Every Thursday (and on days I feel nostalgic), I’ll transfer some of my older commentaries and post them here. I intend to take down all of my posts one of these days.

This one was originally posted in soompi but was asked to be taken down by the JH shippers because it was “bashing” their sacred cow/poor baby/romantic guy/whatever. An “unbiased” mod agreed with the snowflakes. Well, the joke was on them. 🙂

On the uses of humor.

To parody Jane Austen: It’s a truth universally acknowledged that any woman in poverty of a good wit MUST also be in want of a genius. 😉

Fortunately, for fellow script-shippers, the writer of Reply 1988 has been endowed with a brilliant mind with an eye for the absurd. For me, humor is the most sublime form of intelligence. But the scriptwriter is handicapped by the simple fact that a MAJORITY of her audience will NOT get her humor 100% of the time. Understanding her “inside jokes” in particular can be very challenging. Like the “wedding parodies” that I mentioned before, an inside joke implies a shared knowledge between two parties to which a third party is oblivious.

So let me point out some of the inside jokes as I see them.

1. Meta-joke: When the grown-ups were waiting for Taek Choi to arrive at his celebration party, DS’ mom said “The star of the show always shows up last”. True that. Many people realized too late that the Death Star — or TaecStar – had been fully functional for a long while. They were caught off-guard because they weren’t paying attention to the script.

2. Story-within-the-story joke. While people were focused on arguing about the colors of gates and which color represented whom (frankly one of the dumbest arguments I’ve ever seen), the titles of the books mentioned in Episode 2 were largely ignored. They are meta. This is evidence that the scriptwriter KNEW EXACTLY how this story would end even from the beginning.

—“Officer and the Princess” for JH. He turned out to be at officer in the Air Force. The drivel about the hero’s chiseled chest is a reference to JH’s chest. It was much ado about nothing.

—“Audition for Love” is for DR. DR loved DS, too. His hair-tugging is a classic sign of a guy wanting a girl’s attention for himself. Also, he was the one who brought up the topic of DS being cute. In Episode 14, when he said “How annoying [that DS liked TK more]! Do you hate me?” he was indirectly asking about his “chances”. However, he’s learned to love her VICARIOUSLY, that is, he experienced “his” romance THROUGH Taec’s experience. He only “auditioned” for the show (literally, too); he wasn’t the star. DS called the book “weak” and is only about kissing, which could be taken a joke about DR’s porn obsession.

—“Dangerous Roommate” is obviously for TK. This was the book that DS hugged and begged to include sexy passages. lol.

The only person without a book is SW because he’s in love with her sister.

3. Meta joke on JH. In Episode 10, JH walked into the wall. Here is how Dramabeans described it:

They head down the stairs and stop in their tracks when Jung-hwan comes out of her house looking awkward. He stammers that he had something to say to her, and pulls her aside for a chat. On the way up, he kind of gets trapped under the awning and can’t extract himself without looking uncool. It’s so awkward. I love it.

I agree, that was cute. However, it was actually a foreshadowing. He was walking into a *dead-end*. He’d be blocked.

4. Another meta joke on JH. In Episode 16, JH was working on a math problem. Here’s how Dramabeans described it:

Dong-ryong is the only one who notices that Jung-hwan has been working on the same math problem for days now. He tells Jung-hwan to just move on already, but we know it’s not math that’s got him stumped.

This is a foreshadowing, too. DR’s advice to him was: “Don’t you know the concept of “passing”? Just move on.” Take into consideration JH’s prophecy in Episode 11 that “he’ll be fine on his own”, and his words in Episode 18 to “move on”, he’s not as doomed and pathetic of a character as Chilbongie was in Reply 1994. He was making a conscious decision to let go, and if he was an actual person, and not simply a figment of the scriptwriter’s imagination, I’d respect and support his choice.

5. DR’s trolls on DeokSun: In Episode 14, DR and DS were talking on the steps. DS asked: “Why doesn’t anyone like me?” DR pretended to see somebody from a distance, going, “Oh! It’s Taek!” Look at how eager DS looked up to find TK. That was a troll for both DS and the viewers got a good view of DS’ reaction.

Shortly, they met up with TK. Here’s how Dramabeans described it:

…when Taek says he bought five pies so that they could each take one home, Dong-ryong says lovingly, “Let’s get married.” Taek turns him down, poor thing, but he holds Deok-sun back and asks her to come over for a little while.

This is a foreshadowing, too. TK rejected DR, but he grabbed hold of his choice of bride.

6. The casserole meta joke. As my local newspaper The Washington Post says, “If you don’t get it, you don’t get it.”

7. “Just kidding” joke. I believe that there’s a bit of truth behind every “just kidding” jokes. When DS ordered TK to “Take it off” and shocked him, I think, she was deliberately being provocative. Her deadpan delivery was meant to confuse him.

8. Another confusing “Just kidding” joke. In Episode 2, when DS made aegyo to TK and joked about marrying her, she also left TK confused. Most people saw that as “babying” but the alternative view here is “flirting.

