Love Alarm

Disappointing. One of the few where I feel like my time was wasted. Sad.

3/10 is my rating. This is a 2019 South Korean coming of age romance drama. Based on a webtoon of the same name. There are 8, 42-55 minute episodes in Season 1 and 6, 43-71 minute episodes in the 2nd season.

First I will provide a Unique Synopsis then Review
Synopsis

A brilliant student app developer, Cheon Duk-gu (Lee Jae eung) releases an app called Love Alarm that is a huge sensation in South Korea. A heart signal is displayed omn the user’s phone app if the app is active and someone feeling the love is within 10 meters. Kim Jojo (Kim So hyun) is more focused on earning money and attending school than she is in worrying about some app. Besides she already has a boyfriend, Jang Il sik (Shin Seung-ho) and does not want to reveql to him that she does not see him romantically. But things get complicated when she stumbles upon a phone with the app and finds herself caught in a love triangle with the unapproachable god of campus, Hwang Sun oh (Song kang) and his best friend Lee Hee Young (Jung Ga Ram). All the girls hope Hwang sun will set off their love alarm but Jojo and he develop interest in each other at first sight and he only sets off Jojo’s love alarm.

How do things change when technology reveals things that might be best hidden? And what if only one side is hidden?
Review

To say this series was disappointing just barely skims the surface of how awful it turns out to be. It does not end happily in my opinion and what could have been a good story takes a surprising and horrible turn. It made me sad. I would not rewatch it nor would I recommend it. I am baffled how anyone thinks this was a good romance. It portrayed such a twisted sense of what love should be I am still annoyed at the mere thought of this terrible series.
Spoilers


I seriously dislke sad movies and series. Some sad content is okay as long as it is brief and it turns around and winds up happy. With this series, it started with a heartwarming romance between Jojo and Sun Oh and, just when things are going well, they get into an accident and she decides to brutally end it with him. Lie and say she doesn’t care about him at all. It was a pointless break up for very selfish reasons. I thought they made a great couple he was lonely and sad from always being treated like an object by his parents and she was lonely and sad because she was an orphan, whose parents tried to murder her, and her aunt and cousin treated her like a lesser human being. They were able to comfort and provide solace to each other and they were all laughter and smiles when they were together. Their love made sense and was happy. If the show had kept that trajectory and even if they did that stupid break up but they got back together and made up later I would still have liked it. But the writers decided that would be the end of it for them as a couple even though they teased us with the possibility they would get back together. The scene where the Sun Oh’s mom, Jeong Mi-mi (Song Seon mi) talks about Jojo and pretty much points out she is still the one in his heart is pointless because they never get back together.

Another pointless story line was the whole conflict with Jojo’s best friend, Kim Jang go as they never reconciled and she just disappeared from the story line with no resolution on her crush nor the rift in their friendship. No big point to having either the best friend or ex boyfriend characters. Unless the point of thise two characters was other oeople thought Jojo could be a jerk, because later I wound up thinking so too. The way she ended her relationship badly with her boyfriend, Jang Il-sik (Shin Seung Ho) was a good indicator of the way she did things, If she decided it was over she did not care who got hurt.

Many commented that Sun Oh betrayed his friend when he went after the girl he had been crushing on for a long time. Hee young had been around Jojo because he liked her and would deliberately do things to bring himself into her presence. But that was it. He never acted on any of that and it made his admiration for her seem very shallow. Sun Oh asked him multiple times if he liked Jojo so he gave him ample opportunity to say he did and act on his feelings. So I wasn’t bothered by that because I felt Hee young had his chance and never took it. Just liking someone does not put your mark of ownership on them in my opinion. Those feeings have to be expressed and reciprocated.. So, I did not fault Sun Oh for liking Jojo and following through with his feelings. I found it incredibly sad that such an unlikable female lead became the one to create a large rift in the brotherly like friendship the two men had. Once again how lonely for Sun oh to lose his friend who eased his loneliness.

