Answer Me 1988: Episode 20 (Final)

by girlfriday

In true Answer Me fashion, this final episode is a farewell to youth as much as it is a farewell to this series and the characters who’ve burrowed deep in our hearts and taken up residence there. There’s always something about the portrayal of youth in this franchise that makes me wish I could bottle it up and keep our characters eighteen forever, but the finale reminds us that the beauty of youth is that it’s fleeting. And whether we want it or not, the time has come for growing up, and moving on, and saying farewell.

 
SONG OF THE DAY

Shin Hae-chul – “Growing Up” [ Download ]

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EPISODE 20: “Goodbye my youth, goodbye Ssangmun-dong”

On a rainy day in December 1994, somebody waits at the bus stop with an umbrella. Bora winces when she sees rain and gets off the bus, but she hardly takes a step before Sun-woo is standing in front of her, umbrella overhead. She laughs and asks if he’s her stalker, and he wonders how she didn’t know that until now.

Bora asks how his parents are doing, and he says that he’s happy to know that Mom and Ajusshi and Jin-ju will be fine without him. She wonders if he’s going somewhere, and he brings up marriage again, teasing that he’s in a rush to get married before his girlfriend ages any more.

Sun-woo wants to get married next year, and Bora doesn’t seem to object to the timeline in general, but she reminds him that they have quite the number of obstacles to overcome first. He knows and tells her that he’ll take care of it, and all she has to do is stick by his side. Bora doesn’t look quite so sure.

No-eul recoils at the sight of Deok-sun putting on orange lipstick, and tells her to stop following celebrity trends. She argues that someone told her it was pretty, and he scoffs that whoever it was surely lost his mind and/or eyesight due to love.

Flashback to: Taek grinning at her like a fool, declaring that she’s purdy. She said it’s Lee Young-ae’s lipstick and Taek said that she’s even prettier than Lee Young-ae. Deok-sun: “Do you know who Lee Young-ae is?” Taek: “…But you’re really pretty!” Lol.

He reminded her about their movie date and she told him not to cancel on her like last time, and he went in for a hug. But Deok-sun spotted Jin-ju down the alley at the last minute and ducked, and Taek had to do an awkward air-hug-spin thing that cracks me up. Jin-ju looked at them suspiciously and Taek promised to tell her everything later. Jin-ju accepted that and went home, but not before commenting on the weird ugly lipstick that Deok-sun was wearing, ha.

Bora comes home and says the exact same thing to Deok-sun the moment she sees her orange lips, and No-eul dies laughing. Deok-sun wonders where Mom and Dad are, and No-eul says they’re upstairs discussing where to move, because apparently Jung-hwan’s parents are moving too.

Jung-hwan’s parents are planning to buy a plot of land in the countryside, and though Deok-sun’s dad dislikes the idea of being that far from Seoul, the two families really like the idea of moving together and remaining neighbors. You HAVE TO remain neighbors! It would be too sad otherwise!

Taek waits at the movie theater for his date, and when people start to recognize him, it turns into a mini fan-signing with autographs and pictures. Deok-sun finally runs in, and Taek assures her that he hasn’t been waiting long. She looks around warily when he grabs her hand, but he doesn’t let go and holds it throughout the whole movie.

Jung-bong painstakingly makes a mixtape for Mi-ok, and they make a date to meet at the street market tomorrow. Jung-hwan is home and calls up Sun-woo to hang out, and still suffers from shock every time Sun-woo says Bora’s name without the “noona” attached.

Jung-hwan warns him to be careful about meeting Bora in their neighborhood because he’s bound to get caught by the ajummas. Well now you jinxed it. Sure enough, Sun-woo is mid-kiss when he looks down the street and locks eyes with all three moms. Bora turns around too, and then everyone goes flailing.

The scene is hilarious, but the aftermath is heavy, as the dads sit down for a drink with a long sigh and the moms each take to their sickbeds, either in shock, protest, or both. The kids gather in Taek’s room and Dong-ryong points out that it’s not a tragedy if they were already planning on telling the parents eventually; this just moved their timetable up.

