Hi everyone!

Today I’m sharing my episode 1-2 notes on Love Next Door, because I am loving it right away, and I was wondering if you’d like to join me? 🤗

These are my episode 1-2 notes, exactly as they appear on Patreon, ie, without screenshots (I’m saving those for the actual review).

I hope you all enjoy, and I hope you’ll consider joining us over on Patreon, for the rest of the discussions! ❤️

Episode notes:

E1-2. My friends, I really, really like this, and right away too.

It’s not perfect, sure, but Show’s got me melting all over the floor by the end of episode 2, so that’s definitely something, yes? 🥰

I’ll talk more about that later, but first, I’d like to say that one of the big broad impressions I get, is that Show is tenderly made.

The thing that stands out in my mind, is the naming of our episodes, thus far.

It might sound like a small thing, but the fact that this is thoughtfully done, quite delights me.

Episode 1 is titled “Comeback” and when it ends, it morphs into “Come back home.”

Episode 2 is titled “Hate” which then morphs into “Love,” but I’m more taken by the original Korean, because “미움” morphs into “마음” with, not the addition, but the extension of a single stroke.

It feels like Show’s saying, that when you reach out and touch someone else, hate then turns to love, and I really do love that. 🥲

I’m sure there are many other examples of Show being thoughtfully and tenderly made, but this is the one that really sticks in my mind, for a start.

Overall, I’d say that there’s a bit of a “family drama” sort of flavor that I get, that anchors the rom-com story that’s advertised.

Like the way we open to the group of ahjummas hiking together on the mountain trail, being all frank and boisterous in their conversations and jokes.

That vibes very “family drama” to me, which I actually like, because I do enjoy a good family drama – this one just doesn’t have the high episode count to go with. 😉

Our characters tend to be quite loud and boisterous when they’re agitated, and while screechy characters are not my thing, I found this all within the realm of acceptability and believability, for me, both in terms of this having family drama vibes, and also, in terms of the actual characters themselves.

Specifically, I’m thinking of Seok Ryu’s mom, Mi Suk.

She’s loud and proud about her daughter being sooo successful and accomplished, and I genuinely think that she’s written that way, to show that she’s not as high-class or genteel as she’d like to be.

She’s a not very well-educated ahjumma, who’s had her fair share of hardship, and her louder, rougher personality, reflects that lack of refinement.

And, once we realize that she actually feels embarrassed about her lack of personal career achievements, and pours all of her hope onto Seok Ryu, taking vicarious pride in Seok Ryu’s achievement, it becomes much easier to understand why Mi Suk takes Seok Ryu’s achievements – or lack thereof – so personally.

Asian parents having very high expectations of their offspring is already a well-known phenomenon (I did tell you guys about the top-scoring girl in my primary school, yes? She scored 100 marks for every test and exam, and the one time she got 95 marks on something, she got scolded by her mother. She ended up topping the entire national cohort, at our Primary School Leaving Examination, but I always wondered what it was like to be in her shoes, where 95 marks was not good enough).

Asian parents who didn’t manage to achieve much in their own careers, often because they sacrificed for their family and their children, thus pinning their own hopes on their children, tend to have even higher expectations of their kids.

(Not that that is a good or healthy thing; this is just how it is, y’know?)

As I understand it, the reason that Asian parents tend to be this way in the first place, is because of poverty. At least, that is what I learned from my mum, who grew up in poverty.

When you’re living in poverty, you know that the only potential way to lift yourself and your family out of poverty, is through education. That’s why you work so relentlessly on your education, and then on your career.

I think that thinking eventually just.. stuck, as a way of life, kinda? 😅

On a related tangent, I thought it would be relevant to talk a bit about the Asian way of discipline, which often is a combination of scolding and some kind of physical punishment, whether that’s smacking or caning.

I’ve seen some of you express discomfort at watching Korean parents smack their children, and I wanna say, I don’t think dramas are just putting that in there for entertainment.

I honestly think that that’s a reflection of the culture; that this is how Korean parents are, when it comes to disciplining their children.

As you know, I’m not Korean, but in my own experience, I’ve been caned more than a few times, growing up, as punishment for bad behavior &/or bad grades. It was what I and all my friends experienced, growing up.

That doesn’t make my parents and their entire generation a generation of abusers; this was their way of disciplining their children.

Certainly, there’s a fine line between discipline and abuse, and I don’t think Show is condoning abuse.

(I’d say a good rule of thumb here, is when kdramas show us chaebol dads who pick up golf clubs against their children &/or employees, that’s abuse. Smacking, yelling, and generally chasing after your children with leeks while making empty threats to kill them, is not actually abuse. 😁)

It’s just showing us how Mi Suk, as a Korean parent who has all her hopes pinned on her daughter, expresses her anger and disappointment, when she’s told that Seok Ryu gave it all up, on a whim.

