Park Bo Gum ❤ Girl's Day Hyeri aka REPLY 1988 TAEK x DEOKSUN

[hafunohane]

Hi guys, I remember before R1988 airs, there are several news article about how the concept that Shin PD's going for is inspired by a popular MBC series called "Three Families Under One Roof." (You can read about this on Wikipedia here, and on our frequented news sites such as here, here, and here.) This got me thinking:

-WHY IT WON'T BE THREE FAMILIES UNDER ONE ROOF IF DS MARRIES JH:

- Technically, they're already under one roof now. But we know that there are only 2 families there, The Sungs and The Kims. How do we turn it into 3 families?? Here's how:

Option 1. JB marries MO and MO moves there. Ok, sure. There would be some merits in this if only we are shown what MO's family looks like. So far, we've only heard mentions about her strict dad, nothing else. How would this strict dad live with them, when he's got that mansion of a house?? And how can MO move with JB, JH-DS, and the rest of the Kims and Sungs to that house? Is there even enough room for her? It makes more sense for JB to move to MO's house or live elsewhere with her, because SHE is the great fortune for JB. 

Option 2. NL marries someone and they live together. So far in 1994, we see no signs of NL having a GF. Plus, when the girl marries, she enters into the Sung's family, so it's still technically just 2 families. If the girl NL marries is his 1988 girlfriend, we also know she is an orphan. There is no way her only family member aka her older sister will come to live with them. Plus we have no story whatsoever about this girl's family, same like MO's case in Option 1.

- If we do not take the concept literally, it will still be 2 families only, no matter what. 

Say, DS marries JH and live separately. That's two families (or just one, technically). Also, we already know that BR and her husband do not live together with DS in 2015, so we cannot count SW's family as the third. 

And alas,

- WHY IT WILL BE THREE FAMILIES UNDER ONE ROOF IF WHEN DS MARRIES TK:

If DS marries TK (we know she did), there will be 3 families alright. 

In ep 6, Sungdaddy had a convo with Papabear about trading TK for his very own children. "How about a three for one exchange?" We know how badly Sungdaddy wants TK to be his son in law. LOL. 

In ep 18, Sungdaddy has once again hinted at this. He told DS not to come back from TK's house that night. Also, when SW told DS to stay after the gang celebrated TK's birthday, DS said this: "you want to ruin my chances for marriage?" Why suddenly talk about marriage, DS? SW was just telling you to sleep over. 

Also, why else would BR kicked DS out of their house and told her to go to Taek's to study? BR knows that DS is comfortable there, in TK's space. Everybody knows DS has no problem spending time at TK's house since the dinosaur age. 

Now, when TK and DS marries... There will be 3 families, united: The Chois (TK-Papabear), The Sungs (BR-DS), and the other Sungs (SW-Mom-JJ).

- Here's the 3 families before marriage: 1. SW-JJ-Mom. 2.TK-Choi appa. 3. DS-BR.

- Shuffle this and we'll still get 3 families by marriage: 1. SW-BR. 2. TK-DS. 3. Choi appa- SW's mom.

Now, we know from the future scene that BR does not live with DS. So, let's say BR lives with SW while DS and hubby live on their own. It's still 3 families: The Sungs, connected to the Chois and the other Sungs aka SW's fam by marriage. Three Families Under One (Marriage) Roof indeed. 

#cannotwaitfortheweddingscene

[Meliere]

Hi guys!  The mods have been merciful; my account is still here .. for now. Thank you darlings for your warmth and humor... a piece of my heart will always be in Taek's room.

I know some of you expressed worries in private messaging regarding blue's long promised 'novel' over at the MT, and wanted some commentary on it. PM3 would do a better job than I, but as of now the mods have set posting limits on her accounts, so she's effectively been censored from posting regularly (I think).  I'm hoping this post won't be deleted as well (as 95% of it analyzes the show) ... oh well, long live freedom of thought (lol).

