DO NOT WATCH
Story is so bad, it distroyed the show. I wanted Jojo to end up with Sun Oh but I would have been OK with this ending if there was a better conclusion to Sun Oh' story and if there was chemistry between the leads. If you show the clip of leads to someone who never watched the show, he/she would NEVER EVER guess that they were in love because they do typical romantic stuff, but actors don't do a good job of showing emotions. And don't get me started on stupid side plots and side characters. Side plot lines that tried to mix in social commentary were distracting. This follow-up uses all the K-drama tricks in the book but does them extremely bad compered to other K-dramas. Once again, DO NOT WATCH THIS.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
Deze recentie kan spoilers bevatten
If it doesn't ring it means he doesn't love me?
I'm a little bit confused, when I think about this drama. I didn't expecte much from it after season 1, but at the same time I wanted producers to take one clear direction in this history.I still think that the story had a great opportunities to comment on certain social issues. With the Love Alarm apps as main theme, I was hoping to delve into the subject of love and loneliness. The problems of today's world, when relationships and feelings fall into the background, take on a new meaning, when in the end it isn't us who have to confess our feelings, because one sound will do it for us. But what if all this comment is only mentioned here and there during the show. If not the character of Duk Goo, I would have lost hope that the writers wanted to show more than a dramatic love triangle.
Out dear love triangle... I think the story of each character was interesting, but the potential was not fully realized. Our Jojo - a girl with a trauma who can't trust her feelings, having the thought in the back of her head, that they might hurt her. Sun Oh, a rich boy who needs genuine concern, not being a crush. However, he is based only on app, not paying attention to what his heart tells him. Finally Hye Young, who understands that it takes time to really love someone, but living in the world of Love Alarm, he feels pressured for his phone to ring. It sounds great, but in a drama we get maybe 40% of it. I think the character development could be presented much better.
The biggest mistake of this drama was divide it into 2 seasons. It is difficult to fully tell such a story within 8 and then 6 episodes. The writers had a problem to present the main characters and their problems well. Side arcs were only touched, and the social commentary was practically omitted. I would love to watch 16 episode version of Love Alarm.
But to be honest, despite so many disadvantages, I enjoyed season 2 a lot more. Shots and scenery looked amazing and beautiful. Music has been adapted to each scene perfectly. I would change some things, but overall I recommend this season.
Remember that you don't need app to love someone. Maybe app appeared at the right moment, but not to replace the true feelings, but to remind you of them.
Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
All is fair in love and war
The Soundtrack is a class. The cinematography is a class. The actors is a class.The story telling is a chaos. Maybe it is the bewildered rendition.
Jojo and Sun Oh has intense and anticipation scene in each encounter. The passion is there. Raw. Suppressing.
Sun Oh still got that fearless conviction. As he was in season 1. Here he’s more fueled with anger too and beaten black and blue.
Hye Young with all the perks he earns, still found himself running in circles self-effacing. Jobs and Girl not sufficient enough to braved grim past life.
Jojo is not ‘trying’ to get caught by her love triangle had she not shielded her Love Alarm years before. Closure is a closure whatever the form she needed.
There are some loose ends here and there. Odd occurrences. Peculiar disappearances. Some characters are like missing puzzles.
So the ending is an ending. Let’s hope this is Fin.
Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
Deze recentie kan spoilers bevatten
I liked
I must say that I generally liked this second season more than the first and these are my reasons:1. The female character had a good development in this season, while in the first one she was always closed to what she thought was "right" without overcoming her traumas.
2. The male characters also grew and in this season we get two totally different male protagonists.
3. I feel that the female protagonist stayed with who was the best option for her, since that character grew along with her.
4. Also the change from school to a life outside of it, makes the drama itself should be more mature and I think people were expecting something more of school and it is something that could not be given by the context.
Overall it had a good closure in all the plots it proposed.
NOTE: Can you imagine a series of suspense with the theme of love alarm, it would be good because although it does not touch the subject talks about the extent to which the app tells you that only likes you or that person is obsessed with you.
SPOILER
5. While it didn't stay with who most people wanted, I think it's still a good kdrama, since as I said before there was a better character development, the story is not dramatic, but still intriguing a bit.
Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
Deze recentie kan spoilers bevatten
A good amount of people will hate this but I gotta say.
