Mom’s Friend’s Son (2024)

Rollercoaster of emotions - from love to lulls

To start off, I wouldn’t say Love Next Door is the best drama I’ve ever seen. However, it’s certainly enjoyable, with some highs and lows along the way.

(MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD ❗)

Likes:

I was initially really excited during the first few episodes, especially with the classic friends-to-lovers trope. Jung So Min and Jung Hae In delivered solid performances that kept me hooked, even when their constant bickering started to feel a bit repetitive (as they're people in their 30s). Their chemistry with each other was very good (atleast for me).

A refreshing aspect of the show was its take on past relationships. Rather than portraying exes as toxic, it showed how some can still be supportive. For instance, Seokryu’s ex remained by her side during her chemotherapy, which added a heartwarming and mature layer to the story. Seunghyo's ex even supported the leads getting together and wished them good luck by gifting Seunghyo her handmade ongi (hopefully the spelling is right).

Despite not being the eldest daughter myself, I really connected with Seokryu's struggles of being the eldest daughter. Her line "It feels like everybody is moving forward and I’m the only one stuck" resonated deeply with me!! As someone who has faced similar feelings recently for so long, this scene really struck a chord :')

Moeum was definitely my favorite character! She embodied strength and warmth, especially in her relationship with Danho and his daughter, Yeon Du. Her scenes brought an extra layer of enjoyment, particularly when she found amusement in the lead couple's bickering and their hesitance to acknowledge their feelings for the past 2 decades. One of the funniest moments was when she opened the time capsule on the same day they buried it, rather than waiting the expected 10-15 years—talk about impatience lmao!!

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NOW, its time to point out my dislikes (it's my opinion so I would appreciate it if someone didn't come to literally fight with me if they read my review)

After Seokryu's fiancé was introduced, the plot felt like it was dragging. At one point, I almost considered dropping the series. I was hoping the romance would pick up between the leads after an ep or two about the ex BUT NOPE they just had to drag it out so much. Seokryu not flat out rejecting her ex's advances again and again had me pissed. Like pls tell him to get the hell out firmly if you don't wish to be with him any longer??

Her mom too became insufferable during this time period, she was already shown as the typical mom who places expectations on her daughter too much while seemingly going easy on her son, because of his illness that he didn't even have a problem with while growing up? But it started becoming more unbearable when she was sneakily trying to set Seokryu up with her ex again just because.

There were moments when the writing seemed a bit off. For example, when Seokryu thought she was being followed late at night, only to discover it was Seunghyo, the scene didn’t play out well. His response felt like victim-blaming, which didn't fit his character.

It would have been more heartfelt if the story had kept Yeon Du as Danho's biological daughter. However, the reveal that she is actually his niece felt cliché, Moeum’s unconditional embrace of her role as a mother figure would have been even more impactful without that twist AND Moeum herself didn't have any problem with it before finding out the truth.

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In conclusion, Love Next Door had its shining moments, but there were also parts where the story dragged. I ended up taking a break until it finished airing (after ep13) allowing me to binge watch the last few episodes. While I enjoyed the finale, I wished there had been more closure, like some wedding scenes or an epilogue scene with both the main and lead couples married ><. Overall, despite its flaws, the drama was nice and i liked it.

Leia Mais

Great potential to be the best of the year

This is a good start. It's fresh, spontaneous, funny, entertaining.
The leads: there's tons of chemistry and they look SO good together which is a plus.
Jung So Min is mastering this kind of sassy, strong and energetic girl who is quite witty too. She is like a magnet to the male lead.
Jung Hae In is refreshing because even though it's impossible not to notice his amazing looks, he also has this calm and deep vibe (without being pretentious) that makes him more attractive and interesting.
In regards to the story, despite the premise is simple, I think that may be because the focus is going to be on the characters and their development and pressure to become functional and successful adults in complicated Korean families. Also, the dinamic and pace of the story so far makes it much more enjoyable.
So, everything is promising and makes me think this could be a huge hit.

