You’ve probably seen Reply 1988 pop up on your Facebook feed up ’til today, almost six years after it first aired, because it’s just that good. It had everything for every kind of viewer: a captivating love triangle, rewarding coming-of-age stories, and way too many tearjerking scenes. In this list of the best scenes from Reply 1988, we’re going to take a look at some of the most heartbreaking moments in this iconic k-drama.

Obviously, spoilers are ahead! If you still haven’t watched any show from the Reply trilogy, make sure to visit our guide so you’d know how you should be watching it.

1. Deok-sun’s Olympic dream gets cut

In the first moment of the show that truly made us tear up, our bubbly protaganist Sung Deok-sun learned that she would not be able to be part of the Olympic opening ceremony. She was representing the country of Madagascar which would eventually withdraw from the competition. We knew how big this was for Deok-sun; she was practicing day and night for that occasion.

She was also never as bright as her sister, so you knew this was a huge deal for her. It just sucked to see her try to hold back tears when she was being interviewed about how she felt about being removed from the ceremony.

It’s a two-for-one special for the first episode! Deok-sun had a memorably terrible birthday celebration right after the whole opening ceremony debacle. She was sick of sharing a birthday cake with her sister, Sung Bo-ra, just because they were born three days apart. But because their family wasn’t really that rich to begin with, her parents really didn’t have a choice.

When it was time to sing a birthday song for Deok-sun, she stopped the whole thing and went on a tirade. It wasn’t really about the fact that she was sharing a birthday cake, but it’s about all the times she felt like she wasn’t being treated equally as her siblings. Later on, her father brought her to a store, apologized, and secretly gave her a birthday cake of her own. Deok-sun’s dad is definitely father goals!

3. Sun-woo eats his mother’s lunch

It’s a small moment, but something that really stayed with me. In the second episode, the boys lightheartedly made fun of the food that Sun-woo’s mom had prepared for him because she was not exactly the best cook in the world. Even if Sun-woo knew this, he made sure to eat the entire lunch made by his mom before he went home so that she wouldn’t feel bad. Aww~

4. Jung-hwan does the greeting that his dad does

One of the best scenes in Reply 1988 could be found in Episode 4, where we really got to explore the dynamic in Jung-hwan’s family. It was the birthday of his mother, Ra Mi-ran, so his dad, Kim Sung-kyun, did everything he could to make it a fun one for everyone. He took them to a fancy American diner, but the whole family seemed like they weren’t into it. Kim Jung-bong was too busy playing with his Rubik’s Cube while Jung-hwan was… being his unbothered self.

But Sung-kyun didn’t seem to mind their lack of appreciation until he bought some ice cream for the family. The next day, he saw the melted ice cream on the same spot where he had left it which sent him to a miserable state!

Jung-hwan was able to deduce why he was feeling that way, so when Sung-kyun did his signature wacky greeting thinking that Deok-sun had entered the house, he reluctantly did the whole bit with his father even if it was probably killing him inside. Even Sung-kyun was shocked when he played along!

5. Taek’s father tells him he loves him

From one father-son duo to another, Choi Taek and Moo-sung had some memorable storylines that made us reach for the tissue a couple of times. One of the most heartwrenching moments between them happened in the seventh episode, when Moo-sung was interviewed by a reporter about his son, but got frustrated when he couldn’t answer any question about him.

His guilt was intensified when Taek returned with a birthday present for him — pink mittens — from his trip overseas. When giving it to him, Taek said that he loved his father. While the latter obviously wanted to say it back, he couldn’t muster up the words to do so. They just didn’t have that kind of relationship especially since the both of them were so reserved!

But later on, the reporter showed Taek a video of Moo-sung telling him he loved him. And of course, Taek broke down in tears.

6. Jung-hwan helps his mother read her name

In Episode 11, Jung-hwan’s parents were planning to go to Japan for a quick getaway. Jung-hwan was in the travel agency helping out with the documents and had to call Mi-ran because they were asking for her English name. However, Mi-ran kept delaying giving the name so she told her son to call her back later instead. Jung-hwan was able to put two and two together and realized: his mother can’t read!

