was i perched on the website, waiting for your review to appear? 100% yes. i haven't felt this way about a drama in a good little while now, and i want to show it all the love in the world 🥰

thanks for your recap, missvictrix. you're right that the romances are burning slowly while the other plot points sometimes move at the speed of light. for me, the unevenness is forgotten when i become caught in the emotional movement of the show. i'm super interested in the parents and how their relationships mirror the way their children love. in fact, we see hints of Seok-ryu mirroring her parents (and specifically mum) and Seung-hyo's reservations are so clearly born from his parent's own distance and lack of warmth.

I am waiting for Seok-ryu's realization re: her feelings for Seung-hyo to parrell her realization about her dream. a bulldozer is such a great description of her. she always full frontal forward motion that she misses the obvious (i mean, so far the love is looking all the way one-sided, but i have hope). for his part, too, Seung-hyo approaches love and work in a similar manner-- patiently and diligently, but with perhaps too much idealizing. one needs to slow down, and the other needs to speed up.

the love story between the second leads also provides a nice balance. and i want to learn more about Dan-ho!!!! the little bromance that's brewing also feels really lovely.

i said this in the what were watching thread, but it bears repeating here: all the awards for 조한철's performance in episode 6🥰🥰🥰

Episode 5 was pretty forgettable. Though I'm glad she found her mojo.
Episode 6 was better. Mainly because I liked Dad's storyline and the money issues at hand. My eyes watered when his did.
It's interesting (and I find it relatable) that she would go towards good job + good money first and now she's circling back to wanting to do what she really wants to do (which might not make good money and Dad knows this).
As far as the two protagonists, him being irritable towards her is getting annoying/tiresome. Hopefully, they cut that out soon.

I thought this during Taxi Driver S2 when the village elders were scammed, is it a Korean thing or Asian thing or maybe it's a universal thing of letting a scam happen because you're too ashamed to tell anyone? As soon as he told people, specifically younger people, they INSTANTLY knew it was a scam. (Even I knew it was a scam as soon as the hair was shown)
But I can't even 100% blame him because his wife is constantly saying what a loser he is so why would he feel like he could share his burdens? And why would he wanna tell his kids when he already feels like a failure of a parent?

I didn't like this week's episodes much at all.

I'm kinda disappointed the guy from Lovely Runner hasn't been given more to do. As I was writing this I remembered he works at the gym the good at counseling employee go to. I think I would've much preferred seeing them at the gym than seeing the friend and reporter this week.

I struggled these two episodes. Ep 5 dragged a lot. 6 was much better.
The writing is all over the place at times and then suddenly it works. This makes it hard to drop the show!!

Mo Eum crossed the line with her unsolicited judgement about him. She knows nothing about him. She then goes on to eavesdropping her close friend talk to a neighbor. Not cool.

May be I should just drop this one.

Once again I seem to be watching a different show from the one other people are seeing. I loved the first couple of weeks. Not gonna lie, these two looooong episodes - especially 6 - were a letdown. There were too many long, stilted dialogues and some surprisingly crappy acting from the main cast. In the seemingly pointless drinking scene with HS and the construction (?) workers, his conversation with Dan-ho, and Dan-ho’s scenes with his daughter, all I saw was actors reading lines. I usually like Seo Ji-hye, but her pushy, manipulative character is unpleasant for me to watch and brings out the worst in the leads. I groaned when I saw Mo-eum eavesdropping - so unnecessary. Also, whoever put Jung Hae-in in that too-small denim jacket that makes him look like a high school dork should be required to reflect on their shortcomings and hand-write a letter of apology.

On the positive side, Jo Han-chul really gets to shine, and so do the child actors - especially the two little girls. And the guest appearance from Kim Hyun-mok is delightful, even if he’s a baddie (and yes, instantly knew it was a con). I’ll stick with it and hope for more of the parents and more Lee Seung-hyub and his pecs the high-EQ coworker.

These episodes were particularly slow for me pacing wise. I thought he realized he liked her the episode before. Also his childish treatment of her was not something I cared for. You don't treat someone you like, let a lone a dear friend like that, even if you believe you have an unrequited crush.

I adored the storyline with her dad. He needs to know he is adored and loved, so I am glad they showed it.

As for Seok Ryu, her overeagerness caused that pot to break, she needed scolding for it, not from Seung Hyo though. That being said, I am happy she found her dream. The youtube videos of her cooking were lovely.

I was not a huge fan of this one from the start, but the flaws of Jung So-min's character are somewhat interesting, and believable. But I was very disappointed that the show, in these episodes, decided to go the whole "ML behaving like a sullen 13 year old around the woman he loves" route. It got to the point that I was relieved when there were scenes in which he didn't appear, he was acting so much like a wet dish rag. The writers, I think to forestall criticism like mine, even had not one, but two characters tell him he was behaving like an immature brat, but this self-awareness unfortunately was not enough to prevent the writers from using the character's morose childhood- trauma-influenced behavior to prolong what I assume--but maybe not--will be a mutual love confession. Of course, the FL's ex still has to appear, and that will take up two more episodes of misunderstandings.

