Love Subsequent Door: Episodes 1-2
by missvictrix
Our childhood-friends-to-lovers story is right here, and Love Subsequent Door comes banging in its first week with all of the romance tropes you ever wished, a messy and splendidly relatable heroine, and a number one man that I’ll certainly be dreaming about tonight.
EPISODES 1-2
My greatest worry going into Love Subsequent Door was that it could lean a too far into being charming and are available off as a bit of compelled (*waves at Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha*). Effectively, the primary episode did battle with {that a} bit, however fortunately the drama appears to search out its footing by the tip of Episode 2, and there’s sufficient pathos to dilute any emotions of the script being overwritten (nicely, it nonetheless is likely to be, however we’ll see how that goes).
We open our drama not with our hero or our heroine, however with their moms — in actual fact a complete crew of farting, bragging, mountaineering ajummas — and ngl this was not my favourite. However, the moms play a central position on this drama, and the way they relate to one another, and to their kids, is a part of the meat of the story we’ll dig into later. Within the meantime, this introduction exhibits us how our predominant two mothers are in a brag battle over their youngsters: the daughter who works at an enormous firm within the U.S. — and no huge deal, listed here are her marriage ceremony invitations — and the son who’s a profitable architect and basic beacon of goodness (and hotness, however we’ll get to that later).
After we lastly meet our heroine BAE SEOK-RYU (Jung So-min), she’s turned up again in Seoul unannounced. From the best way she’s sitting on her suitcase along with her chunky-heeled footwear, and the best way she nightmares her method again residence on the aircraft, we are able to inform this wild baby has a narrative to inform, and that coming house is a bit… difficult.
Seok-ryu’s bestie — spunky paramedic JUNG MO-EUM (Kim Ji-eun in her most pure position but) — comes to choose her up, however what turns into rapidly obvious is that nobody is aware of she’s again. And Seok-ryu actually spends the day ducking her household within the neighborhood — whether or not that’s hiding from her little brother BAE DONG-JIN (Lee Seung-hyub) behind a desk, or actually below an empty field to cover from her mother and father.
That vacant field simply so occurs to be in entrance of the newly-built workplace of architect CHOI SEUNG-HYO (Jung Hae-in). Pre-box hiding, Seok-ryu is trying out the brand new constructing when she comes head to head with Seung-hyo. The balloons she was holding drop from her grip and fly away as the 2 have a re-meet-cute. Significantly, it’s like time stops for a beat, and it’s the drama’s first (fantastic, wonderful) trace that there’s one thing between these characters. However simply as quickly as we get to slurp that fantastic second up, it disappears. Seok-ryu is at his throat, and as we see them work together — with the assistance of some childhood flashbacks, too — we see that our wild baby has at all times mishandled him.
The distinction between these two characters is what makes it a lot enjoyable. They may by no means truly conflict, like in an opposites-attract story, as a result of they perceive one another an excessive amount of and know one another too nicely — however nonetheless, there’s a enjoyable mess between them that the drama (rightly) leans on closely.
Seung-hyo, for example, looks as if a gentle man who’s deeply keen about what he does, but in addition not pompous about his success. After we first meet him, he’s late for an award ceremony as a result of he’s having a significant dialog about life and dying with a funeral director (yay, Lee Bong-ryun cameo!), speaking a couple of memorial area he’ll be designing. Equally, on the award ceremony, he runs on and off the stage, not likely pondering of himself in any respect, and barely noticing that the actress Roh Yoon-seo (cameoing as herself, hah!) retains smiling at him.
If Seung-hyo consists, safe, and retains a lid on his struggles (in spite of everything, he’s the right “mother’s pal’s son” of our drama’s Korean title), Seok-ryu is the precise reverse. Woman is mainly a haphazard, heart-on-sleeve mess — and you may’t assist however love her. This position was virtually written for Jung So-min, who’s so nice at balancing a wacky character with moments that make you see proper within her and wish to squeeze her. And that’s how I just about felt about Seok-ryu as we spend our first episode and a half following her and her emotional mayhem round.
At first, she avoids her household till she will be able to’t put it off anymore. Padding herself as much as defend herself from her mom’s incoming rage, Seok-ryu stands in entrance of her entrance door and asks Seung-hyo to stick with her — she’s joking but in addition determined. Seung-hyo gained’t do it till she solutions what occurring that she’s so afraid to face her mother, and when she lastly shouts that she referred to as off her marriage ceremony, who has walked up behind them however Mother (Park Ji-young), Dad (Jo Han-chul), and Seung-hyo’s mother (Jang Younger-nam). Oh and his dad (Lee Seung-joon). And Seok-ryu’s brother Dong-jin. Mainly everybody.