Dong-ryong says that lots of people with the same surname get married these days, and there’s talk of the laws changing (back then you couldn’t marry someone with the same surname, especially with a name that wasn’t something common like Kim or Lee where you had multiple clans).

Deok-sun is surprised to hear marriage talk and asks Sun-woo if he intends to marry Bora, and he nods without hesitation. The group is impressed, though they worry about him being able to convince his mom when he’s never rebelled once in his entire life.

Both Sun-woo and Bora are unable to sleep that night, but Deok-sun manages to put a smile on Bora’s face when she pats her sister on the back and tells her to be strong.

Jung-hwan’s mom asks him if Jung-bong has quit studying for the bar exam altogether, and Jung-hwan hesitates but answers truthfully that he has. He makes sure that Mom is okay lately too, and she smiles to reassure him.

Jung-bong takes Mi-ok out to eat street food at the market and holds her hand as they walk. He says he’s surprised that she’d be up for this kind of food when she lives in such a big fancy house, and Mi-ok doesn’t seem inclined to explain her family’s background. They actually happen to pass by her father’s shop at the market, but Mi-ok purposely ignores Dad and keeps walking ahead. Ouch. It seems to sting her conscience though, and she stops.

Jung-hwan’s dad wakes up to find Mom sitting in the dark again, so he suggests a late-night stroll through the neighborhood. They walk hand-in-hand and he lifts her mood, and she tells him about Jung-bong giving up on law. Dad is proud enough that he even got into college and says he didn’t expect much more than that.

They reminisce about what good kids Jung-bong and Jung-hwan were even when they were little. Mom remembers when Dad was a jajangmyun deliveryman, he tried to hide when he saw the boys playing with their friends because he thought they’d be embarrassed of him. But Jung-bong took his brother’s hand and they ran up to him calling him Dad and hugged him. Awww. It still makes him teary-eyed to think of it, and he says that it still ranks as the happiest moment of his life.

Mom remembers how hard it got at times, when Jung-bong was sick and they would run out of rice. She admits to thinking terrible thoughts about just ending their misery, but she held on because of their children, and says she was able to keep living for them. Mom: “I think I didn’t raise them, but they raised me.”

Mi-ok makes a decision and turns back around towards Dad’s store, and introduces Jung-bong to her father. She proudly tells him that Dad opened up this shop all on his own and now has three of them, and Dad looks so happy to know that Mi-ok isn’t ashamed of him. Dad invites them inside, though he eyes Jung-bong warily when he seems to recognize his voice as Mi-ok’s high school boyfriend who kept calling the house.

Jung-bong tells his parents that he’s going to quit studying law and wants to work a part-time job at a local pub. Mom is disappointed but Dad is pleased that he found something he wants to do, and approves wholeheartedly.

Jung-hwan’s mom vents about it to Deok-sun’s mom, who’s still in bed over the Sun-woo-Bora problem. Jung-hwan’s mom says it’s not a big deal nowadays for two people with the same surname to get married, but Deok-sun’s mom says that they can’t even legally register their marriage or their children. So that’s really the whole reason why she’s opposed? Based on their reactions, I was waiting for some huge twist.

Sun-woo makes sure that Bora isn’t going to run away this time and braces himself before going home to talk to Mom and Ajusshi. He asks for Mom’s blessing to date Bora and marry her, and Mom tells him not to rush things because these feelings might not last. Sun-woo cringes before telling her the full truth—that he and Bora have seen each other for six years. He leaves out the breakup, which is probably for the best.

He says that he’s not asking to be married right away, but he wants to date Bora knowing that marriage is in their future, and wants Mom’s blessing. He says that he’s never once done something against Mom’s will, and even chose the career path she wanted. He doesn’t regret anything, but asks to be able to marry the person he loves. Well how can you argue with that?

Jung-hwan heads out to return to the base, and Mom and Dad run through their whole farewell routine like it’s the first time he’s visited home. He smiles and salutes them, and Mom bursts into tears the second he’s out the door.

