Mark my words. This drama will harvest the most beans of disappointment this year.

https://kdramadiary.com/kdrama-review/love-next-door-tvn/

Please note this is a melo, slice of life with rom and com elements a mix that may not work for everyone. The first 11 episodes lean heavily into family dynamics, poor communication and finding one’s identity, the lighter rom com elements come into play in the last 5 episodes. This has a similar vibe to Queen of tears, Welcome to Samdalri and Dr Slump in that there is a lot more going on than the central love story.

There are no annoying entitled second leads as all the alternative love interests are mature and deal with themselves and their one sided love. There are no stalkers as they use more every day issues to challenge the relationships.

I liked the neighbourhood feel and generally enjoyed the journey over the weeks. The parents had a good amount of screen time as did the child actors so it was nice to see all generations of actors were included. I give it 8 out of 10.

The show premise was OK, the story set up was bad, the execution sloppy, the stereotypes were too stereotype, secondary leads and cameo characters were more compelling than leads; there was a lack of rom and nearly non-existent com with forced melo that suddenly vanishes without a trace. The show's quicksand was to tie everything back the leads' 7-year-old school yard friendship. There were many logical whiplashes like It went from adult friend-zone to end zone. The series could have been better but it turned out average at best.

This drama appears to the blue/gold dress of 2024. If you watch a couple of episodes and you are irritated with the pace, editing or writing, just drop it (unless you like hate watching show, then go for it). If you enjoy the slower pace, slice of life show with people whose relationships with the ones they love being the main problems with no villains, murders, or chaebols, then this show will be a lovely show for you. The acting is great by all, and it provides many poignant moments that are about life with loved ones--whether it be romantic relationships, parents, friends or siblings. You will know if it works for you or not fairly quickly, but if these things resonate, sit with it and it will kindly reward you.

This is the sort of melo family drama with some romance mixed in that is ideal for watching in the background while you knit or cook in the afternoon. It doesn't need a lot of attention and even with the messy storytelling you can easily pick up where you left off.

For a better family melo with rom-com mixed in, go for ROMANCE IN THE HOUSE.

If you have been lured by the romcom label, know that the ROM is feable and the COM mostly physical intercations.
This is a slice of life family melodrama.

Acting is good, good ingredients wasted with a badly executed recipe. I did not drop it because I was hoping until way to late that it will turn funnier, cuter, wittier. It stayed bland as dish without salt. There is no character developement, and too much ppl.

Most of the time, I wonder what is in Jung Hae-in's head when he has to act in such poor script? He has been done more serious roles with heavy script. The script is so bad, the plot is meandering, the characters are inconsistent, the PPLs are so obvious and badly incorporated. It feels the same with the writer's last drama, why she/he still got airtime?? It should be 45 minutes per episode and done in maximum 10 episodes.

One of the major reasons why I dropped the show earlier was due to the parents absolute vile behaviour. I am asian too and I too understand family dynamics and the pressures of being the eldest child. I just could not fathom treating my child the way the mother did. I just couldn't. The leads diminishing chemistry didn't help either.

I liked it a lot. Reply 1988 and GumShoe really nailed what I enjoyed about it.

If you want a romance - this may not be the drama you want to pick up since JHI and JSM's real life chemistry doesn't come through as well through the drama's writing for the romance-related parts. If you want family relationships - while also understanding that family can be like a rose with thorns - then give it a try, since the writing is much better for those parts. It's really more like those 40+ episode family weekenders, but sliced and diced into a 16 episoder.