Kim Ji-Yeon(Bona): "Girls' Generation 1979" drama episode one recap

 Air Dates: September 11th to October 3, 2017 on KBS2 Monday and Tuesday nights at 10:00  for eight episodes with an average rating of 4.3%

 Main Cast:

Kim Ji-Yeon(Bona) as Lee Jung-Hee, the heroine

Chae Seo-Jin as Jung Hae-Joo, transfer student from Seoul

Seo Young-Joo as Bae Dong-Moon, has a severe crush on Jung-Hee

Yeo Hoi-Hyeon as Son-Jin, Jung-Hee absolutely adores him

Min Do-Hee as Sim Ae-Sook, Jung-Hee's arch enemy

Lee Jong-Hyun as Young-Joon, neighborhood handyman

Joe Byeong-Gyu as Lee Bong-Soo, Jung-Hee's twin brother

Kwon Hae-Hyo as Mr. Lee, Jung-Hee's father 

Kim Sun-Young as Mrs. Lee, Jung-Hee's mother

Park Ha-Na as Dong-Hwa, Jung-Hee's aunt

In Gyo-Jin as Teacher Oh

Sujin as Eon-Joo, Jung-Hee's school friend

Baek Eun-Kyung as Hyun-Hee, Jung-Hee's school friend

Park Ye-Seul as Eun-Ja, Jung-Hee's school friend

Kim Jaw-Hwa as the Drill Instructor

 Big cast but it's easy to keep track of all of the characters who all have a fair amount of screen time. First episode ran close to 64 minutes and think Bona was on screen for sixty of them but no complaints from me with that, she's quite a charismatic and energetic gal. On to the recap and here are four of the main characters, Jung-Hee is the main one along with her three close school chums though you won't hear their names mentioned too often.

 As you can see from the cast list there's many more characters and will introduce them as we go along. With the title thought the drama was going to be about the K-Pop group Girls Generation but obviously that's not the case. The series is set in 1979 and by the calendar on Jung-Hee's wall it's early September and a new semester at school has just began. Jung-Hee's family consists of her twin brother Bong-Soo who like his sister is a bit of a flake.
 There's also Jung-Hee's set of parents, her father really wishes the twins were both boys and doesn't appear to have all that much respect for females. He owns a small clothing factory and only has women man the sewing machines. His wife is a bit of a quiet woman who often runs the factory and she seems to save all of her temper for Jung-Hee just like her husband. There's a third adult in the household who is aunt Dong-Hwa and we don't know that much about her through two episodes but it appears Jung-Hee's father really likes her and she's the only woman he's somewhat kind to.

 Jung-Hee and her mates attend the Jeonghyeon Girls High School in Daegu which is about 150 miles southeast of Seoul, they're in their second year. When the series starts Jung-Hee and her three close friends are on a group date with four lads from the nearby Gyeryoon Boys High School. Up to now the eighteen year old has never had a solo date and doesn't seem all that interested in the opposite sex, easy to deduce that she's never met Nao.
 On the date one boy just couldn't keep his eyes off Jung-Hee, that was Dong-Moon who is a bit of a nerd and quickly fell head over heels for Jung-Hee. It was a one sided attraction though as Jung-Hee wanted nothing to do with him, we'll be seeing Dong-Moon chasing after her in these first two recaps and perhaps through the entire series. The Jeonghyeon school has a no dating policy, above is the school's drill instructor who heard about the group date and burst into the cafe where it was taking place to 'arrest' the culprits.
 With the help of Dong-Moon Jung-Hee was able to escape the drill instructor, she has no name but we do see her often as every day the entire school has to take 'war lessons' with her. So far unsure if Jung-Hee is a good student or not, to date may have to go with the not as her teacher Oh never has a kind word to say about her. In class she can't even do the simplest of problems but Jung-Hee does seem to be an intelligent gal, her constant daydreaming has a huge affect on her work.

 That bottom screenshot is of Min Do-Hee, she plays the character of Ae-Sook and what a looker she is. Will have at least one solo post for her coming up and just may have done it before this was published. Ae-Sook is a bit of a bully and has a pair of flunkies who are always by her side, the trio love to make their classmate's lives miserable and especially Jung-Hee's. The action moves ahead a few days to the weekend where the quartet heads to a culture fest at one of the town's churches.
 An event which could have turned out horribly for Jung-Hee actually made her life worth living. When she went to the girls room Ae-Sook was there smoking up a storm in a stall. When Jung-Hee made a minor threat of blabbing on her Ae-Sook and her two beasts tried to capture Jung-Hee to give her a good whipping. Jung-Hee was able to flee and the chase went on for a while but eventually she ducked into a room but was unable to lock the door.
 Just as the trio was about to push the door open a young man appeared out of nowhere to help
Jung-Hee. He hid her behind the door and was able to persuade Ae-Sook and her beasts that he was alone in the room and while they may not have believed him Son-Jin's handsomeness made them all swoon and they quickly left. They weren't the only ones to swoon as once Jung-Hee got a good look at Son-Jin her heart also went into hyper drive and she has finally found her reason to keep living. The moment didn't last long enough for Jung-Hee but long enough for her world to change.

