With their mothers being close friends, our leads grew up together, witnessing each other’s lowest and highest points. Now as adults, they reunite again after our heroine suddenly quits her job and returns home.
Will this reunion be another day in their lives, or will it mark the beginning of a significant shift in their dynamics as they go from childhood friends to buddies to finally lovers?
Love Next Door Opening Week Highlights
The drama opens on what seems like an ordinary day in the neighborhood of Hyereung-dong. The neighborhood ladies are going hiking and while at it, they may as well brag a little about their kids. A certain pair, though, is taking things a little too seriously and their ensuing battle is pretty intense.
While Na Mi-suk (Park Ji-young) brags about how competent her daughter is, graduating from a famous school abroad and working for a big corporation there, Seo Hye-suk (Jang Young-Nam) shows off how multi-talented her son is, receiving many awards for the buildings he designs as an architect on top of being a former athlete in the past. Serving the final blow, Mi-suk hands over invitations for her daughter’s upcoming wedding, turning Hye-suk speechless and winning this round.
Little does Mi-suk or anyone know that her dear daughter, Bae Seok-ryu (Jung So-min) is now boarding a plane headed to Korea. One might think that Seok-ryu came on a vacation to visit her family and spend some time together before the wedding. But no. The truth is Seok-ryu is back for good. Not only did Seok-ryu break off her engagement but also she quit her job.
The world might be small, but K-Drama land is even smaller. As soon as Seok-ryu steps foot in the neighborhood, she runs into a familiar face, namely our male lead Mom’s Friend’s Son, Choi Seung-hyo (Jung Hae-in) who is also Hye-suk’s son.
Before they can bicker reminisce on their childhood memories, though, Seok-ryu has to hide since her parents are coming her way. Scared of getting beaten up by Mi-suk, Seok-ryu enlists Seung-hyo’s help to cover for her. And things go pretty well with no one spotting Seok-ryu.
While taking an uninvited tour around Seung-hyo’s soon-to-be-opened new office, a little mishap occurs featuring a bookcase almost falling on Seok-ryu and Seung-hyo rushing over and taking the hit to save her. Normally, that is considered a romantic gesture. Yet with this duo, it is anything but. Also, as we come to learn, this isn’t the first time Seung-hyo got hurt while with Seok-ryu. It is rather a habitual occurrence for them.
Following Seung-hyo’s advice, Seok-ryu decides to get it over with and go home since putting it off won’t solve anything. But not before stopping in the middle of the road to put on as many layers as she could so that Seok-ryu won’t get hurt much from Mi-suk’s beatings.
Still oblivious to the reason behind Seok-ryu’s sudden return, Seung-hyo tells Seok-ryu that she needs to tell him the truth if he were to help her. And just as Seok-ryu utters the words about breaking off her engagement, both Mi-suk and Hye-suk show up along with the fathers.
Needless to say, Mi-suk is furious and starts beating up Seok-ryu with whatever is in her reach. But once again, the one taking the hitting is Seung-hyo, not because he wants to but because Seok-ryu is hiding behind him. Things turn even more chaotic when Seok-ryu says she quit her job as well. Thus, getting Mi-suk fuming.
Unable to handle Mi-suk’s fury, Seok-ryu grabs Seung-hyo’s hand and runs with all her might until Mi-suk can no longer catch up to them. Once they are safe, away from Mi-suk’s grasp, our leads sit down for their first proper conversation.
Seok-ryu tries to pretend she is fine with calling the wedding off and resigning from her work. But Seung-hyo can see through her pretense. Earlier, Mi-suk assumed that the reason behind the wedding cancellation was Seok-ryu cheating on her fiancée. Yet instead of correcting Mi-suk, Seok-ryu let her be. Still, during her conversation with Seung-hyo, Seok-ryu admits to having a burnout from staying abroad for so long. Hence, she resolved to call it quits and come back home.
