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Answer Me 1988: Episode 11

What happens when you make two families on this street shack up under one roof? Hijinks, is what. The unexpected proximity is an opportunity for some and a hindrance for others, though really, everyone treats this street like one big living room anyway, so how different from a normal day could it possibly be, right?

 
SONG OF THE DAY

Park Boram – “혜화동 (혹은 쌍문동)” (Hyehwa-dong, aka Ssangmun-dong) for the Answer Me 1988 OST [ Download ]

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EPISODE 11: “Three prophecies”

It’s February 1989, and Dong-ryong’s dad does a whole stretching routine to the Rocky song, only to get the broom and sweep the street. At Deok-sun’s house, the door has a crack in it that’s covered by a flimsy sheet of paper, and everyone sits at the breakfast table in about five layers of clothing.

When she complains to Dad and asks to move, he first tells her to wear long underwear (which she already is), and then tells the kids he’s sorry and they’ll move just as soon as he’s done paying off his debt.

Dad wonders where Mom ran off to so early in the morning, but no one knows. Jung-hwan’s house is eating the exact same breakfast sans Mom, and so is Sun-woo’s house. Hm, are the moms on strike?

Apparently they didn’t tell anyone because they’re visiting a fortuneteller. Jung-hwan’s mom says that their kids are all going to be high school seniors, and she wants to know if her son will get into Seoul University. Sun-woo’s mom asks the same, and Deok-sun’s mom asks if her daughter “Will get into a university in Seoul.” Ha.

Jung-hwan’s mom goes first and asks about Jung-hwan’s university prospects, but the fortuneteller tells her not to worry about her second son, who will do just fine on his own. Her first son is the one who will encounter a great fortune, and the moms get excited when Jung-hwan’s mom remembers that there’s a second round of universities announcing acceptances soon.

Sun-woo’s mom goes next, and the fortuneteller ignores the question about college and smiles knowingly. She says that there will be a joyous occasion in her own future, and the moms all giggle, though we don’t get to hear what the fortune is.

Deok-sun’s mom starts to ask about her daughter, and the fortuneteller already knows that Deok-sun’s grades are in the crapper. She says the problem is her name, not her grades, and that every time they call her Deok-sun, the level of college she’ll get into goes down.

So Mom comes home and is suddenly calling Deok-sun “Soo-yeon,” and insists that everyone else do the same. Dad refuses, so Mom just expels the bad mojo by saying one “Soo-yeon” for every “Deok-sun” that’s spoken. She’s even told the whole neighborhood to call her Soo-yeon from now on.

Dad complains that Mom keeps pushing the table towards him, though she’s doing nothing of the kind. They discover that their floor is slanted and things have been rolling to one side of the room for who knows how long. Next thing we know, the whole family is standing outside with all of their stuff as workers head down to fix the floor.

Dad says that they’ll just sleep upstairs at Jung-hwan’s house while this is going on, and Bora doesn’t like it, but No-eul and Deok-sun are happy about sleeping in the nice house. As she studies in the library, Deok-sun’s thoughts drift to Jung-hwan’s declaration for her not to go on that blind date, and she smiles to herself.

Her friend Mi-ok is swooning as well, over her rainy meet-cute with Jung-bong, while their friend Ja-hyun is crying over a broken heart. When she starts wailing, her friends are snap out of their happy reveries to find out what’s wrong.

Ja-hyun cries that she confessed her feelings to a boy and got rejected, and her friends chide her for doing something so silly as confessing. They insist that they’re not the confessing type—that’ll surely lead to rejection, while one-sided love can just keep going. Ja-hyun asks what happened with Jung-hwan, and they squeal in delight at his answer. Join the club. Her friends remind Deok-sun not to dare confess first.

Jung-hwan, meanwhile, is lost in thought over Taek’s confession (to the boys) that he likes Deok-sun. Mom calls him to dinner, and he’s startled to find Deok-sun’s family and all their belongings in his living room.

Sun-woo comes over for dinner too and moves No-eul aside so he can sit next to Bora. He tries to hold her hand under the table and she pushes him away in haste, which Jung-hwan notices. Sun-woo’s mom comes in a few minutes later with Jin-ju and Taek’s dad, and when she announces, “We’re here,” the other two moms knowingly tease her about the “we.”

Deok-sun arrives too, and she and Jung-hwan exchange adorably shy looks. Sun-woo’s mom sends her right back out though, to deliver Taek’s dinner because he’s busy preparing for a match.

Deok-sun sets out the soup and tells him to eat it before it gets cold, but she can already tell from Taek’s absent-minded response that he’s not going to touch it. So she plops down and waits to make sure he actually eats it, which, awwwww.

He eats his soup and turns to say something to her, but Deok-sun interrupts him to tell her about her new name that’ll get her into college. He calls her crazy, but complies anyway. He follows it up by asking for coffee, and when she brings him that, he asks for water next. Omg, you just want her to stay, don’t you?

The moms wonder what this newfangled American food is, and Sun-woo’s mom asks why the galbi is round and flat, while Deok-sun’s mom calls it a skate. No matter how many times Jung-hwan’s mom tells them it’s a steak, they can’t seem to learn the word.

The parents ask about Taek’s baduk fans and wonder if he’d marry one of them, though they think he isn’t the type to show his feelings even if he liked someone. Taek’s dad says he shows his feelings in his own way, and meanwhile he’s constantly asking Sun-woo’s mom to get him this or that, exactly the same way that Taek is doing to Deok-sun right now. Like father like son?

Taek’s dad says that Taek becomes childlike and asks for things from the person he likes, and is the opposite—polite and respectful—to people he doesn’t like. He then proceeds to demand more things of Sun-woo’s mom, like he’s trying to make a point, only no one notices.

Taek plays with fire and demands hot water instead of cold, and Deok-sun finally loses her temper and slaps him on the back to get his own stupid water. I would’ve done that at the coffee. She points out the kettle sitting right next to him, only to sigh in frustration when he can’t manage to plug it in.

He insists that he can do it and struggles to unplug something… landing an elbow straight into Deok-sun’s face. Ow. She starts bleeding out of both nostrils and Taek cringes. Deok-sun is seething with anger as she lies down with tissues up her nose, and Taek quietly pats her hand and tucks her in for a nap.

Back at Jung-hwan’s house, they wonder why Deok-sun’s been gone for hours, and Jung-hwan looks nervous as he checks the clock. Sun-woo whispers at Bora to meet him outside in ten minutes, but Jung-bong and No-eul eagerly ask to be included in the fun. Sun-woo hurriedly says he’s just going to the library, and Bora tries to shake him away before they get found out.

Sun-woo’s mom waits until the coast is clear and drops Jin-ju off at Jung-hwan’s house. She says she got a part-time job cleaning up the bathhouse down the street, and when the others worry about Sun-woo finding out and pitching a fit, she says he’ll never know because she’ll only be gone while he’s at the library.

The other moms are sad about losing their go-stop playmate for the night, but then remember that Dong-ryong’s dad is on school break and call him over. He acts like he hardly knows how to play and the moms giggle at how much money they’re about to make, but from the looks of it, he’s about to hustle them both.

Sun-woo waits around the corner for Bora, and she snaps at him to stop being so obvious that they’re dating. He says no one will know, and two seconds later they run into No-eul and Jung-bong. No-eul senses something going on between them, but Bora tells him to mind his own business and takes Sun-woo away.