Here's my 'Cliffnotes' summary of said novel. Basically Blue's argument contains five points:

Spoiler

1. That smile scene in ep. 1 = initial confirmation; the episode sets up the "spice" and "kick" of a bickering relationship
2. The series has maintained JH's "blossoming and deepening love", whereas DS-TK is shown in "spurts". Her main support: on-screen presentation of JH's POV during Taek's admittance of feelings in episode 10, and JH as a narrator in ep. 18
3. "Thematic" consistency for all Reply series-- i.e. the same franchise = the same plot direction. Linear plot line for '94 and '97. JH's arc is mostly linear, so he must be the husband. [My note: she's got thematic unity and plot structure mixed up; the two are different concepts.]
4. Present day clues = null; most of them could be applied to both husbands, so smoking Taek explains nothing. 
5. No first person POV or narration for Taek; his story is told in relation to others; his characterization is built upon other characters' understanding of him. 

And that's it. Okay, taek a deep breath and relax a little. Five points. Not too bad, right? Perfectly sound analysis, though not as dangerous as our roommates' minds here. 

And here's my commentary...

The Primacy of 'Firsts' 

Spoiler

 

While the idea is laughably silly in real life, kdramas really do support the cliché of 'first = best'. You know ... first love, first confession, first kiss, first male lead always gets the girl (side note: RJY is not billed as the 1st male lead in official TVN websites) etc etc... Many JH shippers have firmly maintained, since the beginning, that TK does not stand a chance, because like Taewong and Chilbong his entry into the husband game is delayed. JH must be the husband because he's essentially first in line: first to be setup as a husband contender (ep. 1's smile), first to do swoony things for DS, first to take the couple picture, first to go noble idiot, first to confess, etc. There's even a war-cry of "doesn't matter if TK does it better, Jungpali will have done it first." 

If R88's setup was like any other kdrama, I'd bow out immediately and concede to this point. Sink and drown, wave my white flag and all. 

Blue's analysis is a reductionist one: if Reply 1988 is reduced to Reply Kim Jung Hwan, then yes, certainly the show is all about him as a protagonist and his struggles to fulfill his first love. 

What they've got wrong is this: R88 features multiple narrators, multiple stories, multiple 'main' characters, and multiple OTPs. While JH has narrated one episode only (ep. 18), DS has been a consistent first-person POV narrator throughout the show. If I must identify ONE character as the "main" of R88, it would be Sung Deok Seon .... not Kim Jung Hwan.

And here's the kick: JH is only 'first in line' if we consider the R88 narrative solely from his POV. 

DS, on the other hand, is running on a different clock, marching to the beat of a different drum. 

For Sung Deok Seon:

• SW is her first crush
• TK is first in priority (re: DR and DS's conversation in the staircase, and other moments we've observed here in our thread)
• The bridal run was her first romantic-sexual "awakening", and the first time she's reminisced about a 'swoony' moment alone in her room. 
• TK is her first kiss
• From DS, TK is the first to receive feelings undiluted by suggestions from friends or the assumption she'll be loved right back. 

 

Basically, one cannot respect Deok Sun's POV and arc as a main character and still argue that JH got 'first dibs'. 

 

The Bickering OTP Trope

Spoiler

 

Not gonna lie, I fall for this one a lot. My past shipping history tends to favor tsundere, bickering, and tension over comfy fluffy affection (usually the domain of the forever friend-zoned second lead). So in this regard, I'm not 'biased' towards Taek (no seriously, in high school I was one of those girls reading HP draco and tom riddle fanfics LOLOLOL). 

Rom-com and chick lit writers love the bickering OTP trope because it provides a vehicle for: 1. sexual tension 2. comedic undertone 3. "that jerk had it coming"; satisfaction of seeing the 'cold' hero on his knees once he's in love 4. delaying the "getting together" until the kiss in the sunset and fade to credits (i.e. an excuse not to develop the actual relationship, because long-term relationships are difficult to write, whereas cute bickering writes itself).

Again, if R88's setup was like any other kdrama, I'd bow out immediately and yield to Team JH.

Blue's analysis is again reductionist: it assumes that only JH and DS bicker.

But like, LOL, she bickers with DR too right? So are they also destined? Haha, I kid. This is my main point: TK & DS's dynamics also contain a bickering side. "So you're a man, huh? Then take it off. (DS)" "Bora must have been you in the past life. (TK) Want to die? (DS)"  "YAH! (TK)" "Sung Soo yeon! (TK)" "Hey, I'm popular elsewhere. (DS) Where? (TK)" (ep. 18). 

