Kdrama Review: Reply 1988

Drama: Reply 1988 (this link for Netflix watching, though I watched it on Viki since their subtitles are so much better and correct.)
Genre: melodrama
Starring: Park Bo Gum, Hyeri, Ryu Jun Yeol, Go Kyung Pyo, Lee Dong Hwi
Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤


It only took me two months! But I'm finally done with this drama and with that, also done with the whole Reply series... a goal since lock down began back in March! WHEW!

This last one centers on five families living on the same street in the middle of Seoul. Several of the kids (4 boys and a girl... of course) are the same age and have grown up together all these years. We join them in 1988 when they are about to enter their senior year in high school.

It's so fun remembering how life was back then. Also seeing how similar (and different too) life was in Seoul compared to here, since I totally remember 1988. (Doesn't seem that long ago really.)

Anyway, these families are all best friends. The parents AND the kids. The drama has no plot, only we the viewers experiencing life with them. School stress, work stress, health stress, romantic stress and etc. It's all total character based, and I love it. So much. As with the other Reply dramas, these characters have become part of my life and it's going to be weird to let them go and move on!

So it's mainly the relationships between friends, siblings, spouses, kids with their parents and etc. I related to so much of it.

There isn't a whole lot of romance in this one... but of course, two of the boys fall in love with the girl, and she is actually pretty clueless. They hold this secret in their heart for years until the both of them start understanding that each other have feelings. And the both of them are so sweet and nice that their tendency is to give up and let the other guy win.. .until their feelings for the girl override that and they want to fight for her. Gah. It's so painful! And yet, they remain friends throughout the whole thing. Of course I am always rooting for the boy who DOESN'T win in the end. Sigh. Always.

One of my favorite parts about this drama was the massive amount of music they used. All the old songs, both Korean and Western, from this era. I loved it so much! There are lots of playlists on Spotify that claim to have found and gathered all these songs, so I found one to follow and listen to now whenever I'm feeling nostalgic. So good.

Let's see if I can find a little trailer: (Nope I can't find a good one... but there's a song from it that highlights the relationship between these friends.)






But this one is my favorite song of the lot.. and these clips show more stuff, like the importance of music, food and family:




Seriously though. All these dramas in this Reply series have been so heart warming and full of life and perfect to watch during this hard time. I've really enjoyed this experience.