I adored all the weirdness, the friendships and the antics that made up the show Reply 1997.  By 2012, I’d watched quite a lot of k-drama’s, but Reply 1997 was the first time I recognized the difference in Seoul dialect and Busan dialect. I had finally become so accustomed to hearing spoken Korean, that it was as clear to me as hearing the difference between New Yorker and a person from Alabama speaking. I re-watched it as it aired. That’s how much I enjoyed the story and the characters. So when a sorta prequel was announced, Answer Me 1994, I knew I wouldn’t watch. And then a third in the series was announced, Answer Me 1988. And again I was definitely not watching.

But three things led me to finally give 1988 a try: The 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, a teaser video for Love in the Moonlight starring Park Bo Geum, and Ryu Jun Yeol.

Thing #1

The teaser video just cracked me up. It’s full of Park Bo Geum’s charming and mischievous personality. He is part of the ensemble of friends in Answer Me 1988 so I wanted to see his acting chops before I committed to a saeguk during a really busy time for me.

Just for kicks, here’s the video:

Thing #2

The 2016 Rio Olympics was about to begin. In 1988 Korea held the Sumer Olympic games. Which is where Answer Me 1988 starts. The heroine has been chosen to participate in the Opening Ceremonies and has to practice. I was feeling nostalgic about having been at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics. One of my cousins was selected to dance at the Atlanta games. I remember her going to a lot of practices as well. And the family sitting all together in front of the one TV in the house watching the Olympics took me back to my own family doing the same. Before streaming and multiple TVs in one house.

Thing #3

I recently finished watching Lucky Romance starring Ryu Jun-yeol. He did such a great job in that show, I wanted to see him in another. That’s how it works with k-drama. You like an actor and then follow he or she down the rabbit hole trying to watch everything they’ve ever worked on.

 

 

I have one more episode to go with Reply 1988 so I’ll be back with a review later. But for now, I gotta watch the Closing Ceremonies at 2016 Rio.