama Go Back Couple understands what adult children rarely admit: we don’t really see our parents until it’s almost too late. Watching Ma Jin-joo (Jang Na-ra) rediscover her mother in the past is like being handed emotional dynamite in every episode.
The parents aren’t background figures in Go Back Couple. Instead, they’re emotional pillars with histories, regrets and impossible love. The show makes you painfully aware of all the moments you’ve missed and all the kindness you’ve overlooked. And yet, it’s not cruel—it’s healing. Different than the other K-drama families on this list, the Han-Go gang turn regret into gratitude and distance into tenderness.
The Cha family from ‘What Happens to My Family?’ (2014)
Above The Cha family from ‘What Happens to My Family?’ teaches you how to love your parents—before it’s too late (Photo: PRIME)
The Cha family from ‘What Happens to My Family?’ teaches you how to love your parents—before it’s too late (Photo: PRIME)
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The Cha family from ‘What Happens to My Family?’ starts in selfishness, entitlement and emotional neglect, but then slowly dismantles all of it. The father, Cha Soon-bong (Yoo Dong-geun), is not a perfect man, but he is a devastatingly devoted one. Watching his children go from self-absorbed adults to people capable of empathy feels like watching a family learn how to love correctly for the first time. The show leans into cultural respect for elders without making it feel outdated or stiff. It instead makes it feel earned. The emotional transformation is slow, painful and deeply satisfying.
The Byun family from ‘My Father is Strange’ (2017)
Above Dysfunctional, loud, and unbreakable: the Byun family from ‘My Father is Strange’ survives everything—while yelling through it all (Photo: IMDB)
Dysfunctional, loud, and unbreakable: the Byun family from ‘My Father is Strange’ survives everything—while yelling through it all (Photo: IMDB)
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The Byun family from ‘My Father is Strange’ is held together by pure chaos and unshakable loyalty. Everyone is in everyone’s business, and no problem is ever faced alone—even when everyone is yelling. The parents are the emotional spine of the household, endlessly sacrificing and endlessly believing in their children even when they shouldn’t. Secrets could tear them apart, but somehow they always resolve into stronger bonds, not fractures. Their love language is noise, interference and complete inability to mind their own affairs. It’s overwhelming and exhausting yet weirdly comforting.
The Baek family of Yongdu-ri from ‘Queen of Tears’ (2024)
Above The Baek family of Yongdu-ri fixes emotional damage with food, noise and zero personal boundaries in ‘Queen of Tears’ (Photo: IMDB)
The Baek family of Yongdu-ri fixes emotional damage with food, noise and zero personal boundaries in ‘Queen of Tears’ (Photo: IMDB)
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The Baek family from Queen of Tears are anti-chaebol culture in its purest, most lovable form. They’re loud, affectionate, nosy and completely unafraid to love a person straight through their emotional frostbite. When Hong Hae-in (Kim Ji-won) enters their world, they don’t tiptoe around her coldness. Rather, they steamroll it with food, concern and aggressive warmth. Their love isn’t subtle; it shows up in full grocery bags, unnecessary check-ins and loud opinions at the dinner table. What makes them special is how they never treat love as conditional. You’re family because they said so, and that’s final. There is no wealth flash here (except they do have over 30 cows), only warmth that feels earned, hardworking and stubbornly sincere.
The Song family from ‘Once Again’ (2020)
Above Divorce, disappointment and deep-fried chicken somehow make up the warmest home in town in ‘Once Again’s (Photo: IMDB)
Divorce, disappointment and deep-fried chicken somehow make up the warmest home in town in ‘Once Again’s (Photo: IMDB)
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Chaos seems to be a defining characteristic of many K-drama families. At first glance, the Song family from Once Again’ should be a stress nightmare: four divorced adult children, a cluttered household and parents who have seen it all and are very tired. And yet, somehow, they become a masterclass in emotional resilience. The parents absorb their children’s returns not with shame, but with an exhausted, unconditional kind of love that feels intensely real. Their fried chicken shop isn’t just a business but a court of emotional reckoning, a place where pride melts and honesty is unavoidable. Each sibling brings confusion, but the house never breaks; it stretches, expands and rebuilds. The result is a warm, hectic portrait of what family looks like after life doesn’t go according to plan.
See more: Your next time travel binge: 6 addictive shows and films to watch after ‘Bon Appétit, Your Majesty’
The Hong family from ‘Hi Bye, Mama!’ (2020)
Above ‘Hi Bye, Mama!’ is one of those K-drama families that prove love doesn’t end when life does. It just changes shape. (Photo: IMDB)
‘Hi Bye, Mama!’ is one of those K-drama families that prove love doesn’t end when life does. It just changes shape. (Photo: IMDB)
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The Hong family from Hi Bye, Mama! carries grief like a living entity in the room, and that’s what makes them unforgettable. They could have collapsed under their loss, but instead, they turn love into their primary survival mechanism. The grandparents don’t just “help” raise Seo-woo (Seo Woo-jin), they love her as if their heartbreak sharpened their devotion. There’s no denial of sadness here; it exists openly, quietly, and constantly. What’s heart-warming isn’t the absence of pain, but how they choose kindness and strength in spite of it. Their version of family isn’t loud—it’s soft, steady and devastatingly sincere.
The Choi family from ‘When the Camellia Blooms’ (2019)
Above A mother and son so tightly bound they feel like their own tiny, invincible universe. (Photo: IMDB)
A mother and son so tightly bound they feel like their own tiny, invincible universe. (Photo: IMDB)
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In When the Camellia Blooms the Choi family is made of only two people, and somehow it feels bigger than most full households. Oh Dong-baek (Gong Hyo-jin) and Pil-gu (Kim Kang-hoon) don’t just love each other, they orbit each other’s emotional worlds completely! Pil-gu isn’t just a son; he’s her quiet protector, emotional anchor,and biggest source of pride. Their strength lies in small, unspoken acts, from lunches packed carefully and silent sacrifices to moments of eye contact that say everything. It’s a portrait of family built on resilience, not convenience. And that makes every scene feel deeply, quietly powerful.
’18 Again’ (2020)
Above The Lee family from ’18 Again’ breaks, bends, and rebuilds—without ever letting go (Photo: IMDB)
The Lee family from ’18 Again’ breaks, bends, and rebuilds—without ever letting go (Photo: IMDB)
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The Lee family from 18 Again is constantly on the brink, emotionally, relationally and spiritually. Yet their love for their children creates a tether that never fully snaps. Watching Hong Dae-young (Yoon Sang-hyun) experience his children’s lives in an 18-year-old body (Lee Do-hyun) turns everything into emotional dynamite. The twins aren’t just side characters; they’re emotionally intelligent, perceptive and fiercely loving in return. The beauty of this family (just like many of the other K-drama families on this list) is how mutual the love is. It is not top-down, but shared. No one loves more; they just love together.
Sasha Lim-Uy Mariposa is a lifestyle journalist who is known for her food writing. Based in Manila, she also covers entertainment and dining, as well as a broad range of topics. She was the former digital editor at Esquire Philippines and was the digital managing editor at Spot.ph, and now writes for the different Tatler Asia markets as a contributing writer for T-Labs.