And here's the kick: while JH-DS is primarily characterized by their bickering dynamic (ep. 1 begins with their bickering ... and by ep. 18 they are still bickering in the car ... what happened to development? 2015 couple bickered in the beginning, but by ep. 18 one could spot the deep affection between them), bickering is but a single facet to TK & DS's complex relationship.

People watching the show tend to forget that by 2015, LMY and her hubby will have been married for decades. For the writer to setup a convincing prelude to a long marriage, bickering should be an ingredient-- but it absolutely cannot be the motivating force (unless it's Reply We Got Married Divorced.) @mangachickava has written many a brilliant analysis on why a bickering relationship is ultimately inconsistent with DS's emotional needs.

The Question of POV

Spoiler

 

This is something Team JH brings up a lot. Why allow access to his inner thoughts if JH's not the husband? Why show his reaction to TK's confession to the boys? Why allow him to narrate ep. 18? There must be a greater purpose..!

I've kinda sorta addressed the narrative "purpose" of JH's POV in a MT post:

Spoiler

Have you guys noticed that, out of all the male Ssangmun-dong characters, JH is the most relatable? Characters like DR, JB, SW, and TK have such 'hardcore' unconventional traits that their identities are incontestably their own (DR by any other name would not be DR .. like I can't say some other character in a drama is a Dongryung). How many of us are class presidents? How many shove garlic up our butts? How many can't park nor tie their own shoelaces?

But I'll bet my last banana that everyone here can find a piece of their heart in JH. 

This is because the writer likely formed JH to be an audience surrogate. I'm not bringing up this term as an insult. All popular fiction needs an audience surrogate. Can you imagine Sherlock without Watson? Tolkien once admitted that "The Silmarillion" was less popular than LOtR because it lacked an audience surrogate. This is because as viewers or readers we yearn to identify with a character and experience that particular fictional world through their eyes. Have you guys noticed that JH is always watching, observing, or narrating? Through him we as audiences also watch, observe, and narrate. 

R88 is amazing in that it weaves together several narrative arcs. TK's arc can be read as an allegory of a single baduk match. SW's is about the metamorphosis of loss into attainment (it is through his father's death that he matures into a competent young man, falls for his BR, and gains an even larger family). In my opinion, JH's arc is a near-perfect bildungsroman (a.k.a. the coming of age story, the novel of education, the novel of formation etc...). 

 

But what I didn't dare write in the MT is this: JH is the narrator of his own story-- and his own story is but one of many narrative arcs in R88. JH's POV is most often framed as that of a spectator watching from the sidelines, rather than someone caught in the crux of the action.

A consistent theme in JH's story has to do with his hesitancy, and how that flaw essentially pushed him to the peripheries of the love triangle (also, his secret keeping meant that DR & SW would not have had the chance to support his love). This thematic idea is explored through POV shots-- we get so many scenes of JH looking but not speaking, considering but not doing, peeking through windows but held back by the looking glass.

It's also a reductionist error to assume POV = narrator = main character. First of all, JH is not a narrator per se; the first time we hear his first person voice is episode 18; the majority of the show is in fact narrated by DS and BR. Second, he is a narrator-protagonist only to the extent of his own 'coming of age' tale. Within the broader fabric of R88, he is an observer. And we all know one can be a spectator-narrator-observer without necessarily being the main character (e.g. Great Gatsby's Nick Carraway).

 

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf A Non-Linear Plot? 

Spoiler

 

Tbh, I blinked at the argument that JH's linear arc = husband. No writer would be caught dead thinking that a linear plot is a thing of marvel. Are any of the R88 episodes linear in structure? This is probably her weakest argument. My response is to just quote something I wrote before:

Spoiler

The episodes so far contain the following elements:

1. Non-linear story telling (i.e. flashbacks galore)
2. Critical information withheld or missing
3. A reversal or surprising revelation near the end.

In this sense the show is constantly playing one-upmanship with viewer assumptions and expectations. Let's take an early example: in Episode 1, we assumed DS lost her place as a picket girl. It wasn’t until D-day that it was revealed, retroactively, that she got to take someone else’s place. That information was withheld from us and was never told “in real time” on screen. Same with SW’s crush on BR. Critical scenes/information were withheld, and were only revealed non-linearly at the end of episode 6 for the big reveal. Basically the list goes on and on for every episode, from important arcs such as TK-Papa bear’s relationship and Sunyoung finding cigarettes in SW’s room to Taek’s aborted confession in ep. 16.