But when he gets down the street, he spots Sun-woo drinking by himself at the pojangmacha. Jung-hwan checks his watch and hesitates, knowing he has to be back to the base by morning. But when Sun-woo looks up, Jung-hwan is sitting beside him pouring a drink without a word.

Sun-woo asks if he doesn’t have to drive, and Jung-hwan lies that his car broke down and he’s taking the bus anyway. The two friends don’t have to say much else, and just pour drinks for each other and throw them back.

Taek’s dad asks Sun-woo’s mom if she remembers how much he opposed Taek playing baduk at first. She remembers that Deok-sun’s dad was originally planning to take Deok-sun to the training center, but it was Taek who happened to tag along instead and started playing. Ha, so it’s because of Deok-sun’s dad?

Dad didn’t like the idea of Taek spending his life on baduk and not growing up a normal kid, and decided to throw everything baduk-related in the trash one night. But the next day he caught Taek sneaking a book he’d somehow kept hidden, looking up at him with fearful eyes but stubbornly refusing to give it over anyway. Dad knew then and there he’d never win against his son. He asks if Sun-woo’s mom can really win against Sun-woo, and if that’s even really winning at all.

Bora comes home and asks permission to marry Sun-woo, and gets Mom to admit that she wouldn’t oppose Sun-woo at all if they were able to legally get married. Bora says that the law is due to change next year, and she wouldn’t dare do anything to disappoint Mom and Dad. She’s positive that in a year’s time she and Sun-woo will be able to get married, and asks for their blessing. Mom and Dad just heave deep sighs.

Jung-hwan’s mom invites everyone over for noodles, and though the air is awkward between Deok-sun’s mom and Sun-woo’s mom, everyday talk quickly lifts the tension and soon they’re chatting like old friends again.

Deok-sun’s dad asks after Taek’s latest match and worries that he’s looking really thin these days, and Taek’s dad blames Deok-sun’s dad for introducing him to baduk in the first place.

Suddenly No-eul comes running in, yelling like there’s some huge emergency… and then presents all the parents with a front-page story about Taek and his new girlfriend Deok-sun. Eep.

They’re holding hands in the picture, but all the parents deflate instantly and say that there’s no way that story is true. They scoff at the idea and say that Taek and Deok-sun hold hands all the time, and when they were little they used to go to the bathhouse together. Well that’s embarrassing. No-eul is certain there’s some truth to it, but they laugh in his face.

Deok-sun waits for Taek’s match to end, and Teacher tells her that he won after 13 hours. He heard from Taek that they were dating and he thanks her sincerely, probably for taking such good care of Taek. He says they should’ve been more careful about reporters though, and reminds her of Taek’s personality; he suggests that acknowledging the relationship openly would be best.

Taek shows up behind her and wraps his arms around in her a backhug, and she tells him he did a good job before giving him a hug. When they reach their neighborhood, Deok-sun turns to him and asks him to deny the dating rumor for now. Both their parents are already in an uproar about Sun-woo and Bora, and Deok-sun doesn’t want to add to the stress and shock.

Taek doesn’t like that one bit and says he’s not going to lie. He says he did that for six years and refuses to do it anymore. Deok-sun says gently that once time passes, their parents will listen to them, but now isn’t the time. Taek won’t even look at her; clearly this is not what he wants to hear. Deok-sun argues, “I have confidence that I won’t change. Do you not?”

The parents wait anxiously for Taek to come home, and when Jung-hwan’s mom suggests asking him just to be sure, Sun-woo’s mom scoffs that it can’t be true. No-eul insists that something’s going on between them, but his mom asks if he’s trying to make her collapse. She can barely wrap her head around the two Sungs asking to be married, let alone becoming double-in-laws with one family.

Everyone files out of the house, which is exactly when Taek and Deok-sun walk through the gate together. All the parents freeze, and one by one they ask as if pleading, “It’s not true, is it?” “The article is wrong, right?”

The silence stretches longer and longer, and Deok-sun turns to Taek. He looks over at her, and then says very matter-of-factly that it’s not true. All the parents breathe a collective sigh of relief, and Taek adds, “Does it seem like our relationship would ever change?”