He asked Sung-kyun about it, who confirmed that both he and Mi-ran only finished grade school. Either way, he thought that his wife was the smartest person that he knew. On their way to the airport, Mi-ran found a welcome surprise in her passport as she saw her English name written in Hanggul.

It was from her son who did not once judge her for not knowing how to read English.

7. Sun-woo finds out about his mom’s part-time job

Another great moment from the most perfect son in the world. There was a time when his mom, Kim Sun-young, was sort of keeping her budding friendship with Moo-sung a secret from Sun-woo.

But when he eventually realized that Moo-sung and Sun-young may be hitting it off, he cut night classes to spy on them. But what he didn’t expect to find out was that his mother was actually working a part-time job as a bathhouse cleaner and was keeping it a secret from him! This simultaneously broke Sun-woo’s heart and made him angry.

Why would she keep all these secrets from him, but more importantly, why was she feeling the need to get a job for him?

Thankfully, Sung Bo-ra was able to explain why it’s important he didn’t get mad at his mom: she was doing all this extra work for him!

8. Moo-sung thinks Taek is dead

We’ve never seen Taek’s dad show so much emotion until this moment. The Ssangmundong neighborhood got turned upside-down when news broke out about a plane crash which Taek was probably on. While everyone was amazed at Moo-sung’s calm behavior throughout the whole thing, we learned what really happened.

Since the number to Taek’s hotel room was locked inside his drawer, Moo-sung desperately broke the padlock and was trembling in fear. Sun-woo had to call Taek in his place, and when he wasn’t answering, his dad threw the biggest tantrum because he thought he had just lost him. After the call, Taek just sat in tears because he was oblivious about how much he worried Moo-sung.

9. Deok-sun’s mom stops calling her Soo-yeon

What started out as a funny joke where everyone started to call Deok-sun by the name “Soo-yeon” ended up giving us one of the saddest moments in Reply 1988. When her mom, Il-hwa, went to the fortune teller, she was told that Deok-sun would only get into college if everyone called her Soo-yeon. So she got the whole neighborhood to do so!

But when Il-hwa gets the news from her daughter’s teacher that college was not in the cards, she would immediately call her by Deok-sun again. This broke Deok-sun’s heart because the fact that she didn’t call her Soo-yeon anymore meant that she had just disappointed her mother. The spunky teenager would desperately apologize to her mother thinking that she had given up on her the moment she called her by her birth name.

10. Dong-ryong’s mom cooks food for him

One of the most underrated characters, Dong-ryong, finally took the spotlight in Episode 15. He had always been known as the joker of the group at this point, but we were able to see a glimpse of his not-so-happy life at home for the first time.

When he got into a motorcycle accident, he was taken to the police and needed a guardian to get him out, so the gang called his always-absentee of a mother which stirred quite the frightened reaction out of Dong-ryong. But to his surprise, she showed nothing but concern for her son. She would then watch him eat the food she cooked as Dong-ryong told her the latest tea about him and Ssangmundong — the first time she had seen him talk that much to her.

11. Bo-ra’s dad gives her medicine

Actually, can we just include all the scenes between Sung Bo-ra and the dad? I mean the little things like Bo-ra buying him a shirt for work was enough to make me tear up. But if I had to pick the best moment in Reply 1988 between them, I’m going with the scene in Episode 16 where Bo-ra leaves home.

When Bo-ra was moving out so that she could study for the bar exams, we thought that Sung Dong-il was absent because he had to work. But as it turned out, he was actually doing something nice for his daughter. He stopped her car to give her some medicine he had bought for her. Even the stone cold Bo-ra couldn’t hold back her tears from this touching gesture, and she would let her tears fall as she drove away. Her dad loved her after all!