Its a sign of how little I'm feeling this relationship that I don't really care that much if they get together at this point. I hope the show continues to take the leads on little food-related cultural excursions, though. I enjoyed that set of scenes, especially since the ML was off sulking for about half of them.

Meanwhile, the secondary couple, while in every way superior to the secondary couples of Return to Samdalri and Dr. Slump, the two exactly similar dramas of early this year, is not that much more compelling. The ending of that relationship is already clear. They will get together, but she will go off to the South Pole for a couple of years, sending the daughter postcards. Although this will occur right at the end, I will give this show a great deal of credit if those postcards detail the sexual harassment the 2FL is experiencing, as apparently three-quarters of women who are stationed there have experienced, providing the daughter a lesson in real world reality.

(On the Antarctica tragedy, https://theweek.com/crime/antarctica-sexual-harassment provides a sad summary, but since this story has been ongoing for a couple years, you have to wonder why the writers would be so clueless as promoting this plotline of a woman eager to head to the South Pole. That's why I'm hoping there will be this additional, less predictable twist. But I doubt it, since the only thing that wasn't exactly what we've seen before is the ex girlfriend being not obsessively clingy to the ML. But who could, while seeing him behave the way he did these episodes?

Seunghyo really made me angry this week. If he's not ready to confess, that's okay. It's not okay for him to act the way he did in these episodes. Seokryu didn't know what he'd overheard or how he was feeling. She had to figure out for herself why her oldest friend was snapping at her for no reason and avoiding her. When they bicker, they're on an even playing field, but they weren't this week. This is an issue I had with Hometown Cha Cha Cha, which has the same writer, and I I really do not want it to continue because I really like this show. Also, Seunghyo was gone for a long period during episode five and I did not miss him.

I was wondering what was wrong with this show then I saw it's the same director of The King of Eternal Boredom and Confusion and now everything makes sense.

I can't believe this is a 80 minutes dramas. With what right?

Episode 5
(1) The entire episode was the leads being forced together into situations, to what the ML responded with screaming at Seok Ryu. After a little screaming they added sudden awkward moments that are supposed to be romantic/swoon-worthy.
And then they cut out about 50% of the characters in the show, to add another one.

Thankfully, the ex is waaaay better than the ML. Her kindness towards Seok Ryu saved the episode. I liked those final 15min where SH was nowhere to be found.

Episode 6
(2) This episode was better since in the middle of it they removed the ML again (thank you), and gave the parents more spotlight.

Now, the problem with that is, again, what this show does best: cook so fast the food burns when it's still raw inside.

I loved the scene of the dad crying on the street and Seok Ryu being there for him. I liked seeing and hearing his POV, yes. But why did they had to resolve the whole thing in 15 minutes?

I wish we would have seen him work in episode 5 (and 1, 2, 3, 4). I wish that after telling his wife to not scold him, we had a little more scenes of reflection from her part. I wish we had seen maybe little moments of change in mom, with the past of time. Something a little more subtle and smooth.
But everything happened so fast as if they had to end that storyline this week or else mom going to hit the drums.

Same for Seok Ryu and SH's moments with dad. WHY do they cut their conversations so awkwardly? We could've seen Seok Ryu giver her dad his shoes, a hug, and take him back home. But no, they just keep cutting those bonding scenes. Ugh. I also thought the drinking scene between SH and dad was going to be some sweet, heartwarming and deep moment. But nop, another skip for the team.

(2) Another victim of the awful burnt but raw pacing is Seok Ryu's dream. Because they keep making her storyline about some annoying guy I know, her search for a dream feels so empty.

Of course the first dish she makes is about him. Of course we don't even get to see her cooking. 🙄 I wish that instead we got more scenes like the one where she cooks for the ML's ex and his team. And of course, she should be having more scenes with her dad and at the cooking class. Stop spending her entire screentime in getting yelled by that guy.

(3) Talking about that annoying man.
The way he was trying to gaslit her into thinking she was childish and stuck in the past for wanting her best friend, who had been "supporting" her so far, to be happy for her and celebrate with her and keep rooting for her?

The way he made her feel weird and bad about giving him the first dish she made?
The way he acted as if she didn't matter for the entire episode? The way he treated her like trash and tried to...

After last week's disappointment, the only thing this show still had going for it was the romance, so of course that went downhill this week. Seung-hyo acted like an immature & annoying child this week, and I hated it. Also, I know this is nitpicking, but if you really need to have a scene in which he falls on top of her on the bed, can you at least make sure her hand placement doesn't change with every camera angle? Because once you see that, you can't unsee it.

