Author Archives: Ashley Lee

The director (Shin Won-Ho) created a small gift for Reply 1997 fans by creating a special “Reply 1997 Director’s Cut OST CD” for viewers, which features hit songs from the 1990s and highlights from the drama. Not only does it contain OSTs but also a special recorded message from the director and main actors Seo In-Guk and Eun-Ji. Furthemore, the album cover resembles a video tape in order bring back memories of the 1990s.

A fan’s review and unpackaging of the CD can be seen here: https://dramacafe.wordpress.com/2012/10/05/answer-me-1997-directors-cut-ost/

Below is the list of songs that were on the CD:

1. All For You -서인국 ( Seo In Gook) and 정은지 (Jung Eun Ji)

Released: 2012

Watch from 1:20-2:50

In this part of the video Seo In-Gook says, “Eun Ji is 6 years younger than me. In the drama, 4 seasons pass by. It’s extremely hot, but we wear coats and sweat. When we film the drama, Eun Ji is exhausted and can’t find her sanity. As an older person, I felt sorry. So I sometimes made NGs purposely. For her to rest a bit.” He gives an example of how he would drag time by tying his shoelaces or asking his stylist to fix his outfit or hair. He continues on, saying that he goes to the same beauty shop and when Eun-Ji gets her makeup done, he noticed that she is always falling asleep. This made him feel really bad, so he wanted to allow her to get some rest. I feel like this part of the video shows similarity between the real life Seo In-Gook and Eun-Ji and the fictional drama Yoon-Jae and Si-Won. In the clip, Eun-Ji looks surprised to hear that Seo In-Gook dragged time for her, similar to Si-Won who was dull to Yoon-Jae’s simple actions of affection. Furthermore, while listening to Seo In-Gook confess that he extended his NG time, Eun-Ji has that same unsuspecting and confused expression that is commonly seen throughout the drama (esp. when Yoon-Jae expresses his feelings to Si-Won at the noraebang).

The episode starts off with Tae-Woong getting a call from columbarium where his parents’ ashes are. After getting that call he reflects back on how much time has already passed away since his parents passed away. In fact, it’s the first time since their death that he thought of himself as someone’s son. He is reminded of his brother Yoon-Jae, his only remaining family. Then, Si-won brings over a huge batch of quail eggs over and then gets herself a bowel of rice. Taewoong asks, following Si-won into the kitchen, if there is enough for Si-Won’s family to eat and she responds by saying “how much you wanna bet there’s another five of these at home?” They have a cute moment together in the kitchen and this proves too much for Yoon-Jae who leaves without finishing his food. Yoon-Jae tosses the good luck “S” charm Si-won gave him into the trashcan, but narrowly misses it

In class, the boys listen to Jo Sung-mo’s song “To Heaven” and make a bet about whether Jo Sung-Mo’s song will become a hit. Yoon-Jae and Joon-Hee think he will become a hit but Sung-Jae and Hak-Chan think that the song will never be popular. Because Jo Sung-Mo debuted as a faceless singer, the boys believe that the singer is ugly. Later in the episode, we see Jo Sung-mo is actually handsome and that his song rises to #1.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDlqzV9Iu8k

Si-Won’s parents leave for a one week cruise that Tae-Woong pays for. Before leaving, they warn Si-Won to be careful because there have been several cases of men preying on young women the last few weeks. Her parents suggest that Si-Won sleep over at Yoon-Jae’s because she will be lonely by herself. She freaks out and refuses their suggestion, saying “Isn’t Yoon-Jae a guy?!”

In the next scene, Yoo-Jung meets up with her friends and waits for Hak-Chan to join them. However, Hak-Chan doesn’t show up because he is too nervous to sit down with girls but later comes into the café to pay for the bill but does not approach Yoo-Jung. After Yoo-Jung is finished eating with her friends, she goes to pay the bill and finds out Hak-Chan already paid for her which makes her really happy. She runs down the stairs and sees Hak-Chan waiting outside. She tells her friends, who were suspicious of whether Yoo-Jung really had a handsome Seoul boyfriend, that everything is going well with Hak-Chan. At that moment, Hak-Chan’s mom shows up and Hak-Chan brushes off Yoo-Jung as a girl he just knows.

After Si-Won gets off from her night alba shift, which she doesn’t tell her parents about, a creeper follows her. Yoon-Jae is chilling at home until he sees a news report of a young woman who was raped. He sits at home, worried, and finally calls Si-Won’s home but no one picks up. At the same time, Si-Won calls Yoon-Jae on the phone so they cannot reach each other. Finally, she gets a hold of him and tells Yoon-Jae that a stranger is following her. Yoon-Jae runs to Si-Won just in time before the creeper has the chance to close in on Si-Won. He puts his arm around her and takes her home safely. When they get home, Si-Won realizes Yoon-Jae’s hand is bleeding a lot. She takes his hand but he pulls it away from her. Si-Won narrates, saying “there are levels to relationships. To me, Yoon-Jae is the easiest level. We were just childhood friends, a relationship easy to explain and keep. But today I gained a vague idea that it was possible for us to have a relationship. A relationship of highest level of difficulty: that between man and a woman.”

Discussion questions:

-Hak-Chan pays the bill for Yoo-jung and her friend. In Korea nowadays, is splitting the bill more commonly accepted or is it still expected of men to pay for the bill?

– We see Il-Hwa always making large batches of food. Is this something characteristic of the gyeonsang-do province households? This is out of pure curiosity because when I go to my grandparents in Seoul, they always make small batches of food several times a week. However, when I go to my grandparents in Busan, they always make a huge batch of food at once like Si-Won’s family.

-Given that Korea is a society that values appearance to a high degree, do you think that faceless singers still have the potential to make a hit in Korea now? Are there any singers in Korea who debuted faceless and made a huge success (post 2010)?

-The drama reveals that with the IMF crisis, there has been an increase in crimes. Is there an association of economic conditions and crime rates? If so, what are some possible explanations to this association?