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I think I have a major thing with this kind of stories. Reply 1988 is a beautifully written story about everything we left in 1988; a time so warm and innocent, we can't help but crave.
In this humble drama of life, we are travelling back in time with grown-up Sung Deok Sun (Hyeri) and her youth. The year is 1988 and in the street of Ssangmun-dong we are caught up with her four bestfriends Kim Jung Hwan (Ryu Jun Yeol), Choi Taek (Park Bo Gum), Sun Woo (Go Kyung Pyo), Dong Ryong (Lee Dong Hwi) and their families living side by side. There are a lot of characters, and it is amazing how I fell in love with each of them, especially the parents, that is not left as a mere background characters. In fact, the best moments in Reply 1988 lies in them.
Our heroine Duk Seon is not a bright student nor specifically talented, but it is crystal clear that she indeed has the golden heart. True to the Reply franchise arc, one of the guy she bestfriends with would be her future husband and the guessing game is strong in this one. The amazing writing creates such a beautiful story of ordinary lives they are living with real and relatable dilema without making it lagging.
If there's anything more, the characterization is something real and worth all the praise of people you'd really want to know in real life. When at some point in this drama the kids grow up to be a maturer version of themselves, I'm glad. Yet a part of me can never let go their youth carefree personas that lives in Ssangmun-dong. But as how life always be, it goes on and we move on. I love Reply 1988 because it is a motion production that can make you laugh so hard and cry a river in one particular hour. In Reply 1988, everything is about feeling and emotion, an epitome of heartfelt love about how family becomes friend and friend becomes family. So much stories that are revolving in the tiniest act of love, and you are to envy their neighbourhood, bonds, and eventually, lives. Say no more to my favorite K-drama of all time.
"I couldn't return to my youth, and I couldn't return to that street either. Time flows, everything passes by, and ages. The reason that youth is beautiful is because of that. Because at a brilliant moment, you shine so brightly that it's blinding, but you can never go back." (Sung Deok Sun)
x, Michelle