Now, for what might be my biggest problem with this show: the episodes are way too long. If your storyline is this basic, and you don't really have anything else to offer, that's fine, but why are your episodes 80 minutes long? Because this way, the interesting stuff is either few and far between, or simply dragged out for too long, becoming less interesting in the process. The show sadly borders on being boring at certain moments, and in my opinion, that's one of the worst things a show can be. Episode 5 was a slog to get through: overly long, with simply not enough to offer.

Episode 6, however, was actually good, maybe even great The only weakpoint was the main romance, but that wasn't a huge focus. The dad storyline was great. It's interesting, hits the right emotional notes, manages to be funny too, and it makes me care about these characters. I love it, give me more of this kind of stuff! It's exactly what I think this show has been lacking.

More positive stuff: the second leads were back to being great this week, with less child-like banter, and more mature & interesting situations. The kid being Dan-ho's daughter is totally unsurprising, but it's a welcome twist that works, making an already interesting and likeable character even more interesting, and adding a new dynamic to his romance with Mo-eum. I can't wait to see where this goes.

Also, I've seen a lot of actors struggle with speaking even one line of English, but Jung So-min somehow manages to make an entire English conversation sound convincing. It's not perfect, but it's still pretty good I think.

I guess I am one of the few who is loving this show? I loved the last two episodes. It just hitting the right buttons for me and I was almost holding my breath at the last scene.

And my heart hurt so much for her father when he spilled what happened and how his wife made him feel.

Kudos to the beanie who called it last week, that her dream would be cooking.

While I do like the bickering, I felt Seong-gyo's regression to 12 years-old was way over the line in his adamant and childish effort to push Seok-ryu away.

The second leads I can't even begin to care about. Their bickering doesn't make sense and Mo-eum was way outta her league shaming him for leaving his child in the hospital. In her profession, she should know things are not always what they seem and I found her behaviour very unprofessional.

Jo Han-chul is the hero of these episodes, I am always amazed at his range.

And I HATE the random violence. What's with all the hitting?!
Hitting children is explicitly forbidden in my country and seeing adult children put up with being hit is completely beyond me. And Seok-ryu being away for ten years in USA (where hitting isn't norm, right?) still emulating her mother's behaviour. If she ain't getting chastised for this, the show can throw dozens of shirtless scenes at me and still don't deserve the bean come December.

Seeing how this rant may start you questioning why I stick with the show, I'd like to clarify it's the slow-burn and Thom Browne.

I think I am the only one who feels for seunghyo, tbh seok ryu is so annoying and nosy and doesn't know anything about privacy, and she is acting dumb and cornering ML emotionally left and right. He clearly said he needs his privacy but she is just acting like a 5 y/o trying to get what she wants all the time. I can't believe she didn't feel anything ab his feelings all these years and even after reading his letter doing just what she did in the past, girl you either like him or you don't but you know he has feelings for you, in both cases you are not acting good, pretending that nothing happened and you are still little kids doesn't work.
Actually ML is acting like a teenager too, but i see everyone just talking ab him being immature and forget ab FL, so i thought maybe i should talk ab how i feel ab FL character instead.

I really like the pace and hope they keep it up over the next weeks.

Not that I want to excuse ML's behaviour, but I can at least partially understand it, as I was in a similar situation myself (albeit with a completely different background), which was very stressful for me, but I couldn't tell my family about it. As a result, I quickly became irritable. I found myself quite obnoxious and knew that I was behaving unfairly. Fortunately, I was able to clear it up a little later and apologise.
In addition, ML's fear that the friendship could be damaged if he confesses his feelings but they are not reciprocated is not entirely unjustified. I've also experienced this myself; the friendship never went back to the way it was before because my friend kept getting his hopes up as soon as I thought we could be as casual with each other as before.
To cut a long story short: I can empathise with ML very well.

@missvictrix Your review almost had me put this show back on my watch list, until I read all the comments. Thank you for your hard work.

Thanks, @missvictrix for the recap!

Does anyone know who the child actress is who plays 8 year old Seok-Ryu? I'm fangirling her because she's great. She makes the core of adult Seok-Ryu's feelings and actions very believable because she reflects them in miniature form so well.

I'd be interested in hearing what @joanna says about the motif of sky/earth. What I found interesting is that the ex-gf (Tae-Hee) makes earthenware (onggi) used for storage (perhaps somewhat similar to Seung-Hyo's architectural fascinations with tombs, another type of 'storage'). I wondered if the reason Tae-Hee and Seok-Ryu got along so well is because they are also opposites, Tae-Hee is earth (just like Seung-Hyo) and Seok-Ryu continues to be sky. This may also explain why Tae-Hee felt that Seung-Hyo's passion for her wasn't as smoldering as hers was for him. She may have liked the sameness between them, but he is looking for a complementary opposite. I felt there was a hint at the sky-earth motif again when Seok-Ryu found the soy sauce onggi and was able to see the moon in its reflection - connecting the two together, containing the sky in the jar, but framing it rather than stifling it.