What's ironic is that people keep on saying R88 is so obvious and predictable, YET at every turn predictions completely go wrong and shippers are left surprised and/or confused. See a pattern here? I believe individual episode structure also represent the direction of the story at large:  What’s been told in the beginning matters less than what will be unveiled at the end.

And guess which character’s arc aligns most closely with the aforementioned structure? Choi Taek's emergence from the story has consistently subverted drama conventions and viewer expectations. The hit list has been pretty dead-on so far... "Choi Taek is so innocent he can't possibly be a smoker". CHECK. “Choi Taek doesn’t seem like the type to be popular with girls.” CHECK. "Choi Taek is so clingy he'd never back off" CHECK. "Choi Taek is so oblivious he needs someone to tell him that JH likes DS." CHECK. “Choi Take needs mothering; he can’t even take care of himself, much less other people” CHECK. Etc etc etc, over and over again. What's left is this: "And anyway the husband is Ryu Jun Yeol." Guess which way the narrative is going to swing?

The reason why I was never fully onboard with JH’s story is because it felt (to me personally) that the writer was holding back on her creative/intellectual powers when crafting his arc. JH’s destiny has been fairly predictable since the beginning: everyone could spot the tsundere thing, the eventual crush on DS, his noble idiocy etc. For a show so careful with its storytelling, it’s like the writer just decided to flash everyone at point blank, and left few things to guesswork. It’s incredibly anti-intuitive from a narrative perspective if he’s to be the husband—why start the JH/DS loveline with the strongest scene (boner! boner! boner!) in your book and proceed to dial it down from there? (bonus: didn’t Chilbong’s entry into the husband game start off with a real kiss and his glorious abs? Suddenly JH’s half naked scenes seem less indicative of any real outcome.)

PD Shin & writer Lee are smart people, and given what's been presented in the episodes so far, I do wonder if they're trying to venture outside of the kdrama cosmology. I'd assume both are well read people. Outside of kdramas, unreliable narratives/narrators and metafiction are the film-and-fiction zeitgeist of the modern era. Taek’s transformation from “obvious” second lead to Mr. husband is actually more fitting to the tone and style of R88 than JH being end game.

 

Present Day Clues = Null

Spoiler

The smoking thing is so much more than just a clue ... but I won't even bother.

Though I largely agree with her. Devoid of narrative logic.. clues are just clues.

Moving on.

Who the #&*$ is Choi Taek?!

Spoiler

 

Team JH has largely ran circles around Taek, gawking at him as if he's some great exotic bird... They'll form one assumption (e.g. DS mothers him, he's clingy, he's a plot device to stop JH/DS) only to scratch their heads later and go, "he's too confusing... I don't get it." 

Blue's strongest argument is that JH's POV is featured more frequently than TK's. Given episode 18, I'll concede to this point. Though this does not mean we won't hear TK's first person narration in ep. 19 or 20.  Also, I'd argue that TK's POV is explored with equal punch and poignancy as that of JH's. I mean, sure, during Taek's confession to the boys, the camera zoomed in on JH's face and that sad guitar bgm played on. But TK's moment of realization was even more sophisticated in direction and writing: an ordinary squad hangout session transforms into a private moment of grief; the realization hits him and a god-awful silence falls; and then the background music).

To argue that Taek's POV is unexplored is a sad case of selective-viewing. R88 has had many a Taek-centric episode. Episode 6 is a major access point into his inner world, as are episodes 7 (relationship with papa bear), 9 (Taek as a baduk player; smoking), 13 (relationship with papa, "is it okay if I lose?"), 15 ("he hates interviews and asking favors... but"), and 16 (TK's POV regarding JH's feelings, the ultimate decision to give up on his first love). 

If both JH and TK's POV have been explored, why do the two characters seem so different? Why does Team JH insist TK is undeveloped?

My answer is this: reliable vs non-reliable narrative.

JH's arc is a case of reliable narrative (the "linear" quality Blue so loves); TK's arc is an example of an unreliable narrative (described by Blue as "spurts" lol). 