Jung-bong doesn’t even notice because he’s too engrossed in his Cheetos scratcher. His latest obsession is winning a free bag of Cheetos, despite the fact that he’s had to buy countless bags to try and win a free one.

Bora walks Sun-woo to the library and tells him to go study, but he wants to go on a date. She says she has studying to do of her own and shoos him inside, and when he grabs her hand, she asks if he wants to die. He pouts and asks if handholding is a thing he has to risk death for. With Bora? Undoubtedly. But she smiles to herself as she walks away, clearly enjoying the romance more than she lets on.

Sun-woo studies late that night (with Dong-ryong sleeping underfoot, as usual), and so does Bora. Jung-hwan stands outside in the street just peering over at Taek’s gate, wondering what’s keeping Deok-sun but not daring to go find out. Aw, and he must’ve been so excited that she was supposed to spend the night at HIS house.

Deok-sun’s friend Mi-ok stays up all night trying to write a letter to Jung-bong, which she can’t even figure out how to start. Meanwhile, the moms get schooled by Dong-ryong’s dad, who wins all the money from go-stop that night (they’re basically playing for pennies).

The dads hear about it in the morning and warn their wives never to play with Dong-ryong’s dad, and Deok-sun’s dad promises to win all their money back tonight. Tomorrow is the day that Jung-bong will find out if he got into any of the remaining universities, and his parents don’t look very hopeful. Neither does Jung-bong.

When Sun-woo calls and Hyung hands the phone to Jung-hwan, Jung-hwan just passes it right over to Bora without a word. She’s taken aback, but Jung-hwan clearly knows what’s up. Despite No-eul’s side-eye, she takes the phone.

Jung-hwan and Deok-sun have an awkward run-in outside the bathroom, and she tells him to wait a little because she fogged up the bathroom with her shower. He says it’s fine and goes in anyway, and it’s not until a while later that Deok-sun realizes she washed her bra and underwear and left them in the bathroom. Ack. She hesitates and taps the door, and Jung-hwan just sticks his hand out to pass her a bundle wrapped in a towel, and she cringes.

The dads head out for work at the same time, and I love that Deok-sun’s mom begs Dad not to buy anything on his way home, and Jung-hwan’s mom begs her husband to please spend some money and buy something on his way home. They do as ordered by dinnertime, and over at Sun-woo’s, Mom watches the clock and is antsy for Sun-woo to leave so she can go to work.

Dong-ryong and Jung-hwan hang out in Taek’s room, and Jung-hwan notices how full Taek’s calendar is with all the matches this month. Dong-ryong says tomorrow’s match has him the most nervous though, and Taek’s going to spend the night at the training center to prepare.

Jung-hwan looks out the window over to his house and sees Deok-sun coming out. She waves and smiles at him from across the street, and he waves back at her.

Down the street, Sun-woo waves over at Bora, who’s here to walk him to the library. He’d like to spend more time together, but when she suggests eating dinner out instead of going home all the time, Sun-woo says he can’t let Mom and Jin-ju eat alone.

She smiles and lets out a casual “You’re nice. That’s why I like you.” He says he likes lots of things about her, and says he liked her last pair of glasses better because they suited her more. She scoffs and tells him it’s not his concern.

Deok-sun comes over to Taek’s with a poster for Lee Moon-se’s next concert in hand, and asks eagerly if they’re going. Dong-ryong says no, but all she really cares about his Jung-hwan’s answer. To her surprise, he says he can’t go either. Noooooooo, Jung-hwan! You bought tickets and everything!

Deok-sun is so disappointed that she asks again, and the whole time Dong-ryong blabbers on about whether Taek might go with her, or she could go with Sun-woo instead, not that she hears any of it.

Jung-hwan goes to the kitchen and asks Taek’s dad why he’s not playing go-stop with the other parents, and he says they’re all pros so he can’t keep up. Dong-ryong gasps to hear that his dad’s over there playing, and says that a fight’s about to break out tonight. He explains that Dad is famous for cheating, but Deok-sun says her dad’s job at the bank is catching fraud, and nothing gets past him.

Cut to: Deok-sun’s dad laying down the law with Dong-ryong’s dad, with a comb between the fingers instead of a knife.

But Jung-hwan scoffs at both of them: “My mom is RA MI-RAN.” He says that she might not be the best go-stop player, but nobody’s as quick as she is. As the game goes on and Deok-sun’s dad starts to win all the money, Jung-hwan’s mom decides it’s time to do something about it, and goes to get Jin-ju.

She sneaks a tape of Jin-ju’s favorite cartoon theme song over to her husband and cues him to hit play just as Deok-sun’s dad is about to win, and on cue Jin-ju starts dancing around and making a mess of the whole game. Haha, she IS smarter than all of them.

In the morning, Deok-sun’s dad says it’s not over till it’s over (ugh, don’t troll us with that line!), and suggests another game. Dong-ryong’s dad says he’s going down to Busan and wishes him a happy new year, eager to avoid another confrontation.

Jung-hwan’s parents are getting ready to take a trip to Japan over the holidays, and Deok-sun’s mom sighs in envy and wonders when she’ll get to have a passport and go abroad. Jung-hwan’s mom is antsy to find out about the college acceptances this afternoon, and they decide to trust the fortuneteller.

That makes them wonder how Sun-woo’s mom will get herself knocked up when she doesn’t have a man in her life, but Deok-sun’s mom says that it could happen in no time at all. Jung-hwan’s mom reminisces about the old days when she first met Jung-hwan’s dad, who according to her was a looker back then.

Deok-sun walks in on Jung-hwan while he’s about to change, and he hurriedly pulls his shirt on while she waits. She asks why he’s not going to the concert, and he makes up a lie about having plans with other friends.

When she asks who his other friends are, he insists that she wouldn’t know anyway, and says they’ll go next time. Aw, Jung-hwan, don’t do that. She hangs her head and finally lets it go, but she’s obviously disappointed and confused.

Jung-bong’s parents wait for the clock to strike two and call in to find out the results, and he hides, already anticipating the worst. It’s bad news, and he shuffles off to his room without a word. Mom’s anger turns toward the fortuneteller, who she says made her hope in the impossible.

Sun-woo’s mom hears the news and calls the fortuneteller a quack, and has the kids come over to her house to eat, where she tells Deok-sun that her name is back to being Deok-sun now. Mom asks after Bora, and No-eul says he got beaten up for asking where she was going this morning, and Sun-woo’s mom worries that no one will marry that girl. Heh.

At Jung-hwan’s house, Dad convinces Mom to snap out of her funk and tells Jung-bong to buck up, thinking he’s hunched over at his desk because he’s depressed. But Jung-bong is just hiding another bag of Cheetos, and doesn’t seem too sad that he didn’t get into college.

Jung-hwan’s mom practices her Japanese phrases at home while Jung-hwan calls from the travel agency where he’s gone to drop off the last of her deposit for the trip. He asks for her passport name in English over the phone, and for some reason she tells him to call back later and doesn’t read him the info. Hm. Can she not read it?

Jung-hwan calls back again, but again Mom feigns absent-mindedness and says she’s got something on the stove and hangs up. A few minutes later, Jung-hwan calls a third time and yells at her to take out the passport and read him the name that’s next to her picture. He doesn’t understand why this is difficult, but Mom hems and haws, and finally admits, “I can’t read English.”

At the same time, Jung-bong is asking Dad what college Mom went to, and Dad says that his mom didn’t go to college. Both Mom and Dad only finished grade school. Mom went straight to work at fifteen and worked for a moneylender, where she learned Japanese from her boss. Dad tells Jung-bong that she’s still the smartest woman he knows, even if she didn’t go to college.