I seem to be in the minority in enjoying these two episodes. I suspect that the drama is trying to encapsulate a lot of redemptive arcs for our characters. I mean, how long can a childhood friends-to-lovers arc really run before it gets boring? There are only so many iterations and false starts (and restarts) before it gets boring.

Episode 6 seemed more cohesive than Episode 5, but Episode 5 was necessary to set up Seok-Ryu finding her dream. I liked Dad's redemptive arc in Episode 6, and especially how the tension between Mom and Dad was resolved. The drama isn't trying to paint Mom as the villain. Sure, she's got a rage problem; sure, she makes mistakes, but she makes good comebacks too - comforting and reassuring her husband that it's going to be the two of them forever.

I also wonder if the reason Seung-Hyo hesitates to show Seok-Ryu his feelings is because she is somewhat like his mother. I know that may sound strange, but his mom is also someone who defies traditional boundaries. Her character embodies all sort of foreign-ness - writing in French, her clothes, even her breakfast. Seung-Hyo's father is so traditionally Korean and she is so not. They are also opposites, but opposites which cannot connect.

I'm sure we all knew that Episode's 6 title was going to change from "Your first" to "Your first love". But, I loved the ride through it, especially the flashbacks of Seok-Ryu and Seung-Hyo's relationship at different stages. I found it convincing that they DO know each other very well, but I loved how Seok-Ryu realized in the end that the one thing she didn't know is the one thing she's at the center of.

Also, Mo-eun must be the most patient and persistent wing-woman ever for Seung-hyo. HAHA!

I don't know what's worse: someone pining over the best friend they're secretly in love with or being a jerk because they're secretly in love. Ugh, they're both so utterly unappealing to me. It was like he was bad at her for him not knowing what to do about his feelings and her not knowing his feelings.

Another thing that took me out of the story is why is the daughter 5 when the actress does not look 5? Why didn't they just age up the character when they cast the actress? Sickly and cute daughter still works at age 7.

This show has some moments that I'm absolutely in love with, and some moments that come from the laziest, cliched drama writing styles. I'm watching and invested because the good bits are so much fun, but it's unfortunate that the quality isn't consistent.

One of the best parts are the little versions of Seok Ryu and Seung Ho, those two are the cutest little things, and all the flashbacks so far have been perfect. I especially love how wonderfully matched tiny Seok Ryu and big Seok Ryu are with their mischievous faces. Jung So Min is really trully keeping this up for me, she has the ups and downs perfectly done and while some of the writing was meh, she's been powering through it amazingly. Haein got a worse deal this week, I have no patience for whiny, rude MLs who take their sadness out as anger on their FLs, and while Seung Hyo was within his rights to try and draw a boundary between them to protect himself, he was incredibly rude and mean multiple times, and him secretly looking up what she was getting into and helping her father does not make it better. I liked it when they bantered and were mutually rude in a playful way, but he was genuinely rude and mean, and and I hope the tantrums will stop with this week.

I thought the glimpses of single dad Dan Ho was very sweet and gave him an interesting facet. Mo Eum berating him without knowing how or why his kid was alone at home right then was weird, but it did result in the little girl scolding her and then Mo Eum trying hard to figure out how to get back in her good graces, and that was cute. I do enjoy Mo Eum overall, her character is a go getter and fun, but they need to fix the interactions before the inevitable coupling, bcs both of them are more entertaining on their own so far.

The dad storyline was moving and I'm glad he got some catharsis, but I wish they'd made the mom less violent and mean. There are ways to show someone overwhelmed with debt and money concerns and a husband and daughter who are doing things that she's confused by, but Park Ji Young is a great actress and can definitely show it more subtly without her character actions being violence and bitterness right away.

You know a RomCom is in Danger Zone when you’re questioning the likability of the ML because
1. he’s always yelling at the FL
2. He may be even more annoying than the 2FL (gasp!)
3. They’re hardly on screen together, despite the long run-time

Pull back Show, you’re heading to the Cliff of Doom here! But wait.. is this the circa 2010
Tsundere lead i said i missed? But..but.. something’s off here.. maybe i like nice guys after all. Ok Show, bring back starry eyed Choisseung and i (and prolly Seok ryu) will forgive you.

I enjoy this drama for its light story and excellent performance by the leads. It is entertaining and exactly what I need at this moment; just a light fluffly romcom that make me look forward to pass through the week.

Hope it will keep entertaining to the end!

The drama also cements my love for Jung Hae-in 🫶🏼

I'm disappointed this week that the show is not going the way I expected it to.

