I had expected it to be a step ahead but is a bit louder than ‘Reply 1988’. People change & so do the stories. The struggles are different & so are the successes. I plan to compare them today.
The protagonist is a simple girl with few expectations. In 1988, the friends lived in the same lane but in different houses. Here the girl’s family runs a boarding house so the inmates reside in the same house in different rooms. Go Ara the protagonist gets married in the end, there her elder sister gets married & they decide to get married a year later.
Her elder sister was a brilliant student & is a student in the Seoul University. Here she is the freshmen at the computer dept. & has a persistent back pain.She works hard in the house cleaning,dusting generally helping her mother.
In 1988, she had a younger brother who sang well & was a delight to have around. Here,she has lost her older brother years ago but his friend stays with them. He is there for her like a older brother. But she has started having feelings for him which she admits but being ‘April Fool’s day’ he dismisses it.
In 1988, her sister gets married to Sun Woo, a medical student & her first love. Here, her first love is again a medical student but things are complicated as she has to face him everyday. The cancer patient he is looking after has two small children ,7 year olds, one of them is Sun Woo!
The two boarders from the countryside have a great time in Seoul. There is a silent girl whose face is covered with her hair. But she has a temper! There is one more bot who is curious about everything but hates to attend classes. He is often accompanied by his cousin who is a sportsman. He is gradually falling for Sung Na-jung , our protagonist. The two options are clear at this stage, either her ‘So-called’ brother or the sportsman. She has revealed in the beginning that one of them is her husband, so which one?
The three mothers in 1988 were great friends & they dealt with menopause with each others help. Here, the mother is having a hard time alone. Trash or the medical student then asks her husband to be more sympathetic to her. The joint families disintegrated & health issues erupted which were taken care of smoothly. The pace of life & no time to spend has its own drawbacks.
In 1988,Ryu Jun-yeol as Kim Jung arranges a surprise wedding party for his mother to lift her spirits. Here the two telephone conversations are memorable between two sons & their mother. Yoo Yeon seok’s mother is getting married & he can’t make it. On the insistence of his coach & his wife he rings her up. That talk is one of the classic I have ever witnessed!
The other one is by Son ho joon who is irritated by his mother’s phone calls. When he hears of an explosion near by he rings up his mother who is unavailable. Then she picks up to say she was next door. She reminds him of the pickle which he hasn’t even touched. He reaches for the bottle & tastes with his fingers. The anxiety writ on his face & his desperation to hear her voice makes your heart go out to him!
A few moments have been caught beautifully on the camera! Kudos to the director. It is never easy to recapture the magic again! But it gradually grows on you, for sure.
Asian Entertainment 