Of course, we find out that Seok Ryu isn’t actually telling the truth here, but Mi Suk doesn’t know that.

As far as Mi Suk is concerned, she believes Seok Ryu’s cover story, that she just got tired of everything, and that’s why she quit her job and broke off her engagement.

Given the context that Mi Suk believes that one should pour one’s all into elevating the social class one comes from, it definitely would seem highly irresponsible of Seok Ryu to give it all up on a whim.

And so, when I see Mi Suk go after Seok Ryu, in episode 1, with that handful of leeks, I feel like I can understand why she’s so shocked and horrified, and why she so desperately wants to change everything back, and have Seok Ryu go back to the US, and make like this never happened.

On that note, it actually makes sense to me why Seok Ryu would have developed this habit of acting like everything’s ok, when she’s actually not ok.

I feel like she must have figured out that her parents were proudest of her when she shone the brightest at school, and didn’t give them any problems, and this is her way of presenting her best self – by pretending that everything’s ok, even when nothing is ok.

I saw some comments online where viewers found Seok Ryu annoying, but I have to say, I don’t find her annoying.

The way Jung So Min is playing her, even though the cues are on the subtle side, I find it quite easy to see that there’s more going on, on the inside, versus what she’s showing her friends and family.

And so, I concluded that everything about her tough girl image, from acting like nothing’s wrong, to grabbing Seung Hyo in a headlock, is all just her act; a coping mechanism of sorts, so that she doesn’t have to show everyone just how vulnerable and hurt she really is.

I definitely think that that lens helps, so if you’re struggling to like Seok Ryu, that might be a good lens to try.

Also, even though Seok Ryu’s done well at work and therefore very likely has a decent amount of savings, it’s worth noting that she chooses to go home to her family, even though she’s also clearly quite terrified of telling her parents that she’s now no longer engaged nor employed.

I do think that this shows that she actually wants to be back in the fold of her family’s arms. And, I also suspect that this might also mean that she’s been lonely without them, while in the US. 🥲

We don’t get a whole lot of information from Seung Hyo’s side of things, but I suspect that it’s not all a bed of roses for him either, being his mom’s golden boy.

For a start, though, we see that he does have some financial trouble, and that’s why he’s moved back home, by the end of episode 2 – which is great for me, because I love watching Seok Ryu and Seung Hyo together.

I really like the tone of their banter; to me, it’s not too aggressive. They vibe, to my eyes, like two reluctant siblings who find it “so not cool!” to be found in each other’s orbits. 😁

The thing I like most, is that underneath all the bluster and expressed annoyance, it’s easy to see that these two people really do care about each other, and trust each other.

And how about the smiles that we see Seung Hyo leak, from time to time, when he thinks about Seok Ryu?

Like at the end of episode 1, when he walks away from her house, and thinks about how she’d fiercely protected him from other kids, calling him her baby – and then he smiles this little, slightly teary, affectionate smile.

SO MELTY, omigosh.

I love this idea that Seung Hyo has a soft spot for Seok Ryu, despite all his grumbles and complaints. 🥲

Even though Seok Ryu doesn’t want to tell anyone about why she’d supposedly quit her job, I feel that what she tells Seung Hyo on that hilltop, where they rest after running from Mi Suk’s raging leeks, comes from something real.

She may not be telling him the specifics of her true situation, like how she’d been fired, and how she’d found her fiancé cheating on her, but the emotions and exhaustion that she describes to him, feel real. 🥲

And when Seung Hyo has financial problems at work, Seok Ryu can tell, just from looking at him, that something’s up, even though he doesn’t say anything.

I like that she knows him that well, and I also like that she actually cares.

I also like that she goes to the trouble of getting him a congratulatory pomegranate plant, for the opening of his new company, and I love that he actually takes it to the office. 🥰

And, I didn’t notice this until I revisited the scene for these notes, but pomegranate in Korean is seok ryu, which is her name! 😁 That’s why she tells him that it’ll remind him of her.

Even though he asks if he can throw it away, I love that he basically accepted it and dutifully brought it to the office. Tee hee hee. I love that. 🤭

And, when Seok Ryu actually shows up at the opening (which, I find that she’s sweet like that; she’ll say all kinds of gruff nonsense, but she’ll do something sweet and thoughtful, like search for that brooch for Mi Suk, and bring it to her), I like that Seung Hyo tells her, with a note of gentleness in his voice, that she should stay and eat, since they got an expensive caterer.

