LIKE! Very very well-written and well-expressed.

This expresses my exact feelings regarding Deoksun and Taek! I actually really really loved Taek, but I never could get behind Deoksun loving him, not because I couldn't understand him being loved, I just feel they never really showed us her falling in love. It waa just like BAM she is in love now.

very well written article chingu ya.
and it clearly shows our dilemma first to believe it and then how to believe DS's all of a sudden romantic love interest in Taek when she had strong crush on JH all this while.
The dynamic shift between DS n Taek was like time leap drama in indian shows where what all matters is end product of with whom DS ends up without actually showing us how that happened with some believable plot development.

Really great breakdown of this couple and why it made so many of us take issue with the show. I have always approached OTPs with the point of view that I also give to the relationships of my friends: they know best how they feel, and I cannot make them love or not love someone. That being said, with both your friends and couples in dramas, it can get under your skin if you think the person they are with isn't a good match for them. But that was where 1988 left me with mixed feelings. There was nothing wrong with Taek (the opposite actually, he was great). But approaching the relationship considering how Deok-sun felt, as a viewer, there were not enough signs building up to really know how she felt. So it was like your friend introducing you to their new boyfriend and asking what you thought of them, but you being unable to gauge if they were happy or trying to look for a reason to leave him.

Ok. Because @rinny had already convinced me to watch the Answer me franchise, and because I haven't had the time to do it and therefore I don't want to get spoilers, I didn't read your post.
But looks good. I also wish I could have a drama where the Otp is not so clear and to really get a surprise by the end of the serie. I am afraid there are not so many out there, because an OTP is a must in a kdrama, except dramas like Mother or Chief Kim.
But it is different when there is no otp and we already talk about that with the last post by ChinguMode. No no, having a unclear OTP is different and cool. It keeps you just there, totally tuned... finding out by yourself.
If you, beanies, know more of such rare gems, apart from Answer me, please give me a list😀

Actually I love the writing and pics you used. Thanks. I shipped Duk seon with taek without knowing she was gonna end up with him. That been said, but there was a scene where she had a chat with dong ryul; she said nobody loves her and he said to her, than wondering who loves her why cant she check deep in her heart to see who she loves. Also with her interactions with Taek I shipped them together thinking I will have a heart break like with Answer me 1994(Chil bongiee!!!!) but I didnt.....it made me sooo happy.....

Wonderful write-up. I’m holding out on the Reply/Answer Me series, mainly because I like knowing the end couple before I start and would rather see the development of respect and love between these individuals—it’s not about the destination, but the journey for me. Reading what others have said about rampant second lead syndrome in these series has made me steer away from them. What you wrote hits on the nail on the head and expressed perfectly exactly why I have.

Very nice write up chinggu.
Answer Me series, 1988 in particular, has a very special place on my kdrama list as I can take the story as it is, not knowing the outcome until it’s there 🙂

Let me preface my comment by saying that this pairing still hurts me, TO THIS DAY. I am team junghwanXduksun till I die but I am also team taek and I am team junghwan and team duksun. I wanted them all to be happy.

In reflection, these are my thoughts:

1) I think Duksun chose Taek because he was right for her. As the forgotten middle child, she was never prioritized and always overlooked. Due to this, I think Duksun needed to be needed and above all, she needed someone who could show her CLEARLY--through his actions, his words--that he loved her. Taek was shown to be capable of this but it was never depicted that Junghwan was. Junghwan was too much of a quiet lover. Someone who did a lot for Duksun and cared for her but was content to do so in secret. He was never able to tell her the words and show her his love in the way that SHE needed it and because of this, I do not think he could've given Duksun the type of attention and love that she needed. Ultimately, Duksun and Junghwan express love too differently to be compatible and because of her upbringing, I think she would've felt very unsure and insecure with him as a partner.

