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New Kid on the Block
Reply 1988, the third chapter of the Reply series, is a slice of life drama with the underlying theme of finding out who our heroine’s husband is among her group of close childhood friends from the same neighborhood block. But in the end, more than the puzzle itself, it’s the emphasis and focus on family bond, friendship, and love among the five families that kept me engaged throughout the run of the drama. We get drawn into the seemingly mundane yet detailed, likable, and relatable characters. Through Reply 1988, we encounter many day-to-day issues that incite us to be introspective of our own lives. We witness a family struggling to get by financially, a mother who wants her child to open up to her, a father who tries his best to raise his child by himself, and much more. The heartwarming, tear-inducing moments, coupled with perfect timing of situational comedy, make Reply 1988 a nostalgic and remarkable walk down the memory lane.
We get drawn into the seemingly mundane yet detailed, likable, and relatable characters.
Episodes 1-4 Review
In the first few episodes of Reply 1988, we are introduced to our diverse cast of characters from the five families and given a glimpse of the intimate neighborhood dynamics. Our five best friends consist of Sung Deok Sun (Lee Hye Ri), who’s positive and easily excitable in spite of her under-appreciated middle child status; Choi Taek (Park Bo Gum), a very restrained yet famous Baduk (Go) player; Kim Jung Hwan (Ryu Jun Yeol), who doesn’t show his emotions easily and wears a facade of indifference; Sung Sun Woo (Go Kyung Pyo), the filial and kind-hearted model student; and Ryu Dong Ryong (Lee Dong Hwi), the care-free, mischievous one of the group.
We learn a lot about their families too — Deok Sun’s family is struggling to make ends meet with three kids, while Jung Hwan’s family live in luxury from having won the lottery a few years ago. Despite the fact that Deok Sun’s family borrows money from Jung Hwan’s family from time to time, they’re extremely close. Likewise with the other families on the block, the neighborhood not only lives in harmony with each other, but frequently exchange goods like meals and coal. It’s really refreshing to see the communal hospitality and so many people getting along in a drama; I’m used to backstabbing and lies from others.
Something I found concerning yet intriguing is that Taek seems to be weak physically and takes quite a bit of medicine. I’m curious what it’s for, and whether the drama is building up towards something bigger with it. In any case, the opening episodes successfully set up this supportive neighborhood with a tight-knit cast of characters. The only downside for me is that the drama is episodic at times, and the slice of life story telling approach can get a bit long and tiring.
Episodes 5-8 Review
Reply 1988 gets a lot more interesting as we delve deeper into the inner thoughts of our main cast and the emerging chaotic romantic interests among the friends. Deok Sun quickly develops a crush on Sun Woo thinking that his frequent visits to her house suggested that he felt the same way towards her. But her feelings are shattered as she learns the truth behind Sun Woo’s intentions. Nonetheless, it’s hilarious to see Deok Sun’s silly overreactions around Sun Woo during her crush and equally exaggerated angry outbursts at him after the fact.
While Deok Sun is busy paying attention to Sun Woo, we also begin to see other subtle relationship complications around Deok Sun that she doesn’t even realize. For one, while Jung Hwan bickers and jabs at Deok Sun constantly with his too cool for school attitude, it’s all meaningless fun. He’s not very expressive with his emotions and comes off as indifferent towards Deok Sun and his family. But upon a closer look, Jung Hwan is actually a sharp observer and thoughtful guy who takes care of the people around him without leaving a trace, It’s sweet to see him secretly looking out for Deok Sun while she’s completely oblivious to it. As such, Jung Hwan has my vote of approval in being her future husband right now.
Similarly, the drama also drops hints of the socially awkward and innocent Taek’s growing interest in Doek Sun. As unemotional and reticent as he is, Taek always brightens up around Deok Sun and seem to trust and rely on her quite a bit. But because Taek is so quiet, I feel like he won’t confess his feelings any time soon, which keeps me guessing who will ultimately end up being Doek Sun’s husband.
On the other hand, the drama further extends my previous concerns over the health of our characters by showing Jung Hwan getting random nose bleeds here and there. I’m nervous that he may be sick and wonder if it ties in with Taek’s constant pill-popping habit at all. I can’t wait to see where the drama goes with this subplot line and whether these potential illnesses will effect how it chooses Doek Sun’s future husband.
Episodes 9-12 Review
These episodes of Reply 1988 build upon the character dynamics previously established and bring them to life in a very sweet, heartfelt way. The relationship between friends, family, and lovers all come to further fruition here.
These touching moments drive home the importance of family in a realistic way.
Sun Woo’s house gets put up for auction thanks to his grandmother’s hefty debt. It’s heart-breaking to see the staggering problems and pressure the adults face in an already tough life, and how they suppress down their worries and fear to put on a smiling face for their children. So, Sun Woo goes on his daily life unaware of his family’s crisis, because his mom doesn’t want to worry him. Meanwhile, Sun Woo has been nothing but helpful to his mom and a great son — taking care of chores and his sister, all the while getting good grades. He almost seems too good to be true, but I’m glad that the drama builds depth into each character, rather than only focusing on the main ones and letting the others be one-dimensional.
