So while Crash Landing on You made me decide to pursue Korean programming more regularly beginning in 2022, the one that I actually started with was “Love Alarm” in 2020.
Premiering on Netflix, this high school romance stars Kim So-hyun as JoJo, a hardworking but bubbly student with a painful history. Song Kang portrays Hwang Sun Oh, a handsome young model who transfers into JoJo’s school and immediately becomes interested in her despite his friend Lee Hye Yeong (played by Jung Ga Ram) already showing interest in her. The show’s title comes from the main plot device, which is a phone app that allows users to discover who likes them due to notifications users receive when someone within a 10 meter (25-30 feet) zone has romantic feelings for them.
The first season (8 episodes) was directed by Lee Na Jeong, who also directed shows like “See You In My 19th Life” and “Fight For My Way.” Kim Saebom adapted the screenplay from the Daum webtoon by Kye-Young Chon. Neither of those two people have any other credits aside from Season 1 of Love Alarm. There was a short 2nd season of 6 episodes which was released two years later.
The premise of the show is interesting since it is not only a romance story, but also one that deals with the mental toll social media has on young people. All throughout the show the camera focuses in many times on a teen’s phone with the Love Alarm app open, saying “No one within 10 meters loves you.” Imagine being a teen and seeing that on your phone all day long. In many ways, the constant chase for getting “likes” on social media is much the same – people get an endorphin rush when they get one, and it makes them crave more, and when they don’t get more they start to feel bad about themselves. That’s what this show aims to tackle. And while it is a valiant effort, I think it falls short of the tremendous potential of that storyline.
I remember the first time I watched this show I didn’t trust the Sun Oh character for most of the show. I kept waiting for him to become an even bigger red flag than he appeared to be in the first episode. What I noticed the second time around is that the first episode makes it very ambiguous what Sun Oh’s intentions are. Is he jealous of his pal Hye Yeong being interested in JoJo, or is he jealous of JoJo having Hye Young’s interest? But by episode 3 the Sun Oh red flags start to disappear just a little bit even though in later episodes I still felt he was incredibly immature and selfish. But you know what? So was JoJo. In many ways, the only character that showed any maturity was Hye Yeoung.
When I watched this in 2020 I gave it 4 stars. I really enjoyed it even though the last six episodes (Season 2) were a bit messy. I liked the bittersweet/happy ending. However, watching it again now (and having been exposed to really good writing on kdramas since then), I found this show much more frustrating to watch. Halfway through the first season Sun Oh and JoJo get into an accident at the end of an episode. Then the next episode opens a few years later and they are no longer in a relationship and it’s never really explained why JoJo broke up with him. She mentioned in her narrator voice that she felt insecure with him, and he at some point mentions this thinks his mother was behind it, but other than that we don’t get a true indication of why she broke up with him after the accident. And that “twist” ruined the forward momentum of the show because at that point it was no longer about the app and all the implications of what using it means, and became a show about him seeing her years later and being jealous that she’s starting to talk to Hye Yeong again.
Season 1 ended on a cliffhanger in which JoJo is literally standing between Sun Oh and Hye Yeong at a Love Alarm 2.0 launch party unsure where to go. Season 2 then spends time mixing in several storylines in a quick attempt to wrap up all the loose threads from Season 1. JoJo tries to remove the shield from her phone so she can see if she still has feelings for Sun Oh or is growing feelings for Hye Yeong (common sense says, “Woman, you should know without needing an app for that”). They bring back a serial killer plotline that was only brought up once in Season 1. They bring back a character from Season 1 that was thought to have died. It was kind of all over the place. In 2020 I was much more forgiving about the uneven pacing, but not with this recent rewatch. The result is that I no longer consider this a 4 star show.
But the best part of this show, hands down, is the clear potential that Song Kang showed as an actor in his first leading man role. While young, he still showed why he would eventually become known in kdrama land as the Son of Netflix. He portrayed a budding red flag very well (and perfected it later in “Nevertheless,” a show that is both loved and hated (I love it) primarily because of his character). He also shows some good puppy energy which he rarely gets to show off but did showcase a bit in “Forecasting Love and Weather” and “My Demon.”
Do I necessarily recommend “Love Alarm”? I’m not sure. Part of me says yes, but on the other hand, there are so many better kdramas out there that I feel like I’d recommend all of those ahead of “Love Alarm” now that my opinion has changed on it.
My (new) rating: 3.0 out of 5.0 stars
Comment below and let me know what you thought of “Love Alarm”…