First of all: the second season is better than the first. Period.To be honest I've only watched the second season because I was very excited when I've heard about this drama where the second lead actually got a shot. I was sick of dramas putting an unecessary love triangle that everybody knew the second lead had no shot (still suffering from True Beauty). I got through the cringey plot, the corny scenes and problematic characters only for that. In 2019, when the drama was first released, I watched. I barely could finish the first episode of so bad I thought it was. Yes, I did only rewatch the first ep, and then watched the rest of the show (2 years later) due the buzz of the second lead having a shot.
This may escape from being a critical review, it's more like a "defense" of an unjustified attack this drama got. I can't get why people are so in love with Sun-Oh. Is due his looks? (I personally don't find him attractive, neither of both, but I do think in fact Hye-Young is better looking than Sun-Oh). But really, you guys should revalue your concepts, that's not what love is, that's not a healthy relationship, not in terms of friendship or romantic. He only expect and demand from people. He's what we call a rebel with no cause. I've heard one of the reviews saying "Jojo had no regards of Sun-Oh's feelings".... DID SUN-HO HAD REGARDS OF JOJO'S FEELINGS? Hyn-Yeong' feelings, his allegedly bestfriend? His girlfriend who always stood beside him? NOO. He did not have regards for anyone's feelings. Potential? No, he had no character's potential. The writers didn't ruin him, he was already bad written in the first place.
The drama itself only revolves about the relationship between these three. To be honest, it's more Jojo trying to live her relationship and Sun-Oh going after her time after time hurting Yuk-jo's feeling over and over. Interesting enough, I didn't think it got dull to watch, and look, I'm not a very romantic kind of girl, I do think it'd be better if they had a plot beside the love triangle, so many wasted material: Jojo's art thing for instance. The characters didn't have bigger aspirations in life, what Jojo was studying? What Hye-Yeong wanted to do as a career? Many unanswered questions. It had a lot of loose stitches, not gonna lie. But still, I liked watching it, maybe because I was keen of the main couple, they really grew on me. I thought they look good together, it had a lot of cute scenes too. Hye Yeong was always a very supportive and respectful about Jojo's life and decisions, while Sun-Oh would only be shouting at her demanding answers, acting like his life was the worst of all. So entitled, he thought the world was only about him. It truly made my day when Hye-Yeong punched him in the face.
Back to my point, I tend to drift away from my subject. In the second season you're more used to this whole love alarm idea, and you kind get why this is so important for them, although it may seem silly at first. Once you get used and set your mind for this concept, the actions and story becomes better (or at least less frustrating and less: "why they care so much about this?"). Although it could be better developed, there is a message behind it, about the issues/bad side of social media, technology and algorithm.
The OST here is awesome, it really made everything better and more emotional. A lot of depht. As you can read by know, I developed a big aversion of Sun-Oh, however, his last scene with Jojo was very good, very emotional, full of nostalgia. It touched me. People change, the heart changes, love change, life moves on. Another thing that usually annoys me in k-dramas is this scenario where someone you dated for a month in high school and that you're still madly in love and it makes impossible to you to date anyone after that (or worse: to feel you don't deserve love again). Gosh, you're not a penguin, it's not only one love for life and that's it. You can have crushes, you can love again.
Overall, is not the best drama ever, obviously is not. But this season deserves way better. I just needed to say these things. Thank you if you read to this point. :)
*I'm rating this keeping in mind the last season *
Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
S2 is good, for me.
Love Alarm is not a masterpiece, however, the actors are really good, the music is amazing, I enjoy the production value of most scenes, AND, it stuck to the values of the author, which I respect so much. The author doesn’t owe viewers anything, so the hate she, the drama writers and directors are getting feels a bit much to me.I guess if you are heartbroken about the pairing you ship, and feeling dead inside, you will find the plot of S2 boring, but, that’s not my case, so I was never bored at all, except for one moment in the last episode where they went all mystic. I never even used the skip 10 seconds button, which is usually used a lot.
Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
Deze recentie kan spoilers bevatten
Great Message and break the usual K-drama stereotype!
Tackle the aspect of moving on in life, healing from past wounds, and relying too much on application to determine one feeling.Despite the majority of outrage of the ending of Love Alarm 2. I really enjoy the show for what the message trying to convey.The Characters
Jojo
This girl really went through a lot and a major guilt complex. Her flaw of running away, "wishy-washy" attitude, and lack of communication with other characters can cause a lot of frustration for viewers. Despite that, I'm glad that she make a decision and move towards being a better person.
