"Answer Me 1988" Episode 17 recap

The theme this episode is on pain, and how we recover from it. On the literal level it's just physical pain. Seong-gyoon is still smarting from his wound, and elsewhere other characters also deal with disabling accidents. But on the more powerful metaphorical level the main topic under discussion is emotional pain, as every potential romantic couple separates save for one. Then, one cute time slip montage later, we've jumped five years ahead to 1994.
While the tone is gloomy it's not really excessively gloomy. It's more, this too shall pass. While the breakups seem awful in the moment, as we eventually see in 1994 all of the characters have managed to survive these separations. What's more they still more-or-less appear to be friends. Home is still in the neighborhood, and that level of family doesn't disappear just because they go for longer stretches of time without seeing each other.
In the meantime, though, the present day is pretty much the exact same "Answer Me 1988" we've been watching up until this time. There's the same jokey tone, the same general comedy, the same pop culture references and all that. To be entirely honest I had been starting to feel like "Answer Me 1988" was getting into a bit too standard a routine- humor, emotion, the usual deliberate lack of story progress. So it's appropriate that this routine finishes so abruptly and with so little fanfare. We can't stop getting older, after all.
From a critical standpoint though there's only so many ways to discuss this angle so let's dip back into speculation. I stand by my assertion that Dong-ryong is the best candidate for husband and that director Sin Won-ho is using sleight of hand to convince us otherwise. Consider the big romantic scene we get this episode, and how only moments earlier we had just seen Dong-ryong doing the exact same activity with Deok-seon- without the epic love soundtrack, because he was annoyed by the imposition.
But even if the husband's not Dong-ryong, I find it significant that the young male cast members are able to get along so well with each other, technical romantic rivalry notwithstanding. As we see in 1994, they've been able to get through life with a mostly positive disposition, I think in large part because they don't see these big life decisions as being, well, as being all that pivotal. If you want to get over pain, be it physical or emotional, just try to have fun with friends. That much is why it's important for your spouse, too, be a friend.
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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