This is what happens when one friend catches feelings -- you'll end up losing the friendship because you can't go back to the way things were before. It's not Seok-ryu's fault that Seung-hyo likes her, yet she's the one being punished for it. She's losing her best friend because he can't even hang out with her like a normal person anymore, and she's unfairly on the receiving end of his rage because he can't handle his own feelings.

I’m so disappointed that Seok-ryu found out about Seung-hyo's crush by reading his time capsule letter, since I wanted her to realize by herself that he's liked her all along. It was cute how he visited her in college intending to confess, but she already had a boyfriend, so it doesn't look like Seok-ryu has ever liked Seung-hyo disappointingly. Ex-girlfriend Tae-hee was just a rebound. He only went out with her because she asked him.

I’m disappointed in the second leads' romance because all their interactions revolve around Dan-ho's daughter, as if they'll only like each other because they like how each other is with, with his daughter. Mo-eum's obsession with Yeon-do feels forced ever since she first met crop circle girl in the park. I was so glad when Dan-ho answered Mo-eum can play with Yeon-do as long as Yeon-do agrees.

Seung-hyo was so cool exposing the scammers, especially the moment he revealed he owned the same watch, but I still can't understand how Seok-ryu's "poor" family can live next door to his rich one. Is it because Seung-hyo's an architect because the insides of their houses look soo different? Oh, his mom's a cheater? If it's not a misunderstanding, then that's unforgivable.

I knew Episode 5's title change would be "고백 (gobaek) - Confession." I bet Seung-hyo watched Seok-ryu's cooking vlog when she was in the U.S. It's nice to hear that the show won @missvictrix over this week.

I think I'm that rare animal that's still loving this show... It's head-scratching that way worse shows get far more love, but that's okay, more for meee!
And for those few others like myself, please join me in a tight huddle while others go past on the other side of the glass, pointing and jeering 😂

I do agree that ep 5 felt random and way too slow, but those small payoff moments that finally came together in ep 6, made every second of ennui so worth it. I actually don't have a problem with SH's angsty behaviour, lord knows I've seen enough adult-children in my life, to understand that people do behave like this. Communication doesn't come easy to everyone, and sometimes lashing out or keeping a distance is fall-back behaviour - it's happened to me too, with guys I've unknowingly friendzoned. Our easy friendship was never quite the same after, and it was only time passing, years even, that brought it back. I just hope he doesn't carry on any longer, because if that's how he plans to keep the friendship going without a confession, whatever the result, good luck to him. The reappearance of the jealousy trope should hopefully spur him on, as they always do.
I also really like how they bring in the moments that everyone wondered about and turn them around- this week's being ML being late off the starting blocks but still winning, and if course the off-hand food and cooking vlog mentions that came full-circle for her. So well done!!

I still, and will always, have a problem with the hitting, though. If the genders were reversed, it would be labelled as domestic violence, which is what this is anyway. It's no wonder her father couldn't confide in his wife, and I felt so bad for him that even after he confessed, her go-to was her fists. And I FFed through the scene of FL hitting her (brother/ML) to wake him up. Unacceptable behaviour, that I hope Seung Ryu will not continue with her own family.

Also, can I say, Kdramas find the best child actors ever!! The 2 kids are absolutely freaking adorable and I love their scenes so much.

This has turned into a perfect watch for me, because I love the over-arching themes, and it's the only reason I wait for weekends now!

I love that the ex girlfriend’s family name is Jang and she makes onggis and jangs for a living. I’m sure dramas do this all the time and I just miss it because my Korean is so bad!

I love love the bromance between Seung-hyo and Dan-ho! Their scenes together were some of my favorites and I love that Dan-ho already has a good neighborhood friend like he always wanted! So often we don’t really get to hear a drama ML lay out his feelings and experiences like that, so it was really beautiful and sad to know how Seung-hyo has felt all this time. And I was relieved to find that Dan-ho’s weird possessiveness over drinks and candy was a flicker of last week that has yielded nicely to him being his thoughtful, caring, generous self and a fast friend to those around him. Justice for Yoon Ji-on!

It was really telling that when the onggi broke, it broke partly because Seok-ryu doesn’t really know her limits. I’m glad she’s found what she wants to do, but I hope part of her arc is also realizing that asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness, and that she has many people around her that she can rely on when she needs to. For example: her dongsaeng Dong-jin who literally blotted out the sun when he loomed over the scammer! 😎

Best recap quote of the week: "...And that’s why influencers are not to be trusted, kids."
🤣🤣

Highlights for me this week:

✔ Return of kids flashback sequences!:
Said it before in Week 1 and will say it again. The child actor playing Seok-Ryu -- her cuteness quotient is OFF the charts. I predict a great future ahead of her. She lights up my screen whenever she shows up: all chutzpah and spunk and cute -- rolled into one lil furious ball.

✔ Food, glorious food:
Kudos to Beanie who got it right in our highly unscientific Beanie straw poll on SR's dream career! I'm so glad some of us placed bets in that same kitty pot too.