12. Jung-hwan and Jung-bong’s moment under the stars

Now we weren’t gonna forget about Jung-bong, were we? The brothers shared one last moment together under the shooting stars before they moved past their teen years. When Jung-hwan asked what he wished for during the cosmic event, he told him that it was for Jung-hwan to follow his own dream.

We learned that Jung-hwan would always dream to be what Jung-bong dreamed of being, but had to set aside because of his heart condition. First, he wanted to be a soccer player, and then he wanted to be an Air Force pilot — two things Jung-bong wanted to be, but couldn’t. Jung-hwan always wanted to live his brother’s dream so that he could do it for the both of them. When he realized that Jung-bong caught up to what he had been doing, he couldn’t help but tear up.

13. Jung-hwan’s false confession

I mean… I just couldn’t leave this out. When I laid out my theory about why Taek was not supposed to be Deok-sun’s husband, I told you all that I was Team Taek. But even I couldn’t help but feel so heartbroken for Jung-hwan when he made “jokingly” professed his love for her.

All viewers were waiting for a moment where one of the two boys in our loveline would finally confess his love, so we were all glued to our television watching Jung-hwan finally do it. The whole speech was so passionate and really came from the bottom of the heart! He was recounting all the things he did for Deok-sun in high school, and everyone in the dinner table was freaking SHOOKT to the core.

But by then, Jung-hwan knew that Deok-sun had no (more?) feelings for him. So he ended that whole spiel by saying it was just a joke.

This was honestly more a sad moment for us than for him, although you could kinda see his pain through it all.

14. Saying goodbye to Ssangmundong

I have… thoughts about the Reply 1988 finale, and to sum it up, my disappointment in it is the only thing keeping me from claiming that this is the best k-drama ever. But when Deok-sun did the whole nostalgic farewell to the Ssangmundong neighborhood and the simpler 1980s era at the very end of the show, I couldn’t help but feel somber. Seeing it empty without our favorite people living there anymore just hurt.

Change is inevitable, but it still sucks.

It’s truly a testament to how well the cast and crew behind the k-drama did their job; saying goodbye to Ssangmundong brought out a lot of tears from someone who was not even born in 1988.

And that’s our list of the top moments in Reply 1988 that made us cry. We know there are some tearjerking moments in Reply 1988 that we left out here, so feel free to leave them down in the comments section below!

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The post ‘Reply 1988’: The 14 Best Scenes that Made Us Cry… A Lot appeared first on Zoomers Corner.

It’s been over five years since Reply 1988 first hit the airwaves and touched the hearts of many Korean households. And thanks to Netflix, k-dramas fans around the world — new and old — were introduced to this one-of-a-kind coming-of-age family drama. The only problem they face now is that it’s so difficult to find shows like it. Well, you won’t have to worry about that because we compiled a list of six realistic k-dramas similar to Reply 1988.

And no, we are not going to be including Reply 1994 and Reply 1997 in this list. But if you haven’t watched them yet, make sure to check out our ultimate guide to the entire Reply trilogy to know which one you should watch next!

1. Hospital Playlist

Cast: Yoo Yeon-seok, Jo Jung-suk, Jeon Mi-do, Kim Dae-myung & Jung Kyung-ho

Synopsis: Hospital Playlist is a medical drama that revolves around the everyday lives of five talented doctors who work in Yulje Medical Center. While most of the show focuses on the cases and patients they handle, it’s really about the relationships among the main characters, as well as the people who work inside the hospital. There’s no “main plot” to this show, but rather, every person in the gang has their own thing going on.

How it’s similar to Reply 1988: Released in 2020, Hospital Playlist is the most recent brainchild of Reply series writer Lee Woo-jung. I feel like among all the k-dramas similar to Reply 1988, this one feels the most familiar in terms of the entire presentation: the lack of a central storyline, the focus on relationships, the strong characters among the entire ensemble, and of course, the presence of a group of friends that screams #friendshipgoals.

While I personally didn’t like this k-drama (don’t hate me) because it moved soooo slow, many Reply 1988 fans have enjoyed watching the mundanity of everyday life on their screen. It does feel like Reply if you set it in the modern-day hospital.