2) That being said, I still think us viewers got shortchanged in order to prolong the husband mystery. It still blows my mind that they dragged this out alllllll the way to the last couple episodes. That is just unnecessary and cruel. But we weren't the only ones sacrificed for the sake of maintaining the husband mystery, Duksun and the narrative was sacrificed as well. Duksun's feelings was intentionally kept away from viewers which made it hard for us to connect with her and (for me, personally) take her romantic feelings seriously. Because we were kept in the dark with her for so long, her feelings for and decision to ultimately choose Taek held less weight than they could've.

3) THE MISLEADING ROMANTIC NARRATIVE. I maintain this statement and belief when I say Taek is the second lead who got the girl. Narratively, Junghwan IS FIRST LEAD. From the beginning and throughout the drama we were in his head, we saw his pain, saw his love for Duksun. We were always with him and because of this narrative and focus, led to believe he was the endgame for Duksun. The cynical part of me say we were tricked and the other more forgiving part rationalize that he was the first male lead that just didn't get the girl at the end.

Regardless of my sunken ship, this drama (minus the last maybe 5 eps) remains one of my favorite dramas. It made me laugh, made me cry, made me hella nostalgic and hit me right in the feels. Definitely one of the dramas with the most heart I've ever come across.

The pairing was ok with me EXCEPT that the personality of the guy Deok-Sun ended up with is no where near Taek’s personality. He acted more like Jung Hwan. This really made me think that the writers switched the OTP somewhere along the way.

I agree completely! My problem with Deoksun and Jung-hwan though, was that it seemed that she liked him just because he liked her. She wanted someone to like, and I think she liked the idea of Junghwan more than the realities of him as a person. That's my personal opinion anyway.

I am not on Taek defense, cause i am jung-hwan's team all the way. jung-hwan and deok-sun love story is the bittersweet one, while taek and deok-sun is just the thing that happen in real life. you may fall in love with your first love, but just because both of you miss your timing, you end up with someone else. of course, i do believe along that time, deok-sun did like jung-hwan that much. so i didn't expect she would show some interest toward taek. i would have had a hard time favour my girl if she juggled her feeling between two man, but she wasn't. and her feeling was not changing after the kiss, or changed overnight. what people may miss out that deok-sun did have a broken heart, she thought she had rejected by Jung-hwan, and that time, the one that 'console' her is Taek. and slowly after that, she started 'notice' him. but unlike Sun-woo or jung-hwan case, she did not see Taek as possible partner, yet. that's why she did not say anything after the first kiss. i think it's the most honest feeling i've seen in kdrama so far. what i mean, you just head over heel over this one guy, then he break your heart, make you feel unwanted, and when you think you at low point, the other guy shows you an affection. i don't know about other people, but i definitely will feel something (even if it is not love) about that guy, and of course get confuse with my own feeling if he turn out to be my dearest friend. and i think deok-sun took the best way to handle the situation, she didn't reciprocate that feeling or explore her own feeling more, make her the most respectful female lead in kdrama where the female character mostly get fickle easily. instead, it took a while, after they long graduate from college, and one crucial moment (the concert) as a turning point for relationship between deok-sun and taek while jung-hwan was long out of picture during their separation. so for people who didn't feel satisfy enough with or how deok-son should or ended up 'fall in love' with Taek, should realize two things, that 1. Reply 1988 is about bittersweet first love story between two childhood friends (jung-hwan and deok-sun) , 2. Reply 1988 is about first love story of a young man named Taek who due to his determination, his story ends up with 'he got the girl'. so, it's never about deok-sun and taek love story, but it just ends up like that. still, kudos for the writer who messed up with our heart.

absolutely correct. I felt underfed regarding deok sun's growing feelings. I shipped those 2 so of course I was happy they ended up together, but what happened??? I didn't get the proper closure.
And I was also irritated by the fact that the show focused so much on her sister & her relationship which was a bit too much, I mean I know this season was focused on family ties but I didn't want to see so much of that. Instead I could have done with so much of deok sun's pov after their first kiss.
I felt that was essentially missing from the second half of the show.
It would have been so good to see a warm hearted character such a deok sun's feelings a bit before the final episode.... T.T still loved the show though. *sigh*