After watching Reply 1988 I started looking for posts about the show. I read some articles saying they experience second lead syndrome because they want Deok Sun to end up with Jung Hwan. Why do people say Jung Hwan is the second lead?
I believe Jung Hwan is the lead and Taek is the second one. We learned about Jung Hwan’s character first. It was his journey that we follow. We knew of his feelings for Deok Sun before we knew about Deok Sun’s. We saw him get jealous of Sun Woo before they revealed that Sun Woo likes Bo Ra. Even Taek’s confession was shown in Jung Hwan’s POV. Taek’s feelings were revealed in the service of Jung Hwan’s manpain. Even the final race to reach Deok Sun was written in Jung Hwan’s point of view. We didn’t even know that there was a race, and that Taek forfeited an important game just to accompany Deok Sun in a concert. It was only revealed to show how much anguish it caused Jung Hwan.
It was only in the last 2 or 3 episodes that Taek felt like the lead because finally, they focused on him and Deok Sun and not Jung Hwan.
People say that Deok Sun didn’t get to choose. That she is with Taek because he’s the only one who confessed his feelings. And Jung Hwan made a joke of his confession. But disagree. I feel that she actually made a choice, and I believe that’s the reason why Jung Hwan made a joke of his confession. Because before he even confessed, he knows Deok Sun is waiting for Taek. She keeps looking at the door everytime someone enters and Jung Hwan noticed it.
It’s easy to mistaken Deok Sun’s feelings for Jung Hwan as genuine because Hyeri and Jun Yeol have great chemistry, possibly because they are dating in real life. But remember, Deok Sun only started catching feelings for Jung Hwan after Sun Woo broke her heart and her friends started teasing her with Jung Hwan. That’s love on the rebound if nothing else.
And I admit, at first I thought that Deok Sun only sees Taek as a little brother. She is very affectionate and protective of him. Granted, everyone is protective of Taek and they treat him like a baby. But I realized that Deok Sun ONLY treats Taek differently from anyone else. She has a baby brother No Eul, and although she’s protective of him, she is not affectionate towards him. And then there’s Jin Joo. Yes, we barely see them interact, but the one time they did, she ate Jin Joo’s hotdog and made her cry. If we are meant to see Deok Sun as caring and affectionate big sister, she would be caring and affectionate not just to Taek, but No Eul and Jin Joo as well. But let’s face it, she treats No Eul, Jin Joo and even Jung Bong the same way she treats Dong Ryong. Compare her to Sun Woo who is a very affectionate big brother to Jin Joo and his step brother Taek, and you will see the difference.
Also, when Deok Sun thought that she is not important to Taek, she did not feel anger or frustration, but sadness. Very different from the way she reacted to Sun Woo and Jung Hwan.
I think that’s why I love Reply 1988 so much. Because finally, a show rewarded the second lead, who is a better choice and who treats the female lead better. And the lead who is wishy washy with his feelings, who treats the girl with kindness at times, but is mostly careless with her feelings, finally gets punished by not being chosen.
