Love Next Door (2024)

my expectations were too high...

Once again a really good cast with a weakly written script and flow :( Initially after watching the first few episodes I did not feel like continuing it but i heard reviews saying it was really good so I thought of watching it further. But to me it just got worse...they spent so long on her side of the issues so it felt like when she got together with the ML it was too fast? This could also be due to the lack of FML pov points of liking the ML...And then after they got together suddenly it felt like there was no story to continue so they added the parents fight to give a reason for them to be against their relationship....also the way the FML was just okay to go abroad again (this part i could feel the ML frustration) like girl commit to something esp since the leads barely spent any time together. After awhile i started hoping they should just stay as friends cause the episodes mostly only showed her working.

Most of the episodes i watched them cause of the second leads. their story was very cute and fresh. Their characters were unique as well.

Overall this would pass as a regular rom-com not sure why it was so hyped....

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SOMETHING IS MISSING

The drama started well, but after the halfway stage, it always left you wanting more.
There was practically no proper character development in this drama which is quite surprising as a viewer.

And the writer tried to hide this by shelving some scenes from the past, back and forth to the present, using tragedy tag as a way to engage emotion which was feint.

The acting was phenomenal, and the casting was outstanding but something felt missing.

The 2nd couple felt wasted.
The 2nd MC was mostly a robot.
The always I'm a good person thing of his irritated me the most.

I would go on and say the writer lost the plot, the actors and the director filled it.
This drama relied on side characters more than it should've.

I can bet if they rewrite this script, it will do better than what it did this time.
The potential was immense.

The romance was left out too long to be explored.
Overall it's decent to watch.
Just grab your popcorn tub, binge it and sleep.
Just the right kind if that's what you're looking for.

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A Drama Propped Up by Fanbase Loyalty, Not Quality

𝙊𝙣𝙚 𝙂𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜
The only saving grace was the secondary lead couple,𝘠𝘶𝘯 𝘑𝘪 𝘖𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘒𝘪𝘮 𝘑𝘪 𝘌𝘶𝘯 whose chemistry and dynamic brought fleeting moments of light to an otherwise disappointing drama. They had a better storyline, which made their relationship more engaging and enjoyable to watch compared to the main couple.

𝙒𝙚𝙖𝙠 𝘾𝙝𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙮 𝘽𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙇𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙨
Despite Jung Hae In’s charm and Jung So Min’s talent, their chemistry as Choi Seung Hyo and Bae Seok Ryu fell flat. The pair lacked emotional connection and depth, making their romantic relationship feel forced. This, combined with the lack of focus on Seok Ryu’s perspective in falling for Seung Hyo, made their love story unconvincing.

𝙎𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣, 𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙇𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙎𝙪𝙗𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚
It’s undeniable that the drama’s initial high ratings were bolstered by the strong fanbases of Jung So Min and Jung Hae In, as well as an aggressive promotional campaign. However, beyond the hype, the series failed to sustain its appeal.

𝘽𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙐𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙘𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙎𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚
The drama was marketed as a rom-com, but it veered heavily into melodrama, losing the lighthearted charm it promised. The plot became repetitive and meandering, especially in the second half. By the time the story delved into heavy emotional themes, the pacing felt dragged and unnecessarily stretched. It would have benefited greatly from being condensed into fewer episodes.

𝙊𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙏𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙨
The series leaned heavily on familiar tropes like "childhood friends to lovers," but without innovation or nuance, these clichés felt tired and predictable.

𝙍𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨: 𝟑/𝟏𝟎
"Love Next Door" had all the ingredients for success but ultimately fell short due to its lackluster chemistry between leads, dragged-out storyline, and failure to deliver on its rom-com premise. The only saving grace was the secondary lead couple.

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Not bad, but overrated!

The Good
⌲ The brilliant episode that is E10 (It's one of the best kdrama episodes I've seen in quite a while)
⌲ Jung So Min's coolness (though she too did not try very hard early on, but improved later)
⌲ Mo Eum
⌲ The final episodes were -mostly- rather entertaining
⌲ The good comedy when not in sad melo mode
⌲ The endless fun bickering
⌲ ML's ex, mostly
⌲ There is no stupid elementary school level dating in this show & everyone has good and relatively immediate relationship goals.

