What have I been doing this week? I’m glad you asked! Here’s what’s been on my watchlist this week:

TV

Reply 1997 (2012)

Oh, Reply series, how you do make me nostalgic. It’s even funnier that I didn’t actually live through this time as a teenager, being a 5-year-old at the time, let alone in Busan of all places. But the sense that I got from this show is that it has the universal theme of longing for a time that’s gone. Add to that the group dynamics, which Writer Lee clearly enjoys exploring (having done that several times since this in her other shows too), and the 90s styling and you get the perfect recreation, not necessarily as it was, but of how we look back on it with our rose-tinted glasses.

The friend group obviously forms the heart of the show, making you laugh, cry and die of secondhand embarrassment right alongside them (I loved it every time Seong-jae (Lee Si-eon) was on my screen). But by far, the show stealers were the parents. Sung Dong-il and Lee Il-hwa were pitch-perfect as the overbearing dad who didn’t understand his daughter and the laissez-faire mom who was always ready to feed an army. 

The fangirl aspects of the show were probably the thing that felt the most Dramatic, in that they were usually the bits that seemed the most unrealistic, the most exaggerated. I find it hard to believe in that level of commitment to anything, let alone a boyband. But maybe that’s just the cynic in me. Reply 1997 delved into the nature of that relationship, and showed that it wasn’t just about enjoying the music, but it was also about making friends (and enemies) and feeling a sense of belonging when others in your life can’t understand or accept you.

While I liked the framework of the high school reunion to establish the setting for the show, one aspect that I felt could have worked slightly better was the romance mystery. At times, it really felt like we were being given rather weak red herrings, and it wasn’t the most convincing. But it was exciting to see the couple grow and become aware of their feelings for one another, even if it did take forever for them to get there. 

I’m looking forward to the next one in the series, although I have heard that it doesn’t have quite the same charm as this one. But at least I’ll have Sung Dong-il and Lee Il-hwa to keep me entertained.