The first half of the show was highly unrealistic, and dare I say it, pretty crappy that it almost made me drop the show, but let me explain why I'm glad I didn't. From the get-go, Jojo's behavior striked me as utterly foolish and illogical beyond belief. Her first slip-up was when she decided to basically cheat on her boyfriend by following a random transfer student she *literally* met twice into a narrow alleyway and agreeing to kiss him because he asked...? The logic here must've been "oh he's hot and popular, hence he must be good, safe, and not a criminal :)" Wait, so you're saying it's normal and not creepy to ask someone you’re interested in to kiss you the very first time you have an actual conversation? Guess it’s only okay when you’re hot and popular like Hwang Sun Oh. :/

Of course when the two kiss, Jojo's jealous "best friend" happened to be there spying on them at that exact moment to snap a photo, and rather than being a sensible person and confronting Jojo about it, she spreads it online. Then...it’s all downhill from there. At school, Jojo gets full-on dragged by other students once they found out she kissed Sun Oh, the hottest hunk of the school. x"D Personally, I didn't think the criticism was completely unwarranted and I felt she sort of deserved it for not only cheating, but also lying to her friends about attending an academy after school. But what's worse is that Jojo couldn't stand up for herself every time she was mistreated by her peers or her cousin and aunt, which made me lose respect for her. Please don’t get me started on Sun Oh and his cheesy flirtatious liners towards Jojo. LOL

However, things changed when episode 5 rolled around. To my pleasant surprise, the show improved when they revealed more of the thoughts and intentions of the characters. Jojo as a character grew on me too after I got a better understanding of her situation. Then suddenly something changed because I became emotionally invested. I think I’m just a sucker for dramas with large time skips and lingering feelings. Sure this drama has all your typical K-drama tropes, from parents dying during childhood to accidents, but it was still moderately entertaining, so I'm glad I stuck around to catch the good moments. Some scenes were tear-jerking, so prepare your tissue box. All that led to me ultimately giving this show an 8.5/10.

All in all, because the story revolves around the app Love Alarm and how it revolutionized the modern day dating culture, I really wish they would've fleshed out how the app works, or at least briefly discussed it from a CS perspective, as in how it detects love and rings another person. The premise of the alarm was rather confusing because would a minor crush ring the same as a long-term lover? One thing I did appreciate was the Love Alarm factual tidbits they interjected throughout the episodes. Those were really interesting. I tried not to question the missing details too much or else it'd take away from the viewing experience. Really, it is cool to think about a society existing where people place more trust in an app to dictate whether they are in love than their own feelings. Very Black Mirror-esque! Looking forward to the second season and dying to know whether a certain character is alive or not! :O