[ENG] Reply 1997

And here it’s the first review! [yeeeey]

This was the last drama I saw and I already miss it so much.

And please excuse any grammar mistakes ok? I’m trying my best. 

Reply 1997, also known as Answer me 1997, has the most different timeline of all the dramas I’ve seen. Usually, we have flashbacks as the story goes right? But Reply 1997 is a big flashback. What?!

The drama starts in 2012, when the main character Sung Shi Won goes to a restaurant and meet her high school class. At this meeting, we know her five friends and their stories, which happened in 1997, and how the past events influenced the present days.

At first I got really confused with this flashbacks  and insights. Yeah, there were flashbacks of flashbacks. An event was told from the end to the beginning, and it was kinda boring sometimes. But you get used to it after all…

Reply 1997 shows their high school daily lifes, their family issues, their relationships and, of course, the first and cruel  first love. But we also see and remember things that made part of our lives in 90’s, such as tamagoshis and VHS.

I really fell in love with all the characters. Sung Shi Won [Jung Eunji] is the eternally fan of H.O.T [she even calls herself “Tony’s wife” – one of the group members], and we can all relate to her fangirl moments. She have strong opinions and her actions goes till limits, and sometimes she’s really a jerk. But who isn’t right?

[I watched tho episodes thinking “OMG she really looks like that girl from A-Pink. And then I researched and IT REALLY IS A-Pink’s vocalist. I’m such an idiot]

Yoon Yoon Jae, her childhood friend, is played by Seo InGuk. I confess that I only started watching Reply 1997 because he was on it [and because of things I’ve read about Hoya’s acting], but I quickly fell in love with Yoon Jae and his personality. It’s impossible to dislike him! And his fights with Shi Won were the best parts. [I just missed Guk’s smiles. I know it was his character personality, but I reeeeally missed it]

Speaking of Hoya, his character Kang Joon Hee was really awesome. Besides being a really sweet and polite boy, he also had a secret that made him sad sometimes. It’s not a spoiler, everyone knows that Hoya acted as an homosexual student. And he was really praised by critics! On an interview, Hoya said that after the drama he was constantly asked about his own sexuality. Which just gives us the proof that he acted really reeeeally well.

Mo Yoo Jung [Shin So Yul], Shi Won’s best friend, was a k-pop fan too – but of another group, and this made their friendship pass through a hard time. She’s funny and cute, absolutely one of my favorite lead characters – even being really annoying sometimes.

The other lead characters were very important in the drama. Bang Sung Jae [Lee Si Un], talkative and very funny, sometimes he talks without thinking, and Do Hak Chan [Eun Ji Won], an transferred student of Seoul, who doesn’t know how to act around girls – besides his peculiar hobbies.

We get to know Shi Won’s family too. His father Sung Dong Il [played by… Sung Dong Il], and her mother Lee Il Hwa [played by… Lee Il Hwa]. I just loved that they used the actor’s names, I don’t know why.

Dong Il’s acting had already impressed me in another drama, but I clapped him watching Reply 1997. He’s a VERY VERY BORING father, and I felt like punching him a lot of times. But after an episode of a really delicated situation he gets through, he changes little by little, and we can see it in his relationship with his wife and daughter.

Shi Won’s mother is comprehensive, but she argues a lot with her husband. And she have a really big problem when she cooks – she makes enough food to feed all South Korea army.

Some family scenes were important and nice too watch, but on the last two episodes I skipped all of them. I was having an attack to find out Who-Was-Him [this is a HUGE spoiler, so I can’t even comment], so I didn’t want to watch any of them. And I didn’t actually missed them, ‘cause they weren’t that important for the final.

The other VERY IMPORTANT character is Yoon Jae’s elder brother, Yoon Tae Woong [Song Jong Ho]. I can’t say his part in the story, ‘cause it’s a big spoiler too – and I didn’t see that coming, but I liked him very very much.

I reeeeeeally loved this drama and the way the story flows, even going back to past so many times. The feeling of saying “OMG THAT’S WHAT THEY WERE SAYING IN 2012”  was great, and I kept laughing alone and creating a lot of theories. I laughed so hard a lot of times, screamed SO MUCH and because of different reasons, and cried A LOT in two scenes. [I cry a lot actually, every day]. But those two scenes of Replt 1997 just killed my poor soul omg.

If I had to choose the best acting, I’d say EunJi’s. She could made the perfect crazy and even sasaeng fan, was funny and also had the seriousness moments. But of course I loved everyone’s acting ok?

AND THAT GOAT. OMG! Every time an awkward moment happened, the goat came along. I had to put it on my cellphone to use it like… always.

It was really worth watching it, and I regret I didn’t do it earlier.

Rate: 9

Tears level: 3/5