The Average
⌲The acting (Jung Hae In is an excellent actor, but he did not try very hard in this one and some other supporting actors neither)
⌲ There is too much focus on the elders, very much like in a family drama. (then again their plots are not all that bad)
⌲ The chemistry between the leads
⌲ Mo Eum's romantic plot
⌲ Could have said `friends to lovers` done somewhat right, but the flashback content & ML's everlasting love are just so wrong.

The Bad
⌲ The dimwitted and insane mom
⌲ Before E10 the show has been increasingly less and less entertaining as time went on, felt like dropping it at one point.
⌲ The sad melodrama parts felt off to me early on.
⌲ The ex (despite his graceful exit I disliked almost everything about him & his plot )
⌲ The bracelet product placement (though admittedly Cleopatra could have worn that thing)
⌲ The North Pole. (good god)
⌲ Uncle!

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Medicore Writing with a fan favorite trope that all amounts to nothing.

The flaw of most dramas and TV writing, in general, is that the entire story is not finished before production starts. LND is an obvious case of let's rely on the cast for the most interesting part of the story, and it fails in every way.

Of course, everyone was excited for this cast. Unfortunately, it's packed with veteran actors who are stuck acting out the same gimmicks in the name of dramatic suspense. Written in a story that feels like a college workshop piece. Not only does LND take a fairly easy trope,& try too hard to make it different. They somehow fundamentally make the story hate & bully its own main character. Bae Seok Ryu at every important turn of this story, is bullied into caring for herself & and tripped for her reasonable actions as a cancer patient. This was honestly my biggest problem with the story: instead of caring for a woman who decided to keep her illness from her family & work it out with her then-fiance. They utilize her decision to remove her agency concerning her medical information at every possible chance. In turn, instead of having a male lead who is gentle or kinder, when he finds out the woman he loves is sick, The story tries to force the FL into loving herself, which is psychologically speaking impossible imo.

Does the ML get punished for all his harsh words and rash decisions? No. but the audience is rewwarded with sweet nothings the last six eps with no substantial growth on the ML part. It makes the comments about the writer seeing the reaction from fans and changing things accordingly. I tend not to agree with that statement. I think the ML is the same in the beginning as the end. His problematic behavior is never addressed; he never apologizes for the stuff he said, and he is just given romance in the end because that's what we expected.

The sequence of events in the story don't make sense and doesn't utilize character & plot points in a way that makes sense. The episodes are long and the best romance & storytelling is in the secondary characters. The 2FL & ML love story was fun & cute. I actually felt butterflies in some scenes. However they did utilize a detail that uproots most of the power behind the painting. The relationship between the leads mothers was the best scenes to watch and feel anything from.

This story is void of so many things we hate like love triangles and angry mother in laws. And yet it's also void of a solid story that makes you feel anything more than meh. The chemistry during their childish arguments is some good dialogue writing. And the actors did their best with what they were given but even then, Love Next Door falls flat as you watch because it becomes a chore. If you want to hear me rant more about this, come hang out on youtube~

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This show is not it

hate to be this person but i didn't like lnd that much! especially considering how extremely excited i was when the promos came out. The characters somehow felt flat. And oh gosh how mad i was towards seonghyu from ep 6-11 which is practically 40% of the time. Seonhyu knew that seokryu was suffering she already had smm on her plate. Despite knowing that he spoke harsh things to her why because he was confused w his own feelings? Which she didn't know and was not responsible for? She just went there to give food and he just went full ballistic mood. Secondly i hated how he completely avoided her during his 2nd time visit to usa, like bro cmmon she's your childhood friend before your crush gosh, and after learning that she had cancer he called her selfish in the playground!? When he knew she tried to contact him but he was the one to avoid her! Despite that he still had the audacity to yell at her😭😭😭😭😭😭I was so mad how she easily forgave him I love the ex more than him!! And their( ml and fml ) relationship... i still cant see them anything beyond being best friends. The transition was not great at all. The writer could've done better especially comparing to their other writing welcome to samdalri which also followed friends to lovers trope and that was sooo goood. lnd in comparison is such a disappointment for me! And personally, the proposal part was rushed like i get it you waited 10 years for her but dude she needs a break she just got off from her engagement, like breathe. I love love loveee the 2nd leads probably the reason why i continued watching this show. Im not the person to hate on a show, but this just was not it. I get the realistic atmosphere part, but i would've appreciate it if the plot was well thoroughly written. Yes, every show has flaws, but this one has too many to go unnoticed. ( no hate just a constructive criticism and pov dont hate me yall )

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The only thing I hate: waiting a week for the next 2 ep

Nothing to say, this drama so far is just refreshing and has the potential to be drama of the year or even more.

