Title : Reply 1988, Answer me 1988
Episodes : 20 ( 1 hour and 40 mins)
Genre : Retro, Reply, Family, Friends, Romance, Drama, Slice of Life
Story : 7 out of 10
Characters : 7 out of 10
Cinematography : 9 out of 10
The third part of the reply series is said to be the best, though it was too long and it gets tiring at times.
Story
Deok Sun is the middle child of her poor family. She is struggling to get attention from her family and her school performance isn’t great either. She is best friends with the neighborhoods, other students. Jung Hwan is a boy whose family is the richest of their street, and they often like to show it off. He has feelings for Deok Sun, as does she, but they don’t reveal it to each other. Sun Woo is the poorest of their gang. He has no father and his mother is naive and is struggling to raise him and his little sister. Still, he is a good student and a good son. Choi Taek is a genius baduk player (a traditional korean board game) and he has left school as he is pursuing a professional career.
This reply drama was focused more on human relationships and the family dynamics rather than the romance and the cute and funny moments. It was lengthy (too lengthy!!) and the story had many character’s povs to follow, but the nostalgic feeling was all over the place. Also, the romance was really strong, with the second lead, though the main romance was kind of odd. Finally, this one didn’t have the back and forth game, but some characters from reply 1994 had a cameo.
Characters
Deok Sun is a naive school girl who just wants from her parents to notice her. She complains a lot, but she is cute and friendly. However, she hates school and that is mirrored to her grades. Hyeri from Girl’s Day did a good job as Deok Sun, though her character wasn’t as likable as the one the previous leading ladies of the reply series had, as she was more realistic and had many flaws. Also, she didn’t have chemistry with her partner, but rather with the second lead (they actually ended up together in real life!!)
Teak is a genius baduk player. He is rich because of the trophies he gets from the matches he has. He is naive and he acts like a child most of the time. Park Bo Gum’s key role, as his adorable features, fitted the character well. Sometimes, he didn’t appear in some episodes, but he added cute vibes to the ones he was in.
Sun Woo is the poorest kid in the neighborhood. He has no father and his mother is struggling to get by. He loves his mother and his little sister and he is humble and kind. Go Kyung Pyo had a very innocent and good boy image in this one and he was one of the best characters of the series.
Cinematography
Even though they didn’t have the flashbacks to deal with, the era that this drama was filmed in was the oldest one and they portrayed it beautifully.
Overall
My overall score for the reply 1988 drama is 7 out of 10. It was too long and the romance wasn’t good, though it had a nice story and some characters were really likable.
K&J Reviews 
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