He assures Jung-bong that he doesn’t need to go to college to live a good life, and it’s perfectly okay with him not to get a college degree. Dad: “I wish you’d take after your mom more than me. Isn’t your mother a truly impressive person?” Jung-bong nods and smiles. D’aw.

Taek’s dad comes by to return empty dishes to Sun-woo’s mom, and Jin-ju hides behind Mom like she’s a little scared of Taek’s dad. Sun-woo’s mom jokes about making him babysit, and he laughs that she knows he’s terrible with kids.

Jung-hwan comes home feeling sheepish and sorry, but totally incapable of expressing it, of course. He just sits down next to Mom awkwardly, and after a long pause, he passes her a bag of roasted chestnuts that he bought in the street just for her. He walks back out just like that, but Mom’s spirits are lifted instantly. She declares that there’s no dinner tonight because they’re eating out, and all the kids cheer.

Everyone heads out in a good mood, and then a minute later Sun-woo’s mom comes out carrying Jin-ju, only to find everyone gone. She’s left with no other choice but to leave her with Taek’s dad, who stands there dumbfounded with arms outstretched and Jin-ju just lying there wailing.

After dinner, Deok-sun sits down next to Jung-hwan on the couch, looking adorably excited about it. But ouuuuch, he scoots away from her, and when she scoots closer, he gets up altogether.

Jung-hwan’s mom tells him to give up his room to the girls, and Deok-sun leaps onto his bed happily. He must be freaking out on the inside. He stands aside while Bora looks at the room, and Deok-sun sweetly says goodnight as he leaves them there for the night.

Bora asks Deok-sun expectantly if anything’s different about her. Oh! Your glasses! Deok-sun says she got uglier, which earns her a beating, of course.

The parents share a drink and Jung-hwan’s mom laments ever listening to the quack fortuneteller. Deok-sun’s dad says that she could’ve meant something else by Jung-bong’s great fortune, and we cut to Jung-bong’s room where he braces himself before unveiling another Cheetos scratcher… and finally gets the reward he’s been waiting for: “One more bag.” This… is your great fortune?

The moms belatedly realize they forgot about Jin-ju, and wonder who watched her. Sun-woo’s mom hurries out of work and over to Taek’s house, worried about what she’ll find. But when she opens the door to Oppa-Dad’s room, she finds Jin-ju dancing around and Taek’s dad sitting there cutting out paper dolls’ clothes with a hairpin in his hair.

Hahahaha. Marry him! You marry him now, you hear me?!

By one in the morning, Bora’s side of the bed is empty. And when Sun-woo comes home from studying, he smiles to see her waiting outside just to see him for a few minutes.

Jung-hwan shuffles out of Hyung’s room to go to the bathroom, and he’s so sleepy that he returns to his own room without thinking, and climbs into bed next to Deok-sun. Squee. He doesn’t even notice at first, until he turns over onto his side and opens his eyes. He’s startled and starts to get up, realizing his mistake. But then he looks at her sleeping there and decides to lie back down.

He gingerly rests his head back on the pillow and watches her sleep, and he’s frozen in place when she groggily opens her eyes and sees him there. She doesn’t seem surprised or aware enough to feel awkward, and just says, “Jung-hwan-ah, let’s go to the concert, hm?”

She’s barely able to keep her eyes open, and asks again, “You’re going, right?” He just stares at her for a long while, and finally says in the tiniest voice, “Yeah. I’ll go.” Ohmygah, this boy. She gives the faintest smile as she nods off to sleep, and he lingers for another moment before quietly getting out of bed to return to Hyung’s room.

Sun-woo and Bora sit outside and he asks where she was all day, and she refuses to answer. But she does admit that she’s out here waiting for him, and he finally notices that she changed her glasses.

She takes them off, suddenly feeling very shy about it, and this time Sun-woo seems to read the moment right and asks with much more purpose: “Noona, can I kiss you?” She gives a tiny nod, and that’s all he needs to swoop in for the kiss.

She kisses him right back, and they intertwine their fingers and hold on tight as they kiss and kiss and kiss some more.

Jung-hwan’s parents head to the airport for their vacation, and Mom worries about the kids being on their own and traveling to Grandma’s for the holidays. She double-checks that Dad remembered their passports, and he takes hers out to find the English spelling of her name written out, syllable by syllable in Hangul.

She realizes that Jung-hwan did that for her, and we flash back to him writing it in before her trip. Stop making me cry, kid. Dad admits that he was too embarrassed to ask the boys for help on that, and when he sees that Jung-hwan was thoughtful enough to do so on his own, he assures her that the boys are all grown up and she raised them right.

Deok-sun’s family rushes off to the train station for the holidays too, and Deok-sun makes sure to say goodbye to Jung-hwan, while Bora and Sun-woo exchange a tiny wave.

At the last minute, Deok-sun runs back to give Jung-bong a love letter from her friend Mi-ok. She wonders what kind of luck befell him this year, and Jung-bong beams. Ha, guess that fortuneteller isn’t a quack after all.

Sun-woo’s family and Taek’s family are the only ones staying home for the holiday, and they gather at Sun-woo’s house to eat. Sun-woo offers to go fetch Taek, and while he’s gone, Taek’s dad asks what the fortuneteller told her.

Sun-woo’s mom giggles and says it’s nonsense, and we flash back to the fortuneteller who says, “You’ll have another son.” That’s when the moms bust up laughing.

Taek’s dad laughs too and Sun-woo’s mom tells him not to tease her, mostly embarrassed to have wasted money on a quack. He says she’s still young and you never know, and she says it’d be a different story if one just dropped down from the sky all of a sudden.

As if on cue, Sun-woo arrives, and in walks Taek right behind him. Why hello there, Son Number Two. Taek wishes them a happy new year, and Sun-woo’s mom watches in a daze as Sun-woo feeds Taek like a little brother, suddenly realizing what the fortuneteller might’ve meant. Eeee!

 
COMMENTS

It was a sweet episode with some really touching family moments, though I really could’ve done without 90 percent of the go-stop shenanigans and have the episode not be an hour and frickin’ 45 minutes long. It’s getting absurd. Well if the fortuneteller was right about two out of three, I wonder if we should be more worried about Deok-sun’s college prospects. And here I was thinking that if we got a fortuneteller involved, the moms might be asking questions WE want them to know, like who ends up in-laws with whom and in what order. Though I’m pretty sure that the kiss between Sun-woo and Bora sealed two families’ fates.

I really love the way Taek’s Dad and Sun-woo’s mom are progressing as a couple, from dependable hometown oppa to his cries for attention just like Taek, and babysitting Jin-ju and being awesome at it against all expectation. He’s a good dad to Taek so I didn’t think he’d do badly; he just seemed scared, which turned out to be needless worry. Up until this point, I didn’t necessarily think they needed to become one big family, because both Taek and Sun-woo have very special relationships with their single widowed parents, and they’re both warm, happy households. But the babysitting put me over the edge, and when they were all together for the holiday meal, it felt so homey and nice, and I loved that Sun-woo’s mom started to consider the prospect of suddenly having another son the second she saw Taek. Because there isn’t a soul on Earth who wouldn’t want to mother that boy.

