Original vs remake (I saw them back-to-back).

TLDR: Skip to the last paragraph (the verdict).


I won't mention every single change. Just the ones I feel are relevant. Green is the original; red is the remake.


1) Bad changes:

In many scenes of his episode, we see HECTOR interacting with his children. It shows that he's a good father who found a middle ground between strict (like HARRY) and lenient (like ROSIE & GARY).
We barely see HECTOR interacting with his children in his episode. All he is to the viewer is a cheating jerk with no redeeming qualities. Also, there's no contrast between him and the opposite poles of parenting (one of the show's main themes).

KOULA buys tickets for the family to travel to Greece on HARRY & AISHA's anniversary. She doesn't like the idea because they had already planned another trip and because they want to be alone on said occasion. It's a sign of KOULA being too intrusive.
KOULA buys tickets for the family to travel to Greece only because of HARRY's birthday. AISHA doesn't like the idea because of her job and because she doesn't like spending too much time with HARRY's family. It's not that big of a deal, so it's hard to be on AISHA's side.

During his birthday, HECTOR and CONNIE are sitting outside in front of everyone. They put their knees together. ANOUK sees them and starts suspecting.
During his birthday, HECTOR and CONNIE are hiding. They hold hands for a moment. ANOUK sees them and immediately knows what's going on. Do the makers have something against subtle body language? Why did they make it so obvious?

HARRY tries to apologize for slapping HUGO, but ROSIE immediately says "Not accepted". He keeps trying, but she says all kinds of insults. This goes on for a few minutes until he snaps. While kicking the chair was a sign of serious anger issues, anyone would've stormed off like he did. The viewer can identify with him. Also, the way ROSIE still manages to act like a victim during all of this makes the scene even more complex.
HARRY tries to apologize for slapping HUGO. While ROSIE is defensive, she still seems open to accepting it. HARRY then offers them money, which is an insult. He snaps immediately after just one accusation, showing him once again as an aggressive *beep* Not to mention that the accusation (that he was abusive towards his wife) was true.

CONNIE's episode is about her dealing with sexuality (there's even a scene where she masturbates in the tub).
CONNIE's episode is about her dealing with daddy issues. It's less complex and a lame cliché as to why a woman would fall for an older man.

CONNIE shows up at HECTOR's house unannounced, even though he had made it clear that they couldn't be together anymore. He's afraid that his kids will wake up, so he talks to her like a stalker he's trying to get rid off.
HECTOR and CONNIE go to an art gallery. He wants them to be friends but she doesn't, so they argue and she leaves. It's not as exciting to watch.

JAMIE doesn't want to be with ANOUK after finding out she's pregnant.
ANOUK doesn't want to be with JAMIE after finding out she's pregnant. He insists and they stay together... until the final episode, where she casually mentions that it didn't work out. No explanation is given.

2) Good changes:

A different character is the protagonist in each episode. They appear in every scene. The slap incident is overshadowed by unrelated subplots and the viewer waits and waits for it to be re-visited. This is more obvious in MANOLIS and RITCHIE's episodes.
A different character is the protagonist in each episode. They don't appear in every scene, because everyone share screentime. The slap incident isn't overshadowed by unrelated subplots very much and the story advances faster. MANOLIS and RITCHIE's episodes were completely re-written so they could be tied to the incident as much as the other characters.

After HECTOR rejects her, CONNIE goes to a party and runs into a classmate who likes her. They start having sex there, but they stop. It turns out he's a really nice guy who's concerned about her.
After HECTOR rejects her, CONNIE goes to a party and runs into a classmate who likes her. She ignores him, tries and fails to hook up with RITCHIE, and then leaves. The next day, she visits her late father's lover. These scenes are a lot less melodramatic.

HECTOR confesses his affair to AISHA, but doesn't say with whom. In the final episode, it's implied that AISHA puts 2 and 2 together and realizes that CONNIE was the lover. This happens during a misunderstanding with ROSIE, so at first sight it seems like AISHA fires CONNIE just because she's taking out her anger on her (it's most likely that CONNIE sees it this way too).
HECTOR confesses his affair with CONNIE to AISHA. AISHA confronts her about it. The way it's all handled isn't as original or deep.

