Reply 1988

Episodes: 20 

Synopsis: 

This reply drama takes place in the late 1980s as five childhood friends live together in the same Ssangmundong neighborhood of Seoul. They played with each other as children growing up and now reply on one another during their transitions from teenagers to adults. Each of the characters came from a different family background and it was interesting to see the way they bond with one another and how they resolve familial issues. Sung Deok Sun (Hyeri) struggles for attention as the middle child in her poor family. She's the goofball among their friends and also isnt the smartest of the bunch. Kim Jung Hwan (Ryu Jun Yeol) is obsessed with soccer and hopes to be a fighter pilot one day. He lives with his parents and his brother (who has been trying repeatedly to get into college). His family became rich overnight and he was the richest among his group  of friends. Sung Sun Woo (Ko Gyung Pyo) is the perfect son and perfect student. Living with his mother and little sister, he holds a lot of responsibility as he struggles with his family's financial issues and holds on to the memory of his past father. Ryu Dong Ryong (Lee Dong Hwi) is the son of the school's dean. Rather than being smart, he focuses on trivial facts such as girls and so forth. He struggles with his parents constantly working and not paying attention to him. Choi Taek (Park Bo Gum) is a genius baduk player who dropped out of school to be a professional baduk player. This drama follows these characters and their families around as they transition to adulthood and move on to new phases of their life. 

Review: 

      I definitely liked this a lot because this drama not only portrayed the times back then but also managed to show off the charm of the neighborhoods back then and the connections between people. The friendliness between the neighbors was endearing to watch and it made a lot of people, not only myself, look back on the simplistic ways we used to live and interact with one another back then. The scene with all the mothers calling for their children to come eat dinner from their doorsteps was very interestingly filmed and brought a lot of life to this drama in the beginning. I loved how all the families were portrayed differently as were the relationships the characters had with each other. The different ways families functioned and their different statuses in wealth and the jobs they did all played a role in making this drama so realistic. That's the thing with the Reply series. The characters and relationships are all portrayed very realistically---a slice of life---and the story lines are also very realistic yet endearing. It's the sort of drama that makes you see the romance in daily life.

     Once again this drama played with our hearts as we tried to figure out who Deok Sun's future husband is. It rotated between Choi Taek and Kim Jung Hwan throughout the drama. I liked both boys because they both really liked Deok Sun but in different ways. I liked the silent watchfulness of Kim Jung Hwan and the way he teased her when confronted on anything. They were playful and normal. You could see he tried to hide his feelings and sort of maintain their old way of friendship while slowly shifting to something more. I also liked Taek's kindness and the way he smiled so brightly around her. Even when he was tired or feeling down, he would always smile upon seeing her. Personally, I was drawn more to Taek but I do know a lot of people who rooted for Jung Hwan. For me, I was always on Taek's side. His simplicity, his smile, and the way he was always the nice, quiet type made me fall for him.
      This drama made me cry so much at the end. Not because it was sad but rather it filled me with nostalgia and gave me all the feels. I think this is probably my favorite Reply drama out of all the Reply dramas. And that says a lot because the Reply series are probably some of the best dramas I've watched. But this one really gave me so many feels and told me to remember to cherish my youth, my friends who are also in their youth, my parents who will never be as young as they are now, and so forth. Absolutely amazing drama about growth, life, and romance.