Reply 1994
I had no inclination to get sucked into the Reply series. I originally didn't know who any of the actors were and since I'm not Korean, 90's Korea held very little appeal. I thought that there would be references that would completely go over my head and I wouldn't be warped into the nostalgia that I thought was the purpose of the show. Then a very handsome man appeared on Three Meals a Day named Son Ho-Jun, and I was a bit smitten. So of course I was compelled to google stalk him and I found a YouTube clip of him speaking. It was in Korean and there were no English subtitles. So I had to continue google stalking him until I found a show called Boys Over Flowers. Two other ridiculously handsome men named Baro and Yoo Yeon-Seok were in the show as well as cast members of Reply 1994. So I tried watching the first episode, and I couldn't get through the first five minutes. I felt disappointed but I quickly put it out of my head. A few months later Reply 1988 is all over the place and I literally had nothing to watch so I binge watched the first 10 episodes and I fell in love. So I decided to give Reply 1994 another try and I have to say, I'm ecstatic that I did. This show was incredible.Reply 1994 follows the stories of a group of college kids who attend college in Seoul, Korea. They are country bumpkins who are adjusting to their new lives in a new place. The story is primarily narrated by Sung Na-Jung played by Go Ara. The purpose of the show is for the audience to figure out who she marries. Maybe she marries the guy who has very little common sense but excels in academics and is in school to be a doctor, but just so happens to be a close family friend, affectionately nicked named "Trash" played by Jung Woo. Maybe she ends up marrying Chil-Bong, who is destined to be the next great star in baseball, played by Yoo Yeon-Seok. Both are great catches, and the audience is quickly divided into Team Trash and Team Chil Bong. No matter who is chosen in the end the journey to getting there is incredible. It took me three days to binge watch because the episodes are basically an hour and a half. I laughed, I cried, and I got mad. This shows is a wonderful display of what true camaraderie is. The friends fight, physically and verbally. They make up, they develop romantic feelings with each other. It's awesome. Pretty much everything you want in a drama, this show offers it. I have not watched Reply 1997, and when I was reading comments there were a lot of references that 1997 was better, all I have to say is Reply 1994 is a great, solid story on its own. I would def recommend starting it from the second episode and then binge watching it over the weekend.