For me, the highlight of her character when accepting her past and feeling of heaviness and moving on with life. I'm glad she slowly heals from her past baggage. She's actually my favourite out of the three.
Hye Young
Hye Young character takes some time to grow on you from season 1.He remains to be a patient and respectful to Jojo. His presence brings comfort and serenity to Jojo. His flaw is always sacrificing his feelings for others, which Jojo highlighted on. Moreover, this season briefly touches on his family which adds a nice character to him.
Sun Oh
To be honest for Sun Oh, acts the way he did is due to the lack of love in his family and getting hurt from Jojo. Despite his selfish behaviour I find his character quite endearing.
Though, he continues to act like a brat when things don't go in his way and in the process hurt both Jojo and Yook Jo in the confrontation scene.
I'm glad he gets the proper closure with Jojo in the end and slowly move on to have a proper "fresh start" with Yook Jo.
Gul Mi really grows on me this season. Her bratty attitude is still there but her motives to see the developer is hilarious and ironic. I do enjoy her character this season more.
I find the cast for season 2 shrinks by in size. For the characters, I do enjoy the 3 mains for their flaws and character development.
Cinematography
Continues to be good! The shots are beautifully taken. I stopped several times just to take a screenshot of the beautiful scenes.
Music
The new ost is great! Can't wait for the new soundtrack to be out.
Things I don't like
Several plot points got shafted and barely got enough explanation such as Brian Choo and Duk Gu. It will good to have a further explanation of the apps and their relationship.
Maybe it's just me there's a lack of proper explanation on The Ringing World plot. The stalker guy just got arrested all of the sudden. :/
Some parts of the show feel a bit draggy, this could be attributed to the slower pacing in season 2.
Most of the negative feedback due to the end ship :(
To those who are willing to give this drama a watch, please keep an open mind and try to understand the message and lesson behind it. You might truly appreciate it.
Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
Deze recentie kan spoilers bevatten
NOT BIG SPOLIER just a few things you should know before watching thisb drama
This drama was different from the others i usually watch. That's why many watchers are dissappointed in this drama. Well firstly the FL mett her first love in school, then broke up with him and few years later falling in love with his best friend. That would not be that bad but they made whole season 1 and 2 look like she and her first love are supposed to be together. I was very dissappointed in storyline becouse i wanted somebody other to be the ML actually in the end i ended up crying. But i would not put this drama between those bad ones, i would just say it was waaaaay too realistic i mean the romance and for somebody it could be a big dissapointment. So you can try watch it but be aware of the twisted ending.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
Love Alarm could have been so much more than this.
The concept of Love Alarm itself is so intriguing - it's something that would fit right in with the Black Mirror series. However, it only scratched the surface of this amazing concept which is such a major waste. The plot itself was bland, horrible and failed the bring out the potential of Love Alarm and the effects it could have on society. The series was just filled with childish decisions, selfish thoughts, and half-assed feelings.I did like the ending though, for the most part. I was only able to get through both seasons because of the actors.
It's really disappointing Lees verder
Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
Deze recentie kan spoilers bevatten
Decepción
Doy esa calificación porque me la vi con mi novio, por lo que la hace muy especial, sin embargo sentí como si todo lo que construyeron en la primera temporada lo botaran a la mierda. Soy feliz porque, aunque soy team Sun Oh, me gustó que no quedara con su primer amor ya que siempre es así en los dramas coreanos.No hubo una concordancia con el final de la primera, no se entendió como llegó a enamorarse tan perdidamente de Hye yeong, Sun Oh sufrió bastante y se vió como un desesperado cuando no debió ser asi, y además, odie que la prima haya quedado tan bien, donde está la justicia divina, perra.
Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
Could have been written better
I was disappointed with season 1 and hope for season 2 to change my disposition. Major changes on a lot of cosmetic touches, lightened up on the back to back misery and hurdles of Jojo, Aunt changed her treatment on Jojo.What’s disappointing the most is season 1 written that the shield was to protect Sunho who Jojo supposedly love but season 2 betrayed that scene without any explanation. I like underdogs in a series to win the girl when the story flowed to it but this didn’t fit at all.
I also feel bad for Sunho’s current gf where he turned to after being dumped by Jojo. At the end, the way the story is conveyed, Sunho still couldn’t love her but will continue seeing her hoping one day he will. I felt like the girl didn’t value herself much to put up with that.
I skipped a lot and fast forwarded. To me, this didn’t bring a happy ending.
Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
