lirazel | rec: reply 1997

People! Friends of mine! I want to tell you about this girl because she needs to be part of your life. This is Jung Eunji of kpop girl group APink portraying Sung Si Won from Reply 1997, and she is the first realistic depiction of a fangirl I've ever seen on TV. Because she's an actual fangirl: she writes slashfic about her band of choice, she waits in line for hours for tickets and CDs, she knows ridiculous details about her bias that only a real fangirl would know, she has clashes with her dad who wants her to focus more on her studies and less on some stupid band, she guilts her bff into taping their TV appearances when she can't watch them (on VHS of course! This is 1997, after all). And sometimes she takes things too far--no, Si Won, you cannot climb over the wall to Tony-oppa's house! that is not okay!--and is kind of ridiculous, and sometimes the show laughs at her, but never, ever in a mean-hearted or mocking way, because this show loves Si Won and her passion and her wholehearted approach to life. It even allows her to have the most amazing Crowning Moment of Fangirl I could imagine (involving a college application--you'd have to see it to believe it) and it doesn't make her "grow out" of her fangirl ways: she carries them with her right into adulthood, even if she does learn to be a bit more prudent in how she lives them.

And she is why you should watch this show. There are lots of other reasons to watch it, of course: the fact that it has such a great affection for its families, both biological and found; that it understands friendships and gives us great ones that are complicated but beautiful; that it has the most moving, compassionate, and progressive portrayal of a gay character that Korean TV has ever given us; that it has the most amazing OTP (and an absolutely adorable B couple, too!); that it portrays perfectly what it feels like to be a teenager--when your world is both small and cozy like your hometown and so much bigger than you can wrap your mind around--and to take steps into adulthood and make the choices that will shape your life. Those are all fantastic reasons.

But Si Won is the real reason, her and the other fangirls in this show. In a way, I think you could say this series is a love letter to fangirls. WATCH IT. Because sometimes you just want to see someone else who's overcome by fangirl feels:

This show follows Si Won, her parents, and her group of best friends from 1997 up to the present day. The bulk of the series focuses on the late 90s with flashforwards in the form of these high school friends getting together for dinner one night. This is one of those shows you can love completely because it loves its characters completely, because it's low-key and does both humor and heartbreak really, really well. It's kind of slice-of-life, and it does what it does really, really well.

At first I thought I might not be able to invest because I assumed that there would be so many 90s Korean cultural references that I wouldn't get. And there were times when I felt the joke was flying over my head (if that happens to you, I suggest going and reading the episode recap on dramabeans.com to clear things up). But honestly I was so impressed by the way it clearly incorporated so many little details of that time into the show without any of them becoming distracting to someone like me who has zero idea of the Korean cultural landscape at that time. While I felt like there were some humorous things I missed out on, everything was so grounded in character that I really didn't mind much.

And speaking of being rooted in character: I love these characters. So much. Si Won possibly should be annoying, but Eunji is so adorable and lovable that I fell in love with her. Yoon Je, her best friend from childhood and potential ~love interest (WHAT A WONDERFUL OTP Y'ALL) is wonderful, smart and good with just enough of a snarky edge to him that he's fun to watch--but without crossing into jerk territory like a lot of drama heroes. He really is just a good guy. My other favorite character is Joon Hee (played by Infinite's Hoya!) who finds himself in love with Yoon Je, who is his best friend. He is the most precious, lovely character, and I spent most of the show screaming at the screen that he better get a happy ending. But everyone is lovely: Si Won's mom and dad are just delicious drama characters, her bff Yoo Jung is a fantastic bff and totally believable, and the other guys they hang out with end up being fantastic, too. There's also a lovely sibling relationship between Yoon Je and Tae Woong, his older brother, that's really touching.

Basically: I love everyone. This is going up with Shut Up! Flower Boy Band as my favorite drama of the year (and those two are possibly my favorite dramas of all time, actually. I'm not sure what it says that they're both beautiful dramas about teenagers from TvN).

Reply 1997 (also called: Answer Me 1997 and Respond 1997)

Summary: This drama will focus on the extreme fan culture that emerged in the 1990s when idol groups took center stage and K-pop was blossoming. It tells the story of 6 former high school friends from a school in Busan who meet again in 2012 and brings back memories to 1997 when they were still high school students. Moving back and forth between the ’90s and today, the story centers on the life of Sung Shi Won (Jung Eun Ji), who idolizes boyband H.O.T., and her 5 high school friends. - dramawiki
Can be watched on: dramafever.com, hulu.com (not every episode is up on hulu yet, but I expect it will be any day).
Starring: Jung Eun Ji, Seo In Guk, Shin So Yool, Hoya, Eun Ji Won, and Lee Shi Un
Watch it if you like: stories about fangirls, watching Eunji be ADORABLE, 90s nostalgia, beautiful coming-of-age stories, gay characters whose stories aren't from some sort of After School Special, bffs who fall in love, family narratives, found families, gentle humor, bffs who can sometimes hurt each other but love each other fiercely and would do anything for each other, watching characters grow up before your eyes,high school stories,
Why you might not like it: It's not the fastest-moving drama out there (though I don't think it drags. It more...takes its time, and I love that about it), and if you hate high school stories, you might not like this one. If you discover that Eunji grates on you, that might turn you off to it, too, but I haven't heard of anyone that's actually happened to--everyone I've heard of who tried it loved it.

I figured out about halfway through that Yoon Je was Si Won's husband but I was deliriously happy to be proven right. They suit each other so well, the kind of people you can't imagine with anyone else. And I love that they exactly as they always have, even after they get married. It's fun to see them pick at each other when you know just how much they love each other.

And my other main concern with the show: WOULD JOON HEE GET A HAPPY ENDING??? I wanted one so badly for him but I knew that on Korean TV we weren't going to have some guy come in to the restaurant and be introduced as Joon Hee's boyfriend, so I was skeptical that I would get what I wanted. BUT I DID. I really think that seeing him get into that (nice) car with the person who came to pick him up was the absolute best ending we could get for him on Korean TV, and I was totally satisfied with it (~~still trying to decide whether I'd rather it be Dongwoo or Sungjong in that car, but that's another story.~~). He has someone. He has a future. I'm so, so thankful for that. It was beautiful.

Though in my ideal world that I will never live to see, my perfect ending would be Si Won, Yoon Je and Joon Hee all living together in a wonderful OT3 of domestic bliss and snarky love, but of course that wasn't going to happen. I'm asking for fic for Yuletide. Probably.

I thought it was a lovely, lovely drama from start to finish, with only a few small missteps that I can easily overlook considering how lovely it was overall. I'm very happy!