Finding an excuse for skinship, like touching a guy in a nonthreatening way, and getting his full attention by smiling widely at him as if he’s the center of the world can be considered Flirtation 101. Also, notice the change of topic here. With the first two guys, she was asking them about her APPEARANCE. “How do I look?” It was about “Me” and she expected compliments. That’s why JH dismissed her with “I’m late. Pishs off! In the case of TK, she shifted the focus TO HIM: When did YOU get back from the tournament. [You] drink up. [You] hurry up and grow tall. So YOU can marry me.

See that? The dynamics are different.

9. A revealing “Just kidding” joke. In Episode 6, DS’ mom teased her about wanting TK as son-in-law, repeating her joke from Episode 2. What was DS’ answer? She said “Should I seduce him then?” Lol. People who insist that DS treated TK as a brother don’t get this. “Seduction” is NOT a word or an idea that enters a girl’s mind who regards her childhood friend as a mere baby brother. Heck no! DS read those trashy novels in Episode 2 and she knew very well what SEDUCTION meant. ~~Dangerous Roommate, please give me lots of sexy scenes ~~~

When she joked about seducing TK, it meant she saw him as a man, not as a kid. Her joke also paralleled TK’s words to his friends: I don’t think of her as a friend. I see her as a WOMAN. However, in TK’s case, he said it resolutely, firmly, whereas DS was joking with her mom.

Noteworthy, too: DS became defensive when DS’ mom said that TK was into baduk anyway and he really wasn’t into girls [meaning he leads as ascetic life, not that he’s gay.] She whined “Why what’s wrong with me?!!” I also consider that an odd response from a girl who only sees a guy platonically. Her response should have been to laugh it off and to not take personally. Compare DS’ sensitivity to SW’s mom who was also teased about marrying TK’s dad. Her answer was the natural one. She laughed away their teasing and said: all thing being equal, she’d rather not marry a bear. It’d be just the same as marrying NO ONE. That’s the proper response DS should have given: a joke.

10. “Just kidding” as a blunder. This playful banter about “Marrying Taec/Taking Responsibility of Taec” showed how joking can escalate into misunderstandings. At first she took the joking in stride, even exchanging some jokes of her own. She was feisty when DR said to TK needed a girl just like her to introduce him to hardship. SHE was fine being teased but when SW turned the focus on TK and asked him, “Hey! Do you like her, too? Because you’re grinning there” and an embarrassed TK tried to cover up his smiles by saying “annii” THAT was when the mood turned sour for DS.

If people noticed, the camera didn’t show us DS’ reaction to TK’s denial here. But the next thing we knew she was excusing herself to go to the bathroom. People naturally assumed that she was upset with DR who was mercilessly teasing her. But I believe that she was upset of TK’s ONE WORD. She misunderstood him. She thought his “no” = I don’t like her.

That was a normal reaction. To her, after spending the whole day frolicking on the beach together and after spending time with him in China just a few days ago, his joking denial would be tantamount to a personal insult for her.

This would explain why in the next episode, when they met up again and TK requested for coffee, water and warm water, she totally misread his “running errands” joke [he really wanted her to stay for a while with him and not leave] and accused him of USING her like a slave girl like they were back in China.

11. Absence of marriage jokes in connection with JH. For me, this was a giveaway that he wasn’t meant to be the OTP. Sure, DS’ girlfriends teased her about going out on a date with him, but her girlfriends’ judgment is impaired. None of DS’ family members saw JH as a possible contender. Considering how close these two families were and how JH’s dad doted on DS, the parents didn’t consider forming an obvious pairing between JH and DS. Also, in Episode 11, Bora indicated surprise that DS and JH have become closer. When DS replied that they’ve always been close, Bora just made a face.

Even NE wondered why the heck would JH give his sister pink gloves. JH had to kick and chase him down the stairs so he’d give the present to DS… which is noteworthy. The Future Husband said that it took him 10 years before he could address NE informally. Taek’s natural diffidence and reserve, he wouldn’t joke around with NE like JH.

12. Jwi gag. This scene with JH also warned me too that I might be wrong with my assumptions that JH is the OTP. Yes, he might be the leading man, but the scriptwriter might have other plans for him.

You see, compared to the jwi incident with TK and DR, this did NOT at all advance his case as the Future Husband. It did not link his personality trait to him. What happened here was he had cramps, DS teased him. He told her to stop it; she didn’t. They both laughed. Fade-away shot.

In comparison, with TK’s jwi incident, DS chased after him and DR with the mice. They boys escaped by going back inside. Then, DR grabbed ahold of TK and told him to reconsider his affection for DS. Meaning, if he chose DS, he’d be consigned to a life of “torture”. TK reaffirmed his view that she’s cute. How does this connect with the Future Husband? Two ways: The Future Husband told the grown-up DS to be kind to him because he’s been understanding and tolerant of her. Where could he find a husband like him, he asked. Also, the Future Husband thought she was cute.

13. Baduk vs Chinese checkers meta joke. In Episode 1, we see JH’s mother move a green piece on his checker board, and people naturally pounced on that and determined that green was JH was color. No. That isn’t the point there, unfortunately.