And then, when he overhears her big have-it-out argument with Mi Suk, I love that he’s concerned and actually goes out looking for her, and then finds her – because he knows exactly where she’d be. 🥲

I love that he just sits with her, and even goes to buy an umbrella, when it rains, but then climbs right back up, to sit next to her again.

More than that, though, I love that he understands that she’s hurt and actually needs to cry, and that all of her blustery funny stories, are just her way of covering up her pain.

I love that he tells her it’s ok to cry, and I love that this permission, is exactly what it takes, for Seok Ryu to let the tears flow. 🥲

Also, isn’t it sweet, that when Seok Ryu insists that Seung Hyo tell her what’s bothering him, and he says that there are some bad debts, she’s immediately ready to intimidate those debtors into returning his money.

Aw. It’s really endearing, honestly. 🥲

As for things with Mi Suk, I honestly found the have-it-out scene very cathartic to watch.

It’s hard for an Asian kid, to not only stand up to their parents, but actually tell their parents how they feel, so it felt really needful, honestly, for Seok Ryu to tell Mi Suk that she just wanted to be her daughter, not her pride and joy; that she wanted to be Mi Suk’s daughter, even when she didn’t have a fancy job or a promising future.

The way Mi Suk then cried gutting tears all by herself, sitting in the storeroom that Seok Ryu’s bedroom had become, was really quite affecting to watch, honestly.

I feel that for the first time, Mi Suk was putting herself in Seok Ryu’s shoes, like the way she puts down the bedding and tries to lie down in it.

I so love that Mi Suk decides to ask Seung Hyo to redo Seok Ryu’s room, so that Seok Ryu would have a proper place to sleep, whether she was staying for a few days, or a few months.

Ahhhh. That is SUCH an Asian parent thing to do, to not actually talk about the feelings, but do something to demonstrate their love.

Mi Suk making a special breakfast of abalone rice and calling Seok Ryu to the table is one way, and this thing with the bedroom is another way.

Both ways are Mi Suk showing Seok Ryu that she’s loved and accepted, and honestly, this part really got to me, because it reminded me of when I’d had to come home to my parents’ home, when my marriage fell apart.

I’d had to call home in the middle of the night, to ask if I could come back, and my mum had said yes instantly, and they’d hastily straightened up my room, so that I’d have a proper place to sleep, upon coming home, never mind that it was literally the middle of the night.

That’s why this part of these episodes really resonated with me, and made me appreciate my mum all the more, for the way she’d taken me back in, no questions asked, when I’d most needed it. 🥲😭

On an OTP note, I am blown away, first by how willingly Seung Hyo takes on the task of redoing Seok Ryu’s room, and how he really applies himself to the task, such that he doesn’t even show up to the office.

And then, I’m blown away by the fact that he remembered everything about Seok Ryu’s room, down to the littlest detail.

OMIGOSH. That thought, that he really knows her that well, and cares enough to remember, and cares enough to put effort into recreating the space, and even fill her ceiling with star stickers, just floors me. 🫠🫠🫠

I’m officially smitten, you guys. How is Seung Hyo this sweet and thoughtful??? 🥹🥹

I just love the thought that Seung Hyo move back home, and is therefore now literally Seok Ryu’s next door neighbor – where his room faces hers.

Eee!! I can already imagine the potential sparks.

..Which we already get a little taste of, via that flashback, where Seung Hyo had caught a falling Seok Ryu, and they’d landed on her bed. You can practically feel the crackle in the air; the hyper-awareness is so keen on both sides. 🔥

I cannot wait, honestly, to see more of these two together.

On another note, I find myself nicely tickled by the instant crush that Yun Ji On’s character, Dan Oh, develops on Mo Eum.

I mean, she’s so coolly badass, and so matter-of-fact about it, while being actually pleasant as a person, that I honestly understand why he’d fall so hard, and so fast. 😁

Also, I find it quite amusing that Dan Oh is such a dorky klutz, generally speaking.

I feel like these two could make a cute little couple in our story world.

All in all, this was a fantastic opening week, as far as I’m concerned, and I’m really looking forward to our next episodes. 🥰

*This show is being covered on the Early Access Plus (US$10) Tier on Patreon*

To view episode 1-2 notes in Patreon, along with everyone’s comments, you can go here!

You can find my Patreon page here, and for all future episode notes for this show you can click here.

Episodes 3-4 notes will be out soon! I hope you’ll consider joining us!

It’ll be a way to have fun, and support me at the same time? 🥲❤️

PS: For more information on what the Patreon experience is like, you might like to check out my Patreon update post for August, which you can find here!