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Happy Hyeri Day: Revisiting 5 things we loved about her youthful character in Reply 1988
Hyeri turns 30 today. To celebrate the special day, let’s revisit her cheerful, lively character in popular slice-of-life drama Reply 1988. Read on!
Lee Hyeri, better known as Hyeri is a member of the K-pop group Girl’s Day. Aside from a successful musical career, she has paved her way into the K-drama industry as well, gradually rising to prominence with her acting talents. In 2015, she landed her breakout role in Reply 1988, a drama that became a wild success and still goes down in history as one of the best series ever created. Today, as the lead actress of this beautiful drama becomes one year wiser, we will celebrate her birthday by discussing 5 loveable things about her character in Reply 1988.
Synopsis of Reply 1988
Before revisiting her character, it’s crucial to run through the narrative of Reply 1988. The drama closely follows the story of a neighborhood of the 80s in South Korea. A handful of families living in the locality share a close bond despite their contrasting backgrounds.
The ajummas (aunties) meet up every day to share juicy gossip, their husbands share their sob stories over bottles of Soju, while the kids keep themselves busy with ‘teenage’ activities.
Occasionally, they all meet together and celebrate anything they can. The star of this neighborhood is Choi Taek (played by Park Bo Gum), a Chess genius who makes the neighborhood proud with his accolades. As the families navigate through their interpersonal relationships, the drama tells a poignant tale that transcends beyond envy, bickering, economic background, social norms, and more.
5 things we love about Hyeri's character Deok Sun
1. Hyeri’s cheerful lively character brings depth to Reply 1988’s narrative
In this heartwarming tale, Hyeri plays the lead character of Sung Deok Sun. Her youthful, lively character adds a good pace to this slice-of-life. While sometimes viewers may find her boisterous, overall it's the extrovert behavior that makes us fall in love with Deok Sun.
In addition, she is hilarious. Her absurd yet comedic activities will always make you smile, even when she is sad. While many find Jung Hwan’s (played by Ryu Jun Yeol) father's weird greeting unbearable, Deok Sun finds it cheerful and with a bright smile, she always takes part in the ‘aigoo! Kim Sajang’. Not to mention, this greeting exchange has its own fanbase among Reply 1988 viewers.
2. Just a teenage girl
Deok Sun doesn’t have many intricate layers to her character as she is an extremely extrovert and often spills what’s on her mind. However, what makes her character so relatable is how her every action reflects a real image of a teenage girl. Sometimes, she complains about why she doesn’t get a separate birthday like her siblings.
As a middle child, she feels like her parents discriminate against her and she never leaves an opportunity to complain about it. She often bickers with her elder sister Sung Bo Ra (Ryu Hye Young) and does every little thing that annoys her.
Adding to the traits of a teenage girl, she is all for trends. From trying to give herself a horrible makeover to washing her hair with beer to dye it, Deok Sun is a true image of a girl in her teenage years and we are all for her neverending silliness.
3. Best elder sister
While she might complain about her parents’ ‘discrimination’ against her, Deok Sun is a sister we all wish we had in real life. She has unwavering love for her younger brother No Eul (played by Choi Sungwon). From protecting her brothers from ‘bullies’ to cross-checking his first girlfriend, she is the best elder sister.
4. Not smart, but a good person
Deok Sun might be failing in her academics, but she isn’t failing as a person. While most of her actions come off as immature, she is actually just a teenage girl with a kind heart.
From the way she cares for Taek (played by Park Bo Gum), the way she values her friendship, to despite complaining, she understands her parents’ hardships, we could go on and she would still remain a warm-hearted girl who might have no dreams to pursue yet, but when she will, she would be better at it than anyone else.
5. It’s her ‘immaturity’ we love
Continuing with the character arc, she is just a teenage girl. She might get caught in mortifying embarrassments from time to time, she might mistake affection for ‘love’ and when it is actually, she misses the signs, but under all the stupidity lies a deeper meaning. Her silly behavior makes the most sense and makes this drama as hilarious as it is.
Reply 1988 is already filled with ‘mature’ characters who don’t express themselves, it’s Deok Sun who serves a commentary, that we should live our teenage years to the fullest because adulthood is already full of confusion and decisions you need to asses with carefully.
Sung Deok Sun’s overall growth from a silly girl to a woman is really the most engrossing storyline of Reply 1988. However, through the snippets of her later years, we get to see that despite growing older, she kept her inner child alive and that’s what makes her one of the most loveable characters of Reply 1988.
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