Harriet Ho
London
A few bumpy roads, but overall I enjoyed it
It comes as no surprise for many that when the second installment of Love Alarm only having 6 episodes was announced, it made me feel discouraged about how they can wrap this story up in a manner that is appropriate in conjunction with season 1. However, I think the writers did a splendid job wrapping the story up within this short amount of time, with a few bumpy roads along the way. The latter of the series had been unexpectedly impactful for me and I thoroughly found this season to be quite frustrating, but also enjoyable to watch. It is a series that will have you on the edge of your seat, wants to reach out to the other end of your screen and shake the characters to wake them up, get you scratching your head from the characters, and have your stomach flutter a little.
If we go beyond the love story in this drama for a moment, this season we see the development of Kim Jojo’s story from her childhood trauma and how that, in turn, affected her actions and behaviours as a young adult: how our thoughts drive us to want to push away others and spend our lives in solitude in the fear of hurting them, the fears of others becoming knowledgeable about our dark pasts to the point it’ll drive them to leave, and the consequences of running away from your problems and feelings. This season will get you agitated over Jojo’s actions and behaviours throughout this drama, but it will also enable you to empathise and understand more of her as a character which is what I thoroughly enjoyed. The insight into how wealthy families can live and how being born to a father that you have never met was quite insightful and powerful. To summarise, this series had some really deep, meaningful, and beautiful messages for us viewers that go beyond the app Love Alarm and how love cannot be conformed to technology.
The romance was cute and warm at times, but it was not anything extraordinary. I felt as if they rushed the romance at the start by having the two leads officially date, that for me, ruined the momentum of what the series was going for. There was not much closure with the gap between the end of season 1 and the start of season 2 which left me feeling bewildered over the relationship between the two. And there was not much closure for some parts like the sudden change in the relationship between Jojo’s family. What I particularly liked here was the unveiling of Hye Yeong’s story which we did not get to see in the previous installment. To conclude, I found the love-triangle story to be overall compelling as it is slightly different from the atypical love story.
I was quite dubious over the character development that this series was going to have, especially when the cast mentioned that in the trailer, thus I was anticipating something marvelous. It took some time, but I saw a few subtle significant changes with all the characters. It can be argued that all the characters can be deemed as frustrating in their own ways, but I think this drama really gets you to analyse and think deeply beyond what the story tells us about each character’s behaviours. The outcomes for each character were definitely satisfying. I think that this second installment was something that I enjoyed because of the nature of where the characters stood in their lives. As they all develop into adults, i found this to be more comfortable to watch
Overall, some may be disgruntled over the outcomes of this drama, but I believe that this was a brilliant way to end this series. If you are that person that needs closure on any series that you watch, I would highly recommend you watch this to soothe your hearts. Would I recommend you watch this drama overall? To be quite frank. if you were able to skip to season 2 and not watch season 1, then yes. Realistically speaking here, I wouldn't recommend it, despite thinking highly of this season. Albeit saying this, if you are looking for something interesting and unique to watch, then it can be worth giving it a go. It is worth noting that you should watch this - not only for the love triangle - but the depictions of reality this drama holds. The trauma, miscommunications, family dysfunctions, romance, and mental health
If we go beyond the love story in this drama for a moment, this season we see the development of Kim Jojo’s story from her childhood trauma and how that, in turn, affected her actions and behaviours as a young adult: how our thoughts drive us to want to push away others and spend our lives in solitude in the fear of hurting them, the fears of others becoming knowledgeable about our dark pasts to the point it’ll drive them to leave, and the consequences of running away from your problems and feelings. This season will get you agitated over Jojo’s actions and behaviours throughout this drama, but it will also enable you to empathise and understand more of her as a character which is what I thoroughly enjoyed. The insight into how wealthy families can live and how being born to a father that you have never met was quite insightful and powerful. To summarise, this series had some really deep, meaningful, and beautiful messages for us viewers that go beyond the app Love Alarm and how love cannot be conformed to technology.
The romance was cute and warm at times, but it was not anything extraordinary. I felt as if they rushed the romance at the start by having the two leads officially date, that for me, ruined the momentum of what the series was going for. There was not much closure with the gap between the end of season 1 and the start of season 2 which left me feeling bewildered over the relationship between the two. And there was not much closure for some parts like the sudden change in the relationship between Jojo’s family. What I particularly liked here was the unveiling of Hye Yeong’s story which we did not get to see in the previous installment. To conclude, I found the love-triangle story to be overall compelling as it is slightly different from the atypical love story.
I was quite dubious over the character development that this series was going to have, especially when the cast mentioned that in the trailer, thus I was anticipating something marvelous. It took some time, but I saw a few subtle significant changes with all the characters. It can be argued that all the characters can be deemed as frustrating in their own ways, but I think this drama really gets you to analyse and think deeply beyond what the story tells us about each character’s behaviours. The outcomes for each character were definitely satisfying. I think that this second installment was something that I enjoyed because of the nature of where the characters stood in their lives. As they all develop into adults, i found this to be more comfortable to watch
Overall, some may be disgruntled over the outcomes of this drama, but I believe that this was a brilliant way to end this series. If you are that person that needs closure on any series that you watch, I would highly recommend you watch this to soothe your hearts. Would I recommend you watch this drama overall? To be quite frank. if you were able to skip to season 2 and not watch season 1, then yes. Realistically speaking here, I wouldn't recommend it, despite thinking highly of this season. Albeit saying this, if you are looking for something interesting and unique to watch, then it can be worth giving it a go. It is worth noting that you should watch this - not only for the love triangle - but the depictions of reality this drama holds. The trauma, miscommunications, family dysfunctions, romance, and mental health
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