So apparently I do have my limited for watching two stars I love in a genre I love if the story and characters are just that frustrating. Such is the case for Love Next Door with Jung Hae In and Jung So Min which hit midway in airing this weekend, with ratings hitting new lows of 3% on Saturday’s episode but jumping back to near highs of 6% on Sunday. I haven’t mustered up the energy to click watch on this weekend’s new episodes because of some issues that are turning me off. The push-and-pull of the OTP as bickering childhood friends feels so redundant that it hasn’t moved further beyond that, and the return of female lead Seok Ryu’s asshole cheating fiancee is such a joke because, no offense to the actor playing the character, but he’s so wholly unattractive and playing such a douche that the impulse is to punch him in the face when I’m not cringing from the ugly anytime I see him. Then I heard about a big twist in episode 8 that explains further Seok Ryu’s twenty-something career crisis and returning the Korea that I’m like “Da Fuq!?!” I don’t know why the drama is so good at promoting how cute the leads look together and writing what should be swoony scenes but not delivering on it and even making the filler story moment feel so frustrating to watch.