[Drama Review] 'Reply 1988' - Episode 11

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REPLY 1988 - EPISODE 11

Bora and Sun Woo.

It's February 1989,�Deok Seon and her family are having their house repaired as the floors are sloped. They decide to bunk with Jung Hwan's family upstairs until the repairs are complete. Cue awkward times waiting for the bathroom and walk-ins when people are changing. There's even a charming scene where Jung Hwan and Deok Seon end up in Jung Hwan's bed (he retires there by mistake). Thankfully, no freakouts as he realizes his misstep.

The moms visit a fortune teller to find out their futures. Jung Hwan's mom gets the news that their eldest, Jung Bong, "will have great fortune." His mom takes it to mean that he'll get into college. Deok Seon's mom tells her that her daughter's name is holding her back academically, so she starts calling our heroine "Soo Yeon." Jung Bong doesn't make the cut academically and his dad consoles him, despite the fact that hyung is not broken up about it. We only find out what Sun Woo's mom got for a fortune in flashback: "You will have another son."

"I don't mind if you don't go to college, son."

Things proceed apace in the "shipping" business: Jung Hwan ponders Taek's admission that he likes Deok Seon. Of course, Deok Seon also wonders about Jung Hwan, who told her not to go on the blind date (as seen in the last episode). Sun Woo and Bora are still dating on the sly. Taek's dad informs Sun Woo's mom that Taek is quiet and polite with others, but will ask for things like a baby around people he likes. Then the dad starts to do the same with her.

Sun Woo's mom, taking care of little Jin Jiu, accidentally leaves her with Taek's dad when she goes out to dinner with the rest of the families. Fearing the worst, she rushes home, and sees him with a pink beret in his hair and a dancing little girl, unfazed by it all.� Awww...he's good with kids, too.

Taek's father watches the little one.

Jung Hwan's parents are going to Japan to visit grandma, and Jung Hwan hits the travel agency to make arrangements and apply for passports. That's when he finds out his mom can't read English. Considerately and with no fanfare, Jung Hwan writes down the English spelling of his mom's name in Hangul to help her out...
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Okay, because an hour and a half wasn't long enough, they've officially stretched it to an hour and 40 minute running time! Thankfully, everything seems logical and not too stretched out this time, and there were tons of cute moments to justify the extra time.� I love how it all hangs together, even the seemingly insignificant moments.

Where do we go now?

The hints that the show is dropping in regards to romance is funny. I'm pretty sure future husband is not Taek, since Deok Seon gets fed up with doing things for him and tells him off. The awkward situations with Jung Hwan really make me think it's him more and more. I'm on his side, because despite his too-cool-for-school veneer, he's actually a really good guy underneath. And Sun Woo's mom having another son? Stranger things have happened. I love what's going on with Bora and Sun Woo, though. Sun Woo's heart is too big for him to end up alone.

I'm glad Taek's dad recovered well enough. I can see him being a burden if someone has to take care of him 24-7, with him unable to do the most basic things for himself. And I can see Sun Woo's mom stoically bearing it, too -- but I'd rather have them in a nice, comfortable relationship together. They've already proven they're perfect for each other, so why not? They seem to be pushing it in that direction, in any case.

The moms at the fortune teller.

The reliance on a fortune teller is amusing, but I also know that the U.S. airwaves at that time were jammed with phone psychics just waiting to take your cash at $4.99/minute. And there were tons of people who called, so it's not too much of a stretch. The great thing is, they got over it easily enough, laughing it off when the medium proved to be wrong about Jung Bong (though he did win a free bag of Cheetos). �

Overall, this episode could have been a mess, but it wasn't. And I'm glad for that. Because it had a ton of content, and managed to fill it's running time admirably. I can't wait for the next one. And, in exchange for listening to me ramble, here's a somewhat haunting selection from the official soundtrack:

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