I am obviously in the minority with my opinion on the quality of the show, but do know that Hospital Playlist is well-loved among the k-drama community. It’s even getting a season 2 this year!

Where to watch Hospital Playlist in the Philippines: Netflix

Read more about the show on IMDB.

2. Be Melodramatic

Cast: Chun Woo-hee, Jeon Yeo-bin & Han Ji-eun

Synopsis: Also known as Melo is My Nature and Melo Suits Me, this romantic comedy follows three women in their thirties as they navigate the entertainment industry. Much like Hello, My Twenties! which made our list of top k-dramas to watch for Gen Z’ers, every character has their own unique battles entangled in messy romance and life lessons. Through it all, our characters are lucky to have a strong support system with each other!

How it’s similar to Reply 1988: You will love this k-drama because it stars Ahn Jae-hong, whom you might know better as Kim Jung-bong. But more than that, the three leads in Be Melodramatic still have a lot of growing up to do — much like the teenage characters we followed in Reply 1988 — despite being in their thirties. And they are so hilarious… imagine having a show that centers around three strong and funny Deok-sun’s in a “millennial” coming-of-age.

While short on the tears, it has more than enough romance and heart to please fans of Reply 1988.

Where to watch Be Melodramatic in the Philippines: Netflix and iflix

Read more about the show on IMDB.

3. It’s Okay to Not Be Okay

Cast: Kim Soo-hyun, Seo Yea-ji & Oh Jung-se

Synopsis: It’s Okay to Not Be Okay was one of the breakthrough k-dramas of 2020. It follows the love story between Ko Moon-young, an antisocial children book’s writer, and Moon Gang-tae, a caretaker who works in a psychiatric hospital. They fall for each other and work through a seemingly-doomed romance despite the dark pasts that cloud their family.

How it’s similar to Reply 1988: This entry will probably be the most “unrealistic” k-drama in terms of the story. There are a few outlandish situations which can land the show into soapy territory, but it’s not hard to see how it can happen IRL if you’re willing to suspend your disbelief.

We’re still putting it in this list because it does get the most important bit in realistic fashion: family. In essence, It’s Okay to Not Be Okay is really about the family you find outside your own blood. The romance is just a cute way to drive the story, but what makes it memorable up to this day is how Moon-young finds her way into the hearts of the two brothers.

It’s not so much a slice-of-life, but it did give us heavy Reply 1988 vibes with how much we cried because of the love shown among the “family” here.

Where to watch It’s Okay to Not Be Okay in the Philippines: Netflix

Read more about the show on IMDB.

4. Prison Playbook

Cast: Park Hae-soo, Jung Kyung-ho, Lee Kyu-hyung, Jung Hae-in & Jeong Woong-in

Synopsis: Prison Playbook revolves around the ensemble of lovable prison inmates, led by famous baseball player Kim Je-hyuk. He is wrongfully imprisoned after defending his sister from a sexual assault, and meets lifelong friends behind bars who have their own baggage to deal with.

Thankfully, his best friend is the prison guard who has a lot of history with Je-hyuk. The dramedy also sheds some light on Je-hyuk’s family and girlfriend, who have to deal with the fallout of his imprisonment.

How it’s similar to Reply 1988: This is another k-drama written by the same guy behind Reply 1988, so expect some hardcore tears and laughter in every episode. The show may not be groundbreaking nor exciting, but it will remind you of a special time in your life, most especially the memories you cherish with your friends and family from long ago.

It’s definitely no action k-drama; the prison setting is really just a means for the characters to grow as people. Just like the Reply series, you’re going to get attached with the ensemble cast… which is kind of weird considering how we’re talking about inmates here!

Where to watch Prison Playbook in the Philippines: Netflix

Read more about the show on IMDB.

5. My Mister

Cast: IU & Lee Sun-gyun

Synopsis: My Mister is quite the heavy k-drama as we follow two lonely people who meet in a compromising workplace situation: Lee Ji-an, a humble and hardworking woman in her twenties who is battling the pressures of surviving the real world, and Park Dong-hoon, an unhappy older man who feels a huge burden on his shoulders because of his family and work.

Dong-hoon lives with his two brothers who are struggling with their own problems in life. The oldest brother is having a tough time finding a wife and having a successful professional career, while the other one is an aspiring director.

With all these characters trying to overcome their own miseries, they soon find themselves relying on each other for hope and comfort.

How it’s similar to Reply 1988: If you’re looking for those oh-so-good heartaches that the Reply series gave us, then look no further than My Mister. The whole feel of this show is a little more grim than that of the lighthearted Reply 1988, because the characters come from more unfortunate backgrounds. But regardless, the realism of the k-drama mixed with the abundance of heartwarming family moments will make you reach for the tissues in no time!

Where to watch My Mister in the Philippines: Netflix

Read more about the show on IMDB.

6. One Spring Night

Cast: Jung Hae-in & Han Ji-min

Synopsis: One Spring Night is about a Lee Jong-in, a librarian who hits a major roadblock when she realizes that her long-term boyfriend is not really who she wants to be with forever. Amidst all this, she meets and falls in love with single dad pharmacist, Yu Ji-ho. They navigate the difficulties of their relationship together as they go against the societal standard of needing to marry someone with a high social standing.

Jong-in’s father disapproves of Ji-ho due to his status as a single parent, and her much-more-successful boyfriend isn’t making things easier for her.

How it’s similar to Reply 1988: We’ve talked about the cousin of this k-drama before, Something in the Rain. Both of them feel so grounded to reality, that it’s hard not to put yourself in the characters’ shoes.

In Reply 1988, we got a hint of how harsh South Korean society can be when the parents of Bo-ra and Sun-woo disapproved of their relationship because they had the same surname. We also see this in One Spring Night when Jong-in goes through a lot of hurdles just to start a relationship with a single dad in his thirties.

Aside from that, both k-dramas rely on character moments as opposed to spectacles and complicated plot devices to hook viewers in.

Where to watch One Spring Night in the Philippines: Netflix

Read more about the show on IMDB.

Do you have any suggestions to add to our list of realistic k-dramas similar to Reply 1988? Feel free to leave them down in the comments section below!

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Featured Image: Left – tvN via Netflix, Right – MBC via Netflix

The post 6 Realistic K-Dramas Similar to ‘Reply 1988’ appeared first on Zoomers Corner.

It’s been almost six years since Reply 1988 first aired in Korea, but it continues to be heralded as a modern classic thanks to how well it catered to all types of viewers. While majority of us were glued to the family and community drama in Ssangmundong, we couldn’t keep ourselves from trying to guess the answer to one of the biggest mysteries in the show: who is Deok-sun’s husband?

Spoilers ahead! If you haven’t watched Reply 1988 until the last episode, we highly suggest you keep from reading this article any further. We would like to recommend you read our ultimate guide in watching the Reply series instead.

After nineteen feature-length episodes, Sung Deok-sun’s husband was revealed to be Choi Taek, the shy and timid professional Go game player. This reveal was the most satisfying resolution to a loveline/love triangle that I’ve ever witnessed in my 23 years of existence. Not only was I part of Team Taek since his introduction in the second episode, but that love triangle was so freaking unpredictable.

It’s so easy to guess how a love triangle is gonna go from the very first episode. In some cases, you don’t even need to watch the show to know who will end up with whom. Take Start-Up for example: we all knew that Nam Do-san was going to end up with Seo Dal-mi (even if Ji-pyeong was the superior choice) because all the promos for the show featured both of them.

That is not how you do a love triangle, especially if you’re going to focus the show heavily on that element. Reply 1988 is the perfect example of keeping things well-balanced for the two candidates: Kim Jung-hwan and Choi Taek. It was never obvious which one of them was going to end up as Deok-sun’s husband — not until we got closer to the big reveal where little things started to hint towards the answer. Even when we were at that point, we were never truly sure until present-day Deok-sun called her husband by his name.