Deok-sun smiles at him gratefully, and then we flash back to the rest of their conversation in the car. She’d said, “I trust you. Does it seem like our relationship would easily change? I won’t change.” He softened at that, and she convinced him to take things slow. He sighed, still unhappy about it, so she added, “I’ll give you a present in exchange: I love you.”

Aww, instant happy. I love how the words just slay him. His eyes roam from her eyes to her lips, and he leans over to kiss her.

In 2016, Deok-sun interviews that back then, being double-in-laws was a bigger concern than the surname problem. She says they dated for about two years before getting married, and it took a lot of convincing on her part to get Taek to hold off on telling the parents. She remembers how busy they were back then, and says they mostly had dates in alleys.

We see their relationship progress over time, as Taek wakes up at the crack of dawn just to walk Deok-sun to the corner. Deok-sun runs out late at night just to see Taek when he comes home, and he takes her by the hand and asks for a spin around the block just to prolong their goodbye.

Future Deok-sun says they shot their share of drama scenes too, and we see Taek burst into a noraebang with a stern face and get mad at Deok-sun for drinking and partying with her coworkers. On a different day, Taek looks like he’s being scolded by a teacher as Deok-sun yells at him for lending money again. He tries his damnedest to puppy-face his way out, but she’s not having it.

Deok-sun takes out her old diaries for old times’ sake and reads through some of the entries, smiling and cringing. But she gasps to read the page about that night when she confessed to Sun-woo, and rips it out.

She takes it all the way outside to throw it away, but Taek sneaks up behind her and grabs the page out of her hand. Lol, so that’s how he finds out! He holds it up above her head while she jumps to get it back, and he finally relents and swears that he didn’t get a chance to read it.

But when Sun-woo comes home that night, Taek greets him with a violent punch in the back, hahaha. Sun-woo asks what that was for, and Taek says with a grin that he’s just glad to see him and shuffles off.

2016. Husband is asked in his interview about the best thing about dating or being married, and he says that it was being able to quit his sleeping pills. He says he went off of them completely when he started dating Deok-sun. Oh thank goodness. Those were so worrisome.

The interviewer asks when he first started liking Deok-sun, and he can’t remember, but laughs to hear that she thinks he first liked her in1989. He wonders if his wife even knows him at all, and in close-up we see a little scar on his forehead.

We go back to 1978 when Taek first moved to the neighborhood and Deok-sun piggybacked him to school after he broke his arm. Then in 1979, they were wrestling in the street and Deok-sun slammed Taek to the ground so hard that he cracked his forehead open. Both of them cried, but after getting stitched up, Little Deok-sun had tucked him into bed. They slept side-by-side, and even back then he’d held her hand as they slept.

The teen parts, we were already there for; and then we catch up to them as young adults again, as Deok-sun opens a box with a golden turtle inside. She asks what it is, having expected something different when Taek mentioned he was proposing. He says it’s supposed to represent eternal love. Pfft. He makes up for it with his words though: “Deok-sun-ah, I love you.”

Fall 1995. It’s seven days before Bora and Sun-woo’s wedding, and Bora comes home to find both Mom and Dad in subdued moods. Mom is slaving away in the kitchen and Dad is shining the new shoes that Bora bought for him, which he says fit perfectly.

Sun-woo’s mom is sending out last-minute invitations, and Sun-woo comes by to chat with Taek’s dad. Ajusshi tells Sun-woo to be as easygoing as he can to maintain a happy home, and advises him to do his own laundry and cook his own food because Bora works too.

Sun-woo assures him that he’ll do well, and though he might not be as good as Ajusshi, he watched and learned a lot over the last eight years, and says he’ll try to be half as good. Aw. Ajusshi wonders when Sun-woo grew up enough to get married, and he says that he and Mom trust him to live well.

Sun-woo hands Ajusshi a wedding invitation, and says that he’s been giving out a separate invitation to his closest friends and family: “This is my real wedding invitation.” Ajusshi opens it up, and inside where Sun-woo’s parents are listed, his name is written in beside Mom’s. Augh, and I was doing so well with the not crying today!