In this season, it’s really Jung-hwan’s parents who outshine everyone, and to top it off, every time there’s a storyline that highlights Jung-hwan’s thoughtfulness towards Mom or Dad, I melt all over again. It didn’t surprise me that Mom hadn’t gone to college because we’d heard before how poor she was, and I can see how much she’d want to hide her lack of education now that she’s well-off and her children are about to go to college themselves. But the way she kept trying to avoid having to tell Jung-hwan the truth was so embarrassingly real. I was really touched by Dad’s explanation to Jung-bong that a lack of education doesn’t make her any less smart in his eyes, and that he thinks so highly of her for becoming such an impressive person despite it all that he’d want his children to grow up to be just like her. I’m often moved by this couple, but that really blew me away. And then of course Jung-hwan had to go and be his stealthy-considerate self and make amends for hurting Mom’s feelings in the sweetest way. I don’t even care that he’s a well-worn drama hero archetype. He just plain makes me swoon.

I was a little worried that Jung-hwan would hide his feelings for Deok-sun because Taek declared his feelings first, but I like it even better that he tried to deny it and only ended up being sucked back in because his crush was undeniable. Now that Deok-sun is starting to like him back, I don’t think he stands a chance of getting out of this unscathed. I’m sure he’ll keep trying though, which is sure to infuriate me at some point if he ever carries it too far. But so far Jung-hwan has been honest in every moment that counts, so I can’t be mad at him (yet) for trying not to break up a lifelong three-way friendship the best way he knows how. Taek isn’t about to make it easy for him either. Can’t we all just be honest about all of the feelings and let the chips fall where they may? Too easy? I know. But just don’t scootch away from Deok-sun on the couch anymore! That hurt my feelings! I mean her feelings. I mean her.

 
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Loved this episode! The moment on the bed with DS and JH was so sweet and genuine. That moment of silence and just starting at each other.....eeekk! I just really wish JH wouldn't go the noble idiocy route.... so not needed!

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thank you! thank you for your hard work girlfriday!

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Some random thoughts.

Sun woo’s mom will marry Taek’s dad, and Sun Woo will marry Bo Ra. So it’s gonna be weird if Taek and Deoksun ended up together, since they will become brother and sister in law. Lol.

And,, I cannot imagine if the actor who play JH is not RJY. He’s sooo good at delivering emotion through his eyes, even though he didn’t say much in this episode. And the bed scene... is epic. My heart was fluttering like crazy.

I cannot wait for the kiss of JH and DS, let’s thinking about it, SW and Bora are not even the main couple, but their kisss….. errrrr…. was hot and intense. Can we imagine the main couple’s kiss? AAAARRRGGGGHHH…..!!!! Can we get it tonight??? PD-nim???!!!

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Re: actor who's supposed to play JH. I was reading Dramabeans' news feed about AM1988 when I came across the initial casting call. There was news that Lee Yi Kyung (of School 2013) was considered for a role. I can't help but think that it might be for JH's role, as they do have similar looks/aura (tough on the outside with inner marshmallows). So JH could've been played by Lee Yi Kyung, but who would remember that now that we have RJY? He's perfect for it.

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I'm just speculating, but I think it could've been for Dong-Ryong's role, not JH's.

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I heard that over 100 actors went to audition for JH's role, but PD nim said that RJY's acting is the most interesting.

Have you watch this? https://youtu.be/r7FfaePeZcM

I don't get why people said that he's ugly, I think he has a good vibe, freaking handsome, and will do better after Answer me 1988.

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Yep, his acting is interesting; subtle, understated yet affecting and he's HANDSOME! Maybe not the first glance, but there's something that pulls you in and makes you want to keep looking, then you notice how handsome he is.

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His handsomeness is very korean, very asian, very original, you know. That's what a Korean face should look like.

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@Grace
yeah i like his unique and distinctive features.

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I was one who didn't think he was so great looking at first. (No haters, please. Allow me finish..) But the more I watch him, the better looking he becomes, if that makes sense to others (it does to me...). Now that I've watched him for the last 11 episodes, I think he's ADORABLE. His acting and his character are great! He is doing an awesome job playing the "Tough-on-the-outside-gooey-like-a-marshmallow-on-the-inside" character, and is really proving himself to everyone who watches. I will DEFINITELY remember RJY and look forward to other dramas of his in the future. Who DOESN'T love him by now??? (That was rhetorical, as I'm going with my gut assuming the answer is no one...)

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Glad that I'm not the only one who notices that he's getting handsome day by day...!!!

I thought that his looks was not for the main cast rate, but the more I see him, the more I want him to be mine. Lol.

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He is good looking to me. I don't like it when some people call him "ugly" just to say he's charming. Like could you not put someone else down just to compliment him?

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Now that I think about it, his acting style reminds me a lot of Takuya Kimura. I like their subtle expressions/gestures, tone, posture and the way they use space.

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I think there's a certain convention as to what's considered "good-looking" in Kdrama. The lead's usually got large, double lidded eyes, is tall and very lean, and also, if he's a chaebol character - dressed and groomed in a polished way.

The actor playing Jung Hwan is tall, but he's more rugged than lean, with single eyelids, and because it's a naturalistic portrayal from an era in the past, he's dressed in a outdated fashion. Also, there's something that teen boys were like - I remember my old friends - you could see attractive features, but their dressing and demeanour was far more dorky than sexy.

I think he's actually very good-looking - he's got fantastic bone structure, which some of the shots really show off. Pop him into a sharp designer suit and style his hair - he'd be dropdead, basically.

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OH MY GOD?!?!?!?!?! THE VIDEO THOUGH?!?!?!?!??! Can't escape JH's charm :((

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That's what I thought too when I was going back to read 1988 news. So glad RJY got the role though. Can't imaging any other JH.

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YASSS HES PERFECT FROM HEAD TO TOE. He isn't outstanding flower boy who will catch you at the first glimpse (with 'Almost Paradise' as BGM). But in real life I would love to date boy like him. Not extraordinarily handsome, yet attractive and charming.

And the more I watch RJY's acting the more I fall in love with both him as actor and as the character (JH).

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Man it's a credit to the actor playing Jung Hwan that I swoon over everything he does. He totally wins me over every time he does something sweet. His delivery is so spot on without ever doing much. Like you said he didn't even SAY much to DS but you just KNOW how his little tiny heart feels.

Hah yeah Sun Woo and Bora...umm damn they REALLY like each other haha. I forgot this series doesn't do typical kdrama kisses. I remember R97 wasn't stingy with our main couple either.

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Ikr! He's truly a new star!!

We can tell by his eyes and his small gestures what his little tiny heart feels.

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Couldn't concentrate on work and had to refresh this page constantly!!

The things you do to me drama.

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SAME i have my finals in the next two days but i cant start until i've read this

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me three! I still have practicals on monday!

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So, it makes me four!!

I have some very important final exams this week. But I think, I don't have to panic, because I cannot remember everything I just learned few days before exams. LOL. That's what tests are for.

Did I just make an excuse?

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Same!! Mondays-Friday I'm like, I refuse to work without caffeine on my system. But on Saturdays and Sundays?? No one disturb me 'til I read my recap! LOL. Priorities.

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so true it's not healthy anymore, my life revolves around this drama nowadays :))

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Same!!! I have 3 finals in 4 days and all I care about is this drama!

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again, Jinju steals my heart ")
And of course, the whole episode is well written! Love it! Thanks for the recap.

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Jinju is the real star of this whole series. How fabulous is she! Cutest ever! hahaha. Especially if she can make Taek's dad go from solid stone to mush in on swoop. I think he will be soo good to her growing up. I love how everyone in the neighborhood just adores her and takes such care of her.