Leia Mais

One of the Best RomCom of 2024

Love Next Door is one of the best romcom k-drama that has been released this year. It easily became my number one favorite drama of the year. I will never forget the emotional rollercoaster ride this drama had made me sit through with each of its episode. It is not a typical romcom k-drama because of the realism of its storyline and characters. It is a wholesome romcom drama that will reach to every deep corner of your heart and touch you because of its beautiful storyline. There were a lot of lessons in this drama alone, aside from that there were no hate-able characters which is why I have been immensely hooked to this drama. Although one may find some tropes familiar at first, but as you watch further, you will realize there was no similarity at all to begin with because of how well and fresh they were executed and used as plot devices in the drama. I also love how the characters are easily relatable, I relate the most to Bae Seokryu and her character had comforted me in many ways. This drama is not perfect but I love almost everything about it. The family, friendship and neighborhood stories aside from the romance that were told here were definitely not filler scenes but adds so much substance to the storyline, therefore, making it even more meaningful and heart moving. I watched this for Jung Haein as it is his first romantic comedy and I commend him because of his excellent performance yet again, he amazed me with his talent and he obviously can pull through romcom genre dramas, so I want to see him in more romance dramas. Ofcourse, I fell in love with Jung Somin too. As someone who had witnessed Haein with his other FL's, I must say that for me, his toptier chemistry is with Jung Somin. They gave me so much butterflies even if their characters weren't in a romantic relationship at the beginning but I already felt the impact of their chemistry. The main leads and all the other characters' performances deserves an applause and writernim is well appreciated for giving us a wonderful storyline that I will never forget. I will definitely rewatch this again next month.

Leia Mais

Healing, Growth, and Love :A Journey in Love Next Door

Love Next Door means much more than romance-people recovering from emotional trauma, family bonding, and developing their personality. This drama is about flawed people needing to heal with complicated relationships formed by the past they will face in building a new beginning. What sets this drama apart, in particular, is the peacefulness of the pacing, and that may not rush the romance but allow the characters to naturally flow into it.

Some of the most appealing factors of Love Next Door would be how this show is going to air the lead characters' emotional journeys. Their chemistry is organic, building up little by little, not from contrived plot devices angling to make interactions between the leads pop. Refreshing, especially in this genre, where so many authors try to get those sparks flying quick. Satisfyingly, it sustains the interest in its second half without going the melodrama way of surprising plot twists.

We also have a decent ex backstory that adds layers to the narrative and makes the leads' eventual union feel even more earned. The fact that the wedding date was delayed may have been irritating for some, but it really fit with the drama's message about emotional growth. It did make a lot of sense for the characters, considering that they said love is not about timing, but about being in tune, and about their healing processes. And though it felt conclusive, it was also sort of a new beginning, leaving that bittersweet note while hopeful.

The acting performances were superb, especially from the lead actors; they created their characters in such a realistic way that it felt like real people evolving on screen. All the vulnerabilities that build to frustration and eventual breakthroughs are told with such nuance that you really can't help but root for them.


Love Next Door is not just about love; it's about family, healing, and finding one's way back toward people who matter. It is a drama that works to the beat of its own rhythm, creating a world that is so real-where every step toward recovery is celebrated and where love finds its way, slowly yet so meaningfully.

Leia Mais

Like Seok Ryu, maybe I deserve to cry too, maybe I deserve to heal too

Often times, we live in this world inside a big tall wall that we build ourself. We lock our dirtiest secret, most painful stories, our vulnerability inside of it. I lock the door from inside, then guard the key with my soul. I let nobody peek what I hide inside,

But it always harder to hide what inside from a person that lurking around me even before I build that wall. They always accidentally see what shouldn't be seen. They always curious what hidden inside. They always know I inside, and if they care enough, they will knock the door, or in extreme, bam the door, break the wall.

That is a story of Bae Seok Ryu and Choi Seung Hyo. Two person that in one time of each their life decide to break each other wall.

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Review is always subjective in nature, but I always try to put objective perspective and technical perspective as much as I can. But for this one, I'll skip most of it (I believe there is hundreds of review waiting to tell this perspective). I think this story is important to be told even with all the flaws it has.

