Reply 1997 (2012)

LISTEN TO ME, HE IS NOT A REAL PEOPLE

This review is more for the people who already watched the show and want to hate on Tae Woong; this ethnic household is a Tae Woong hate zone and a Tae Woong hate zone only. Plus, if you haven't watched a 12 year old K-drama classic, that's a little bit on you (this is my plea for you to go to Viki and watch Reply 1997 RIGHT NOW!)

After a recent rewatch, it's like watching this show with adult eyes has made the entire Tae Woong storyline even more insane, which begs the question: who the heck saw this being written, produced, directed, acted, edited and STILL went, "Ohhh yeah, a little more of this, nice, nice, nice." EVERYTHING about Tae Woong and his insanely random and creepy "love" for Shi Won was poorly thought out and irrelevant.

To start off, the Sung Song Joo storyline...because, why. I'm 1000% sure Shi Won was supposed to be an only child but they wanted to shove in a sad past for Tae Woong for somewhere and- what do you know! - why not give Shi Won a DEAD SISTER that he loved? A DEAD SISTER that is first mentioned in episode 8. A DEAD SISTER that doesn't show up in any of the family's official pictures in the living room. A DEAD SISTER that is never mentioned, even in passing, EVER. A DEAD SISTER that dies in a bus crash... and there is ZERO MENTION OF THIS ever even when Shi Won takes the bus alone to Seoul to go to college and tells her mother "don't worry, it's not like I'm going to die or something." Ma'am...the beating and lectures I would get. The agony from my family. And yet, no mention of her DEAD SISTER that DIED this way.

And Song Joo could have been the perfect reason for Tae Woong's misplaced love and obsession with a CHILD 10 years younger to him, especially when he mentions he likes Shi Won's spunk and finds her pretty. The arc could have been about unresolved trauma, lost love, and moving on...instead, he "gives Shi Won up" to his brother? NONSENSE, when she barely liked him at all! You didn't have a fighting chance, uncle-o! OOO the way that "plot twist" made me so mad because he was the one who decided to be a creep and pursue his younger brother's best friend, a CHILD he watched being born and raised, and didn't think for once about his brother's feelings on the topic. Heck, he wanted to TIE DOWN a CHILD 5 minutes before she moved away to college because he loved her that much? NONSENSE! NOOOONSENSE! That's a groomer talk.

The reveal that Shi Won and Yoon Jae liked each other was frankly the most hilarious part of the whole show for me, because tell me why a shittier, uncle version of Oscar Fishtooth from Fish Hooks looked like he was SLAPPED when he heard about it, like this was something SO shocking and outrageous. Like he doesn't get absolutely mogged by his younger, more attractive, more age-appropriate brother. When I catch the writer who put their entire sweat and tears into trying (and FAILING) to convince me this botox peasant was attractive, on God,,, its on SIGHT.

I am his BIGGEST hater, if Tae Woong has no haters I am dead. That weird thing he does with his lips every 2 minutes, where he purses them forward and smiles with 30% teeth capacity, all while serving goofy Justin Beiber in his Youtube era, makes me want to donate my eyes. Because any universe where I have to watch a minimum of 10 extras in the show talk about how hot this fruit seller-looking uncle with the fashion sense of Chinese mob boss #3 is not one I want to witness.

I wish this character died. The end <3

PS: I'm never changing the rating for the show bc I would never do my king and queen Jung Eun Ji and Seo In Guk like that, I love you guys <3

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This review will contain a lot of comparisons with reply 1988 since its the only other one I watched
First of all before watching the reply series I was kinda surprised after reading the sypnosis why it had a huge following but after watching I finally got it it really makes you feel part of their families and struggkes also the humor aspect in this is superb I enjoyed every episode a really nice watch also after 1988 that left me with secong lead syndrom it was nice to see my ship fail
now lets start with the negatives shall we
1- 1988s eps although were very long they were the reason why people got so attached to it so having shorther eps although better for the viewer madee it less reslistic in my own opinion
2-non of the actors in this in my opinion blew me away they were ok at most
3-I think replys biggest strength is the friendship and family aspect however it felt as if it was kinda lacking here with focusing more on the romance which to be honest was kinda my least favorite part about reply1997
4-where are the osts I could literally hear non
even after all of the negatives I think reply1997 is a true gem and would be an enjoyable watch for anyone with a I would say a great approach in having an lgbtq character without all the cliches and stereotypes and with kind of racy jokes that will get you laughing on the ground

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Reply 1997 (2012) - honestly, I only watched it because of Infinite’s Hoya but I didn’t regret watching it. It was one of the peculiar dramas I have seen. At first I didn’t really understand the whole situation in the drama but as I watched it per episode, I came to fully understand the situation. The story is a typical story but because it is ordinary it became extra ordinary and because of the series I came to appreciate kpop and friendship more. The last two episodes are just the best episodes and I really like how the story ends and how they put a thrilling part of it. I really like it.