This peaceful truce doesn’t last for long. Mi-suk calls asking for Seok-ryu to return home, claiming she no longer has the energy to beat Seok-ryu up. But of course, we know better than to believe her. Just as Seok-ryu steps foot in the house, Mi-suk reveals her real intention. And Seung-hyo just leaves after closing the door and making sure Seok-ryu can’t escape. What a dependable friend indeed!
Back during her high-achieving days, Mi-suk adored Seok-ryu like a princess. But now, she gives Seok-ryu a crappy treatment, makes Seok-ryu sleep on the floor after turning her room into a storage, slams the door shut on her, ignores her when she talks, and refuses to give her food.
While I don’t necessarily agree with Seok-ryu’s decision to keep the truth from her family and talk nonsense when they ask about the reason behind her sudden return, Mi-suk isn’t any better either, giving Seok-ryu the cold shoulder and not trying to understand her. If only she treated Seok-ryu half as well as she does to Seung-hyo, getting him rice cakes for his office opening and sending Seok-ryu over to deliver them.
At least this sequence got us treated to some funny childhood days flashbacks that our leads interpret a little differently. Seok-ryu thinks she raised up Seung-hyo “my baby” and taught him how to survive in this world while Seung-hyo deems Seok-ryu the first lunatic he met in his life.
Through another set of flashbacks, we learn the actual reason behind Seok-ryu’s sudden return. She might indeed have a burn out but Seok-ryu didn’t quit her job but was rather chased out. It is all vague, but her colleagues accuse her of being an overly competitive workaholic who can’t work with others but takes things on by herself. Furthermore, Seok-ryu’s fiancé ghosted her and when she went to look for him, Seok-ryu caught him red-handed making out with another woman.
Devastated and heartbroken, Seok-ryu decided to return home. But instead of giving her a warm welcome, Mi-suk treats Seok-ryu harshly and goes as far as to tell her not to attend the opening party of Seung-hyo’s office because Mi-suk is embarrassed about people gossiping about her no longer successful daughter. Seriously! She cares about what others might think more than her daughter’s feelings. I guess we now understand why Seok-ryu doesn’t want to tell Mi-suk the truth.
Satisfyingly enough, Seok-ryu doesn’t listen to Mi-suk and shows up at the party. But she only drops by to give Mi-suk the gold broach she was looking for earlier. (That broach was Seok-ryu’s gift to Mi-suk while in high school.) Spotting Seok-ryu there, Mi-suk turned pale and couldn’t wait to send her away. Worse yet, when people started gossiping about Seok-ryu, Mi-suk just blurted out lies to save face before them, not caring in the slightest about Seok-ryu’s feelings.
At home, Mi-suk tries to force Seok-ryu to travel back. But Seok-ryu isn’t having it, laying the truth bare for Mi-suk. She never wanted Seok-ryu to come back home but to stay abroad for good so that Mi-suk could live vicariously through her. Mi-suk didn’t even stop for a moment to wonder how exhausted Seok-ryu might be to sleep all day and just do nothing. But this is it. Seok-ryu won’t live as Mi-suk’s pride and joy any longer. She is done with covering up for her mother’s life anymore.
That was such an intense scene elevated by the performance of both actresses. It isn’t like Mi-suk didn’t know how hard Seok-ryu worked to achieve that level of success. She just kept getting her hopes up and deluded herself into thinking Seok-ryu could keep living like that forever. But Seok-ryu is a human too. No matter how persevering she is, there comes a time when she can no longer go on.
Though my heart goes out to Seok-ryu, having had to go through all that shit, I am glad she didn’t marry that trash or kept living that kind of life she didn’t want for herself but had to lead because of Mi-suk’s expectations. Instead, she can now start afresh and do what she really wants.
Overwhelmed and emotionally drained, Seok-ryu takes off to the playground. And Seung-hyo, who overheard the whole thing, follows her there. Being her typical self, Seok-ryu pretends all is well but Seung-hyo can see through her. Seok-ryu doesn’t have to force herself to laugh. She can cry if she wants to.