There is a lot of Seok Ryu exist in this planet. Some of us lucky enough to have a Seung Hyo to break our wall, but a lot doesn't get to be that lucky. Maybe, just maybe, you can consider to make a little window for yourself. Let the sun shining on you. Let yourself watch when the rain pour outside.

And maybe, just maybe, a secret seed inside your heart can grow into a beautiful pomegranate tree.

Leia Mais

The plot wears off quickly. Lack of deeper storyline and character connection.

"I've seen it thousand times"..
The beginning is promising, I thought "This might be the best one this year actually"..
Around 8th or 9th episode you notice how they lack ideas and innovation, as if they took 100 other dramas and took parts of it and tried to adapt it to this series. It doesn't go well together, 99% of characters are over 30, they all act if they have an teenage alter ego. It doesn't fit when it comes to serious scenes because you can't take them seriously. They threw scenes one after another, but gradually deepen the plot and having a rich ending was not an option. As if they didn't have ideas or material for continuing the original idea (the first few episodes). The drama is alright, but it reminded me a lot of many (seriously, many) things that I've seen already. I'm used to typical k-drama acting and some repetitive scenes, but this was too much.
The acting was fairly good in general.
Since it's a series I can't really comment on how realistic some situations and facts are, they could have been made more accurate, but it was okay without getting too much into facts.
For me personally, I've seen better.

Leia Mais

best 2024 friends zone to lover, slice of life vibes

heartwarming, blooming in kind of way, no up and down, characters are not toxic and stable, they have their own stand points which bring out the good characters between their personalities (I guess the MBTI plays a big part in this plot)

throughout the story, Jung Hae In and Jung So Min never disappoints, they sure delivered! they did such a great job while bringing out the best of both sides of stories, I praise them for that. Director has got vissionaire that helps run the story smoothly (which made me finish the whole series in one day)

the pictures/scenery are really nice, I enjoy all the pictures frame and colors working in different scenes a lot
well done ?

Leia Mais

This is not a rom-com, this is life - with all the pain and happiness, traumas and healing.

The way I expected a silly and fun rom-com with a bickering “friends to lovers” couple… The way I got existential crisis and free therapy instead.

Objectively it’s a good drama, subjectively it’s an amazing drama. Undoubtedly it will hit you hard if you share the experiences of the main characters - you will pick up on subtle things, connect seemingly small and not quite related moments of their lives, analyze their behavior and connect to them on an embarrassing level. This happened to me. But I also had enough discussions with people to know where I found meaning, they saw nothing. Scenes that made me write essay long posts were just plot points for others.

For me, this show is a slice of life first, rom-com second. It shows the effects neglectful upbringing and parentification can have on a child and I think that’s something everyone who starts watching should understand. There are a lot of scenes where main leads do not interact. We get a well developed view of the parents’ relationships, neighborhood friendships and even some worklife. This could get boring if what you are looking for is a romantic comedy.

The center of the drama were complex family dynamics. Growing up neglected, growing up with internal and external pressure to succeed. Questions like - how to rebuild a relationship that never really started, how to have conversations with your child, understanding that just because you have good intentions and doing something "for their own good" might actually be the poison that slowly kills them. It was as much of a family drama as it was a romance.

What I loved about Love Next Door is how realistic the characters seemed and how all of them had real flaws that truly negatively affected their lives and relationships. Flaws you can relate to. Seok Ryu being an independent and ambitious woman was not all good. You can be too ambitious and too independent. Seung Hyo was quite egocentric in how he viewed other people’s issues - it was all about how it made him feel, and not how other people felt. I did see a lot of flaws Seok Ryu has in myself, hence with the biased point of you, it was easier for me to understand her and explain her behavior. On the other hand, there were moments I was on the verge of hating Seung Hyo for his behavior, and was saved by great discussions with people who were more accustomed to his point of view. I honestly feel like I had my own character development when I was watching the drama.

