Responde 1994 (2013)

Good drama at start, however ruined due to long 21 episodes.

After watching reply 1997, I immediately, on the same day dived into this drama, its successor. At start I was intrigued and interested. However as the drama progressed, I became disillusioned. I realized, a strong desire to make the writer of this drama to stand under noon sun, with his arms raised to punish for destroying the plot that held so much potential, had risen in me. Also, I don't know, whether to blame the writer, director or the actor Yoo Yoon Seok for making the baseball player so creepy, pathetic and slimy bastard. I had realized prior that Yoo Yoon Seok is not able to carry 'down-to-earth modest' type guy from his Hospital Playlist 1 & 2 performance. He comes across as pretentious and fake.


The main thing, which I think ruined this drama were:
1. Long 21 episodes which are of more than an hour duration. The writer it seems didn't had enough material to make it work. It could have been possible, if they had focused more on the individual lives of the boarding house residents, instead of dwelling just on the love angle. I mean come on guys, you had college as a canvas to draw out so many stories and emotions. No college life was shown. Most of the time the college kids never seem to study or do anything remotely related to college.

2. Half baked love triangle and creepy and stalker type behavior of second ML.

3. Protracted 'who's the husband' tool which lost its significance somewhere in between.

I think, korean drama writers have a problem. They start out very promising premise, and then get entangled in ticking of the must have scene plots that they lose focus of what's required and what's not.

The things I liked about this drama are:
1. FL -ML's delicate and loyal bond which could have been done better. They could have avoided the whole one lead going for 1-2 year out of country plot. It was really not required and to be frank was kind of off-putting.

2. As always, the best part of reply series is the bond of Sung Dong Il and Lee Il Hwa as husband and wife.

3. Nostalgic feel.

All in all, its ok drama. Give it a try.

Leia Mais

I watched Reply 1994 after watching 1997 and 1988 so it felt natural to expect too much from it, however the negative reviews I read prior to watching was what kept my expectations low. After finishing the series, I wondered where the bashers were coming from. I mean, the show was really good! So good in fact that I can almost consider 1994 to be my favorite among all 3 "seasons", if you can call it seasons. I say almost because the show did fall short on some aspects in which the other two shows shined on.

It's hard to review 1994 and 1988 without comparing it to 1997, which I think was still the best among the three. 1997 was able to balance everything -- youth and the nostalgia of the late 90s, friendship, family, and the romance. Plus, Jung Eun Ji was really great as Sung Shi Won -- I still think she was the best female lead in Reply series. 1988's strength on the other hand was family and friendships. I cannot count the times that I've cried because of the touching scenes between mother and sons, father and daughters, and among friends. The romance took a back seat and though I loved both Taek and Jung Hwan, I really didn't expect that turnout. I was blindsided and I thought the show didn't give much room for Duk Seon to show why she made that choice.

Back to 1994. I love the cast (especially the mainstays -- mom Lee Il Hwa and dad Sung Dong Il) and I love that they're in college instead of high school -- I think that gave romance a bit more maturity. I think each cast shined but my favorites were Haitai, Yoonjin and Samcheonpo. I can understand why people were so torn between Chilbong and Trash and why some were so disappointed with the end result but hey, it was obvious from the beginning who Na Jung was going to end up with. Personally, I'm happy with her choice (and unlike Duk Seon, we clearly saw where Na Jung's heart was) but I was super frustrated with how the show dragged the love triangle. Did it really have to be 21 episodes? It was too long, some parts were unnecessary and boring. If they kept it at the usual 16-episode format and didn't drag the romance part too much, I would have probably given this show 10 stars.

The best thing about this show? The OST. It was so so so good! My favorites are Sung Si Kyung's version of Seo Taiji's To You, and Blue's Only Feeling You as sung by Jung Woo, Yoo Yeon Seok and Son Hojun. I can't over how good the songs were.

Overall, Reply 1994 is a good, must-watch drama. :)

Leia Mais

I watched this drama while waiting for Reply 1988 to load new episodes. I had previously attempted to watch it fresh of finishing Reply 1997, and couldn't get into it. I'm so glad now that I went back and gave it another shot at a later time. I adored Jung Woo as Trash Oppa. I'm sure he doesn't rank on most people's lists as super attractive, and I hear there were great fan wars over him and Chilbongie. But Trash was a character that I loved. Na Jung was just a so-so character for me sometimes, but I loved the ensemble of it. This drama's episodes are LONG, so be prepared. Some of them came in at around an hour and a half long. But there is a lot of story to tell. The side character's stories are interesting, and the "husband question" will drive you just as nuts as in Reply 1997, but I think it should be obvious. While I probably won't be going back and watching the entire drama again anytime soon, I do like to go back and re-watch some of my favorite scenes occasionally.

Leia Mais

Todas las segundas partes son malas.

