Love Next Door with Jung Hae In and Jung So Min Wraps Underwhelming But Still Worth Watching Run with Lovely Happy Ending
The experience of watching Love Next Door for me was a frustrating one so having it end this weekend felt like a release of sorts. Now I don’t have to keep waiting each week for the drama to get better as a whole while accepting the little nuggets of satisfying moments and scenes strung between filler. One thing tvN did well is promo and market the heck out of leads Jung Hae In and Jung So Min, there was never ending new posters, stills, and cute BTS to buoy what was lacking onscreen, and ultimately the two delivered in the last four episodes of genuine natural chemistry with each other that was more forced in the first half of the drama. I would still recommend this drama as worth watching because unlike other rom-coms that start off strong and then fall off a second half cliff, this drama started off shaky and kept getting better, so there’s that. The ending was well-written, realistic and nicely built up, and all the frustrating problems I had with it fell by the wayside as the two leads left me with a smile as the final scene rolled.
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I think a big problem was all the small side stories. I found myself fast forwarding through them to get back to the main characters and main story. I did like the mom/friends storyline but I found all the other extra stories boring and unnecessary in a short k drama.
I thought it was lovely and the ending left me very satisfied. I don’t see myself rewatching it though.
For a fan, who endured that AOS debacle she had, I would gladly watch this again. Not because of the story, chemistry or anything, it WASN’T THAT GOOD. It’s the feeling that So Min/everyone enjoyed making the show.
I haven’t seen a show with that amount of behind the scenes photos. Usually it’s just one or two photos to commemorate the drama and that’s it and everyone moves on. Yesterday it was So Min, now it’s Hae In. It just felt new for me. I guess I’m being sentimental.
I totally agree. From what I read I don’t think so min was treated well by AOS director or the NL who did not mention her every again. The whole cast seems to enjoy filming the drama and I love all the BTS. So Min’s dad is my MVP I feel like crying every time he does 😝
I think Hae In’s acting was ok not sure if it was him or director’s editing etc but to me So Min glows so brightly on screen. The BTS between the leads were so fun although I think they didn’t need to milk the love line so much as the story should speak for itself. There are aspects of the drama I love such as all the food related episodes. Definitely a rewatch for me just because I think so min is excellent n her camaraderie with hae jn was excellent.
I watched until the end but I wouldn’t recommend it to other people. I genuinely like the leads but the story and directing were very weak. It did improve after ep 11 like Jung Hae In said in the interviews but it does not offset what could have been done better. I like Seung Hyo’s parents storyline the best.
Please to be clear, Jung hae in never said the story/ directing improved from episode 11(even an amateur actor wouldn’t say so), he and so min simply said the romantic parts were upped from episode 11.
I read somewhere online (either X or Reddit) that LND is a disappointment and the C-drama You Are My Lover Friend is what actually delivered better with this similar premise/trope (childhood friends-ish). Never seen either but it depends on the viewer’s taste in the end.
I actually think the same. In the same bracket, I would watch you are my lover friend. The side stories are quite funny compared to LND trauma dumping. Wang yuwen and zhang xincheng is childhood friend in real life so that was def good casting choice, they’re so natural there
Just finished both this drama and You Are My Lover Friend.
LND : 5/10
YAMLF : 8/10
I just skipped forward the last 4 episodes of LND. Boring..
YAMLF is setting the standards for friends to lovers trope. Even the 2nd couple and 3rd have pretty stories.
Is this worth watching? I’m sad Koala didn’t follow up on No Gain No Love. I watched that instead of this drama and really like it.
The directing and script aren’t so good. People’s expectation on screenwriter is high cuz she made hometown chax3, but they forgot that LND is actually her first original story while her previous works were all remakes.
I see, guess it’s a good thing I went for the drama of Hometown ChaX3’s female lead instead? Thanks for the heads up!
It depends on you Lilith, if you don’t like heavy rom com, you probably wouldn’t like it, if you don’t mind heavy rom coms, then you may love it.
I’m kind of fickle, today I may love watching rom coms but tomorrow I may not feel like watching them. It takes a combination of familiar likeable actors(actresses) and a good production to keep my attention on a drama. This drama had already lost out on the former because both leads aren’t outstanding to me in previous dramas, so I was hoping the production would be good enough.
So hyped up to the max! This is what happen for most romcoms on Netflix these days.
This drama is exactly why kdramas are in a slump.Hyped up casting ,terrible plot,storyline and a dragged out drama filled with filler scenes to get those advertisement money.
I liked it enough to keep watching but I give the story a 4 out of 10. It was horribly written, just going in all strange directions. Jung Jung couple did their best but I hated the story, if it wasn’t this couple I would of stopped after episode 6.
Their approach to her past cancer and the families super insensitive reactions and the main leads reaction too totally annoyed me. Like I get she should have been open and honest but everyone was like how can you do this to me and whining on themselves. I get it but for me her feelings would come first than my pain. After all she is the one ill and she walked and endured the hardship. The writer totally failed on this one issue for me.
Remember her best friend came to her when she heard the news and hugged her and said she wasn’t going to reprimand her, and although she went away and cried, she allowed herself to first consider what so min must have gone through, I understand her mother, and truthfully, I may not knwo a mum on the face of the earth that wouldn’t react that way. I don’t know how the writer in being realistic and true, failed or disappointed anyone. The correct messages were always passed in this drama to be very honest, but honest scenes also happened. Is it really unrealistic to portray her parents as hurt that she would go through something so serious without telling them. And remember when the mum was telling the dad on the roof of when so min was young and she woke up crying after her baby brother had woken up crying, and she told ger she was a big girl and should not be behaving like a baby, when she was clearly still a baby. And she cried because she thought she failed as a mother and made So min into someone that would hide her pain from those who are supposed to hold her in those times. The drama is really loaded, the script writer has my eternal respect. I can’t think of an issue wherein the writer failed at all. She did greattt
Just because it’s realistic doesn’t mean it was written well. It was realistic but wasn’t written to make the audience engaged. If I just saw a clip you described, sure I would like it and maybe interested to watch more. But as sequence these scenes don’t feel that good. The way her mom reveal to the family feels so ugly
One of the worst 2024 k drama
I watched this drama from beginning to end, I was determined to stick it out. There were some elements that really annoyed me, but some parts also left me really warm. I also don’t think they have good enough chemistry, I don’t really think it’s the script or the writing. Hae in is good for the role, but I don’t think it’s well suited for So min. She came off really brittle and fake in this role I think and I became a fan from Alchemy of Souls. I’m going to have to check out another drama of hers because this one isn’t her strongest in terms of acting.