I loved how they were spitting facts about many social issues - shading even the leads. I think that's something I especially enjoyed. The leads were not there just to deliver the message, sometimes they were the ones who learn the lessons after they've been called out. Talks about privilege, biased perspective, fears, setbacks, family issues. It's not like one person is right and the other is wrong - both are correct and incorrect at the same time and the trick is to combine all the perspectives to get a whole picture. No one is just privileged or underprivileged, because it depends on what and how you measure and what is important to you.

In the earlier episodes there was quite a lot of talk about the workplace environment, jobs, careers, passions. Victims of workplace abuse viewing their own behavior as the issue, contradicting goals based on preferred outcomes and priorities (idealism vs realism), living to work vs working to live, working long hours because you enjoy what you do vs doing overwork because you feel pressured to do that.

What’s more? There were no villains and assholes - all characters and all relationships were complex and well developed. The more you watched, the more you understood each point of view. Sometimes no one is wrong, you are just different people, you just don’t match, the timing is wrong, life is too hard. Sometimes you cannot meet the expectations and only later you see how they were impossible to meet in the first place.

The variety of relationships? Perfection. Different parenting styles even towards your own children, friendships between older women, fathers, neighbors, childhood friendships, new formed friendships in adulthood - all different in flavor, all entertaining to watch.

Women supporting each other in subtle ways. Honestly, the friendship between the mothers was AMAZING. They were all different, from different economic and professional backgrounds, but you could see how much they care for each other. Even if they were fighting, when one needed help, the others did not even hesitate.

Some of my favorite relationships include: the awkward friendship between Seung Hyo and Dan Ho, heartwarming bond between Seok Ryu and her dad, Geun Sik and Gyeong Jong and their drinking therapy, Hye Suk and Gyeong Jong - the romance I would never expect to love so much, Dan Ho and the most adorable child Yeon Du.

Surprisingly I was extremely invested in all love lines - even for the parents. There were moments in the show when I was actually the most interested in their story and development. For me that’s a clear sign they were not written to just be the background fillers for the main leads.

Love Next Door was the drama that at times made me feel like a judgemental asshole when I formed opinions on the characters even though they barely showed up, just based on my expectations of what’s going to happen, or limited knowledge based on the perspective of other characters. I appreciate that: a drama that makes me question my own behavior.

To the performances - we were blessed. You scroll down that cast list and you know you will get some good acting. My favorite performance actually did not even belong to the main cast. Jo Han Chul and Bae Geun Sik just stole my heart. He was so amazingly expressive and realistic in portraying the character’s struggles and the happiness. I cried when he cried, I laughed when he laughed.

Was it all good? No. Technically speaking it’s a story of both Seung Hyo and Seok Ryu. Practically speaking, she is the main character, and he is there to support her story. It’s a thing that exists in almost all kdramas: the lack of balance in the main couple. Usually one is better developed, faces well constructed conflicts, and has a more detailed story written around them. Here it’s clearly Seok Ryu. It’s her journey and while Seung Hyo takes a large space in it, he is still not as well developed as she is.

What’s more - Bae Dong Jin’s character… wasted opportunity. I wish they spent more time developing his perspective. For most part of the drama he was just annoying and I could not stand him. While by the end I saw his point of view, I wish it was more detailed and hinted at from the start.

Sadly, I am not sure I 100% bought the transition from friends to lovers between Seung Hyo and Seok Ryu. For some reason it felt too jarring. The friends part was amazing, the lovers part was amazing, the transition between the two? Lacking.

Still, what a blast this drama was. Feast for my brain, as I overanalyzed everything. Every time I got scared the drama might start leaning towards the cliches, they surprised me with more realistic portrayal of known tropes. It’s as if they baited me with empty calories, but delivered a healthy and filling meal.

Some of my favorite quotes:

"Why do I... Why do I always have to be your pride and joy? Can't I just be your daughter for once, no matter how pathetic or flawed I might be? Why do I have to cover up for your life?"

"Dreams? Do you think dreams can just be had? Only those who have the luxury to search for them can dream. Those who get the chance to rise again after failure can pursue their dreams."

"You're marvelous. You speak beautifully like a poetry. You;re an idealist who loves dreams more than reality. You're always so full of pride. But do you know where all of that comes from? Privilege."

Leia Mais