Food plays a central role in this neighbourhood healing drama of families (sorry folks, I am readjusting my expectations down to LOW, so even if the rom tanks, I frankly don't care. As long as everyone is healed and moves on, I am happy. Romantic woes is frankly #firstworldproblems)

✔ "Seung-hyo’s Mr. Darcy-level family problem-solving" 🤣🤣
Well-played, SH. (5 points for that, I am duly impressed. But minus 5 points for appalling treatment of your best friend & childhood love. So, you're back to zero).

✔ More development of supporting characters & side plots: let's be honest, if they focus on our OTP we won't have enough fodder to last 16 eps, I very much would like them to leverage on the strong veteran cast (who are criminally utilised at the moment) and unfold a more richly layered narrative of healing, generational trauma, and second chances. It still has a lot of potential to get this right

✔ Revenge ensemble pieces: If they keep this up, it may well become my new catnip. We got that last week with the Greip story beat, and now we get it this week with the influencers scam sting op. Tis deeply cathartic I must say and one of the funniest scenes for me was seeing SH unceremoniously trying to plug SR's nosebleed with his expensive necktie (all these preceded by handbag hitting and flying kicks etc), whilst she yelps at livid muscle-man kid brother to "defend our family honour and take revenge!" Then cut to Dong-jin breaking his leg and the reaction shot of SH recoiling. Priceless.

Ok, from the bouquets to the brickbats now...I shalt eschew the ones already brought up by other more eloquent Beanies. I just have one gripe though.

✖ The script has gotten very on-the-nose this week (especially Ep 5)
I was actually shocked that Show literally make characters do a Cliff Notes exposition of what they just showed on screen. (major offender: pottery kiln, here's lookin' at ya!) We're Asians, we understand subtext. Thank you very much.

Did anyone else catch the reference to Something in the Rain/Pretty Noona who gives me Food, when Seok-ryu was serving food to Seung-hyo and she started to say something like "I am a pretty noona who serves..." and Seung-hyo jumps in and says something like 'don't mess with Son Ye-jin? I thought this was a cute reference.

I love this drama!

SH is trying to deal with his feelings for her. He doesn't want to burden her because she still loves her ex-fiancé. And for that, he needs space but SR is everywhere in his life, behind his bedroom window or at his work (day and night). SH is bad at expressing his feelings but I'm happy he's trying to do it with Dan-oh because his parents are so a bad example. Speaking about parents, I don't like how his father is trying to look pitiful when he eats at home. He knew he married a career woman, so either he cooks himself either they hire someone to make food, they're rich after all. For the mother, I wonder if they implied she was cheating or just leaving for work.

I loved the arc with the ex. First, she was great! I love her house, her job and maturity. She didn't try to make SR feel poorly but at the opposite encouraged her to find her new dream.

For SR, she needs her friend in her life and doesn't want him to move away like when he locked himself in his bedroom in the past. It's why she's so busily barging in this life.

It's interesting he told her they needed to put some limits to keep their privacy and she accepted it a little bit.

Her mother is dragon and it's sad her family is afraid of her. She really needs to take the time to let people to talk to her instead to judge and and punish. It was nice to see everybody on the same side to avenge the father.

There a lot of small moments that I really liked like Pretty Noona's reference, SH's gaze at the end the episode 6, SH's unfazed father at the hospital with the 2 bickering, the tie to the rescue, SR's joy to every moment with food, etc.

This show has seriously lost me this week.
I could go with it last week, even with the badly written company part, because despite the bad writing it was possible to connect on an emotional level with the FL and what she went through there.
But this week? Both leads have become seriously unlikeable to me. She's pouting all the time or OTT excited or not understanding what people around her are showing with their behaviour, and he's like a grumpy old man. Her becoming a cook was hinted at from a mile away and not convincingly executed (just look at how she handles vegetables when she tries to chop them!). The whole storyline feels like it has been slapped on the story afterwards because they just left it blank in the script until someone would be coming up with a solution. And if you find yourself in a professional cooking class: cover your hair! Don't let it hang openly over your shoulder so that it can cause an incident for real that Dad was scammed with! And don't get me started with that storyline. Why doesn't turn Mom to her drums anymore when she feels the urge to hit someone? Could all these people please stop hitting others and screaming and going uninvitedly through other's drawers?
*catchesbreath*
Sorry but I had to let this out...rant is over now. ;o) I'll drop this show right now, this is just too frustrating to watch. But still interesting to see the range of opinions on this!

I am the only one finding strange and concerning that Mo Eum wants to be friend with a 5y-old ?

Thanks @missvictrix for this recap that is more ordonned and well paced than the drama.
Though it is not a case-of-the-week drama it does feel like it with Greif last week and Appa's difficulties this week expedited in rapid strokes. Now that we know how it is, let's consider it a feature more than a writing weakness.

