Mid-way Reviews: Reply 1994

Written by Kidge.

I freaking love this show. If I were in the habit of swearing (which I’m not) I would even use expletives to express that love.  But as I am a silver tongued soul, I will simply say that in recent months I have found myself hitting the refresh button on my browser at highly regular intervals on the weekend, in order to check whether the newly subbed episode has arrived yet. I can even be found raging at my laptop vigorously when it decides to overheat and die in the middle of watching said episodes, as I race down my stairs to find a less unreliable viewing instrument. Moving on.

I loved Reply 1997, so my expectations were quite high for this show, even at the beginning, and while the show is by no means perfect, it has managed to exceed my expectations. Which is no mean feat.

The show centres on a family who runs a boarding house in Seoul, which is inhabited by a motley crew of country individuals who are trying to find their feet in the big city lights as they attend university.  The main conceit of the show is the big question of who will marry the heroine? A tomboyish, straight talking gal played by Go Ara. This question is highly addictive, while also being responsible for many a charged netizen argument about which ‘ship’ will ultimately reign victorious. It is also accountable for my continual wish that I hadn’t started watching the show as it was airing, because I am now stuck, like an addict, waiting for each episode, hoping it will shed more light on the question.

And what a question it is! Unlike in Reply 1997, where I was convinced about who the heroine would end up with right from the start, Reply 1994 has successfully made me fall in love with both of the male leads. Oppa and Chilbongie have both cemented themselves into my heart so that whoever ends up with Na-jung, I will still genuinely feel the pang of bittersweet loss for the other. Given the most recent episode, I am feeling like the puzzle is starting to unravel, but I don’t want to call the game over before it’s really over, to paraphrase Yoggi Berra. Suffice to say that I frequently feel like I am melting into a puddle of goo when I watch these two, and their wonderfully played interactions with Go Ara. Well done, Jung Woo and Yoo Yeon-seok, you have ruined me for other male leads.

What is so fantastic about this show is that it is nothing like most other K-dramas out there. It is written and shot with a realism which you just don’t really find in most dramas. The characters and their relationships, platonic or otherwise, are the central focus of the show and the reason why you laugh, cry and generally find yourself completely empathising with their experiences. I truly love all the characters, with their bizarre idiosyncrasies. But mainly I enjoy their interactions with one another, and the way in which you can't help but want to be a part of the boarding house with substitute parents who look after you like you are their own.

The show has had issues with pacing. In reality I think they should have restrained themselves to 16 episodes, rather than the 21 we are now looking forward to. It would have forced the writers to use more concise plotting, and in particular ensure a slightly speedier reveal of certain characters feelings. Oppa’s opaque emotions were a serious frustration for a while there. Plus his motivations were quite weak. I actually think that this was in order to allow Chilbongie the room to grow and become a serious contender in the love triangle. Unfortunately though, I think this has negatively impacted on Oppa’s character and people’s willingness to be taken along with where the love-lines are now heading.

All of this aside, what this show has done so well, is take realistic moments in life and created wonderful characters that you can’t help but fall completely in love with.  Hands up if you stopped and laughed for a good five minutes when Na-jung farted in Chilbongie’s face. Yep, I was rolling on the floor.

So this is my mid way review of these two shows. I’m looking forward to the downhill run, and am pretty sure I will be devo when they are over.

But maybe you feel differently about these shows. Let me know what you think.