The point here is comparison and contrast between Baduk and Chinese checkers. Both boys have these two different board games beside their beds. Baduk = TK and Chinese checkers = JH. As a game of theory and strategy, Chinese checkers is grossly outmatched by Baduk. Chinese checkers isn’t even Asian in origin. It’s a German-invented game. Why would the scriptwriter choose such a simplistic game to represent the first lead? [If it were chess, then yes, I’d consider it an even match because I play chess, @shooastrid. Ha!] Why would the director make the baduk tournament world so integral to plot, showing us news reports, educating us on its etiquette, etc., if the Chinese checkers guy was going to win the girl at the end? It doesn’t make sense; it’s absurd.

14. The future NoEul joke. One style of this scriptwriter/director combo is to loop a conversation through time. It was splendidly done In Reply 1994. In that show, the audience see the heroine NJ cleaning up her house. She was looking for beloved stuffed toy. Her Trash Oppa interrupted her housecleaning to tell her that a package was coming and to leave it in his room. Later on, she discovered that he had bought a replacement for the stuffed toy that she had lost. Now, the audience is transported to the current time and they see NJ being asked to pick up a package at the concierge downstairs. It was for her “mystery” husband.

Now, in this Reply 1988, the same thing happened. There was a loop in the conversation, like a conversation time-traveled and continued in the future.

In Episode 14, when TK brought a banana to DS’ house and NE joined them, the noona and dongaeng shared a conversation:
DS: How is it possible that you’re getting older than our dad?
NE: It’s okay. A face like mine becomes younger later on.
TK said nothing but he smiled at DS as she wiped her brother’s dry skin.

Fastforward to the future, in Episode 8, when NE visits DS and her husband, this topic of aging is echoed:
DS: How is that you look younger by the day? [addressing NE] HUSBAND: [defending NE] He finally looks his age, that’s all. It took me ten years to speak informally to this punk.

See the connection? Of all the guys, TK was the only one who knew of NE’s joke about his age, because he was there when they had a conversation that his face would sooner or later catch up to his age. 😉

There’s also the ginseng. The Future NoEul passed by their apartment because DS was giving him ginseng. Back in 1989, DS shared a banana. What’s the connection? Ginseng is expensive, and older people value it because of its anti-aging properties. Bananas was expensive, too, at that time. But they were reserved for children like Jinjjo and NoEul because they were nutritious.

Contrary to popular consensus, I didn’t invent these details. They were written by the scriptwriter.

15. the Chocolate Parody. Take a look again at Episode 16. Like in the Wedding Parodies, there were two things happening at the same time. On the surface, we see DS and DR talking on the bus about how competitive TK was. But there was actually another story unfolding surreptitiously here. DR said that TK won because he was competitive; he didn’t like to be number two. But there was another boy in the neighborhood who was also competitive: Jong Bung.

This is the answer to the chocolate mystery. “Kim Jong Bung and Choi Tae. Something famous linked these two.”

As DR narrated the events of the Galaga video game rivalry to DS, the incidental things that were present during that fateful day months ago were being displayed in front of our eyes. First there was the chocolate that DS was eating.
Then, the 3 backpacks from the students.
Then, the hotdog that JB was eating at the arcade.
Finally, there was the jacket that was worn by TK.

You see what’s going on? JB and TK are “infamously linked” in time not only because of the game GALAGA but also because of the GHANA chocolate. [Check out the word play there too, lol].

DS did intend to give the chocolate to TK but the chocolate ended up with JB.

I bet JB learned to write that love letter to Mi-Ok using her chocolate. JB was getting information from DS anyway about MO’s preferences, so why not learn from DS how to write a love letter. lol. Hmmmm….I wonder if DS wrote a line as cheesy as JB’s “Vienna is the capital city of Austria, but the capital city of my heart is you.” Or if THIS line was actually hers to begin with and JB merely copied it. Curiouser and curiouser.

JB’s motive for getting the chocolate was implied but not stated: he lost to TK.

Check out Episode 17, when all four of the gang were on the bus. JB had handed a chocolate bar to DS to give to MO. None of the boys there even did a double-take at the sight of the chocolate. They’ve never received a chocolate from DS.

Edited to add: And if you listen to the ending segment of Episode 18, at 1:41: 18: you’ll hear DR recounting a story about JB found something in his pocket. “You know, back then, JB didn’t know it was in his pocket.” With this scriptwriter, seemingly irrelevant tidbits like this one, may become important to the resolution of the chocolate mystery.

Now, people asked me how could have DS confused SW’s jacket as belonging to TK? Or why didn’t DS stop and get TK’s jacket on their way out?

The answer there is “I DON’T KNOW”. lol. Really. Literally.

If you go back to Episode 1, the Adult DS already laid the foundation for her defense. She was going to excuse her mental lapse regarding the chocolate by pleading diminished capacity. She had inhaled the most carbon monoxide so she was poisoned and couldn’t think properly. “Diminished Capacity” 🙂

To repeat my Jane Austen parody: It’s a truth universally acknowledged that any woman in poverty of a good wit MUST also be in want of a genius. 😉

Edited to add: This means “Witless girl DS need genius guy TK.”