Bravo to the beanies who suspected the food dream and the connection between the little girl and Dan Ho. You are very very observant !

Does Seung Hyo avoindance and sulking count as noble idiocy or idiot idiocy ? Even after his helpful ex told him in plain letter, he is still repressing himself. Maybe he needs to overhead a discussion where Seok Ryu says that she wants him to be a lifelong subscriber ?

Several plotlines I don't care for:

The 10-20-year plotline where one lead can't express how they feel to the other because of..... If you can't express your feelings in that amount of time it is very hard for me to buy you are interested in the first place. You are using missed timing as an excuse.

The he is mean to her because he likes her plotline. These people are in their 30s not kindergarten. This points out to me how emotionally stunted the person is and it's abusive behavior when it involves someone in their 30s. Also, not buying the he's confused about his feelings.

Finally, the inability to set boundaries with the ex who always seems to pop up out of nowhere in K-dramas trying to get back what they gave up. This is very boring when constantly repeated as a plotline and everyone can predict the result.

I am more interested in what's happening in the families than the potential relationships at this point.

"The Jerk Next Door" would have been a better title. I would have been better prepared for the ML's obnoxious behavior.

Ladies and gentlemen, a third "single dad with cute daughter" has hit dramaland...

I wish that Seo Ji-hye was part of the main cast. I love the actress and I love her character on this drama...

I do feel like that the leads should probably stay friends, and I'm more enamoured with the second couple, but overall I'm one of the 5 ppl here who like this drama!

The worst kept secrets are finally revealed with not much fireworks: Seung-Hyo’s first love and Yeon-Du is Dan-Ho’s daughter.

The “first love” trope is one of the most unimaginative story lines in k-dramas. This one is par for the course. But we learned that Seung-Hyo “could” and did move on by dating Tae-Hui (at first I did not recognize Seo-Ji-Hye). Mo-Eum has known about it for forever, but apparently stayed on the sidelines to let it ferment like century old soy sauce.

Apparently, Seung-Hyo is a better detective than architect, easily taking down youtube blackmailers. Apparently, the overt lesson from the writer is that despite hardships a normal life is a everyone’s dream. Ohhhhh . . . . K?

For another week, the child actors continue to shine. Why doesn’t a network do a show just with child actors instead of the boilerplate adult rom-com situations?

I too am one of the few who is really enjoying this show! That does not mean that I am not yelling at the characters while I am watching!!!!! I wanna do that Korean forhead finger snap on some of them. I just can't believe at this point our lead actress has not figured out that he really likes her and the letter was no a joke( forhead finger snap ) Yes, he is being too mean to her ( forehead finger snap) . Looking forward to next week when the ex fiance shows up. This shall be interesting and I am sure I shall be vocal about it while I am watching it. My Korean husband laughs at me ( me= American).

I'm starting to feel frustrated and disappointed with this show. It's certainly not awful, but it's not nearly as engaging as it seemed it would be at this point in the story. During the first two episodes, I saw chemistry and liked the banter between the leads. Yet since then the chemistry has basically disappeared (these are two beautiful people, but there's no spark between them, imo) and the banter has turned into very juvenile and sometimes borderline mean sibling-like squabbling. Although the ML has been in love with the FL for years, sometimes I question whether or not he even likes her. Also, it pains me to write this as a huge JHI fan, but both his performance and character seem flat. I did like the ex calling out Seung-hyo for his immaturity--I understand him initially feeling sad and even annoyed by the fact that Seok-ryu continues to have feelings for her former fiance, but his extended brutishness about it was extremely unappealing and childish for a man in his 30s.

I guess I'm also finding it hard to believe that if Seok-ryu truly never had romantic or sexual feelings for Seung-hyo (and it seems like that's what the show is saying) that she would develop them now. Seems like that ship sailed long ago for her.

Finally, I was not a fan of Mo-eum yelling at Dan-Ho in the hospital. First, it was the completely wrong time and place for her to do it, but more than that, it really wasn't her place. If the hospital had had concerns about a five year old (who looks at least 10, btw) being left alone in the house, they would have called a social worker and/or the police to question the dad. A paramedic, even one who shares with the dad the same taste in soda and lollipops, has no role to play in this scenario. Plus, she didn't even ask a clearly devastated Dan-ho what happened, and if she had, she would have learned that he had no idea his daughter had been left alone by the caregiver. These two were cute at first, but just like the leads, all the sparkle seems to have been erased.

Hope it gets better next week.

To me, Love Next Door is a keeper with these latest episodes. I dropped Dr Slump and Samdalri at Ep 4 and Ep 2 respectively. It is still uneven - not a surprise now that I know the writer wrote HTCCC.