They both hold back their tears, and Ajusshi is speechless. Sun-woo asks him to sit next to Mom at the wedding where his father would sit, and says, “Thank you for making my mom not lonely anymore.” Ajusshi just silently sniffles back tears.

Bora watches Dad shine his shoes for the millionth time on the day before the wedding, and Mom suddenly gets up in the middle of ironing because she forgot to buy Bora a teapot, and insists that it has to be bought right now.

Bora tells Sun-woo over the phone that the mood is weird at her house, like she’s already a guest and not living there anymore. Sun-woo says it’s because they’re sad about her leaving home, and suggests she spend some quality time with Dad. He laughs at his own suggestion though, knowing that Bora and Dad aren’t exactly the chatty type.

She comes out to find that Dad has made her lunch, and they sit there eating mostly in silence. Bora asks Dad if the shoes fit for the eleventy-billionth time, and he just repeatedly tells her to eat. They say absolutely nothing of any substance or importance, yet the scene makes me cry, and Dad quietly wipes a tear when Bora isn’t looking.

The whole town and friends and family gather for the wedding. Jung-hwan rushes in just in time, and Dong-ryong presides over the event. Sun-woo enters first and his friends laugh to see him just grinning like a fool, and Mom already starts getting teary-eyed.

Outside, Deok-sun makes sure that everything is in place before Bora and Dad walk down the aisle. She checks Bora’s makeup and tries to get Dad to stop being so nervous, and tells them to just focus on not tripping.

Deok-sun whispers to Dad that his shoes are way too big (awwww, why does that pinch my heart so?) and he shushes her not to say anything. So Deok-sun quietly stoops down and stuffs two wads of tissues into Dad’s shoes to keep him from tripping over his own feet, and Dad gives her a little smile.

Then it’s time for the big moment. Dad walks Bora down the aisle and successfully hands her off to Sun-woo, and everyone claps. Taek says that Bora noona is beautiful, and turns to see Deok-sun crying all her makeup down her face.

Sun-woo and Bora turn around and approach her parents to bow, and that’s when the floodgates finally open for Bora. She’s already crying when she looks down and sees the tissues stuffed into the backs of Dad’s shoes, and she just bursts into heaving sobs right then and there. Dad doesn’t shed a single tear, but just silently gives her a little smile and mouths for her not to cry and that it’s okay.

We skip right to the picture-taking after the wedding, and Dad stops the big family photo and insists that Jung-hwan’s family and Dong-ryong’s family get in the family shot. Aw. Then the friends get their own picture, and everyone makes fun of Deok-sun’s streaky face. Unni just quietly holds Deok-sun’s hand, and they all smile for the camera.

The families head out to say their farewells before Bora and Sun-woo leave for their honeymoon, and Bora hugs Mom one last time. Bora: “I love you, Mom. I’ll live well. Thank you for raising me.”

Then she turns to Dad and puts an envelope in his hand. They say nothing, but she’s already on the verge of tears again. Bora and Sun-woo take off, and the family turns around and finds Dad suddenly gone.

In the car, Bora bursts into tears again, and Sun-woo says he never knew she could cry this much. Bora says she didn’t know either, and opens her bag to find an envelope in there from Dad. Lol, exactly alike to the very end.

Dad heads back to the wedding hall and un-stuffs his shoes before opening Bora’s letter. She says that she’s writing a letter because she doesn’t think she’ll be able to say the words, and wonders why she never can: “I probably take after you a lot, don’t I?” Tears begin to trickle down Dad’s face.

Bora: “I don’t know everything in your heart, but I do know that whenever you call, ‘Bora-ya,’ it’s because you want me to look at you. I know that putting side dishes on my rice means that you love me. Why did I act as if I didn’t know? That pains me the most and I’m sorry.”

She writes that there’s something she really wanted to say to his face before she got married, but she thinks she’ll burst into tears the second she calls out, “Dad,” so she’s writing it down instead.