Having let it all out, Seok-ryu gets back to her normal playful self, making a wish upon a shooting star, telling Seung-hyo to make one too, and vowing to help him out after learning that Seung-hyo’s wish was for his new office to not go under since some clients haven’t paid him up yet. She was all serious about wearing animal-printed clothes and threatening those people into paying Seung-hyo back.
Luckily, Mi-suk isn’t as awful as we thought, quickly realizing her mistake and telling Seung-hyo to redecorate Seok-ryu’s room. Our boy embarks on it immediately, turning back time and renovating the room into how it was while Seok-ryu was in high school before going abroad. Better yet, he moved back into his parents’ house and now we have our leads as next-door neighbors once again. Let love next door begin!
Love Next Door Opening Week Musings
What a ride! Honestly, I got a little put off by the tons of setup and filler scenes we got in the first episode. But luckily, the second episode picked up the pace. Once our leads came on screen and we dived into the story, things turned out entertaining.
It might be only me yet the scenes of Mi-suk chasing after Seok-ryu to beat her up didn’t feel funny but uncomfortable to me. We can’t just normalize a grown-up adult getting beaten around by her mum who refuses to hear her out and just turns to force.
And definitely, trying to call Seok-ryu’s fiancé behind her back wasn’t the right thing to do. If Seok-ryu didn’t want to open up to Mi-suk, then Mi-suk should have pondered over the reason why Seok-ryu was like this.
Successful people leading a perfect life on the outside yet suffering on the inside is a catnip of mine. Adding to this the childhood connection and bickering dynamics, this drama is a treat. Both Seok-ryu and Seung-hyo might seem like they have it all but are they genuinely happy? We already know that staying abroad and marrying that man wasn’t the kind of life Seok-ryu wanted for herself. And now I am curious whether being an architect is really what Seung-hyo wants to do for a living.
Mi-suk and Hye-suk might have fun boasting about their children’s success and comparing them to each other but unbeknownst to them, both Seok-ryu and Seung-hyo are weighed down by the heavy burdens created by their mothers’ high expectations. Thus, I hope we are getting some growth for the mothers here too. We didn’t get all the details but Hye-suk seems to be on bad terms with her husband. So, I am curious about how this arc will play out.
The bickering moments between our leads are funny and all. Yet it is those little moments where our leads have an honest conversation that touches my heart. Those two might not have communicated much over the last few years but they understand each other better than anyone. And just like he comforted her, I have a feeling that Seok-ryu was the one behind Seung-hyo’s tough client accepting the design. Even if that wasn’t the case, the girl was genuine in her offer to help.
I don’t want to be reading too much into it but a part of me believes Seung-hyo doesn’t consider Seok-ryu a nuisance like he claims but feels something for her which isn’t necessarily love but is deep enough for him to take the hit for her, comfort her when she feels down, get sad after hearing from Mi-suk that Seok-ryu won’t come to the opening and smile when she shows up and most importantly move back to his parents’ house to be by her side despite how messy that house is.
We have another two key players who were lurking in the background. The first one is the third side of the childhood friends trio, Jung Mo-eum (Kim Ji-eun), a paramedic with a cheerful personality and heart of gold, and a black belt holder that can hold her own when dealing with drunken people. Rounding out our main quartet, we have Kang Dan-ho (Yun Ji-on), a softie and kind-hearted reporter who started to develop a cute crush on Mo-eum after their paths crossed for the first time.
There is much room for the drama to shape up into an entertaining tale with lots of heart and funny moments and a side of healing. Between Jung Hae-in’s cuteness and Jung So-min’s versatility, I am already hooked and looking forward to what is in store for this chaotic duo. Further, having likable and interesting secondary characters like Mo-eum and Dan-ho will surely add to the sweetness. Here is hoping for the drama to deliver and be worth the hype and the long wait.
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Photos and Videos: tvN Drama