The two families - plus the second couple and their families - are the emotional anchor of this story. SH has A LOT to lose if his confession turns south. He is like a surrogate son to SR’s parents from them he finds family warmth. Losing that connection is something he cannot risk. In many ways, SH and SR are the very products of their parents. SH is intelligent like his parents but much more reserved than SR who is simply a carbon copy of her mom. There’s not much point for us to argue their strengths and weaknesses because it’s been pre-determined LOL. Look at SH’s father, you can understand why SH struggles to confess.

I can’t say whether I’d still like this drama if SH and SR are played by other actors. Jung so-min is pitch perfect in this role whereas this is my first time seeing Jung Hae-in in a romance (and he’s excellent in DP and Prison Playbook). They have a very natural chemistry that is adorable.

After this week’s episodes, I can’t help but thinking Past Lives - Celine Song’s exquisite movie with Teo Yoo and Greta Lee that was nominated for (and won) so many awards, including an Oscar nomination for best movie in 2023. They both have this childhood friends morphing over time to ‘what’ theme. Past Lives’ main story happened over three days after Teo Yoo decided to meet up Greta Lee during a trip to the US. Despite the separation of 20+ years after Greta emigrated to the States, thus separating these two childhood best friends, the deeply ingrained of how they feel for each other is mutual and palpable but yet extremely restrained - because the girl is now married. They have different boyfriend or girlfriend over the years but timing has never been right for them to be together. The drama and that movie are very different of course but somehow SH’s role is so similar to that of Teo Yoo. I’d recommend anyone who’s interested to explore this theme to check out Past Lives which is available on a number of platforms.

Thank you for the recap! I waited a few days to watch these episodes. I came away a lot more satisfied from these than from the previous week's episodes. I know that writer credits on these shows credit one person, but it often feels like a team of writers who are all mad at each other and wrestling for dominance.

There were many minutes in these episodes of me cooing at the screen. I really loved the ex-girlfriend. I love how Seung-hyo expresses his love for Seok-ryo by getting angry with her when she gets hurt. How dare she think that breaking a giant handcrafted traditional ceramic jar and wasting the food in it is important? Why does she even care about a silk tie! How very dare she!

I'm happier with the characters of Mo-eum and Dan-ho this week, too. Yoon Ji-on is always ready to show vulnerability and tears, and I'm glad that the casting director is taking advantage of that this time without making him play a gay or mentally ill man. I feel like he got typecast as a sympathetic queer-coded villain because of his excellent crying. It's much better to see him crying over his daughter. Both he and the little girl playing the daughter absolutely killed it in their scenes together.

I love the characterization of Seok-ryo's parents. The last scene with them of episode 6, the speech that her mom gives, "We will go together," was just excellent. I teared up when I watched it, and watched it again to tear up again.

Anyway they kept me happy to be watching this live for another week. I have another big busy weekend coming up and I hope some new business during my days, so maybe I will have to delay watching all these lovely shows! Here's hoping.

I dropped this after episode 5. There's something not clicking , I can't really explain it. Maybe it's the subtitles, I don't know for sure, but most of the dialogues sound too contrived and sometimes cringeworthy to me. I rolled my eyes at the ex's entrance. Even the older cast can't save it I'm afraid. Sadly, pass.

UGH, I've just realized from the commets that it's the same writer of Home Town Cha Cha Cha. Now everything makes total sense. This thing is a mess and now I know it won't get better.
I could try to stay for Jung Hae In, but he is not great in this and his character is just awful. Hugh, the disappointment.

oh dramabeans, i have been reading your recaps/reviews for so many years now and i still enjoy every article. thank you for being a super fun pal. reading your articles feels like watching the episodes with a kdrama bestie. thanks so much!

I have to say, I have mixed feelings about this show every week. It's like they give the romcom parts to one writer, and the other parts to a different writer, and none of them are on the same page as tone/overall arc, etc. Take the whole "cooking is my dream" thing....I know the FL had made something for ML earlier, and he loved it, but you couldn't have read something more into it, because it might be his biased opinion. And i know they also showed FL having some kind of cooking channel, which was fine, but it seemed like neither of her "bosom buddies" or family knew about the channel. Then...how about showing that while FL was laying around unemployed, the only thing that got her out of bed was the idea of making something. The writers could have shown her literally "coming awake" when she walks into the kitchen and seeing the ingredients in the fridge. They could have shown that she made all these dishes and put them in the fridge and each of her family members ate it thinking the mother or father made it and saying how delicious it was. They could have even shown "flashback" scenes from her life in the US when she would come home tired after work, yet she would make food to de-stress. That would have shown that the FL always had a passion for cooking and what she thought she was doing just as a "stress reliever" was good enough to be made by a professional chef. So, I do not connect with her sudden realization of her "dream", because it really comes acress as sudden and just something she did when she found some cool ingredients (ie, aged soybean sauce) and made a dish and since everyone praised it, she decided to be a cook (just like how her friend said FL liked getting compliments on her studying more than being first in class even!).