I command you to Answer me, 1997!! Answer Me Please!!!!

Answer me 1997/ Reply 1997, not sure what is up with the title because neither one seemed to make much sense to me in English.  Then, I watched it and I think I got it.  I stayed away from this one initially because the synopsis described it as being focused on 1990s K-pop.  Stuff that is almost 20 years old and out of my league cause I know nothing about K-pop from that decade and figured everything would be over my head.  That was a bad judgement call on my part, when I think about it again, since I love sageuks and knew absolutely nothing about Korean history when I started them, and also dramas set in the 1980s like Giant and East of Eden I still enjoyed immensely without knowing the situation in Korea then.  So why did I shy away from this one?  I think it was the whole girl obsessed with a boy band member.  I never understand those kinds of people and figured a drama about teens in the 1990s, with a boy band obsessed girl was not my cup of tea.  Yet, again I couldn’t escape the buzz online.  It was everywhere.  Another cable drama drumming up interest and that is so rare for a cable drama to do, that my curiosity was peaked. 

And so, I was transported 15 years from 2012, to Pusan 1997.  Right off the bat, I had some trouble with this drama because it was based in Pusan and had Pusan dialects.  My Korean is not that good, and Pusan dialects just sound like a completely foreign language to me at times (well another completely foreign language to that of Seoul dialect).  Anyway, although it was a distraction, it didn’t deter me from the drama and I was introduced to the adult versions of the main characters. 

Sung Shi Won (Jung Eun Ji), who is an assistant writer for TV dramas (basically the lowest on the food chain since from her own descriptions she only labels things).  Anyway, we meet her on her way to a high school reunion, where we meet the other characters Yoon Yoon Jae (Seo In Guk), Kang Jun Hee (Ho-Ya), Mo Yoo Jung (Shin So Yool), Do Hak Chan (Eun Ji Won) and Bang Sung Jae (Lee Shi Un).  They have all been friends since high school and then the exciting twist and the whole point of this show, we learn that among this group of friends two of them will announce that they are getting married.  So in a group of four guys and two girls we have one couple and thus the intrigue begins.  We, the audience are pulled back to 1997 and follow the friendship of these six as they grow from crazy 18 year olds to their adult selves.  It is a fun, exciting and intriguing tale as the viewer is eager to learn who the happy couple will be.  Of course, most people are rooting for the main pair of Shi Won and Yoon Jae, but as the twists and turns come out in the tale we realise that they might not be the ones heading down the aisle.  

What I love about this drama is the mix between the 1990s and 2012.  I know absolutely nothing about Korea at that point in history, but it doesn’t matter.  Knowledge is not the point.  We can follow Shi Won in her crazy obsession with boy band H.O.T and her favorite singer Tony and find it all hilarious as she does the stupidest and craziest things as an obsessed fan.  While I don’t get a lot of the 1990s references or her obsession with H.O.T as I know none of their music (sacrilege I know to H.O.T fans hehe) but I still loved her crazy antics.  Shi Won’s sheer dedication to the K-pop group is down-right laugh out loud funny to watch.  Then her relationship with her parents probably speaks to all the teenage girls out there, whose parents just don’t get what they are about and drive them insane. 

Then of course there is the friendship.  Bonds made as their teenage selves, help to carry them through their 20s to early 30s.  It is an amazing and wonderful journey of growing up and maturing, told in a humourous way.  Of course, that added hint of mystery as to who is the engaged couple, plus the additional mystery that pops up as the story unfolds keeps you at the edge of your seats.  You desperately want to know who the couple is or for that matter who the final guy is that the girl ends up with, yet, you’re afraid it’s not who you want it to be.  It is an extremely well-written tale and beautifully directed.  I mean how many times can you make me want to throw something at my computer  by letting me think: "Ah, it’s him." and then letting me down when the other possible character does the exact same thing and then I am no longer sure.  UGGGG!!!!  Waiting for the big reveal is agonising, takes you to a nail biting finish, yet I wouldn’t trade a second of it even if she ends up with the guy I am rooting for or not.

So, what does Answer me 1997/ Reply 1997 mean?  Simply put, as these adults continue to grow and change, they are looking for the answers in life in their teenage selves.  It is that idea of looking back and understanding your past before you can truly continue with your future.  And  I really like that.  Perhaps, it is not the best way to express such a deep premise, or maybe the title simply looses something in the translation, whatever it may be I enjoy the characters' journey of self discovery.  Therefore, Answer me 1997/ Reply 1997 gets a big four stars from me. 

According to Bel: It’s an answer worth waiting for!