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"Can’t we all just be honest about all of the feelings and let the chips fall where they may? "

Yes, please! I'd like to see JH and Taek fight for DS right there in the open. Well, not literally. But then again, fist fights could be hot LOL

Thanks for the recap, girlfriday! I lub lub lub you :-D

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Then you should check out Because It's The First Time b/c fists did fly in that one.

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LOL Thanks @news for the rec. I looked it up and found out that it's an 8-ep drama, seems like a fun and light watch!

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I'm still bruised from the ending ;-)

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"I don’t even care that he’s a well-worn drama hero archetype. He just plain makes me swoon."

YES TAKE THAT ❤❤

I also love Jung-hwan's parents among all the couples, especially when Dad says these things that made him fall in love & still in love with Mom no matter what. I love that theirs is a relationship strengthened with familiarity, instead of worned down by it. It's definitely the kind that lives up to "til-death-do-us-part." :)

I was pretty heartbroken the entire time for Jung-hwan. Deok-sun does not have anything to do w/ it of course, but it's clear that he values his friendship with Taek (just as much as he values all his relationships with other people) which is why he tried to distance himself from Deok-sun. He's trying to think of a way to navigate his own feelings through all these. But what got me around and still strongly rooting for him is that moment in the bedroom--that one tender moment when we all expected he'd say no again to Deok-sun, but he surprised us by saying yes he'll go. He loves her that much. Ah, I don't know. He shoots straight to the center of my heart, and Ryu Joon-yeol's expressions and looks are always on point.

Last: Sun-woo & Bora, srsly get a room you two hahaha. That has one HOT kiss, all I can say after watching it is DAEBAK.

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Junghwan just makes me curl away and dies a little... this tsundare arghhhhh

It's kinda true to life when at that age all your relationship wires just get crossed-- the look of sorta confusion/slipping his notice at why deokseon is so adamant about him going to the concert and why she's angry at him saying no.... aigooo they're so frustratingly on different frequencies. Sorry I love Taek to bits but even with that friggin preview I'm firmly grounded in my tsundare tiny-hidden-acts-of-care fairy

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Ha ha ha. T's dad has his hair up in a fountain spray for JJ's benefit. It's lovely to see love developing between SW's mom and T's dad. Two kindly lonely souls who can comfort each other.

SW being such a good son will come to understand and accept their relationship. He already loves T as a bro. It's sweet to see how he feeds T.

We all love T, and his smile can melt glaciers but being his GF would be tiring. It's definitely like raising a young son. It takes a particularly loving, giving and mature girl.

I love the 3 ajummas together. Their acting is superb.

Excited to see JBong date. Wonder what business his admirer's father is in. Hope it is something JB can be good at.

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This episode felt really long (1 hour 44 minutes!) but nevertheless there were a lot of cute moments. I love:
1. Taek's dad playing with Jin Joo
2. Jung Hwan buying roasted chestnuts for her mom and writing on her passports after she admitted that she can't read English.
3. Jung Hwan and Deok Sun's "Let's go to the concert together"

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*his mom, and *passport.

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Aaaaaahh!!! So awesome!! I'm loving this show so much. Thanks for the recap ?

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IT'S HERE IT'S HERE iT'S HERE

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Episode 11 = Sunwoo & Bora.

I LOVE these two. their kiss kind of trump Junghwan & Deukson (or should I say Soohyun?) sharing a bed, imo.

and Jinjoo. they gave her earrings!! haha.

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I haven't seen (noticed) the actor playing Jung Hwan before this series, but he is looking more attractive with each ep. in my eyes.
Could it be that attractiveness is Partly a matter of familiarity?
His brother also is looking more handsome. I can see why Maggie Jang falls for him at first glance.

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Totally agree! Playing a swoon-worthy character always gets my heart a bit racing haha

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LOL, I'm glad I'm not the only one who is even starting to find Jung-bong strangely more appealing the more I see him...

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Jung-bong is so awesome and during the umbrella flashback, all I noticed was his nice skin, smile, cheekbones and eyes. Lol

They're just adorable. I want more of their love story. I suspect Maggie's the "great fortune", which makes their relationship even cuter b/c she initially didn't believe in fate and love at first sight.

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Jung Bong has a boyish charm. He's not the conventional flower boy, but you could definitely see his appeal in that scene. He has such a warm smile.

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I thought he was looking kind of rough this episode. Not bad, but you could see he's 30. He's been working on the drama and doing CFs and other stuff. Gotta be hard.

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The comparison between Sun-woo's mom taking care of Taek's dad and Deok-sun taking care of Taek made me more certain Deok-sun only sees Taek as a friend/little brother (for now, possibly). If you really like the person than you will comply with every little requests that ask of you as in the case of Sun-woo's mom. But man, as much as I love Taek the more I watch of him the more I can't help but be turned off by his child-like nature!

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Junghwan-ah!!!!!
*squee*

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THANK YOU GF!! ? Watched the raw version (like always) and was in need of clarification! That bed scene was very... innocent haha. Just thinking about Jung Hwan & Deok Sun's future kiss scene makes me giggle ? It better be good (by good I mean better than Sun Woo & Bo Ra's!! Haha high expectations) gigglegigglegiggle

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I have a feeling that the writernim wants to make that 5 families on the block to be a real big family. Deokseon with Junghwan, Bora and Sunwoo, Taek's dad and Sunwoo's mom, and how about Doryong with Jinjoo?

I am pretty sure Taek and Deokseon will date for real on today's episode but later he is going date many girls after breaking up with her because she will realize her feelings for Junghwan. However, Junghwan will do the same thing first.

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At this point, I feel like I will be heartbroken if I continue to root for either Junghwan or Taek to end up with Deoksun. I have decided on my new OTP: Sunwoo's mom and Taekie's dad! Get married already!

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That's one worthy OTP. 4 people get to benefit from it. Taek and his dad will get sb to make them a home. Let's face it, neither one of them is real good at home-making. SW's mom will get sb to love her and keep her warm in those cold Seoul nights, And be able to order coal briquettes 1000 pcs at a time as per her wish. JJ will have 2 parents and 2 oppas to dote on her. It's a win-win-win-win all around.
SW however might be too old to want another dad. I hope he comes around for the sake of the others involved.

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I'm sooooo rooting for this OTP!

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Jung pal-ah you slay me always...

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Ahh, btw have you noticed how DS is not calling him JungPal anymore?

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good point! it's one of those subtle changes in their relationship.

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What does JungPal mean?

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jungpal = jung"dog"

because he is usually mean to her & owns a dog.

pal, besides dog, also means bad habit or mean

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Thanks for the explanation Michelle!

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thank you girlfriday for giving most of your hard-earned beans to this show. i always felt the most connection to you when reading recaps, and that just solidified it!

this show makes me want to be a good person, and find a family like the ssangmun-dong neighborhood.

thanks for putting such care and effort into your recaps, because they really do add to the heartwarming story that is played out on screen. (and also: some of my korean isn't that great, and it's wonderful to have not just a translation, but helpful commentary as well!)

im in love with love, and i spread some of that love to you, gf. <3 <3 <3

til tomorrow!

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I watched a bit, did not understand a thing, but the preview! taekie!

it was a bit long to be honest. was all of it that essential?

