I have recently finished the kdrama Reply 1994! Like super recently, yesterday in fact. And I have a lot to say.

But first let me talk about the other two Reply series real quick.

Spoilers Contained Within

I watched Reply 1997 first, as you should, and it was the best. It was the shortest but the story built nicely, nothing was dragged out and it was hella emotional. I got so into it! It made me laugh, it made me cry and I was so invested in the love story. I was so mad when the brother, Tae-wong, started dating Shi-won. I honestly did not think he was truly into her and it was strange as he had gone out with her older sister. I dunno, I never shipped them. But Yoon-jae! Yoon-jae!! I was rooting for you man, from the beginning.

It wasn’t just them who I liked but the supporting characters too, the friends, parents and their stories. I could say the same thing about Reply 1988 but more so. Reply 1988 was very community based and you really felt like you were a part of it. It was homey and heart warming. I loved it.

Speaking of ’88, it was another favourite. It was so cinematic, the quality of that kdrama was high! The acting was ace and there were many possibilities for her man, so to speak. It was also nice to have a story with siblings who weren’t dead. We got to see family dynamics, and learn about South Korea and life in the 80’s. As a 90’s baby I enjoyed that.

Now onto the main subject of this blog, Reply 1994.

It was too predictable. I swear from episode one I knew exactly how it was going to play out. It was so annoying. Why do they always go for the childhood sweetheart? Also in this one there was no mystery or doubt. They tried to make it less obvious but come on, she never gave Chilbong a chance! She never entertained the idea of dating him. That relationship was so painful to watch because you knew he never had a chance.

I didn’t like that they mashed up all the Reply’s, it made no sense. They were meant to be separate narratives but they still created links? My pet peeve is timelines that don’t make sense. So that annoyed me.

On a good note I liked Haitai and I liked the other supporting characters but mostly just Haitai, he was interesting and loveable. Yoon-jin and Samcheonpo were cute buuuut … actually no but, they were cute. I liked them.

I read that people had an issue with Baro’s story line as they thought he was going to be gay. I kind of thought that too, I didn’t get his relationship with Trash (worse nickname or what?). Was it that he admired him? Because when he got with that upperclassman, a woman, I was like hmm … not where I thought this was going. I thought he was going to be another Hoya.

Tbh I also think the Reply show people like to mess with the audience. Like remember how in 1988 the mom, Mi Ran, was feeling the menopause blues but because of Reply 1994 people were convinced she was pregnant and were disappointed when she wasn’t and it really was just menopause? Yeah, they like to mess with us.

What do you think? Perhaps he was bi?

So all in all, I liked Reply 1994 the least. The love story annoyed me and was just too predictable. However that whole keeping the name secret thing was a good idea.

I hear they’re planning another one, please let the love story be different! But it’s going to be set in the 70’s apparently so I’m excited for that.

That is all 😀

Ps: It pissed me off when the dad got all the blame for losing all the money over that city phone. It was the mom who was like, “Invest all our money in it it’s such a good idea!” Like lady you know you did wrong, don’t let him suffer alone!

Okay, now I’m done.