Day Four: Favorite Daughter
There are so many moments in the Reply series that make me cry, but none made me cry as much as after Bora’s wedding in Reply 1988. Bora’s dad opens up the letter she had given him beforehand, and reads Bora’s words telling him that she’s sorry she’s always acted like she didn’t know that he loves her. She knows that she takes after him, she writes, and if she’s ever reborn, she would still want to be born his daughter. I sobbed.
What makes Bora’s letter hit me so hard is knowing what it took for her to write it. As the oldest Sung daughter, she always had a particularly fractious relationship with her dad. She inherited his stubborn personality, pride and prickliness and all. And throughout Bora’s teen years, their shared temperament resulted in frequent arguments and battles. When they weren’t in a shouting match, Bora and her dad were awkward and restrained around each other, neither wanting to admit that they could have been wrong.
As odd as it may sound, Bora’s my favorite drama daughter because she didn’t often get along with one of her parents. Her teenage frustration at having a parent who seems so unreasonable, so pigheaded, and then growing to realize over the years that she’s actually just like him feels completely relatable to me. As someone who grew up constantly fighting with a parent not because we’re particularly different, but because we’re the same, Bora’s realization rings true. Hate them or love them, Bora’s character really captures that experience of becoming an adult and slowly starting to understand your relationship with your parents in a way that you didn’t before.
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