VivaceFay

"Some women have thorns all over their body because they're afraid of being abandoned or hurt". - I think this drama just spoke into my soul.

This drama is full of plot holes even if some of the ending scenes were going to be resolved in the second season. E.g. The arc with the doctor selling body parts had no purpose. If he wanted to earn lots of money from selling body parts, why can't he just stick to winning the game and have the helpers help him win? Unless this also has something to do with the cop's kidney transplant in season 2. Another strange no brainer was that it was 6 days in those games, did the cop's phone not run out of battery at all? He was taking notes, recording videos and taking photos.

I don't understand the Netflix hype. There are far better and well written 'survival of the fittest' type stories. E.g. I wouldn't call Liar Game or the Hunger Games master pieces, but I wouldn't have expected Squid Game to rise in popularity. Feels like another continual spread of the Korean wave through a show that has been made to appeal to western audiences.

How many episodes are there to this drama? The YouTube playlist I'm watching from only has 73 but MDL says 78. Is there 73 episodes in total or 78?

The tone in Shawshank Redemption is more dark. Prison Playbook is more of a comedy in contrast to Shawshank. As much as I love Prison Playbook, it can't compare to the psychological depth and impact to a person in prison as Shawshank. The rules set in prison in Prison Playbook are far relaxed and thus gave the characters no incentive for a prison break like Shawshank. The only similarities I noticed is the usage of music to provide hope, the prison setting and prison bribing/crimes.

Anyone know where I can watch this with english subs without needing to make some sort of account?

"The Victim's Game" [Taiwan] was:
- More effective in bringing suicide awareness than "13 Reasons Why" [United States]
- Addressed various suicide cases in Taiwan like "Gloomy Salad Days" [Taiwan]

But overall, an engaging crime show with a purpose.

Did anyone else find the final episode where he unlocked her apartment door and went in her home without her permission disturbing? I thought it was both an invasion of privacy and disrespectful to her interests as she cleary said no many times. I didn't find it romantic at all...

Just finished the final episode and I have to say that I'm disappointed. I watched Reply 1988 first and I think I should have watched this first as my expectations were high.

Thanks for responding! Your answers are quite clear and reasonable.
1. So the conclusion is it's part of Korean culture back then to move out of your family home to just focus on study - I see.
2. That makes sense - I guess it wasn't clearly explained in the drama. It just hinted at these aspects.
3, 4 & 5. I'm still not convinced but I guess these can be deduced based on the 1994 events. I still think they did the time skip too quickly in a slowly-paced drama. I feel like there's a missing period plot for their character to develop to such a state.

Only know about this movie because Eun Ji Won made a comment about his own acting in this movie in his Reply 1997 character. LOL.

Should I watch the drama first or the movie? Are they connected in any way?

I just finished 1988 and it's now one of my favourite slice of life dramas of all time. I gave it a 9 and desperately want to change it to 10 but there were a few parts of the plot that irked me. If someone can answer the below questions for me, I will gladly change my rating. I might have missed something or there were sadly just plot holes :(

1) When Bora moved out, did she already change to law school? To me, it made no sense why Bora needed to move out of her home to study for the bar exam all of a sudden. The storyline indicated that she wanted to be closer to school but she still visited home so it didn't make much sense to me. Was it normal in Korean culture back in the 80s?

2) What debt did the Sung family have to begin with and how was their 'friend' involved? How did the Sung family pay off their debts and why was it directly connected to their working income? Did the 'friend' just let them off? Was he the Sung family husband's boss?

3) How did Deok-sun suddenly have the ability to study and become a flight attendant? In the 1994 plotline, it showed that she was able to speak English and Chinese. However, throughout the series, the show made it clear to the audience that she found it difficult to study, didn't have any dreams nor motivation to study. What happened here?

4) By the end of the 1988/1989 plotline, neither Jung-hwan nor Taek chose to do anything after knowing that they both liked Deok-sun? In the 6 years until 1994, I'm sure one of them would have done something. Why wait till 1994?

5) Between 1989 and 1994, did the group NEVER meet up? If they never met up? why not? Why did they only meet in 1994?

The 1930s storyline was much more intriguing and engaging. I was so excited every time there was a 1930s scene and wish there was more content for it. The modern storyline was stale and just didn't have the same kind of passion. There was also the 'could have been resolved if the leads talked to each other' type scenes which annoyed me throughout the drama and were much more evident in the modern storyline.

I have to admit though, the way the drama was written felt like my memories were being restored as the leads were remembering theirs. By the end of the drama, I felt so confused as I empathized with the leads and wasn't sure who was who (past or present) when they were talking to each other. Therefore +1 for the script writing.

I've seen Prison Playbook but haven't seen Hospital Playlist or any of the Reply series. If I watch Hospital Playlist first, would it ruin my enjoyment when watching Reply 1988 after? I'm just trying to decide whether to watch this or Reply 1988 next.

Couldn't bring myself past a few episodes for a couple of new series*

I was in a drama slump after watching Nirvana in Fire - couldn't being myself past a few episodes for most. However, Prison Playbook was a great emotional rollercoaster to get me back.

Although I watched the Korean adaptation first, and then this version second, I fell in love with the Chinese version. From the way the characters were portrayed to how the scenes unfolded, it just made more sense in the Chinese version.

One thing that stood out to me was that the female lead actually knew her history and had more influence in the movement of the storyline here than the Korean version.

I'm shook that the Korean version was rated higher!

I think this depends on living circumstances and your social circles. It might be because I live in a privileged country/society but what Woo Joo did isn't uncommon in my city. In regards to dropping out of school in searching for your passions, I know a few people who have done this and a far happier than they would've been at school. In regards to overseas travel, it's looked highly upon by employers where I come from. It shows employers and colleges your independence, willingness to get out of your comfort zone and personal drive.

In summary, I wouldn't demean Woo Joo's parent's choice and call it 'dumb'. It's just different circumstances :)

You can try watching it on Youtube. There's a youtube playlist with all the episodes

Yes there is a focus on revenge, but it's not explicitly known until towards the end.