What unfolds is a loopy scene involving all of those characters, however primarily Seok-ryu making an attempt to keep away from getting hit by her mom and letting Seung-hyo take as lots of the punches as attainable. That is the primary huge ensemble scene of the drama, however there are different scenes that comply with (like a later breakfast scene) the place there are such a lot of characters speaking and transferring and throwing jabs that it’s truly spectacular to look at. It’s the identical with this Seok-ryu and mother meetup, besides I genuinely dislike the fixed portrayal of Okay-drama mothers as hardasses that may beat you up and care extra about how your life sounds to her buddies than the precise wellbeing of her kids.
Effectively, the drama rides this trope for fairly some time, as a result of think about Mother’s horror when she hears that along with calling off her marriage ceremony, Seok-ryu has additionally give up her job. Lest we overlook, Seok-ryu is the amazingly profitable daughter with a job within the U.S. at a well-known firm and a marriage in a month. However not anymore.
Seok-ryu leads everybody to imagine that she it as a result of she was bored at work, and referred to as off her marriage as a result of she cheated on her fiancé (cue extra mother fury), however Seok-ryu is so flippant that it’s clear (a minimum of to us) that she’s truly damaged. Nonetheless, the drama makes us comply with her and her lies round for all the first episode and a half till we see in little flashes that the alternative is true. She was laid off from her job and humiliated. And she or he was the one who caught her fiancé dishonest on her (at a trashy American pool social gathering, naturally). In brief, Seok-ryu got here residence for no different purpose than that she’s hit all-time low and has no place else to go.
Ultimately, the preventing and silent remedy between Mother and Seok-ryu reaches a climax, and their sincere battle lastly breaks the strain between them. I liked the drama for doing this, and for breaking the stereotypes a bit by displaying us Mother’s insecurity round her buddies in a method that’s stuffed with pathos. We’d not agree with the strain she’s placed on her daughter, however we see that it’s out of embarrassment and compensation for her personal “mediocre” life — and Seok-ryu, when she snaps, factors this out to her mother.
Many of the strain Seok-ryu places herself below — and has been crushed below — is her mother’s expectations. When Mother realizes this, she lastly sympathizes along with her daughter, and as an alternative of ignoring her and making an attempt to ship her again to the U.S., has Seung-hyo redo her room and makes her particular meals. I’m certain we’ve got extra floor to cowl between these ladies, however I really like the beginning we’ve taken right here, and it will likely be attention-grabbing to see how Mother reacts when she learns the reality of why her daughter is residence. *Braces self*
Seok-ryu and her relationship along with her mother is central, however so is her relationship with Seung-hyo. As a result of their households are so shut, and all their buddies are intertwined, they usually’re all in the identical neighborhood, they run into one another on a regular basis. And the extra I watched their dynamic and banter, the extra I loved it. It’s not precisely out of Trope Park but, however our actors convey a sincerity to their performances that provides layers the place layers are wanted.
At first, Seok-ryu’s roughness in direction of Seung-hyo is actually off placing, however the extra we see into her — and their previous — the extra it’s clear she’s holding onto her position as loopy rough-housing woman as a result of she doesn’t understand how else to be round him. The script has a pleasant method of displaying us two opposing factors: that these two are snug and over-familiar round one another — and that there’s additionally an underlying rigidity of shallowly-buried attraction between then that glimmers from time to time. It’s tremendous enjoyable to look at this play out, the actors painting it brilliantly, and I hope the drama rides this wave for all its price.
Two nice scenes exemplify this: the rain scene the place Seok-ryu is upset over her battle along with her mother and Seung-hyo sits on the jungle health club along with her and an umbrella, and the ending scene of Episode 2, the place we see the 2 looking at one another from throughout their bed room home windows, their geographical closeness taking up every kind of latest that means.
As a result of Seok-ryu is an advanced heroine whose perfectionism towards herself retains her loopy partitions up, it’s going to be an attention-grabbing journey between these two. Whereas she’s all chaotic impartial (perhaps chaotic good?), Seung-hyo is lawful good — he helps a halmeoni along with her rubbish assortment, at all times turns up when Seok-ryu wants him, and shoulders his accountability with maturity.
However like Seok-ryu, he’s acquired layers too, and we see that beneath his calm and wise exterior (and his antagonized little boy persona), he’s truly deeply keen on Seok-ryu. We see hidden moments or tiny glimmers of this when he smiles over her return to Seoul when he’s alone, or his non-reaction-reaction to her canceled marriage ceremony, or the care he took to redecorate her childhood bed room.
With all of the tropes you ever wished (or didn’t), and the echoes of dramas previous (Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha + Welcome to Samdal-ri + Physician Hunch), I believe the take a look at for Love Subsequent Door will probably be if it might probably do one thing totally different, have its personal voice, and attraction us in a method that’s distinct. On the finish of the day, a romance drama goes to be nearly as good because the compellingness between the OTP, and if the primary week is any indication, we’re in good condition right here, as a result of the drama actually appears to benefit from the complexity of their interactions as a lot as I do.
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