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I must be a rock though, cause I can´t seem to catch the wave everyone else has about Jung Hwan. There is no specific reason to route for him. don´t kill me.

poor Deok Sun for getting a bloody nose but I really cracked up cause Taek reminded me of a little old man who has forgotten the essentials of living. And to see his dad so much like him, I am cracking up even more. It is like they are visitors on Planet Earth who get dragged into human world. Aliens! haha.

the go-stop was pretty unecessary but I was glad to see Dong-Ryongs´ dad mixing into the bunch, I had felt there was something of for his parents not to be included in community things and suspected them of being snobs. I guess not, but a cheater...? dunno what to think about them.

I can´t get over how much Bora looks like Gong Hyo-Jin without her glasses.

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You are not the only one. You are indeed brave to tell what you really think about JH. I really was not sure why the viewers fall for Jung Hwan. I do not think he is a good looking fellow either( to put it mildly, if I ever say what my daughter says about him, everyone would be uproar for sure. )The drama seems to be about him(with DS) so his presence is centered in the drama setting and the writing on his part is well written. The viewers like the way he struggle himself for his feeling for DS because they also wish they have someone like him in their real life. On the contrary, new generation do not like someone like Taek who can forget about her when he is preoccupied with his work. I love the way Taek is preoccupied( enough to forget everything else) and looks very stern because I know that his career demands him act this way,, .I like the stoic side of Taek and find it quite sexy.
The actor (JH) is good at expressing his subtle emotion and I feel better knowing that the drama did not cast an artificially good looking idol or actor with few acting skills.
In a way, JH and Taek are quite opposite. Even the actors look quite differently as my daughter pointed at Park Bo gum and said' I wish I can be pretty as he.'( I burs ted out laughing upon hearing her comment)

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it is not even that I prefer one to the other, it is just that... am I too old or something? the acting might be top notch, I dunno, but I just don´t feel anything from the character. I don´t understand what about that behavior is swoon-worthy. even when you explain it like that...so what?

I am totally NOT team Taek or anything, in fact I think Taek can do better than Deok-Sun ...although he already likes her and who am I to order a person around.

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I don't think age is the reason (or maybe it is; I'm a 50 year old in a 19 year old's body), but JH's actions haven't caused me to swoon, yet. I just think it's unfair to put Taek's feelings/friendship as more important. It feels like he's sulking (being blunt) and he's hurting her so I'm not exactly pleased with him.
Ryu Joon Yeol is a good actor though, it's just unfortunate that his ccharacter is definitely not my favourite.

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Redfox is definately younger than I but I am older than Mina.

I just do not like boys who can be rather obsessive for his love. They are my son's age so I would say to JH, ' Study hard and aim high for Seoul University instead of sulking for your downstairs' girl. You have no time for love! '--- that is exactly I used to say to my son but he never listened!!

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It has nothing to do with age. I'm 55 years old, married and have so many grandchildren but I still swoon in every JH/DS moments like a teenager.

I must admit that I don't find the actor playing JH that good looking and looks like just a typical Korean man but its the reason why I like him because I can feel the character he's playing more as if the character is real and the more I see him in every episodes, he's becoming more and more attractive to me.

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@Mina
I find it attractive that someone values their friendships enough to hold back a little. You can see him struggle w/ his feelings b/c of his friendship w/ both of them. They're all family. If he acted selfishly, it would definitely not cause me to swoon. Otherwise you would have Bo-Ra's situation where both her best friend and boyfriend betrayed her, which was not attractive at all.

@atz
It's not like you can rationalize love or control it. Love is a powerful feeling and to experience it (at any age) is a good thing, so what you're saying doesn't make sense and comes off sounding dogmatic. Not only that but to use the word obsessive to describe JH's feelings is rather overboard. It's clear that he's still studying and his feelings for DS isn't ruling his whole entire life; it's just one aspect of his living, learning and growing up.

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@ News:
I say things quite bluntly but I do not believe that I am dogmatic.
What I write is a joke that I used to tell my son while he was studying for A level exams. I used say something like 'forget your Gf but study!'His answer was,' Ok, mom. I got it.' then off he went to chat with his GF. He does not take my nagging seriously at all even if I expressed my utmost disgust( because he constantly was chatting with his GF in the middle of study)
One has to go through love hardship in order to marry and have kids. I have done that before so I understand how JH feels or my son's.
This is only a drama and because I may use a strong word such as obsessive, you cannot get upset too much. I find his action can be a little obsessive because he often searches where she is, wants to know what she is doing etc etc. but again love can be obsessive at times.

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You didn't understand a thing? Like at all? And yet you managed to finish it? Wow

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I skipped parts because if I don´t get the joke, there is no point. But as I said in my reviews this is the drama that´s like a dish still cooking or on chopping board and I steal and eat it before it is cooked. and then I eat the leftovers from the garbage bin too. especially when it comes to Taekie :-)

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I agree! The gostop was getting ridiculous. I loved when sun woo's mom opened the door and found taek's dad with the cute pink hairtie. I didn't really care if they got together or not but after that I say she must marry that man before this drama ends hahahhah. Also how swoony is junghwan? I just love that he does not exaggerate anything but every one of his actions have meaning and depth to them. On the other hand deok sun still seems shallow to me. She kinda just suddenly started liking him because of her friends insistence and its looking more like she likes the feeling of being in love more than her like for junghwan?? Is anyone else feeling he same way?? I also have to say because the acting of the supporting cast is so terrific hyeri's inexperience does show much more apparently. Anyway, show, i love you but you could really cut down to an hour!

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I don't necessarily think it's shallow of her to start liking JH just because she noticed he likes her through her friends. I mean how else is she supposed to notice him? We all know she's pretty dense.
Let's not forget JH little crush started when he was squeezed between her and a wall.
Lol I was pretty indifferent about the adults until that cute little hairtie moment. So adorable!

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I don't know, they could have had Deok-sun start noticing her changed feelings towards Jung-hwan some other way besides having her friends lead her into another crush by the nose, again.

I mean, Shi-won of 1997 was denser than an Amazonian rainforest but still managed to register Yoon-jae as a man on her own, I'm sure the writers could have come up with something for Deok-sun too.

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Me! Now, I'm curious how she would react when Taek confesses to her. She hasn't thought of Jung-hwan as a man until her friends pointed it out to her so I also have doubts.

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I'm curious too, because of the same reason you said. With SW & JH, she had her friends point it out to her. I wonder how she will react if Taek says he likes her as a woman directly to her face. It would be so out of the blue for her. I imagine her head would spin so fast in shock LOL As much as I want that kiss to happen, I'm afraid she will freak out, blurts some intangible words and runs away, leaving Taek hanging in mid-kiss (and breaks shippers' hearts lol)

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I think it just me...
I love the scenes of Taek & Doeksun in this episode lol... so funny & cute.

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I can't say that I LOVED it... I don't want her to hit poor Taekie LOL But I would've hit him too if I were her :)

But that's the first time we've seen her "assault" Taek like that, right? I think she only ever did that to, like, everybody, except Taek.

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it was awesome and realistic. Park Bo Gum played it out so well, it is like Charlie Chaplin came to life. he should do a modern silent movie. with Hyeri. think of all the hijinks.

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Yaaaay,finally been refreshing for hours....thanks gf :)

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This is my favorite show of all of the three Reply installments for sure.

The kiss scene was great and I loved how they changed the background singer from a male to a female voice the second Bo Ra got more active and took the leading.
This show does so many details. Great!

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Yeah this is fast becoming my fave of three too because TWO romantic pairs plus seriously touching family stories every week!

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I think that's what makes that's what does it for me too, it's the seriously touching family stories. I've always loved other Reply series because of it, but especially reply 1994, they forget its importance along the way. This one stays true to its strength so far.

