"Answer Me 1988" Episode 6 recap

Taek (played by Park Bo-geum) is a Go prodigy who has been having a bit of a slump lately. I haven't felt much need to discuss Taek because, well, there's not really much more to say about the character than that. Taek's kind of an idiot outside of the whole Go prodigy thing but his friends and family love him because why wouldn't they? "Answer Me 1988" is dealing with a time period where it wasn't especially important that people fit into neat easily defined categories.
Unfortunately, understanding the social context behind South Korea in the late eighties doesn't really make the game of Go any more exciting, so pretty much all the dramatic impetus here is on the question of whether or not Taek will break out of his slump. And while I can appreciate the often humorous ways which the others characters are excited about that fact, I couldn't really get into that storyline personally.
On a somewhat more interesting note, "Answer Me 1988" has finally decided to confidently confront the whole "guess-the-husband" storyline aside from the usual vague pop culture references and usual uncommunicative teen dialogue. And I have to admit, the ending here makes that plot point quite a bit more interesting than it was in "Answer Me 1994". While some kind of twist was obviously forthcoming, I definitely wasn't expecting the drama to go that particular direction.
In a sadistic kind of way, it was actually really easy for me to emphasize with the moment because of, well, because of all the uncontrolled sobbing. Because that's what teenagers do. They get over-excited and emotional and usually never have the sense when to quit because they're just too sad to care about what other people think. Even aging up to college student level, there's enough maturity for a woman to know not to do that. Which is why, again, there was no equivalent scene in "Answer Me 1988".
Still, aside from the usual nostalgic sweeteness, the excellent soundtrack, and the good use of snow in making beautiful visuals, I have to admit I was a little disappointed in this episode compared to the last one. Is it a sign that I'm getting old, that I actually find the adult characters more interesting and endearing than their kids? Or is it just that Bo-ra's storyline seemed much more serious last episode, whereas here it was just about totally dropped and replaced with something much less dramatic? Perhaps that's why at the end Bo-ra just has this very blank look on her face, trying to process this new obviously irrelevant information.
Review by William Schwartz
"Answer Me 1988" is directed by Sin Won-ho, written by Lee Woo-jeong-I and features Seong Dong-il, Lee Il-hwa, Ra Mi-ran, Kim Seong-gyoon, Ryoo Hye-yeong, Hyeri, Ko Kyeong-pyo and Ryu Jun-yeol.

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