Reply 1988 My thoughts.

 

REPLY 1988 REVIEW

 

"A time so warm and pure that it was painful. Can you hear me? If you can, Answer me. My 1988, the days of my youth" Deok Sun. 

 

This line tugs so much that when I think about this series, I still have this lump in my throat.

 

I know that I've watched this series 3 years after its airing. This series never seemed to appeal to me. Its poster does not seem to be that attractive. However, as I've been watching Park Bo Gum’s series lately, I convinced myself to watch just one episode of Reply 1988 series and that if Im not hooked after the 1^st episode, I would stop.

Alas, after the 1^st episode, I just could not stop.  I've spent three nights sleeping around 2am since I have work during daytime.

This series made me laugh and cry so hard all at the same time. The story line, the way the story was told, each character and the simple and relatable plot combined together to produce what I consider to date as my favorite Kdrama.

I love how the characters resolved conflict in a simple approach and talk about uncomfortable and awkward topics in a light manner.

I don’t know maybe because their characters are just 4 years older than me. I want to live in that kind neighborhood. I want a neighbor like Mr. Kim who is a very funny man yet deeply care and love his family.

I want to take care of Taek and teach him the ways of this world. Good thing there’s Deok sun to do that for him.

I want to play with Jin ju and make silly arguments with her.

I want to eat with all these families, taste the ramen of Jung Dong, cucumber kimchi of Sunwoo's Mom, the soybean stew of Deok Sun’s mom and the abalone porridge of Mrs. Kim and the galbi of Ryo.

My heart bleeds for Jeung Wan. I want to comfort him, I want to know if he is happy, if he found someone to love as he loved Deok Sun and for that woman to love him back as much. Yes, he lost several chances to pursue Deok sun, he is not good in expressing his feelings as he is often sarcastic towards Deok sun. Even if Taek took a step back (that was heartbreaking) so Jeung Wan can pursue Deok sun, he still failed to make a move.

Perhaps Taek needed someone like Deoksun in his life more than Jeung Wan. Taek, though a genius, does not know a lot about how to navigate this world. He needs being taken cared of considering how he fails to eat at times, how he has to take pills just so he can sleep, how he does not know how to park or even say no to the point of sometimes being a push over. Deoksun knows how to deal with all those things. And she has been taking care of Taek since their childhood. Hence, it is just right for them to end up together. No one knows better Taek than Deok Sun.

 

Jeung Wan on the other hand is very intelligent and a strong person. He knows how to go about this life. He also has strong EQ I think. And he still has both parents, unlike Taek whose mom died when he was young. Jeung Wan I think is resilient and is able to deal with this “rejection” well.

I need to justify the ending because I still feel bad for Jeung Wan and the foregoing reasons will help me somehow deal with this heartbreak.

Farewell to their youth. Farewell Reply 1988 characters. Farewell to my youth. Your memories is stored forever in my heart. I will never look and hear a goat's sound the same way ever again.

Start Up Kdrama short review 1st episode

I like Bae Suzy. Ive watched her in Vagabond and While you were sleeping. Nam Joo Hyuk's portrayal of his role in Weightlifting Fairy is unforgettable. I have high expectations for this drama knowing that these 2 are top Hallyu stars. And the 1st episode I've watched on Netflix did not disappoint. The episode have both heartbreaking and heartwarming scenes and from this episode, I look forward to the next ones as I find this drama very promising.

It deals with the internet and tech world in which we live in today but each characters have a back story that are intertwined. Let's see how it goes but I am already excited for Episode 2 tomorrow. 

Update: 

I am predicting another 2nd lead symdrome here. Please don't break my heart like in Reply 1988. I hope in the end the show will be satisfying its audience with happy ending for all the characters including the 2nd lead. 

Quick trip to see the beach with my doggylove

 When ECQ was lifted, I took this furry love to see the beach. Look at him smiling. 😍🐶

Cheese in the Trap Kdrama Review

 

 

CHEESE IN TRAP

In the early 2000s, I used to binge watch Kdramas however I stopped watching as I got busy with work and family life. My interest in Kdramas was revived with Crash Landing on You. I think so far this is my all time favorite. With home quarantine for several weeks, I binge watch several Kdramas like Goblin, Touch my heart, what’s wrong with Secretary Kim, Fight for my way, The heirs, even Boys over flowers, Cinderella and the Four Knights, My Secret Romance, Love Alarm, String Girl Bon Soon. I started watching Kingdom, Marriage Contract, Legend of the Blue Sea but I haven’t finished it yet. I also watch Korean movies like Tune in for Love, and Parasite.