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Yeah, I noticed that about R94- they pretty much stopped with the touching stories by the end which made it really suffer for me because you can't go an hour and 30m circling around just one romantic pair. It takes away from that bond between friends as family we love so much about this series.

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I have to say, out of all the Answer Me guys ('97, '94, '88), I just love JH the most. And Jung-bong comes in second.

Right now I understand JH's inaction, but I hope the writer doesn't turn him into another passive Trash, which was very infuriating. So far, JH has always been honest in his awkward way and I hope that stays consistent for the rest of the show, which is why his honesty during the bed scene was extra touching.

As much as I like Taek (and I adore PBG), I'm really not liking where they're taking his character acting all cute and needy (similarly to Chilbongie) when he likes someone.

I guess it's just a matter of personal taste.

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Agree! JH first, JB second, and third is their dad for me. Seriously the Kim dudes is just adorable lol.
I also agree about Taek. Honestly, I started to watch because of PBG (didn't know the other guys before, except GKP but I wasn't interested in him), but his character is just not my taste. I liked him on I Remember you better. But I do find him attractive sometimes, when he's doing the competition. He looked cold and confident, I find that hot lol

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I am the contrary I think when Taek acts cute and helpless then Deok Sun treats him without hesitation as a friend who is a bit stupid. but when he is being all dressed up surrounded by journalists she seemd a little afraid and insecure. so it is much better that she is without fear around him

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I might be the minority but I love the Go Stop scene.

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same!! that knife/comb scene made me laugh so much. i love this drama

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Yeah I totally didn't get the go stop scenes and watching it raw means I don't have a ton of patience for it when I don't understand. But outside of that everything about this episode was so cute and touching as usual.
Poor DS though! I cringed every time JH put distance between them because you know his little heart's breaking and her disappointment! Ooof I just wanted to give her a hug!

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Who is going to confess first and when? Until Prepare for pain, torture, misunderstanding, frustration ....It will worth the wait.

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I think DS will confess her feeling first to JH then she will got rejected...

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As much as I adore the Answer Me series, 1hr45mins is excessive. The '97 format of being short, sweet but straight to the heart is the most ideal format.

That being said though, sigh, Taek is definitely the next Chilbong, Taewoong, Joonhee. Join the Unrequited Love Roadkill Club, Taek ah

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Can we also give it up to Jung-Bong hyung babysitting Jin-ju ever so briefly. So cute when she ran right to him when he had his arms out.
Loved this episodes even though it was about an hour and 45 minutes long.

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Also, absolutely loving the OST of this series.

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All the old tracks and the modern covers are awesome. Each song is perfectly picked for each moment! I'm loving it too.

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Oh yeah, especially in this episode. Each and every song was on point.

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I loved that scene! Just shows how kind Jung-bong is. Most people think he's a loser but Jung-hwan is proud to have him as his hyung. I hope that he will find something that he enjoys as his job even if he couldn't go to college.

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I haven't seen any comments where people say Jung Bong is a loser...but I agree with you, JB truly has a soft heart. I've loved him since he asked JH the minute he regained consciousness from his surgery, "How's your bloody nose?" Ugh...

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I mean in the neighborhood. I know they all like Jung-bong too but they said something about Jung-bong before that made Jung-hwan say "But I like my hyung."

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How about a professional gamer or game designer? Probably more of a hobby but the man can get obsessed as seen in the previous episodes.
Anyways, I hope the writer-nim looks after him well, he's becoming the most endearing person to me. All his reactions and quirks are fantastic.

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Ahn Jae-Hong is really killing it in the role. I've never seen him before, but his character is also becoming the one that I miss the most each week and considering at the start I thought he was just being set up to be Jung-hwan's loser older brother, but instead he's just fantastic. I have a feeling if he doesn't go to college he's just going to be super lucky all his life, starting with his new girlfriend :)

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The only other thing I've seen him in is a movie called 'King of Jogku' where he plays the main lead. He's also fantastic in that.
Yeah i agree, he is super lucky but he is kind of making his luck happen as well if you know what i mean. He's persistent with his collections and obsessions and will go to many lengths to complete what he can. For example, with the winning lottery ticket, can you imagine how many he would have to get just to find that one lucky one. A more recent example would be the cheetos scratchie. You saw how many he bought before he found THE ONE. Ultimately for another bag of cheetos chips (loved his reaction to winning BTW) but he didn't give up until he got it.

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Have you guys watched the preview???? Taek is definitely the next Chilbong :( Not that I'm complaining to know that JH is the husband <3

The only thing good about Taek being Chilbongie is that we will get to also see them kiss YAY

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I loved how Jung Hwan was so awkward this episode; though it seemed a little bit annoying, i think this sparks more interest to deok sun ((unconsciously))

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I actually don't mind the length bc i love this drama so damn much. I'm so invested in all the characters and all the storylines i can't get enough! I'm already sad about it ending...

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AGREED

I WANT TO LIVE IN THIS WORLD
and about two hours of it for one day of the week is fine with me since all i do is think about the show mon-thurs anyway

the more extra screen time, the better!!

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junghwan's character and personality

taeks angel face w all that bone structure and that voice

god

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I don't necessarily think JH is a typical Kdrama hero archetype. Wouldn't that be the emotionally repressed, outwardly rude chaebol with a heart of gold?

Jung Hwan is the typical second male lead archetype IMO. Swoony, thoughtful, kind, sensitive to the feelings of others. His outward prickliness is in no way convincing as a facade because he always gives in so easily to others.

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Im definitely on JH side but i agree with you. i believe the future husband is taek...

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and awkwardly charming! I'll add that to your list :-)

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this so much!

His layer of coldness/aloofness is the thinnest and most translucent I've ever seen in a character, lol. It just makes him even more adorable though.

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Nope, the prickliness/initial brusqueness/willingness to call the heroine a few names is a textbook trait of kdrama male leads, NOT second male leads. 'Asshole' is just an optional extra that most dramas go for, but this one skipped that with Jung-hwan, thankfully.

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bed scene and kiss <3

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Oh JH, your killing me with those eyes!

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So I was telling a friend of mine about the bed scene in this ep, and her husband who apparently heard only the word 'bed scene' blurted "They have bed scenes now in kdramas?" LOL If only you knew...that this particular bed scene made almost every reply fangirl around the world squee louder (or quietly louder haha) than any other normal bed scenes ;-)

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You are so right about this kind of bed scene making us swoon much more than the other kind!

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In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes and kdrama plots.

lolll at least what we predicted since episode 2 came true. Junghwan is end game, yay!

But noble idiocy was so unnecessary. Well maybe necessary becoz the writer needs to chilbong Taek. But for a believable loveline Jung Hwan totally screwed up this week. I was actually mad at him! Why is he assuming he can decide FOR Deoksun whether they can get together or not? She has feelings too? Is he so chauvinistic that he can strip her of her agency at a moment's notice? Good thing JH's rival is a guy who can't plug in a chord, or else he'd get his butt whooped.

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Chilbong has really become a verb. I also say "to chilbong him" Ah the poor guy.

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The thing is...I'm starting to get worried that the writers might be purposefully chilbonging him so that he WILL get the girl at the end. They might be trying to make up for the fact that the original Chilbong lost out...

GAH. I can't believe I let the Answer Me series do this to me again!

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This thought crossed my mind too. And I'd hate it, because I'm sorry to say Taek would be an awful partner for life.

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I'm starting to feel like they are going for Taek this time but it would be too late to do that because Junghwan has already captured too many hearts.

