Kdrama Review: Reply 1997

Drama: Reply 1997 (on Netflix)
Genre: Romantic comedy
Starring: Seo In Guk, Jung Eun Ji, Hoya, Eun Ji Won
Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤


There are three dramas in the "Reply" series and I hear about them all the time. Since I was missing Seo In Guk like crazy, I decided it was finally time I jumped into these! Luckily, 1997 (the one with SIG) is suggested as the first one to watch! Then next will be Reply 1994, and then Reply 1988. I'm guessing they all have similar themes which is... a nostalgic trip back in time!

So the premise of Reply 1997 is that our characters are gathered in present day (which was 2012 at the time of the airing of this drama) for the event of their high school reunion. At this gathering, we learn that a couple of them are planning to announce their engagement to each other... and a couple of them are already married and expecting a baby. But they keep the information from us on just exactly WHO and WHICH characters these are!

Instead, in order to answer this question, we flip back in time to when they are in high school, in 1997 and 1998... and see just exactly what went down. And they manage to keep us guessing for nearly the entire drama on who is getting married and who is going to have a baby!

Anyway, it was very nostalgic, even though 1997 does not feel like it was that long ago. This drama reminds us how much technology has changed since then. It's crazy. Also, this was during the time when kpop was just getting going in Korea, and our main girl is a huge fan of one of these very first groups... the one called H.O.T., so it was fun to see clips of them, and clips of what fangirling was like back then. Made me have to look them up and learn their songs for sure!

H.O.T.

Also, one of the characters was played by a dude in Sechkies, another first kpop group, and huge rivals to H.O.T. so it was fun to see how they played into that and I died laughing many times over. So great!

Sechkies
(character in the drama is the dude second from right)

Anyway. Cute drama. Since it's a little on the older side, there were many cheesy moments, and lots of dialogue yelling... but still so sweet and a great commentary on family and friendship relationships. I really enjoyed it all.

And of course it was great to fall in love with Seo In Guk all over again. This guy though. I can't even describe the charisma he has. And such an amazing actor.

How can you resist this face?

(Also I just realized as I'm writing this that Hoya from Infinite was cute guy #2 in this drama. What the heck? How did I not know this before???)

Seo In Guk with Hoya

Here are some scenes set to the the song sung by the stars of the show:







And if you're curious about kpop in the beginning days,  here's a clip of H.O.T. with their most famous song Candy: