As the camera enters the alley, a bicycle lies fallen in the narrow street, and the winter sunlight shines on the electric mats hung out to dry at each house. The tvN drama 'Reply 1988' takes us right to that alley, in the heart of Ssangmun-dong. Just like passing through Platform 9¾ in 'Harry Potter', we embark on a time travel from 2015 to 1988. However, it is not magic but memories and empathy that carry us along.
The true protagonist of this drama is not a specific character, but the time of 1988 and the alley community itself. Centered around Deok-seon's house, there are five families connected through the houses next door, behind, and in front: the Seong-kyun family, the Sun-woo family, the Jeong-hwan family, and the Dong-ryong family. Like the Central Perk coffee shop in 'Friends', this alley is the hub where all stories begin and end. In between, five friends flit about like the wind. Deok-seon (Hyeri), Taek (Park Bo-gum), Jeong-hwan (Ryu Jun-yeol), Sun-woo (Go Kyung-pyo), and Dong-ryong (Lee Dong-hwi) are a mix of high school students and a Go player, a collective that represents the faces of ordinary youth from that era, pieced together like a mosaic.
If you only look at the surface story of the episodes, it is close to a slice-of-life drama. They fail exams, swap lunchbox side dishes, risk their lives for radio stories, and spend their days roasting sweet potatoes over coal briquettes in winter. It seems like the everyday life, like that of 'The Simpsons' or 'Modern Family', is all there is to the story.
However, 'Reply 1988' overlays the massive national event of the 1988 Olympics and the atmosphere of a city preparing for the Seoul Olympics on top of that everyday life. When the Olympic torch passes through the city, children run out into the alley to watch, and each household feels the pace of change as they bring in colour TVs. Just as 'Forrest Gump' inserted its protagonist into significant moments in American history, 'Reply 1988' reconstructs the tumultuous period of modern Korean history through the eyes of the alley's residents.
At the same time, within the homes, the economic hardships of the parent generation, sibling conflicts, and the pressures of exam competition accumulate densely. The 1988 found in history books and the 1988 lived in the alley coexist at different temperatures.
Five Friends, Five Youths
Deok-seon, being the second child at home, is always treated like a 'sandwich'. Just as Ron Weasley from 'Harry Potter' said, "I am the invisible man stuck between five brothers", Deok-seon also fades into the background between her older sister Bora and younger sister No-eul. However, among her friends, she is the mood maker and in the alley, she lives as the 'alley leader' who wakes up the whole neighbourhood by shouting from the second floor.
Jeong-hwan is quiet and cynical, but he is the type who quietly moves to take care of his family and friends when no one is watching. He is like Sam from 'The Lord of the Rings'. He may grumble on the surface, but he is always there at crucial moments. Sun-woo is the responsible eldest son and the most reliable support for his mother, while Dong-ryong is a local enthusiast who is passionate about dance and fashion. It would not be an exaggeration to call him the 1988 Ssangmun-dong version of a 'Queer Eye' fashion expert.
Among them, the genius Go player Taek is portrayed as someone who is clumsy with worldly matters but becomes clear in front of the Go board. If Sheldon Cooper from 'The Big Bang Theory' is a physics genius, Taek is a Go genius. He may lack social skills, but he possesses his own purity and sincerity. When these five gather in one room to cook ramen, spend the night at Taek's Go dormitory, and a subtle tension arises over someone's unrequited love, the drama touches on the excitement of youth and the warmth of family drama simultaneously.
The stories of the adults in the alley are also an important pillar of this drama. Deok-seon's father, Dong-ryong's father, Jeong-hwan's father, and Sun-woo's mother, the neighbours freely come and go in each other's homes like Monica's house in 'Friends', sharing side dishes, lending money, and sometimes fighting over children’s issues, only to quickly resolve it over a drink.
Each household has its own wounds. A breadwinner facing the threat of dismissal, a mother raising her son alone after losing her husband early, parents who always feel sorry due to their financial situation. However, these wounds are not excessively consumed in the drama like a heavy melodrama such as 'So Close'. They naturally emerge in a joke over a meal, a bag of fruit bought at the market, or a scene of clearing snow together on a snowy day.
From the viewers' perspective, it may seem to flow without major events, but the small emotional changes and the nuances of relationships accumulate in each episode. Like the 'Before Sunrise' trilogy, this drama speaks more through dialogue, glances, and silence than through dramatic events.
The drama often follows the perspective of a character, recalling the past or tenderly showing landscapes that have now disappeared. Handwritten letters, people waiting in line at payphones, and the scene of the whole family crowding around the home phone to grab the receiver naturally appear. Just like Western sitcoms like 'We Are Who' evoke nostalgia by saying, "It used to be like this".
However, this depiction of the past does not merely linger on the sentiment of 'those were the good times', but also shows the discomfort and anxiety of the time. The hell of entrance exams, patriarchal culture, double standards against women, and the shadow of economic polarization are placed throughout the episodes. Just as 'Mad Men' honestly portrayed the glamour of 1960s America alongside racism and sexism, 'Reply 1988' does not unconditionally beautify the past.
Thus, the everyday lives of the alley children and their parents sometimes come sharply painful. No one's life was perfect, but the sense that they endured by filling each other's shortcomings permeates the whole. The message that "we were not perfect, but we were together" is subtly conveyed.
As the story progresses, 'Reply 1988' expands beyond a simple coming-of-age tale to a drama about time and memory. From the first episode, the current perspective of someone who has become an adult occasionally appears, making viewers curious about who Park Deok-seon married and how the people of Ssangmun-dong dispersed. Like the mystery of "Who is the mother?" in 'How I Met Your Mother', the narrative of "Who is the husband?" captivates the audience.
However, the true strength of this drama lies not in the mystery of 'who is the husband', but in how delicately it shows the passage of time itself. Through countless meals, numerous quarrels and reconciliations, and the night air of the alley, the process of characters gradually becoming adults unfolds richly.
I will not reveal the ending in this article. However, I will mention that the thickness of time that viewers have built up with the alley people until that final scene makes that decision naturally acceptable in each person's heart. Just as the twist in 'The Sixth Sense' is shocking because of the foreshadowing laid beforehand, the ending of 'Reply 1988' gains its persuasiveness thanks to the density of relationships built over 20 episodes.
A Modern Reconstruction of Nostalgia... The Rhythm of Laughter and Tears
In terms of artistry, 'Reply 1988' is a representative example of how Korean dramas can modernly reprocess 'nostalgia'. The biggest reason this drama is beloved is that it does not simply beautify the past, but embraces the temperature and smell, discomfort and warmth of that era simultaneously.
The year 1988 was a turning point when Korean society faced rapid changes, and the drama compresses the confusion and excitement of that transitional period into the small world of the alley. The camera often lingers more on the alley scenery, old furniture in the house, coal gas alarms, and objects like school uniforms and tracksuits than on the characters' faces. The accumulation of these objects forms the texture of the era. Just as the camera in 'Amélie' lovingly gazes at small objects, 'Reply 1988' also imbues each prop with the weight of time.
The direction and editing delicately capture the rhythm of emotions. Laughter and tears seep between ordinary conversations and background noise rather than being exaggeratedly overwhelming like in 'My Love from the Star'. It may seem like friends are just laughing and chatting today, but suddenly, with the last line of narration, one feels a lump in their throat. Just as the opening montage of 'Up' encapsulates a lifetime in four minutes, the final monologue of 'Reply 1988' summarizes an episode in a single line.
What supports this rhythm is the OST. Songs rearranged from contemporary hits blend seamlessly with the scenes, stimulating viewers' memories. For those who directly experienced the 80s and 90s, personal memories are evoked, while for later generations, 'parents' youth' feels unfamiliar yet endearing. Just as the OST of 'Guardians of the Galaxy' bridges generations with 70s and 80s pop, the music of 'Reply 1988' connects emotions across time.
Each character's narrative is also three-dimensional. The stories of the five friends Deok-seon, Taek, Jeong-hwan, Sun-woo, and Dong-ryong unfold, oscillating between romance and friendship, while the individual stories of the parent generation are also treated with significance. In particular, the stories of Sun-woo's mother and the alley uncles are significant in that they provide proper narratives to the parent generation, which is often consumed as supporting characters in Korean dramas.
In this drama, adults are not merely devices like the mentor characters in 'Kingsman' who either hinder or support their children's love, but are portrayed as the protagonists of their own lives. This makes intergenerational conflicts appear more realistic, and the emotional touchpoints shared across generations naturally emerge. Just as 'Gilmore Girls' depicted the relationship between mother and daughter equally, 'Reply 1988' respects parents and children as independent individuals living their own lives.
Of course, 'Reply 1988' is not without its flaws. The close-knit community of the alley may feel overly idealized to some viewers, as such scenes are now hard to find in reality. It could be seen as a much more beautiful adaptation than reality, much like the London of 'Notting Hill' or the Paris of 'Midnight in Paris'.
Additionally, some may feel that the running time is long and the detailed depiction of trivial daily life makes the pacing slow. For viewers expecting shock and twists in every episode like in '24' or 'Breaking Bad', it may feel frustrating. There are also evaluations that the narrative of finding a husband is somewhat excessively highlighted in the latter half, sacrificing some characters' stories.
Nevertheless, the reason this work remains a popular choice for long-term reruns and rewatching is that it captures the 'details of relationships' so well that it outweighs its shortcomings. Viewers do not feel like they are watching a completely new story, but rather feel as if they are reconnecting with emotions they already knew from somewhere. Just as one might say after watching 'Spirited Away', "I met my childhood inside me", after watching 'Reply 1988', one might say, "I met my alley inside me".
Asks, “What is more important than success?”
Another notable point is the way this drama deals with family and youth. While many dramas set 'success' and 'love' as the ultimate goals of the narrative, 'Reply 1988' emphasizes that sharing meals together, covering each other with the same blanket on a cold winter night, and having someone by your side on the day you fail an exam are more important.
In other words, the message is that it is okay if the characters' lives do not become remarkably great. This comes as a significant comfort to viewers living in the 2010s, amidst the fierce competition and accumulation of qualifications seen in 'Sky Castle'. Instead of grand success, the core virtue of this drama is the perspective that values ordinary life itself. While 'Little Miss Sunshine' says, "It's okay not to be first", 'Reply 1988' says, "It's okay not to be special".
Watching the people of Ssangmun-dong makes one naturally reflect on whether they were once part of a similar community or if they can create such relationships in the future. This drama does not conclude that "those times were better", but it meticulously restores the warmth of a time when people made the effort to walk to each other's doors and ring the bell. Just like 'My Neighbor Totoro' restores the community of rural Japan in the 1950s.
It is also a good work for those who often think about the relationship between parents and children. From a parent's perspective, the mistakes and incompetence of the alley adults may feel as embarrassing as Michael Scott from 'The Office', while from a child's perspective, there are scenes that feel so familiar that one might think, "Isn't that our family story?".
In that process, both the regret of "What if we had been a little less sharp with each other" and the understanding that "we were doing our best in our own way" come together. Thus, this drama is enjoyable to watch alone, but it also feels entirely different when watched with family. Just as watching 'Coco' with family amplifies the emotional impact, 'Reply 1988' resonates more deeply when watched together across generations.
Finally, I would recommend 'Reply 1988' to those who feel that life is moving too quickly and want to take a moment to breathe. Instead of grand events, it slowly yet firmly shows that small conversations and trivial habits accumulate to form the landscape of life.
As I watch this drama, there comes a moment when the alley of Ssangmun-dong overlaps with a corner of my memory. And I quietly think that someday our own 1988, our own alley will also 'respond' in someone's heart like this.
For those who want to feel such emotions at least once, this drama is a long letter worth spending time on. Just like the last scene of 'Before Sunset', even if it says, "You're gonna miss that plane", we would willingly be prepared to miss the plane to stay in this alley. The alley of Ssangmun-dong is such a place. Once you enter, you don't want to leave easily; it is warm, noisy, uncomfortable, yet nostalgic.