Similarly, Taek’s dad suffers a stroke but was luckily found in time by Deok Sun’s dad. As tears stream down the normally emotionless Taek’s face, he realizes that his father is all that he has and that no matter how busy he is with his competition, he needs to show his dad that he cares about him. These touching moments drive home the importance of family in a realistic way and I have nothing but praise for this emotional and meaningful writing. The drama could have been overbearing or overly exaggerated, but instead, it takes its time to show us the myriad of big and small issues any family may face in the real world.
On the romance front, we see further complications in the love triangle between Deok Sun, Jung Hwan, and Taek. Deok Sun spends more time with Taek and accompanies him to China for his match. It’s evident that she’s the only one who can get him to eat and properly take care of him. But for me, their interaction to date feels too much like mother and son for me to see any romantic potential. Nonetheless, Taek admits to his friends that he likes Deok Sun, much to their surprise.
Deok Sun and Jung Hwan also grow closer with what seems like an unspoken vibe of mutual interest. But after finding out about Taek’s intentions, Jung Hwan starts to hesitate and pull back his feelings, which makes Doek Sun even more confused. Jung Hwan’s actions are understandable, because they’re close friends, but also a little frustrating because I was hoping he would confess soon. And so, the mystery of the identity of Doek Sun’s husband lives on.
Episodes 13-16 Review
These next episodes of Reply 1988 are bittersweet and sentimental, which adds to why they’re great. They present issues that are emotionally delicate and showcase characters’ mental growth and consideration for others through dealing with them.
Character growth weaved through subtle ways shows how thoughtful the drama truly is.
When Taek leaves for his big match in Japan, he shares a quick chat with Deok Sun where he asks her if it’s alright for him to lose and she says yes. This quiet moment seems to mean the world to Taek, who has had nothing but immense pressure for this match. This particular scene stuck out to me, because the once quiet and reserved Taek is starting to express himself more. Whether it’s with his dad on the phone, or with Deok Sun, he is showing gradual yet impactful change. The drama’s ability to weave in such important character growth through subtle ways shows how thoughtful and tangible the writing truly is.
Likewise, the drama demonstrates that losses are not easy to forget through depicting how Sun Woo slowly came to terms with his mother’s newfound happiness. Taek’s single dad and Sun Woo’s single mom are becoming closer and more reliant on each other for company. Sun Woo is clearly bothered by it, but he couldn’t pinpoint the exact reason until after talking about it with his girlfriend and thinking it over a few times. Sun Woo eventually realized that he felt unfair and guilty towards his late father and is worried that his father will be forgotten by the family. But ultimately, Sun Woo decided his mother’s happiness is more important and welcomed Taek’s dad with open arms. This whole situation is so touching that I teared up while watching. It’s really bittersweet and shows Sun Woo’s progress towards maturity.
Meanwhile, the central plot around the identity of Deok Sun’s husband grows even cloudier. Taek, who was planning on confessing to Deok Sun soon, finally caught on to the fact that Jung Hwan also likes Deok Sun. And since Jung Hwan has been hesitating to say anything to Doek Sun for the sake of Taek, it made me wonder if Taek would do the same, which would just make this whole thing unnecessarily roundabout. I appreciate the strong friendship, loyalty, and consideration our characters have for each other, but also hope that the riddle of who is Deok Sun’s husband can be solved soon.
Episodes 17-20 Review
The last episodes of Reply 1988 are sadly a bit anticlimactic and slightly disappointing because I felt that the drama showed inconsistencies at times, left too much unsaid, and focused on things that were unnecessary.
First, there’s a moment where I found Deok Sun’s feelings inconsistent. Taek cancels his plans to see a movie with her after realizing that Jung Hwan likes her. Deok Sun seems disappointed in return and thinks she means nothing to Taek. I found this reaction out of the blue because as far as I can tell, Deok Sun still likes Jung Hwan at this point, so why is she all of a sudden hung up on Taek? It seems that the drama is trying too hard to keep the identity of Deok Sun’s husband up in the air, and as a result, inadvertently made Deok Sun’s feelings come across as fickle and incoherent.
Then, there’s a time skip to 1994, where the five friends have all become adults and making a living in their own way. We finally find out who the husband is, and I felt let down by the way it was set up overall given the outcome. Most of my disappointment comes from how Deok Sun’s romantic feelings were portrayed throughout the drama; they didn’t seem sincere in retrospect, but were used as a tool to create more drama and uncertainty in the show.
Lastly, the drama weaved a long set up of Taek’s pill popping habit, and Jung Hwan’s random nosebleeds throughout, yet none of it materialized into anything, which was unnecessary.
Nonetheless, even the long slice of life episodes and weaker ending won’t stop me from praising Reply 1988 overall. One of the main reasons that I loved this drama so much is that the cast was so natural and believable in conveying the closeness between families and friends. We explored so much about love, not just romantic love, but also familial love. We experienced so much about life, both the big or small bumps in the road and the happiness around the corner. Reply 1988 put on a heartwarming story of parents’ dedication to their children, loyalty among friends, unwavering love between lovers, and much more.
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