There's no confusion to JH's characterization. We know every episode the dude is going to hesitate, swallow his words, hide behind some tsundere behavior ... only to step up near the episode's end and do something sweet/warm/lovely/swoony. This formula has not changed for 18 episodes. What the audience expects, the audience shall get. The virtue of genre. 

But with Taek, what the audience expects, the audience shall not get. His arc lacks the transparency of JH's 'coming of age' story. On the level of metafiction, what is happening instead is this: the writer, the narrative, the viewers, and JH are playing a game of baduk against Choi Taek 9 dan. And he is winning.

First, as a ranked 6 dan player, he is kept out of the game for nearly 6 episodes (see handicap in baduk, and refer back to @shooastrid's brilliant baduk posts). But during this time, Taek surveys the board and makes his presence known. Baduk is all about maintaining your presence, and Choi Taek is technically never absent from the show (people are always talking about him- parents, friends, colleagues, random hospital people, DS's friends, freakin' Michael; his room is HQ, he is seen on TV and newspapers, etc etc etc). 

And then the writer (and by extension, viewers/the narrative) keeps on pitching moves against him: he sucks at using chopsticks, he can't work a walkman player, he's described as a 'god of idiots', he doesn't go to school, he's away all the time, baduk takes up 99% of his brain space, he's in a slump, he can't take care of himself, someone needs to mother him or he will starve, he appears fragile, he might die if DS doesn't love him back, he hates asking for favors so don't ask him to ask for one for you, he's too competitive to let DS go, his first kiss might be a dream, he can't park so no way he's gonna beat JH's jeep ... etc etc, the list goes on. 

But with each move 'against' him, Choi Taek 9 dan counter-attacks and gains further momentum. Over and over again he proves to be stronger than the 'handicaps' inflicted against him. Over and over again he subverts and rebels against drama tropes, cliches, and viewer expectations. ... until finally, in the last episodes, we sense him closing in on end game. 

This is a case of brilliant, brilliant writing. If Nolan, Nabokov, Kesey, and others are experimenting with unreliable narratives... why can't a kdrama writer? About time. I adore characters who are so complex, so bursting with life that they seem to "escape" out of the story itself. Whereas JH reduced his own agency via hesitation, TK fought for and earned agency every step of the way. And for this, he's going to receive all the pizzas and bananas in the world (and his Deoksunie).

 

Bonus: what about DS as a protagonist-narrator? Why ignore her voice?

Whose story has she consistently told, in her own POV and her own voice since the beginning?

JH or  ... dangerous roommate TK? 

 

[nearsea]

How do spams get published here? *Rolling eyes. @hafunohane Can you get any better? I had a moment of enlightenment then and there lol.Yeah in any case,there would be three family: sung parents,choi father-son,sun woo-his mom.This totally benefits our bias.All these time we witnessed how the major screen times are always there for Sung household,tk's father's workplace/the clock shop [Symbol:Time,again a metaphor?],and sunwoo mom's struggles.It's no wonder that they're the main fix of this drama.This do make me wonder where does that place jh mom-dad? =/ How do they fit into the bigger picture? =/

[mariichii]

"It's because Taek comes right on time. He arrives just as the match is set to begin." To all of those who thought he wasn't the lead because if his late main appearance. 

[mariichii]

He bit his lip!!! Back in ep 6 when he came home and they were all lined up at the door, he watched DS put away her jacket and as he watched her he bit his bottom lip!!!! Right before he hugged her! ! Also, pay attention to the baduk announcement.  It totally is predicting future events. Maybe in how many people doubt that Taek is the husband. 

[salz]

@Meliere thank for the awesome read♥ you guys should work as professional drama/movie reviewer im sure the scriptwriter&pd would be grateful to have great insight and analysist of their storymaking and i hope your acc will survive lol

i have no regret reading this at almost 4am and need to force myself waking up early but it worth it

yeah i have feeling JH is somehow his main purpose is to act as the representative and the eyes of the viewer since he is the most relatable character of all...it like most people usually can say they experience the same as JH...

while the other character is more the unusual odd ones especially that Choi Taek the most unpredictable human ever never listen to what viewer want him to do and be for the sake of their sanity since that man such a rebel going against the cliche and break the comfort zone of avid kdramas viewer who always been spoiled with the cliche and predictable route,,

but here Choi Taek ruining everything and have us within his palm even with his zero parking skill and can't tie his freakin shoes but he still gonna have the last laugh while majority left with confusion..