I think even people from Team Jung-hwan couldn’t be too angry at how the love triangle turned out. It just made a lot of sense for Taek and Deok-sun to end up together.

However, I do believe Jung-hwan was originally planned to be Deok-sun’s husband. My gut had been telling me that from the very first episode, and it has not waivered since I finished the k-drama five months ago. There were just some evidence lying around that the writers changed course halfway through the show.

While I love Taek, he was not supposed to get the girl. At least not at first.

A lot of our proof is based on how Reply 1997 and Reply 1994 panned out. So we marked them with spoiler tags in case you hadn’t watched the previous installments yet.

1. Jung-hwan was the only one who said he didn’t like Deok-sun

Remember the scene in the second episode where all of the boys slept together in one room after drinking? Dong-ryong brought up that Deok-sun had “become cuter” in the past days.

Sun-won, who at this point was a top contender to be Deok-sun’s husband, agreed with him. Taek also nodded his head in agreement. But then Jung-hwan sat up furiously because everyone else agreef that she was cute. “You all must be crazy! You’re all out of your minds.”

This scene particularly stood out to me because the writers made it a point for Jung-hwan to be so repulsed by the idea that Deok-sun could be seen as cute. It was the moment when I thought I had it all figured out. Why go through all the trouble of emphasizing the differences in their reactions when Jung-hwan, the outliar of the group, wouldn’t be The One?

2. Deok-sun’s future husband looked nothing like Taek

I mean I get that this isn’t supposed to be the Holy Grail of evidence, but come on. Taek looks nothing like him! If anything, Jung-hwan is the splitting image of this guy. Just look at the hair and skin color.

There’s also the fact that Deok-sun’s husband actually speaks… a lot. We all know that Taek isn’t the type to express himself with words, let alone get into arguments with present-day Deok-sun. While I get that people change throughout their lives, it seems pretty suspicious that Reply 1988 already showed the husband’s “talkative side” pretty earlier on when Taek’s character still barely spoke.

I believe the writers cleverly retconned this late into the series by pointing out how Taek’s father looked a lot like him when he was younger.

For all you saying that the present-day husband of Deok-sun was not supposed to look like anyone specific since that would give away the mystery too early, I agree with you. But let me tell you this: I don’t think Reply 1988 was ever intended to center around the romance aspect, so it would’ve been totally fine to show that Deok-sun’s husband in the present-day does look like his younger version.

3. Taek had close to zero screen time in the first episode

I can already hear you say it doesn’t matter, but let’s look at it from a TV writing perspective.

If you’re going to introduce a series-long mystery that revolves around one key person (in this case, “who is Deok-sun’s husband”) in the first episode, wouldn’t it make more sense for the answer to be hinted at in the first episode?

As you can see in the picture above, Jung-hwan was seated right beside Deok-sun in the very first scene of the k-drama.

And think of all the shows you’ve watched that had a central mystery or love triangle that did not follow through with their original plan. We’re talking shows like Dawson’s Creek or The Vampire Diaries whose writers switched the guy whom the girl was going to end up in the middle of the series. They all had blinking neon signs that read “hey, this guy is gonna end up with the girl!”

It was obvious to everybody.

The “Other Guy” is always supposed to be just another obstacle for the main couple getting together, but when fanfare and natural story progression kick in, the writers choose to do a full 180.

I feel like the same thing happened in Reply 1998 because Jung-hwan had more interactions with Deok-sun and a stronger presence than Taek did in the early episodes.

4. Taek’s call from the phone booth was doomed

I don’t know about you, but I only started to see Taek as a “real contender” to being Deok-sun’s husband in this phone booth scene. Just to refresh your mind, a lot of that episode was dedicated to Deok-sun trying to get her postcard read on-air by a radio broadcaster named Lee Moon-se.