 Now the question for Jung-Hee was how could she meet up with Son-Jin again as he went to the nearby boys school? She knows nothing about him yet spends almost every second of the day thinking about Son-Jin who is seemingly is Mr. Perfect. He's the president of his class and also of the broadcasting club and is ranked near the top of his class. It appears as though someone like
Son-Jin wouldn't look at Jung-Hee twice but that's not going to stop her from trying to date him.
 Jung-Hee's friends have learned that Son-Jin spends his Sundays studying at an elite library, so elite that students wait in line for hours just to enter. Jung-Hee thinks the library may be her best chance and before the sun rises on the next Sunday morning she's off to the library to meet the man of her dreams. But it is a popular place as even though Jung-Hee arrived early the line was quite long.
 The library had three sets of study rooms, one each for males and females along with a co-ed room which is where Son-Jin does his studying. That room was filled up so the only pass Jung-Hee could get was to enter the female area but heading there she noticed in the hallway Dong-Moon. She can sweet talk Dong-Moon into doing anything for her, he had a pass for the co-ed room and Jung-Hee was able to con him out of it, now on to the hopefully meet her Mr. Wonderful.

 It's not a social place and all of the students there including Son-Jin were intently studying. Taking a short break in the girls room Jung-Hee practiced approaching Son-Jin in the study area and what to say to him. With her courage level finally high enough Jung-Hee went up to the cubicle that Son-Jin had been sitting at and began to address him. To Jung-Hee's dismay it wasn't Son-Jin she was talking to but Dong-Moon who was sitting there as Son-Jin had suddenly left while Jung-Hee was away.
 Jung-Hee is on a mission to meet her Mr. Right and nothing was going to stop her, she quickly dashed out of the library to see Son-Jin pedaling away. Even though he had a sizable head start
Jung-Hee couldn't give up, she was pedaling with all her might to catch him and it appeared she was about to catch up with Son-Jin. Just before that moment could happen an out of control Jung-Hee almost plowed into a car which was coming in the opposite direction.
 Jung-Hee lost control of her bike and went sprawling to the pavement, now she's thinking how could her day get any worse? That thinking was a bit premature as soon a hand was in front of her face to help her back up. Not just any hand but one that belonged to Son-Jin as in just a few seconds the life of Jung-Hee has gone from being a nightmare to pure ecstasy.

 Above is the second main member of the cast who is Chae Seo-Jin who plays Hae-Joo, this was the first time we've met her. She was in the car that almost had the accident with Jung-Hee and refused to leave the scene until she was taken care of. Son-Jin was there and said he would take of Jung-Hee's wounded knee but Hae-Joo wouldn't hear of it and the trio headed to Kim's pharmacy. The problem was that it was Sunday, back in 1979 most stores everywhere were closed on that day. But coming out of the pharmacy was Young-Joon who we've seen briefly before this.
 He's the neighborhood handyman and will do any kind of work such as repairing the sewing machines at Jung-Hee's father's shop and doing construction work along with other various odd jobs. He told them though the pharmacy was closed the pharmacist would give them what they needed. It was a dream come true for Jung-Hee as Son-Jin was applying the medicine and bandages to her knee, the only thing that somewhat spoiled it was the presence of Hae-Joo.

 We're getting close to the end, a 64 minute episode is about 2/3 the length of a regular movie. As you can see Son-Jin volunteered to walk Jung-Hee home, what a day she's had but the pair never can be alone together as shortly after the left the pharmacy they ran into her twin brother Bong-Soo. He goes to the same boys high school as Song-Jin who didn't know Bong-Soo at all. With the brother's arrival it was time for Son-Jin to take his leave as Jung-Hee and her brother also headed home.
 An event was happening across the street from their house which was that someone was moving in. And of all the people who should it be but Hae-Joo who had just arrived from Seoul with her father. One look at her and Bong-Soo like his sister has fallen immediately in love but that's going to turn into a relationship that will never happen. Helping the movers was Young-Joon who seems to work 24 hours a day, he has no parents and has to support his little sister Eng-Cho.
 There was another love at first sight incident and that was with Hae-Joo, one look at Young-Joon made her heart flutter but the feeling wasn't returned. Though not a romantic drama there are quite a few of those minor stories to the plot, actually Jung-Hee's adoration for Son-Jin will probably be the main storyline. With that comes the end of this recap.

 The final minute or so took place the following day which was the introduction at school for
Hae-Joo, it was very brief and will pick up the scene in the next recap. This first episode was a huge winner in my book, had really wanted to see more of Bona who looks so aegyo on screen but her acting ability is what won me over too. Recap for the second show which was also a winner to me is the next post, many more screenshots here to help you follow the story a bit better.