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[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Reply 1994" Episode 16

We really don't get to do much with Binggrae. Of the four potential suitors, the odds that he's Na-jeong's husband are by the far the most distant. So there's typically not a whole for him to actually do. "Reply 1994" appears to acknowledge that this episode, giving us a storyline centered almost entirely around Binggrae where he doesn't he really do anything. His general lack of character development in itself appears to be the narrative focus.

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The social event where he spends most of his time here bears a striking similarity to those earlier episodes where everybody has just got in from the country and wasn't really sure what to do yet. Binggrae is somewhat clueless, and easily ruffled, and that's pretty much the entire joke. It takes some time for anything particularly interesting to happen to him, and when it finally does, all we're left with is the notion that Binggrae, while not being much of a character, is still a pretty nice guy.

The drama gets more creative with the time jumps this time around, as we get to watch multiple visits to Hae-tae right in a row. He's not in much better a place than Binggrae is. Military service just stops being funny around a certain point, and the visits feel static. More effective is an elaborate sequence where we just watch the Korean music scene slowly change over the course of the year as everyone sits in rapture.

The relationship between Na-jeong and Rubbish continues to hold steady. They're still doing that thing where it's never really clear how much their horsing around is just for fun and how much of it is that they're just really genuinely mad at each other. Reaction shots are what make these gags worth, and fortunately, since the various storyline are spread around well and varied, nothing gets too old and the episode is a relatively pleasant one.

So, all in all, pretty average stuff for "Reply 1994". Nothing amazing, but nothing too terrible. Then we get to that moment everyone's been waiting for- the cameo event with the cast of "Reply 1997". And it's well worth the wait. It actually even builds off of one of the episode's other gags. Essentially, even though the two casts are only separated by a few years in terms of pop culture, this difference is a very extreme and serious one. Only young people could create a disaster this large out of something so obviously trivial. The typical situation comedy stuff in "Reply 1994" is all right- but this entire sequence is outrageously effective in comparison, especially given that this whole subplot is just a gimmick anyway. Hey, whatever works.

Review by William Schwartz

"Reply 1994" is directed by Sin Won-ho and written by Lee Woo-jeong-I and features Go Ara, Sung Dong-il, Lee Il-hwa and Jung Woo.

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