She wrote that she wanted the guy she liked to confess to her on the first day of snowfall. Then lo and behold, Deok-sun gets a call: it was Taek calling from a phone booth outside when it had just started snowing. While he didn’t confess his love for her, he did ask her if she wanted to go to the movies with him.

It was a pretty sweet moment, and by this time, I actually do feel like the writers were testing the waters with Taek. At this time, Sun-won had basically been written off as Deok-sun’s potential husband because they were already pushing his romance with Bo-ra.

But what I wanted to point out was that there is actually a sort of “curse” in the Reply trilogy that involves phone booths.

5. Jung-hwan had been a “contender” from the start

It was obvious that the writers wanted us to think that the main love line was going to be between Sun-won, Deok-sun, and Jung-hwan. I mean Deok-sun was pining hard for Sun-won since the first episode while Jung-hwan was still denying his feelings for her. We were led to believe that one of them would definitely be Deok-sun’s husband… and then swerve.

Sun-won goes after Bo-ra and never looks back.

What’s interesting though is that at the time Sun-won revealed that the girl he actually liked was Bora, Taek was still a non-factor when it came to the love line; he barely had any screen time or intimate moments with Deok-sun. Sure, some of us were probably all like “wouldn’t it be nice if this Taek guy ended up with Deok-sun,” but we knew next to nothing about him that made him a legitimate threat to Jung-hwan.

As a comparison, we’ve already gotten moments early on where Jung-hwan displayed his soft spot for Deok-sun. There was the time he unwillingly volunteered himself and the guys to dance in a talent show to get her a Walkman.

So when the time came when Taek was making moves on Deok-sun, it all felt like a way to keep the husband mystery going even when it seemed inevitable that it was Jung-hwan. I mean to give him credit, he was there from the very start.

6. Taek was the successful one

Do you know that trope in TV or movies where the girl picks the “comfortable” one (usually a best friend) over the successful and rich guy? We saw this recently in Start-Up. If we were to follow that line of logic, then Taek had no business being Deok-sun’s husband.

I do see how Jung-hwan and Taek would both be the comfortable choice for Deok-sun. They had many similarities in that regard like how they’re both reserved people who provided her a shoulder to cry on.

But let’s also not forget how they were both successful and rich as well. Jung-hwan’s brother won the lottery that made their family instant millionaires. And he might not be successful in the traditional sense of being a famous household name, but Jung-hwan was a consistent top student in his class who eventually pursued his dream.

Then there’s Taek who was successful in the traditional sense. He was on the news almost all the time, could easily buy Deok-sun the mittens that she wanted, and he was “too big” for the humble Ssangmundong community. The kicker is his bad character traits were not really that bad.

It was almost like he came out of someone’s vision board of an ideal guy because he was close to flawless. That fact alone made it hard to believe that someone as perfect as Taek was always planned to be Deok-sun’s husband.

So in summary, here is my theory on what I think happened in Reply 1998.

Jung-hwan was always originally intended to be Deok-sun’s husband. Sun-won was also intended to confuse the viewers, but the writers really did not mean for him and Deok-sun to end up together because of Bo-ra. When they had revealed that Sun-won actually liked Bo-ra, they had to keep the husband mystery going and intended for Taek to take over the “loser” role.

Then halfway through the show, the writers changed their minds either because of fan pressure or seeing the potential in Taek and Deok-sun. And the rest is history…

I think this would also explain why Jung-hwan got such an unsatisfactory ending to his character arc; his happy ending was always supposed to be with Deok-sun, but that got scrapped and they didn’t know what to do with him.

In any case, this is all just a theory and I do acknowledge that Taek also had some things going for him in the early episodes like getting a character backstory narrated by Deok-sun. And P.S.: my belief on who Deok-sun’s husband was originally supposed to be still doesn’t change the fact that I am Team Taek through and through!

Do you think Taek was always supposed to be Deok-sun’s husband? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!

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The post ‘Reply 1988’: 6 Signs that Deok-sun’s Husband was Not the Original Plan appeared first on Zoomers Corner.