[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Reply 1994" Episode 8

It's still summertime. Not even a specific month either, just summertime in general, just like the last few episodes. The drama is treading over the same ground and I must confess it's getting a little tiring. There are only so many episodes about nothing that can be produced before the reader finally starts to wonder, hey, is anything actually going to happen or is it just going to be an endless summer?

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For what it's worth, what little plot there is this time around is fairly interesting. The kids have a discussion about who in the group they would most prefer as a romantic partner. Sure, they play it off as just being a conversation piece delivered in good fun- but let's be honest here. Who ever has conversations like that and is actually aiming for flippancy?

Well, about half of the ones here really. But what's really interesting are the ones who actually are trying to angle for a possible romantic hook-up, yet doing their very best to avoid seeming desperate about it. Oftentimes it seem like most people can be sorted into those two groups- the ones who legitimately don't care about romance and the ones who get obsessive about it. And because we live in an unjust world, it's only the ones in the first group who seem capable of finding partners easily.

Rubbish is, unsurprisingly, a member of that group. And while the drama appears to have been doing it's best to make him look unideal lately, this episode provides some interesting events which indicate he really does have a good heart. It would be nice to see other male cast members get the same degree of humanization, though- just in terms of general focus it often feels like Rubbish is the only character with positive character traits at all.

The humor this episode is average. Nothing too impressive, nothing too terrible. Character interactions and their overreactions are good- references to ongoing events in 1994 Seoul not so much, I would say probably because you just had to be there. "Reply 1994" is very much more a slice-of-life comedy than it is a story with an actual discrete plot, and it's unfortunate that this episode spends so much time basically being about nothing. It calls a lot of attention to the drama's more problematic faults. Still, the drama as a whole is entertaining enough to warrant further watching- I just hope it starts making more of an effort soon.

Review by William Schwartz

"Reply 1994" is directed by Sin Won-ho and written by Lee Woo-jeong-I and features Go Ara, Sung Dong-il, Lee Il-hwa and Jung Woo.