everyone can't stop thinking of him no matter you love or hate him he still make you crazy...he such a bad boy just like JH wish XD haha yeah even that freakin Michael worship him lol

i love you Choi Heedong Taek but i bet DS love you more

@hafunohane your 3 families under one roof make 100% sense too it definitely gonna happen one DS-TK married they gonna be one huge families lol

lol i dunno what im saying anymore im sleep deprived because of this drama glad it gonna be over

[haneul1992]

@Meliere You made my day   This is one of the best things i've read here  

Guys, only 15 hours left  Can't wait ... no matter what our team is the best ... Team Taek Fighting 

 

[Yesin Lee]

2 hours ago, taeken4lyf said:

Can someone please share link for live stream? When would ep 19 air in korea

I deleted my post they said it's against the rules. I'll PM you.

[xnhumi]

@Meliere Wonderfully analytical rebuttal. So nice to have you back! I hope the recent shipping war debacle won't turn you away from Soompi in the future.

You have no idea how often I've nodded and grinned along to Yvian's comments on DB about "imprimatur first leads", etc. long before I visited this thread . There was a positive dearth of TK analysis there, let alone deeper insight into the narrative elements; I'm so glad we have this space here to discuss the brilliance of his character and the writer's own ingenious craft. Because only a forum space like this could invite such active discussion, live speculation, and detailed analysis with input from everyone, do stay, & write on!

Btw, guys, the Dramabeans Ep 18 recap has exceeded 700 comments!!! When was the last time a drama became this popular? Daebak.

[nearsea]

49 minutes ago, salz said:

i have no regret reading this at almost 4am and need to force myself waking up early but it worth it

@salz good going .Add to that my mom's fierce looks when she caught me sneaking onto my laptop at late nights.Wait does rule no 10 of soompi work for shippers thread too? =S

----

@Yesin Lee Maybe you could pm the links to @taeken4lyf ? Sharing links on public is kind of against the rules I guess =S =/.

[mariichii]

You guys!!! Episode 7 already revealed that SW and BR would get married. During secret Santa it was said that if you get each other, it's fate.  Then JB and NE began chanting "get married". Since DR got himself  lol I hope he won't be forever alone. Was it ever revealed who DS got? We knew TK had her. Hmmm....

[bebe1989]

Thank you for awesome post darling 

@hafunohane @Meliere

@__jesse 

.. Its already friday ! Smooch you hoho

[melleri]

@Meliere 

Awesome rebuttal you have there.  Blue had a some really good points, but I especially agree with you about respecting DS' pov.  That's where Reply 1988 becomes a matter of perspective, and why we see such varying opinions from the audience..  Some people think JH is the main character, but I agree he's more the audience surrogate.  To some, the drama revolves around him and his place in the love triangle (no joke, this is argued a lot), but I think DS is the main character and whose POV is the one we should be following.

DS is very special to JH if you watch if from his pov, but if you watch it from DS' pov you can see how all of her friends have a special place in her world, and JH isn't any more special than anyone else so far. He's not the only person she bickers with, he's not the person she cares about the most, he's not her first crush, first kiss or first person she couldn't sleep thinking about.  He's not "first" for anything.  He's special, but from his POV she is much more special than if you look at it from HER pov. That's why some see that Taek could win, and while JH fans think it's impossible for anyone but him to win. The odds are in both guy's favors, and again it depends who Deok-Sun loves and nothing else.  So it really depends on whose POV you follow.  

[nearsea]

It's unfortunate that the MT has been place of the most commonplace remarks and the shippers thread is excelling in regards of analyzing the content of the drama.Whenever I visit the main thread there are posts like the writer has been biased towards tk,the story has gone upside down,this is due to PBG's rising popularity.But people are missing the fact that this is not a conventional kdrama.No kdrama so far has made a story and given oddballs like jungbong or kim sung kyun an arc of their own.I mean till now all of the characters are given equal footage and equal importance,even when everyone was dying to know what would happen to tk-ds-jh.I guess this is the excess baggage of popular dramas like reply'88.No matter how many times we will get insightful and thoughtful posts/analyses/write ups,someone out there will always be present to splash water over all our excitement/zeal..=/.