ROSIE's episode is #5. Since the trial ends there, the rest of the episodes feel like the story is being stretched.
ROSIE's episode is #7 (the second-to-last). The trial ends in the next episode and there's enough time for an epilogue.

RITCHIE tries to kills himself by taking many pills in his bathroom, because he was humiliated and thinks he lost CONNIE as a friend. I wouldn't say that's bad enough to justify doing that. Not to mention that there weren't hints that he was suicidal.
RITCHIE goes to one of his special places to drink a bottle of wine and then kill himself, because everyone knows the past he was trying to bury. That's much worse, so it's justified. Also, said past includes a suicide attempt, so the situation makes sense narratively.

3) Neutral changes:

GARY is a drunk. He has been for a long time. Once, when HUGO was a baby, ROSIE abandoned him so she could help GARY. He gets worse during ROSIE's episode. They fight a lot because of that and because they don't agree on how to raise HUGO. These scenes are powerful, but they can easily confuse the viewer since not enough hints had been shown in previous episodes.
GARY was drunk at HECTOR's birthday, but it's not something recurring. He and ROSIE fight only because they don't agree on how to deal with the slap incident. All of this is more consistent. However, the revelation that she had abandoned HUGO as a baby makes no sense now. Actually, no explanation for that was given.

HUGO is an unbearable brat.
HUGO only acts like a brat in the 1st episode. He's not a saint during the rest, but he's not out of control either. He even acts nicely in the last scene. I think this was to show that the slap did work on him. Whether this change was good or bad depends on which parenting methods the viewer agrees with.

4) The main change:

The story is about how an incident creates a chain of events that ends up destroying a group of relatives and friends. Said incident forces them to take sides. Not just because the law is involved, but because they realize they have very different points of view on important things like pareting. The trial ends on a middle ground (HARRY is found guilty but doesn't go to jail)... but it's not enough for ROSIE. AISHA tells HARRY that she'll never forgive him and that she'll only be around him because he's HECTOR's cousin. AISHA comes to the conclusion that marriage is about compromise, so she'll try to forgive HECTOR. You can tell that she doesn't really want to, hinting that their marriage will never be happy again. ROSIE yells at AISHA several times throughout the series because she feels she's taking HARRY's side. As I said above, a misunderstanding happens between AISHA and ROSIE in the final episode. The roles are reversed when AISHA yells at ROSIE. She yells "Why don't you get out of our lives already?!". CONNIE makes up with RITCHIE, but it doesn't seem like she'll be happy anytime soon. The show ends on a montage showing that, while the characters' fates are unknown, they will never be the same people.
The story is about how an incident creates a chain of events that almost ends up destroying a group of relatives and friends. The trial ends on a middle ground (HARRY is found guilty but doesn't go to jail). In the last scene (a flashforward a year or so later), we see that ROSIE & GARY haven't forgiven HARRY, but they're not angry enough to attack him the moment they see him. The rest of the characters get along just fine and they even try to convince ROSIE & GARY to move on. CONNIE and RITCHIE are in college and have seemingly put everything bad behind. Keep in mind that this show isn't just a remake, but also an adaptation of a book. It fails to keep the essence.


Verdict: The premise was enough to make a great drama that would make the viewer question important issues. The original is one of my all-time favorite shows, but (like literally every show) it has flaws. One of them is the lack of focus on the premise, which made me feel a little cheated. The remake manages to fix that a little bit and to improve on other aspects. It's not the shamless cash-grabbing carbon copy that I thought it was after seeing the trailer. Since the 1st episode was almost a shot-for-shot recreation, I thought my fear had become true. I'm glad I was wrong on that, because the remake is a pretty good show. That being said, it's still not as good as the original. The directing and acting aren't as strong and the music score is terrible. While it works as a remake, it fails as an adaptation (something the original succeeded at).