Bora: “Thank you. I love you. I’ll live well with Sun-woo so that you won’t worry. It may have been a one-room half-basement, but I received so much love, and even if I’m reborn I want to be reborn as your daughter. Dad, I’m sorry, and I love you.” Dad whispers ever so faintly as he cries, “Thank you… thank you for growing up so well.”

Bora opens up her letter from Dad, and he writes that he still remembers that day 27 years ago when she was born. He wonders how she grew up enough to get married, and says that she’ll always remain his daughter no matter whose wife or daughter-in-law she becomes.

Dad: “Never forget that from the moment you were born, you were always my most treasured gem. My daughter, I love you. I can’t thank you enough for being born as my daughter.” Sun-woo holds Bora close as she breaks down in sobs.

2016. Deok-sun and Husband laugh at their group photo at Bora’s wedding and the two sisters tease each other about who cried more that day. Bora answers a call from “Stalker,” and Sun-woo asks if she’s picked out her father’s birthday present yet. Wait, I know that voice… Oh, it’s Lee Jong-hyuk! Why are you only a voice cameo?

Bora asks Deok-sun if the interview team is bugging them a lot, and says they promised not to ask for follow-up sessions. Meanwhile, Sun-woo calls back twice to offer more suggestions for Dad’s birthday present, and Deok-sun and Taek count down while giggling. On cue Bora blows her lid and yells at Sun-woo to quit bugging and calling, so then of course he just texts her to ask if she’s mad and to see when she’s coming home.

The interview continues after Bora leaves, and Deok-sun says that the most famous person from their neighborhood turned out to be Jung-bong, who’s now a celebrity chef on TV. Deok-sun envies Mi-ok because she still remembers Jung-bong’s ramyun as the best she’s ever had. Taek offers to make her some later and she turns that down right away, heh.

They get thanked for doing the interviews, and they say it was fun to reminisce and talk about their youth and the old neighborhood. Taek says that they really had fun growing up in Ssangmun-dong, and Deok-sun wonders why they didn’t know it then. She still remembers the moms crying when the families started moving away one by one, starting with Taek’s house.

We go back to moving day for Sun-woo’s mom. Taek’s dad waits by the truck as she heads over to say goodbye to the other moms. She makes jokes about their solemn faces and says she’s not moving to America, but she’s the one who breaks down in tears first. She cries, “I only knew really good people and spent really good years here.”

Deok-sun narrates that Taek’s family was the first to leave Ssangmun-dong, because Taek’s dad wanted to give Sun-woo’s mom a nice updated apartment before she got any older. Next was Dong-ryong’s family, and then Jung-hwan’s family. Last was her family, and by then their street was completely empty.

Deok-sun stands in the middle of the street just looking around at the place where she grew up, and has to be called away before she leaves. When Dad tells the mover where they’re going, he wonders if they’re going to become farmers.

When the interviewer asks 2016 Deok-sun and Taek if they’d want to go back to that time, Taek says he’s happier now because he was so sensitive to everything back then. There is one thing he’d like to do if they went back—hang out and watch videos with the gang in his room.

Deok-sun says that she’d like to go back and see her parents again when they were young, and gets emotional thinking about how much they’ve aged. She tells Taek that lately songs like Kim Chang-wan’s “Youth” really stir her heart, and he says it’s because they’re old now. Taek wants to go visit the old neighborhood, but Deok-sun tells him it’s totally different now. She went about ten years back and tells him it’s better not to see it.

Deok-sun returns to the street decades after they’ve all moved away, and it’s now uninhabited and filled with trash and vandalized. She narrates that years had passed and the street had aged too: “I couldn’t return to my youth, and I couldn’t return to that street either. Time flows, everything passes by, and ages. The reason that youth is beautiful is because of that. Because at a brilliant moment, you shine so brightly that it’s blinding, but you can never go back.”

As she moves from house to house and room to room, Deok-sun narrates that she had a youth like that once. She reaches Taek’s room and opens the door, and finds the four boys waiting for her and nagging her to hurry up so they can start the movie.

