[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Love Next Door" Episode 2

So the trouble with Seok-ryoo having this big important overseas job is that it's not really conducive to the drama's premise. Seok-ryoo can't have a romance with Seung-hyo if they don't even live in the same country. Consequently, the first episode inevitably had to establish that Seok-ryoo no longer has that job or, for that matter, her fiance. A lot of what's going on with her situation remains vague, as this episode focuses on more clearly establishing her relationship with Seung-hyo.

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The child actorsget shine with a series of scenes first from Seok-ryoo, and then Seung-hyo's perspective about how they originally met and became friends. From Seok-ryoo's perspective, Seung-hyo was a very shy boy who had just moved back to Korea from overseas and she needed to take care of him. From Seung-hyo's perspective, he couldn't understand Korean because he had been overseas for so long. His problem wasn't shyness, but rather that he literally couldn't assert himself with her.

Despite the moms brawling in the first episode over who had the most successful kid, this episode has a healthy amount of skepticism to common ideas of success. We see, for example, that Seok-ryoo's competitive attitude made her a poor culture fit for her company back in the United States, where her take charge attitude was interpreted in racist terms. Mi-sook's role in encouraging her daughter to think like this is also clearly spotlighted, with the mother finally, reluctantly, feeling some shame about being more angry than worried about Seok-ryoo.

Not that Seok-ryoo acts especially depressed. "Love Next Door" has a fairly healthy amount of comic relief- like her brother Dong-jin (played by Lee Seung-hyub) walking around the house shirtless like she wasn't even there. As a national level swimmer, Dong-jin is the rare character in a South Korean drama who actually has a good reason to have an absurdly ripped physique. Yet his childishness is, well, appropriate for a guy whose career is literally swimming.

Incidentally I'm not sure how old these characters are supposed to be. Seok-ryoo and Seung-hyo look and act as if they're in their early thirties even though Jung Hae-in and Jung So-min are in their mid-thirties. Lee Seung-hyub, for that matter, is in his early thirties with a character who looks and acts ten years younger than that. Nothing about any of this is too relevant just yet, since these first two episodes are mainly setup oriented rather than goal oriented.

Written by William Schwartz

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"Love Next Door" is directed by Yoo Je-won, written by Sin Ha-eun, and features Jung Hae-in, Jung So-min, Kim Ji-eun, Yun Ji-on, Jang Young-nam, Jo Han-chul. Broadcasting information in Korea: 2024/08/17~Now airing, Sat, Sun 21:20 on Netflix, TVING, tvN.