I most recently finished Cheese in the Trap and this series really got me. It got me thinking about how people turned out to be who they are, how others affect them, how their childhood affect them and how differently people turned out to be despite being placed in a similar situation.

Baek In Ho for instance became an orphan, experienced maltreatment in the hands of his aunt and was raised in a wealthy family. He had a falling out with Jeong, the main lead who is like a brother to him all these years. He resented Jeong and blamed him for his misfortune, particularly his career in piano. He seemed tough and a punk and violent on the outside but he is actually caring, does not expect much in return and is hard working. The series showed that he seemed to be happy in the household of Jeong so it is unfortunate that he did not know until the very end of the series why Jeong turned out that way towards him. For me it was not actually about the planned adoption of Bek In ho and his sister by Jeong’s father but rather how he badmouthed jeong to another. Jeong heard that and their relationship went downhill from there. Despite his misfortunes, he just wanted an apology from Jeong but he never gave it to him. Instead jeong asked him if it should be Baek In ho who should apologize to Jeong.

In Ho fell in love with Seol but he did not try to win her, he did not asked that his feelings be reciprocated, he cared for Seol, was there for her always but never made Seol feel that she had to like him back. It was enough for him that he is able to somehow care for Seol and be her friend.

With all the hardships he experienced, he did not become bitter nor vengeful.  Instead, he strived to get out of the mess he created for himself. There was just one instance when he asked for help from Jeong’s father   but the latter reminded him for all the help they got from Jeong’s family. He became angry telling Jeong’s father that he is like his son. This made me realize that most often when people extends help, they somehow feel entitled to later on ask for something from that person later on.

I would like to tell Bael In Ho that indeed in this world there is no free loader, only God can give to us no matter how undeserving we are. He only wants us to love Him back with all that we are because He knows that we can only be truly happy with Him.

Seol is intelligent, hardworking and tries to understand people even if they are abusing her kindness. Despite that, she did not become bitter but she just learned to stand up to them and not allow them to trample on her. She just keeps her emotions bottled inside until she blows up.

The character of Jeong is the one that really affected me. His father has anger management issues so when he sees that his son is becoming like him, he tried to do something for his son to prevent him from becoming like him. Instead, his son got so much worse than he is. Jeong  was taught not to show anger specially in front of people and to instead just smile. Jeong learned well to just suppress his feelings, learned not to show his true feelings. He learned to smile at people whom he is angry with. In the process, he became vindictive, manipulative without remorse.

There are sides of him that is childlike and playful. He is intelligent, he excels in what he does. However, being a rich kid, people suck up to him, taking advantage of him, asking him for favors. I think because of this, he does not easily warm up to people and when people call him weird or think differently of him makes him angry. Instead of showing  his anger, he will just manipulate people and scheme into ruining their lives. Being rich and well connected, he is very capable of doing this. And he seemed to not having any remorse at all.

I could not blame him entirely. He was raised as such as a child. With In ho, they seemed to be brothers growing up but it turned out, it was In Ho and his sister who spied on Jeong and reported what he was doing to Jeong’s dad. In ho of course being beholden to Jeong’s dad had to. However, Jeong felt betrayed and what broke the camel’s back so to speak was when he heard In ho bad mouthing him to another person.

When people “sin” against him, he would manipulate and scheme to execute his revenge. Jeong was not even remorseful, justifying his actions as not his even his he is the one who manipulates. He did not care about the consequences of his actions and how ruins other people’s lives.

I think he loves Seol because in more ways than one, they seemed to be similar. People suck up to them to get favors, Seol, because she is intelligent and patient. Jeong, because he is rich. While Seol tries to put up with these people and understand them to the point of being a push over. Jeong on the other hand responds differently, he would instead take revenge. He smiles and act all friendly in front but he is actually vindictive.

It is only when Seol got badly hurt that he realized the consequences of his actions. That his manipulation of people that eventually hurt Seol.

 

What I learned from this series is while we cannot control how people act towards us, we can control how we respond. As much as possible, we don’t go around hurting people, being all vindictive towards them.  We do not need to be always right nor proven right. We don’t need to have every mistake or sin against us be corrected if in the process we also hurt others. This can only be done if we have a right relationship with God. We are able to forgive, we are capable of understanding where they are coming from and even pray about them. Then we can somehow live in peace and extend help when we can even to someone we don’t like.