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I honestly don't think it's about JH deciding for DS, or that he's chauvinistic. In his mind, it's all about preserving his friendship with Taek. It may sound childish, but it's almost like Taek has called "dibs" first. Now Taek may (more than likely) get rejected, but until that's decided, JH feels he has no right to pursue. He has to wait until Taek's fate is decided by DS.

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yeap, guy code alert

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im on the opposite with you, though. for me, the perfect thing to do at this state for junghwan, is stepping back a bit (or you can say, not getting any further feelings for deoksun). he loves his friends so much that he gets confused when both of them like the same girl (and seems like this is the first time it happened).

besides, Taek confirmed he likes deoksun to the guys, the first one. how is junghwan supposed to do? say that he likes deoksun too? right after taek?
and if he continues to do sweet things to deoksun like his usual self, i can guarantee the boys will notice it someday.

so, i guess this one works for me (and for junghwan and deoksun). we get to know that deoksun indeed has feelings for him too.

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The idea of someone 'first' claiming the girl and the other guy has to step back ist alien to me and totally neglects the girl's feelings. Who cares who saw someone first, she has to make the decision to her own liking!

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Plus, neither of the boys actually know who DS likes at this point. I wouldn't go as far as to say that JH knows that she likes him or T. He just seems to hold back because he thinks he's the only one feeling these feelings, you know. Ahh, I don't know. This is my take on this situation.

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Sun-woo's mom and Taek's dad made me scream so hard in this episode! Forget all the ships! I'm boarding this one!

It's sad but I think I'll just follow recaps now and watch some cuts. I just don't understand why they have to make the episodes SO LONG. The go stop scene can be totally cut out.

Thanks for the recaps, girlfriday. I won't know what to do without you!

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the writer always play us....
...still i believe teak is the husband...and dont see teak as another chilbong..and sum it up its very entertaining...

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the writer always playing with us….
…but still i believe teak is the husband…and i dont see teak as another chilbong..and sum it up its very entertaining…

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isn't it interesting that the writer is pulling her cards out just right in time? unlike in the previous reply series, main otp is heavily emphasized & was more obvious. with reply 1988, it's kind of different... look at how the writer treats sunwoo & bora's love story, they're like the second otp but every scene they had were *FIREWORKS*....at this point, the sunwoo~bora ship is definitely miles ahead from the "main otp" which is like a late bloomer. :D

it's crazy but the more i think taek would be chilbonged, the more i believe he wouldn't be. cmon, is the writer not that wise enough to repeat the same scenario she had written 2 yrs ago? imagine deoksun rejecting him "you're my friend, i care about you, i'm proud that a famous person in korea likes me but i can't love with you the same way that you love me" redundancy? right?

JH crush is undeniable, if he's the male lead then why are we still arguing about the husband? automatically, it's him. but to write taek as an evolving character with an obviously heavier backstory makes a lot of viewers think. if he's just going to be used a plot device for jh & ds to get together, then it's crazy. Taek is really an interesting character because you still want to know more about him, he's mysterious, you want to hear his pov, you're intrigued of what he will become 20 yrs from 1988, and so far the show is doing a good thing in showing his development....which is totally adding up to the fact that the writer have always intended him to be linked with the deoksun from the start. it's like, the writer chose to write his character well first, made sure the viewers would love him, make him flawed....then surprise us with his love story. i'm still curious why the writer chose to go that way, & you can definitely notice it in taek-centric episodes, where everyone seems to be talking about him.

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hmm ... interesting.

Team Junghwan 5eva, but I have to admit this ship gets me excited due to the otp moments, and not so much because of JH is a unique character in himself. I do think his personality has been pretty well cemented since ep. 1, and judging by the way the modern hubby behaves, he's not going to change much in 20-30 years. That's fine though. cuz like I read a ton of manga, and 99% of the heroes are pretty similar to each other. Jung Hwan could have come straight out of a early 90s manga, that's how swoony he is hahaha. But who cares? There's a reason why I keep at dramas/mangas/romance novels even though there are so many similarities. If I wanted "unique" character I could have read War and Peace instead lol (but who does that? xD xD I prefer smexy Jung Hwan instead ~_-)

I don't ship DS with Taek because I think he'd make a bad boyfriend. But I am curious where the writer is going with his character. Like he's such a weird (in a good way, I guess) character! SOmetimes I get worried bcoz TK isn't really behaving like a normal second lead so far. He's suppose to cling on to DS and get rejected so that our sexy baby JH can make his move!!!!

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JH... He is just swoon worthy. I love his relationship with his parents where he doesn't talk/share much but it's obvious he cares a lot.

I agree that he needs to stop being passive like Trash, one episode was enough. It clearly hurts him too. And please writers, do NOT make Taek another desperate and clingy second lead... I would rather him try to move on and have a successful loveline. I would be upset if they insist on stringing him along for conflict till finale.

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Definitely agree.

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This is everything to me

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I don't know why, but I find brooding junghwan is so damn sexy.. I hope he avoid deoksun only because he got confused about taek's confession and not going to be a noble idiot because of it.. jaebal!

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Lol..Taek is sure going to get Chilbongied...

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I read some comments here that taek is the husband? Really? Are we watching the same drama?

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yup! thats becoz if you watch every reply series theres always flashback scene about their childhood..

REPLY 1997 : flashback about yoon jae and shi won friendship since their child

REPLY 1994 : flashback about na jeoung, na jeoung oppa and na joeng oppa best friend a.k.a sseuriki oppa

u see the flashback always tells about one person "the husband" on 2nd episode reply 1988 the flashback tells about taek the last one who joined the group. thats why i think like previous reply series. taek will be the husband...

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noooooo .... why? but there's no way.

the sexy vibe between DS and JH is way stronger than any childhood connection. who cares if they shared diapers as babies LOL. I want hot make out sessions! give us more otp moments, writer nim! swoooooon

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i knooooow cuz im on JH team too...
so i think what did the writer do ? create an upgrade version of chilbongie ? poor jung hwan...

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Strangely with the guys inspiring such intense comments I dont really get the feel for Deok-Sun. Like, I dont root for her? I dont really get her in the way I get Bora's character. I get that shes nice, caring and protective but what else? Her future dreams n aspirations...Im drawing a blank. I dont watch the episodes but read the recaps so maybe Im missing something.
Like the last line slipup in gf's recap she still feels more as a passive carrier for the viewer lol. I hope she gets more fleshed out cuz I want her to be more than which guy she gets with.
Now I should get back to studying for my finals..

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forget the study just watch all the episode then you will know that sung deok sun is the best heroine in reply series of course thatsjust my opinion. hee...

im kidding, just go back study, and watch at least 3 episode in a day. haha...

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I agree. I find myself not caring much for Deok-sun. She just feels transparent for me. Not really invisible but not completely there. I'm surprised that I like Bora more.

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bc fanGIRLS?

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Does anyone ever care about female characters? Reply series usually make the girl a prize for the two guys to fight over. This is no different. But DS is really a nice character though maybe you should watch the episodes before making up your mind.

And Bora's activism was interesting, her love line and character changes really aren't. It's just wrapped up in SW and changing for him. Blah. I wanted to know more about why she does what she does, but she doesn't do it anymore since ~love~

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Oh my jung hwan don't do this? I hope by tonight episode he makes a change or else I will really put my heart on taek, not that I already not falling for that boy. gosh I just love this drama that make me just wait for Friday and Saturday. other day just a dull day.

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