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Bonita y...... call 911

Lo primero que debo decir es que me ha gustado bastante, más de lo que esperaba. Es la primera de las series de 'Replay' que me engancha desde el primer episodio.

No tengo mucho que decir la verdad salvo que es una buena serie, una típica serie para adolescentes/jóvenes (o para quien quiera verlo). Pero sí hay una cosa que debo decir respecto al triangulo amoroso: TURBIO. Es turbio no sólo porque Tae Woong era el prometido de la hermana muerta de Shi Won (que ya es una gran HOLA???) sino que la diferencia de edad es ENORME; no se trata de una relación sentimental entre un universitario y una chica de ultimo año de instituto.... sino de un PROFESOR, un adulto que estaría en los primeros años de sus 30 y una niña que acaba de cumplir 18. Está mal mires por donde lo mires. Una relación en la que el tio se "enamora" de la mejor amiga de su hermano -a la que ha visto crecer lol-..... no sé, creepy.

Las escenas entre Shin Won y Tae Woong antes de que este se "enamorase" de ella me parecían tiernas y bonitas, porque yo lo veía como un mentor para ella, un hermano mayor (que es lo que debería haber sido ejem ejem) , luego, cuando nos damos cuenta de que le gustaba Shin Won las escenas con ella me resultaron perturbadoras e incómodas...

Luego cuando ella le rechaza y es obvio de que no está enamorada de él ni le gusta y él lo sigue intentando???? me ha caído muy mal por eso. Pero el colmo de todos los colmos es cuando tiene la conversación con Yoon Jae en la cafetería y le dice que como es su hermano le quiere mucho y haría todo por él pero no renunciar a una mujer??? eso ya me pareció horrible. Cancelado por pederasta y mal hermano.

En fin, por lo demás, es una serie normal y la recomiendo.


P.D: Una de las escenas más creepys es cuando Shin Won le pregunta a Tae Woong que por qué le gusta y ella dice: es porque me parezco a mi hermana (recordemos que está muerta) y él responde: al principio era eso... PERDONA???? lol

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I had it on Netflix Spain and I was on holidays in my country, so, these are the reasons why I started to watch this drama. I wasn't convince of the model Reply, and I had started the first chapter twice before decided to continue it.
 I liked the story, it's ok, and although sometimes it's previsible, I liked the idea of not knowing with whom the female lead was going to end.
What I didn't like so much was the female lead and her behaviour as a 3 years old kid. It seemed to over exagerated. At least, it was better after the 4 or 5 first episodes.
 I liked the end and the surprises that the story holds (for example, that the female lead had a sister, the doctor future wife and they encounter for the first time...)
 It you have time (and Netflix helps too), and you want to see a realistic drama, and to have nostalgia of the 90s (as it was for me), this is your drama.

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The first of the Reply series is a classic for the K Drama fans, but surely it's a nice watch for everyone as well. The story is quite entertaining, with the characters being very funny and cute, and the main romance good enough, although it wasn't a big mystery for long. Probably the only problem with the series was that it had too many references on 1990's culture, but my subs explained fairly enough and I kind of was familiar with some of the bands that the girls were obsessed with. And it was nice to see the early K pop fangirling, where it all began. Fortunately, the back and forth wasn't tiring, as it happened only once or twice in each episode, and mostly in the beginning and ending.

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Nostalgia to the gills!

Ahh, what a show! I laughed and cried right along with these crazy kids.

I have to admit, it took me a loooong time to get through this show. I felt so detached from the story at first. I didn't get the cultural references! Shiwon was such a crazy fangirl! The fights felt so overblown and unrealistic! In fact, I even fully dropped this show twice before finally plodding through.

But wow, I am glad I stuck with it. Eventually, each of those ridiculous youthful moments felt like fond memories — I suppose nostalgia does that to you. I have to give HUGE props to Dramabeans for keeping me in the loop on all the references and subtleties I missed in each episode. I can understand how this was a huge ratings hit, especially among those who grew up in 1997. One can only hope they make a new Reply version in the 2000s/2010s for my own youth. I would love to remember my own period of obsessing over Big Bang / rest of the Hallyu wave, Boys Over Flowers, Gangnam Style, BTS, and even cultural moments like Kim Yuna at the Olympics. Please?

There were two things that shone so brightly from this story. One, the relationships — oh boy, KEEP BREAKING MY HEART, REPLY 1997. Joonhee's crush was a real heart-wrencher, as was the brotherly love/competition/sacrifice story. Shiwon's relationship with her parents (Dad especially) was impeccable. I loved seeing her mom express her love through food, and seeing Shiwon and her dad go at each other's throats. But his reaction to sending her off to college practically wrecked me. Second, even above the relationships, I have to commend the writing and directing for the ability to frame situations with perfect foils and analogies, and hit you with unexpected twists. The story dragged at times, and was definitely hard to acclimatize to at first (just because it's SO different from other dramas), but eventually I became as invested as one can be. Somehow, the end of the series made me appreciate the beginning so much more — to the point that I could definitely see myself rewatching these sweet moments of their youth with fondness.

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