Tuesday, October 22, 2013

K-Mondays: Reply 1994, Episode 1 - Seoul Person

I am a huge fan of Reply 1997, because I really like those kinds of concepts, especially when it comes to romance stories. It was also fun getting to understand the fan culture in Korea during the popularity of HOT. I must admit that someday, I want our fan culture today to be also depicted in a drama or movie. It's just that watching the fan culture during 1997 in Korea was so entertaining and I bet that the people who were really part of it and are real HOT fans during their peak must be proud and all nostalgic while watching Reply 1997. This time, a different fan culture will be depicted in Reply 1994, and I'm really excited about it. 

Reply 1994 tackles the fan culture of Seo Taiji and Boys and the Korean Basketball League. The main character, Sung Na Jung (played by Go Ah Ra), is a huge fan of Lee Sang Min, a basketball player. On the other hand, the female supporting character, Jo Yoon Jin (played by Min Do Hee), is a huge fan of Seo Tai Ji. Other than the fan culture, Reply 1994 is also like Reply 1997, where there are mysteries as to who would end up with whom. Such as in the first episode..


Present-time Yoon Jin.


Present-time Na Jung.


A student who (I assume) lives with Na Jung (present-time) and is probably her son.


Na Jung's wedding video in 2002, played present-time.


Na Jung's husband. We still don't know who he really is.

Another character in the drama is Na Jung's older brother (played by Jung Woo). He actually looked familiar to me (the actor) until I realized that he was the baker in You're the Best, Lee Soon Shin. His role in this drama is mainly for comic relief, as we see here.



He's the one in blue pants and white shirt.


Na Jung and his brother (Sseu re gi or Trash) always seems to get into a fight, like what normal siblings usually do.

However, I'm hoping that his role will not just be all about that. I'm looking forward to his character development because I believe that it would be an exciting twist in the story. By the way, their parents are the same parents in Reply 1997.

Next are the students staying in the Shinchon Homestay, a dormitory run by Sung Na Jung's family in Seoul. The first student that I will introduce is Jo Yoon Jin, the Seo Tai Ji fan. Her curtain-like hair is her trademark in 1994. She also curses like hell.




The second student is Haitai. Like all of them are, he's a computer engineering major in college. He's the first student to be introduced in the story who's living in the dormitory. There's still nothing much known about him during the first episode, all I know is that he's quite easy-going and has an awesomely weird hairstyle. Haha!



Lastly, we have Samchunpo, a student from Samchun. On his first time to go to Shinchon Homestay, he got lost and ultimately ended up in a police station.




I quite understood his worries, because it's really difficult to adjust to a new life. But what I really understood from his worries when he got lost in 1994 Seoul was when I visited Seoul and got also lost because of the number of exits of each train stations. It's really hard completely understanding how the railway system in Seoul works but it was even hard for Samchunpo because he's from the countryside and he couldn't express himself well because he was afraid that he'll be treated differently because of his being a person from the countryside, and not a "Seoul Person."

That's it for Reply 1994's first episode. I didn't narrate the whole episode scene by scene because I think it's really fun if it's watched. I again introduced the characters who debuted in the first episode, and I hope to meet more characters in the second.


P.S.

I really am ashamed to be posting this on a Tuesday and I haven't even watched Running Man yet. I actually watched this earlier because of the bad internet connection, and because of that I made this post on a Tuesday, instead of tomorrow. I promise to get back on track tomorrow, because I assume I can take a break and calm down.

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