Friendship, Romance, and a Peek into the Past: Girls' Generation 1979 (2017) - Kdrama Review
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Girls' Generation 1979, also known as Lingerie Girls' Generation (란제리 소녀시대), is an 8-episode KBS2 coming-of-age period Kdrama starring Bona (WJSN), Chae Seo-Jin, Seo Young-Joo, Yeo Hoe-Hyun and Min Do-Hyun. (One of the main actors is ex-CnBlue member Lee Jong-Hyun, this is the last mention I will make of him please, read the highlighted Wikipedia link to find out why.)
Summary
In 1979, Lee Jung-Hae (Bona) is a teenager who lives in Daegu, where her family owns a lingerie factory. She lives with her parents, her older twin brother and her aunt; her father prefers Jung-Hae's brother a lot more and tends to ignore her.
One day, Jung-Hae, with her friends from her girls' high school, goes on a group date with the boys from the neighboring boys' high school, where she meets Bae Dong-Moon (Seo Young-Joo), who gets an instant crush on her. Jung-Hae is not interested in Dong-Moon at all, but she has a crush on a senior from the same school as Dong-Moon, the popular Son Jin (Yeo Hoe-Hyun). Jung-Hae starts to stalk follow Son Jin while Dong-Moon stalks follows Jung-Hae.
A new girl from Seoul transfers to Jung-Hae's class, Park Hye-Joo (Chae Seo-Jin), who instantly becomes the center of attention at her new school. She also becomes popular with the boys in the neighboring school (except for Dong-Moon, who is "faithful" to his crush on Jung-Hae), and to Jung-Hae's annoyance, Son Jin gets a crush on Hye-Joo.
Hye-Joo falls in love with a reformed delinquent who works as a handyman and is older than her. The school delinquent Shim Ae-Sook (Min Do-Hee) also has a crush on the handyman.
Although Jung-Hae and Hye-Joo start as rivals, they soon begin to become friends...
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Thoughts
Girls' Generation 1979 is a really good drama and a good coming-of-age/slice-of-life story. As this Kdrama is set in the 70s, it deals with topics such as sexism and communism. The start of this Kdrama with Jung-Hae and her friends dancing to ABBA's "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" does a great job of presenting the era in which this Kdrama is set and also opens a window into the style of music and pop culture references it has.
The cinematography is really good and the costumes of this drama are lovely. I especially like how Jung-Hae dresses.
The acting is very good. Bona did a great job, even if this is one of her first roles, I thought her crying scenes were very natural and although Jung-Hae is a whiny and sort of annoying character she gradually changes. I loved Dong-Moon and even if he has those stalkerish vibes, I can't help but root for him, probably because Seo Young-Joo did such a fantastic job playing him.
I have something to confess the first time I watched this Kdrama I didn't care much about Hye-Joo and the handyman love story. I found it very boring and plain, so when I watched this Kdrama for a second time I just skipped their scenes together, especially with everything that came out about the "actor" who plays the handyman (I would have preferred Hye-Joo to date Son-Jin). I do love Jung-Hae and Hye-Joo's growing friendship though.
The OST is lovely and the song I liked the most was Honeyst - "Like You" ﹘ It's a really cheerful song.
I recommend this Kdrama if you like coming-of-age stories, lovely characters and Kdramas set in a different era.
Rating
Acting – 9/10
Plot – 9/10
Jung-Hae and Dong-Moon's love story – 10/10
Jung-Hae's friendships – 10/10
OST – 9/10
Cinematography – 10/10
Overall Rating – 9.5/10
Extended Drama Info.
Quantity of Episodes: 8.
Run Time: 60min/each.
Release Date: September 11, 2017.
Network: KBS2.
Based on: Lingerie Girls' Generation by Kim Yong-Hee.
Directed by: Hong Seok-Gu.
Written by: Yoon Kyung-Ah.
Starring: Bona (Kim Ji-Yeon), Seo Young-Joo, Chae Seo-Jin, Yeo Hoe-Hyun and Min Do-Hee.
If you feel uncomfortable with a certain actor, skip his scenes like I did the second time I watched Girls' Generation 1979. This drama is worth a watch, trust me.
Photo source: KBS2
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