Con diferencia el peor de la saga, se hizo demasiado largo pero muy muy largo aproximadamente desde el capitulo 10 en adelante, En el momento que dejan 1994 el drama fue a peor y quería jugar con un "misterio" que ya se había resuelto y después de 8 capítulos aproximadamente lo quieren retomar pero ya estamos en el final..............................
Carente de toda trama secundaria porque se utilizo todo el tiempo un problema de 1 o 2 capítulos para rellenar.
La pareja secundaria fue ampliamente superior a la principal y si hay que restarle puntos por algo es por lo toxica que es una relación que se basa en golpes e insultos en su mayoría y además (aunque en el drama no era el caso) la amplia diferencia de edad... creo que Do Hee tenia 19 años en ese momento, tranquilamente otro podría haber hecho del papel de viejo/joven y no ser la pareja de ella.
La música casi que inexistente aunque algo entendible pero en fin esta es sin dudas la peor de los 3 de la saga

Leia Mais

Fast-Forward

The first half was fun to watch but then the last half, I just couldn't bare it. The main female lead, NaJung, is extremely unlikeable. The main lead character and his personality seemed very Jekyll-Hyde-ish? Like rash one minute and sweet/kind the next (to various other characters too which left lots of loop holes as well). Also, there is basically no true love triangle in this kdrama, when it seems like one of the potential candidate didn't even stand a fighting chance. In addition, no character arc for one of the potential love interest, other than just his pining love for her, however, I couldn't understand how he could have been that infatuated with her that much, given the lack of profound interactions and growth between the two. Overall, I would not recommend this Reply Series to anyone, although, the kdrama did have some enjoyable friendship and nostalgic 90s childhood moments in the first half of the series. The parents is the saving grace, they are great, even though we're not sure what happens to the son (maybe he was sent to boarding school) ! So if you're fine with that and wish to complete all of the Reply series, then maybe the fast forward button will be your best friend throughout R'94 completion.

Leia Mais

I dropped this drama because I knew where it was going, and it was bursting from its unnecessarily long runtime and thin storylines. No television show needs to be over 90 minutes. You're not Ingmar Bergman with Fanny & Alexander. There's a reason your show is on television, it's supposed to be a shorter medium.

More than a drama that is mediocre or bad, I hate dramas and things in general that start out with a lot of promise and never live up to their potential and fail so spectacularly. Reply 1994 started out with about 6 incredible episodes full of heart and promised to outdo its predecessor Reply 1997 overall in terms of originality, characters, writing. I was delighted.

And then it dragged on and on with no real point, there were so many more characters that we saw so many promising qualities that could be developed into fully fledged storylines. Instead they were all dropped and never fully developed. Everyone was just there to act as mouthpieces for one single, thinly developed main storyline.

To summarize: Reply 1994 is like a beautifully decorated wedding cake, but then when you cut into the cake you realize it's made of styrofoam.

p.s. I don't appreciate queer baiting as well.

Leia Mais

Funniest Reply Series!!

I watched both reply 1997 and 1988 and wasn't sure if I was going to like this series. Let's be honest here the cast of the other two seasons was maybe better looking, but this plot was so much more funny. As soon as I saw the biscuit scene in episode 2, I was hooked. Samcheonpo truly carried this drama on his back!!! Aejung and him were such an odd but cute couple! The characters for this drama are all really likable and their problems were relatable, which I appreciated.

I really liked how they didn't focus on the main love triangle all the time. It was pretty obvious that Najung was going to end up with Sseureki, since Chilbong was barely seen in the middle of the series. Poor boy, all he did was play baseball and get rejected by Najung too many times. I did think that the brother and sister kind of relationship was kind of weird, but dramas always pull that plotline.

I just wished the episodes weren't so long, especially the last one. There were many parts of the drama where the plot seemed like it was getting dragged out. It definitely did not need all 21 episodes. Overall, this drama's plot isn't overly complicated and I'd recommend it to anyone who has watched the other reply series or is looking for a good laugh!!

Leia Mais

Although I was technically a "90's Baby" I couldn't bring myself to watch this drama originally simply because I felt it would be old fashioned and that I wouldn't be able to relate. After finishing the drama I just couldn't believe that I had postponed this drama for so long. This drama is filled with so many different stories and paths of life that I find it hard for anyone to NOT be able to relate to this drama. It's filled with the struggles of young adulthood, the many changes over the years (economical, technology, etc.), as well as little sparks of romance. I loved how "normal" this drama was. There was no pretty little idol always prancing around making it all about the looks. There was surface in this drama.

Leia Mais

overall this drama is good one and worth watching.i actually watched the first ep and gave up,then thanks to mydramalist and all the review,i decided to continue watching it.i enjoyed watching it after that.but can't help but be bored when i was watching the middle part of the drama and wish for it to be over soon.i was tired of waiting for the drama to end.for me,i prefer reply 1997 more because of the cast and maybe because i think 1997 is more lighter than this one which had more characters and story.21 ep is wayyy to long for me i guess.i really like watching samcheonpo's awkwardness.lol

Leia Mais

Since I've watched reply 1997 before this drama I kinda know who will end up with Najung. I was surprised on how long the time of some episode has. I think this drama can already end at episode somewhere near 16. I also don't know what happened on some parts?? Like what happened on Sung Na-Jung's fan-girling?? It suddenly stopped when she had a problem on her back.

I'll give this drama a 6/10. I got bored on the last few episodes. They just drag(?) the story. But still this drama is somehow funny, cute and lovely. Y'all don't need to compare this drama to the other reply series.

Leia Mais