[nearsea]

1 hour ago, mariichii said:

You guys!!! Episode 7 already revealed that SW and BR would get married. During secret Santa it was said that if you get each other, it's fate.  Then JB and NE began chanting "get married". Since DR got himself  lol I hope he won't be forever alone. Was it ever revealed who DS got? We knew TK had her. Hmmm....

DS got JH.But it was needed maybe for development of the story.That's  why we got the comparison of the mitten vs gloves in the first place.JH got tk,tk got ds.

[mellinadear]

Ep 18 recap 

https://dramaswithasideofkimchi.wordpress.com/2016/01/14/answer-me-1988-episode-18-relax-dont-do-it/#more-9403

[aurora1205]

@Meliere. This ship gonna be legend...wait for it...dary! Legendary!! Reading that post only answer I'he came up with  ”Reply universe doesn't resolve around Junghwan only  if one ever try to look at others.” But since I can't support my argument I'm glad you did!

Also I have different approach about Junghwan that I was hesitant to reveal for a while. It hit me after confession and similes Deok Sun and Junghwan shared. Deok Sun loves Taek the same exact way Junghwan loves her. Junghwan'd chosen to lock his feelings in his heart because for him being secret admirer was  enough. Till other boys shows up to sprite her away. Junghwan labeled his love interest as ugly and foolish. What if it was because his very own inferiority? Why he freaks out every single time she is too close to him instead of taking advantage of it? Could  it be he get used to watch her from afar he tries to block his teenager instincts. Maybe I'm looking  too much into it but I've been thinking Deok Sun is Taek's admirer in her own way and this is different from being care-taker imo. Her resolution in the beginning of ep 17 kinda supports this argument. I'm not good collector so @hafunohane if you think this is worth to look into it you can pin point JH--->DS and DS---->Taek parallels.

Also Dong Ryong apart from being MVP lol he is another key point to distinguish where Deok Sun's affection lies. Like I said before Deok Sun is harmonious girl  so she has different dynamics with everyone.  Bickering with Junghwan and Dong Ryong slightly differs as being verbal-violent  type but her last reaction always same glaring.  So one can not say she only glares to Junghwan because she does care how he thinks of her no. Comfortable with Taek and Dong Ryong also slightly differs as  same wavelength(DR)-familiarity (Taek). Her reaction laughing together. So one can not say she loves being around Taek more. BUT our wise MVP  has spoken  ”Do you love me more or Taek?"

Taek.

That's it from me ^^

 

[Yesin Lee]

OMG is episode 16 title Life is Ironic? Suddenly occurred to me just my thought about the wallet scene, is it possible that Deoksun saw the picture? and then we will get a flashback later on? because u know life is ironic and even though it's not in her personality to look at the wallet maybe she's tempted/curious about it, or just to see how much money is in the wallet haha jk. So, maybe that's why her reaction when JH propose is like that she kinda know about it and just keep quiet to save the friendship. Also, the writer can also show us that maybe just maybe she already know Taek feeling's for her that's why she keeps quiet about the kiss and it's not a dream to save their FRIENDSHIP. This is just my speculation haha, cause they seem to emphasize the importance of that wallet scene it's also in the preview. Also, I cannot get it out of my mind what Deoksun said in the preview that "WE'RE FRIENDS." It can go like this: 1. Deoksun said we're friends referring to JH/Taek just to save the friendship (like we're all friends and I'm not choosing) 2. We're friends but I have feelings for you maybe "more than friends" what should I do? 3. Taek confessed and she hesitated and she's confused too because she doesn't want to hurt her other friend so even though she likes Taek she cannot answer directly (like she needs time to think about it) u know it's complicated because their friendship r deep (probably she doesn't want to hurt anyone). 

[Yesin Lee]

28 minutes ago, mariichii said:

You guys!!! Episode 7 already revealed that SW and BR would get married. During secret Santa it was said that if you get each other, it's fate.  Then JB and NE began chanting "get married". Since DR got himself  lol I hope he won't be forever alone. Was it ever revealed who DS got? We knew TK had her. Hmmm....

But If I remember it correctly Deoksun got JH and Taek got Deoksun 

[nearsea]

 @Yesin Lee,[can't tag you],I don't know the reason maybe because this links get publicized by this way? I have no idea how soompi works though..=/ .I hope you did not misunderstand chingu ^_^.