Deok-sun is young again too, and her eyes are filled with tears as she asks what they’re all doing here. Jung-hwan: “Why are we here? Where would we have gone?” Sun-woo asks if she’s crying because Bora hit her again, and she shakes her head no. Dong-ryong says they’re starting the movie, and Taek smiles and tells her to come sit.

Just like any other day, they watch a movie and Dong-ryong farts under the covers. One by one the moms call them home for dinner, just like they did in the opening episode. They get up and file out of Taek’s room, and when we cut back to him, he’s a little boy. The others are tiny children too as they each go home, and Deok-sun narrates that this the end of their story in Ssangmun-dong, 1988.

Deok-sun (voiceover): “The reason I miss that time and the reason I miss that street isn’t just because I miss my younger self. It’s because my dad’s youth, my mom’s youth, my friends’ youth—the youth of everything that I loved was in that place. I regret not having bid a final farewell to the surroundings of my youth that can never be brought back together again. To the things that are already gone, to the time I can’t return to… I say a belated farewell. Goodbye, my youth. Goodbye, Ssangmun-dong.”

In an epilogue, Deok-sun’s narration concludes: “A time so warm and innocent that I miss it painfully. Do you hear me? If you do, answer me, my ’88, my days of youth.”

 
COMMENTS

It was the most bittersweet of all Answer Me finales, but Answer Me 1988 had always set itself apart from the beginning with a more sober tone. There was an added layer of sadness in the usual nostalgia of the franchise, because this one really celebrated a bygone era and a simple way of life that no longer exists. I found myself wishing that no one would move away from Ssangmun-dong, and wanting desperately to see our three ajummas together again just to make me feel better. But nothing stays the same forever and the story was true to life in the end, and perhaps in order to say a proper goodbye to the neighborhood, our characters had to move on. The emptiness of the neighborhood made Deok-sun’s final visit and memory of the boys particularly heartbreaking. I know they were all alive and well, but it felt like a mourning of their youth, and I found myself wishing we could just close the door and stay in that room forever. Unhealthy, I know. I’m telling you, it was not unlike grieving.

I was disappointed in a few things, namely the lack of Jung-hwan in the final episode. Would it have killed you to give him a send-off, a girl, a happy future, a freaking breadcrumb in the present day? I think not. I know he’s happy and well, but by focusing most of the final episode on Bora and Deok-sun, we got so little of the other characters, and I was really sad to reach the end and realize that we weren’t going to even see Jung-hwan or Dong-ryong in the present day, or see them get happy endings in the past. It basically ensured that the gigantic Jung-hwan-shaped hole in my heart would be seared open FOREVER. Was that the goal? ‘Cause if it was, great job with that.

Taek and Deok-sun’s story got some cute development in the final stretch, though this was another case where I feel like I missed out on some of the bigger moments. I wanted to see them actually tell their families about their relationship and get permission to marry, not just talk about it and skip past the hard part. It seemed weird to build that up and not show us in the end. I do like the idea that they were always beside each other from the start and that there is no one true beginning for Taek’s feelings—he’s just always loved her, in some form or another, and their progression was as natural as growing up. I just wish there had been one last oomph of a conflict to make their love story land with more impact in the last episode, because despite driving the central mystery all series long, once they got together, their romance had little conflict to speak of. But that’s both the upside and the downside of this show, where romance was hardly the main course and there was always more time spent on friendships. It was one of my favorite things about the series and what set it apart, though a perfect show should be satisfying in all respects, and the love triangle here left something to be desired in all three characters’ resolutions.

Despite that, what made Answer Me 1988 great was that it did more than tell the story of one romance; it was a love story about family, in every conceivable iteration: the love between husband and wife, parent and child, siblings, friends. We got two families healing one another and becoming a new family, neighbors opening their homes to each other and sharing what little they had, and friends showing up for each other through life’s biggest and smallest moments. And what it did brilliantly was weave each relationship in and out of the story, peeling back new layers each time. We begin with one impression of a character, then discover bit by bit that we never knew him or her at all (think of characters like Bora or Taek’s dad). And just like in real life, we adjusted our understanding of each character the longer we knew them.

