ANSWER ME, MY YOUTH

A few years ago, i stumbled upon a show called Reply 1997. It ended up as one of my favourite shows of all time. Reply was a big hit and since then it had spawned 2 other series under its name: Reply 1994 and Reply 1988. Concept is the same. A heartwarming nolstagic drama about youth and friendship set in a certain time period while keeping you on the fence on which male lead the female character ended up with. I've watched all 3 series (didn't finish 1994 because it simply couldn't live up to the standards of the first series but was still a good show nevertheless) and my favourite has to be Reply 1988 - which is the latest instalment. Which i had just finished like 30 mins ago, haha.

I really like 1988 a lot. At first i thought i wouldn't make it through because every episode was about 90min long (omg!) and the beginning was quite slow. But i ended up loving it more than 1994 and 1997 because of them feels.

The only irritating part is the love story of the main characters. Honestly, the development was so sucky that i felt unsatisfied even though the pair i was rooting for ended up together. For the past 2 series, the love story was the biggest selling point of the show. The whole keeping-you-on-your-toes on who the husband is, giving you clues but making you confused... it was a great ploy. But it failed on Reply 1988 mainly because the adult male character didn't get his character correct which misled me and made me mad because it felt like my emotions were being played with grrr. Just thinking about it makes me mad.

But what made up for it was the friendship and kinship stories. Unlike the previous series, 1988 focused on the stories of the side characters as well. Every episode was an insight to a certain character and his/her story and about the relationship between each and every character... The friendship of the neighbourhood ajummas, the support group between the fathers, the mother and child relationship, the community etc... it truly was a neighbourhood drama. There were so many scenes where i teared up that has nothing to do with the love story (in fact i didn't cry during the love story scenes lol) - when Il Hwa ran in the rain with her bleeding stubbed toe just to protect her daughter, when Bora bought her father a shirt that was way too small and yet her father insisted on wearing it everyday, when Bora bought a pair of shoes for her father to wear during her wedding but it was too big this time round so he had to stuff it with tissues to walk her down the aisle and Bora just cried uncontrollably when she noticed it (so did i T_T), when Jung Bong and Jung Hwan realised that their mom could not read romanised alphabets at all because she was only a elementary school grad (she was portrayed as a superwoman who could do everything in the show)...

And there were also many small moments like how DongRyong ran away from home because of the lack of love in his family, or how Mi Ran went through her menopause and her family supported her through it, I felt as though i journeyed through their lives and it was so heartwarming. Words can't describe how much i am in love with Reply 1988 so I'm just gonna slap in some videos (hahahaha i love that the sheep's bleh during awkward moments).









There were so many funny moments, i wished i could show them all! It makes me warm and fuzzy looking back at past episodes. And even though all the characters are superb and awesome, this woman is the bomb.

Someone give this lady an Oscar please.

Nostalgia plays a big factor to the popularity of the Reply series because who doesn't have fond childhood memories that they can think back on? I met up with my primary school friends a few days ago and since most of us watch the Reply series (thanks to my recommendation ;D), we started to talk about the show. And as per every meet up, we talked about the old times as well. And you know what? As we were chatting and laughing over our lives (and the characters'), it hit me that everyone has their own Reply series. Within the 4 of us, our Reply lies in the days where we always gathered at YL's house after school to eat fishballs, heading over to SH's house to play Sims, the red brief hanging on gate of our room in camp, the nights in camp that i comforted SH as she cried for her mother, the mornings that i braided her hair because she doesn't know how to tie, the moment when i wanted to call home from camp one morning but ended up dialling XY's house number due to fatigue and familiarity....

So grateful for this bunch of girls whom has walked with me for more than a decade. So thankful for this friendship that has survived time, separation, life and arguments. We are going to continue this through the next decade and the decade after that and the decade after that and i am excited to go through the rest of my life with them.

This is my Reply 2006: the last year of my primary school days and the year our friendship cemented forever.