I just want to point out one thing: for all the people annoyed and bored by the scene where the mother is beating and being upset over the FL quitting the job and her engagement, I think you should know the basic info and cultural beliefs of a country before speaking.
This kinda of behaviour may seem odd and overreacting to your prospective but I think 99% of people saying it are not Korean. For sure that can be a little exaggerated (ps: it’s a drama, it’s supposed to not be bland) but that is how it works in Korea, you need to find a good paying job and a good partner to marry then you’re settle for life.
The other mother’s reaction says it all, parents raise you up since you were born so they expect to see their child to have a good and healthy life as an adult.

It’s not the first and it will not be the last drama that portrays Korean parents and their cultural beliefs like that so before blasting on the drama and who wrote the script like this, try to understand other culture’s differences.

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Really really slow and ridiculous at the same time. . .

I'm finding the pacing and ridiculous story lines hard to stomach. The show has an identity crisis . . not wanting to be an indie slice of life, but not wanting glorious over the top drama style.

The only saving grace of this is the acting. But with every tragic event that can happen in ones life, happening to these 3 neighborhood friends, all in the space of a month, it's just hard to buy in. There is no realism in dynamics between family members or friends either. Adding to that, a romance that is moving at a glacial painful pace with no progress in decades, and still no progress episode to episode . . . I'm just not sure who is enjoying this.

I'm certainly not!

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Its like eating a communion wafer

This is the most Bland drama that I've watched this entire year.

There are multiple plot twists that have no payoff and hold no bearing over the story.

You'll be told the most sad or depressing thing about a character only to find out in an episode or two they'll be fine and it never really mattered anyways.

Its strange.

Relationship takes FOERVER TO GET GOING. Too much back and forth and the side stories were not compelling.

I feel like the show would have felt fresh and mature maybe like 10 or 20 years ago.

But we know how childhood romance dramas go, we've seen a hundred and this was one of the blandest.

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Começou bem, terminou PÉSSIMO

Famoso prometeu muito, entregou pouco.
Na minha opinião, o enredo tinha muito potencial, mas pecou pelo desenvolvimento mal feito e lapsos na construção dos personagens.

Dos pontos que fiquei sem entender, destaco:
1. Como alguém pode esconder uma doença tão séria da própria família? "ah ela não quis preocupar ninguém..." gente, não era uma doença qualquer, era gravíssima. Não faz sentido algum.

2. O comportamento infantil do protagonista. Ambos eram infantis em alguns momentos, claro, e percebo que era meio enfatizando que eles tinham uma amizade antiga e de implicância, mas acho que pesaram a mão.

3. Quando o prota se declara e a prota diz NÃO, a reação dele é acabar uma amizade de 30 anos... Sério, eu odiei isso.

4. O casal secundário foi muito fofo, eu gostei muito da química deles, mas como assim ela pediu para SER A MÃE DA MENINA para logo depois passar 1 ano do outro lado do mundo? Não que ela devesse ter desistido do sonho dela, porém não gostei da parte dela enfatizar tanto querer ser a mãe da menina, bem menos do que demonstrou querer ser esposa do repórter. O que me leva a...

5. Não ter casamento (que foi bem aguardado, com todos aqueles pedidos), não ter viagem ao Polo Sul do repórter (era melhor ele chegando lá numa cena, do que a promessa por vídeo chamada, me senti roubada). Tudo isso numa correria para mostrar renovação de votos de um casal que passou 30 anos sem trocar 2 palavras, ah por favor.

6. Toda a briga entre as mães foi bem sem sentido e ridícula. Acho que dali se percebe porque os filhos também eram tão infantis.

Enfim, decepcionada.

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