I love this kind of storytelling, where things aren’t linear and characterization unfolds gradually in bits and pieces, and our limited perspective actually makes the world and its characters seem like real people who exist beyond the glimpses we see. This writer is particularly great at that, and at portraying realistic familial love—the kind where daughters and dads alike are gruff and don’t say the words, but show their love in silent, thankless actions. Bora and her father’s love story is one that made me cry ugly tears every time, because it was so perfectly normal and encapsulated every unspoken bit of love between every parent and child. I love that for the most part, the people in the Answer Me universe act like real people, like world-weary moms and dads who don’t have all the answers just because they’re older, and flawed kids who make tons of mistakes and learn from falling down and getting back up. I love that it was a celebration of the parents’ youth too, not just the kids, and that the moms and dads did a hell of a lot of growing up too.

The drawback, of course, is when much of our characters’ inner turmoil is kept from us in service of the mystery. With a character like Deok-sun, for instance, she spent a lot of time receding to the background because we couldn’t know how she felt about Taek or Jung-hwan. She was still the same lovable, endearing girl she was at the start and matured into a thoughtful young lady, but I also wished I’d been privy to more of her thoughts as she grew up. I felt like I was there for every heartbreaking, angsty, agonizing detail of Jung-hwan’s journey (thanks for that, Show), but I saw so much less of what made Deok-sun tick, and what made her fall head over heels for Taek. I can read between the lines, of course, and certainly have no trouble guessing why a girl would fall in love with Taek. I mean, he’s Taek. It’s just that the couple’s romantic development always gets shafted when prolonging the mystery is your priority. But we knew this. It will always be the fatal flaw of this franchise.

A huge part of what made this season such a success was the lovely ensemble, full of actors who were riotously funny and could turn on a dime and make me cry like a baby. There was no one person who carried the show, but if I had to choose one, it’d be Ra Mi-ran, who elevated every single scene she was in with depth and warmth and an amazing ability to make that outlandish ajumma seem alive and real. I think her love story with Jung-hwan was my favorite of the show, in part because Ryu Joon-yeol brought a beautiful hidden depth to his character too, and together they turned what could’ve been a very simple mother-son relationship into one that crackled with humor and heart. Taek and his dad stole a lot of my tears too (though I probably cried more liters per minute because of Bora and her dad).

I was happy to see Hyeri step up to her role and do a better job with Deok-sun than I could’ve imagined. At the end of the day she was still one of the weaker actors in the cast, but only because she was surrounded by astoundingly good people. She was lovable and endearing and relatable, and because she didn’t have to carry the show, it took a lot of the pressure off and I was able to enjoy her character as one of the gang. I expected Ryu Hye-young and Go Kyung-pyo to be good, and they didn’t disappoint—they ended up getting the more intricate love story and the big finale moments with the parents that made me cry all of the tears and then some, and no one else in the group of kids felt as if they’d done more maturing than Sun-woo and Bora.

And naturally, Ryu Joon-yeol and Park Bo-gum are the runaway stars of the series, and will probably start referring to eras in their lives as pre-Answer Me and post-Answer Me. They were nothing short of amazing, and at the end of the day I love that these two characters existed, more than caring about which of them got the girl. I don’t know if I’ll ever meet two characters like them again in dramaland, but considering the way they made me swoon and cry and then ripped my heart out, maybe I’m okay with that.

I came into this series with low expectations, knowing that the third time around with a familiar setup and story from the same writer-director team would inevitably fall short. But I was happy to discover that they came into this wanting for it to be an ode to family, and that they still had gripping, heartrending stories to tell about good, down-to-earth people. The franchise isn’t a pop-culture sensation year after year for no reason—no matter how much I will endlessly complain about the ridiculous airtime (Two hours! Per episode!) or the divisive husband-hunting madness, there’s no denying the power of good storytelling, the strength of a piece of music that connects past and present, and universality of cherishing your youth and being grateful for the people you love.

 
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