ep 16 r88 recap
CAUGHT UP! FINALLY! and what an episode… only this show can make me tear up and laugh out loud within five minutes.

let’s start with taek and his dad— together, they only got like 3-5 minutes of screen time, but i’m impressed by how moving they made it without much dialogue. i’ve also never addressed how much i LOVE choi moo sung!! i haven’t seen all his shows, but i’ve seen bits and pieces of his work in FOS and mr. sunshine, and i think it’s pretty amazing how he always absorbs himself in his character. taek’s relationship with his dad is quiet, as the two of them are reserved, but there’s so much love for each other. it was touching to see how moved taek’s dad was with a few words and a smile from his son.

then there’s bora and appa, which is the relationship in the show that makes me cry the most. the two of them are so alike, and so quiet with each other, but you can tell they want to say something, they just don’t know how. bora just breaks my heart a bit with every glance, like when the shirt she gave her dad didn’t fit and she looked away, or when she hears about money troubles at home… in that scene, you can hear the sung parents telling deoksun and noeul to hold off on going to the study room or an academy because there’s not enough money because of bora’s new place and the moving costs, but obviously, bora packs all the stuff in her car, and we see her small place later next episode. the show does a really excellent job of hiding these little things here and there and communicates so much without words.

and the song noeul performs is “sad fate” by nami*, which plays later in the episode when taek is sad over deoksun </3 oh, these BOYS, they keep breaking my heart over how sweet they are!! once again, this reply is so different because in the other ones, when the male leads found out they both liked the girl, it created tension and competition between the two. but in this one, a girl doesn’t come between them. in fact, you could almost say taek comes between JH and DS or JH comes between taek and DS, but not like it’s a bad thing… it’s because they care so deeply for their friendship. oh, reply 1988!!!

closing this post off with a picture of the ajummas— name a better friend group, i’ll WAIT (the only one that comes close are the kids in this show, obviously)