That whole “shield” so the other person cannot see how you feel about them thing just ticked me off. It was an incredibly selfish thing to know how the other person felt but have that shield deceive the other person into thinking you had no feelings for them. The fact that Jojo used that showed how selfish in love she was. She was perfectly fine with them exhibiting their feelings for her. Even reveled in it. But she was okay with never showing her feelings and being dishonest with them about why. Okay you cannot get the shield off your phone but how about you tell the other people you have the shield? It was selfish, narcissistic and made me not like her character at all. Oh I am so damaged I cannot show love even if I feel it? Find a shrink lady and quit using people to make yourself feel better.

One reviewer said all the relationships were very superficial. I have to agree. The software developer, Cheon Duk gu (Lee Jae-eung) liked Jojo’s cousin, Park Gul-mi, (Go Min Si) because she was pretty. And really that could be the only reason because she was an awful person. Hee young liked Jojo from afar, until they got deep in their relationship he only ever liked what he saw of her and it didn’t seem like he really knew her. The influencer that loved Sun oh, his new girlfriend, Lee Yuk-jo (Kim Si eun) did not need him to reciprocate which means she was with him for other reasons. Maybe the optics?

The one sided love thing portrayed as romantic was annoying. It was not romantic that Hee young loved Jojo from afar and was willing to be with her even though she said she may never ring his love alarm. That’s okay babe I will just continually stroke your ego by ringing your love alarm all the time. I found that disgusting and selfish of her. Sun oh found the love of his life in Jojo and you had the sense he would never love anyone else that deeply. He seemed sad and unhappy in the “fake” life he was living with hus new girlfriend. All of that being in the spotlight and objectified was exactly what he hated and found lonely in his childhood. But now we are supposed to believe that he will grow to love someone where he did not have those feelings in the beginning, when you are most likely to feel romantic love? So I did not find it romantic that eveyone woud up in these one sided love relationships and we were expected to believe the love would grow and everyone would wind up happy. That so rarely happens you can say it doesn’t happen. The person who loves more winds up hurt and emotionally starved all the time. The person that does not have that romantic love feeling feels guilty for being unable to feel that way about the other person. Love is not something that can be manufactured or forced. So I seriously disliked that this series tried to romanticize such a deeply painful and harmul relationship dynamic.

I could go on and on about how horrible this series was. But, to sum up my discontent, they Netflixed it, the female lead character was unlikable, everyone winds up in superficial substandard relationship and they lied about love. It made me sad for Sun oh that he ended up with someone he was not deeply in love with (they would have made awesome friends, Jojo is taking advantage of Hee young in a relationship where the love balance is so horribly off just to gratify herself and feel safe in the relationship. The horrible cousin winds up with a chance to be with the software developer who she treated like dirt early on and she never changed to become a better person. I strongly disliked every outcome. I never thought there would be a situation where I would be unhappy the second guy got the girl but they made it happen. Those two being together just made it so everyone would wind up miserable.

#KimSohyun #JungGaram #HwangSunoh #GoMinsi #LeeJaeeung #SongKang #KimSohyun #JungGaram #LoveAlarm #GoMinSi #LoveAlarm2 #SongSeonmi #JeongMimi

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The only good thing about this is the OST

Review for both seasons !!! This drama managed to contain everything I hate in a love story:
- love triangle ✔️
- two best friends fighting for the girl ✔️
- asshole guy stealing the girl from his nice friend who liked her first ✔️
- girl immediately liking the asshole guy over absolutely nothing (but his looks I guess) ✔️
- dumb miscommunication which breaks them up✔️
- time lapse ✔️
- the miscommunication is cleared, but they have moved on and do NOT get back together, the main couple changes ✔️ (I love second-chance romance :( )
- bittersweet ending ✔️


Basically, I hate love triangles cause they're always a mess and bittersweet. I especially hate them when the MC changes throughout the story. I can't ship one couple and then ship another, I just can't.

The only good thing about this is the OST and maaaybe the character development of the heroine, coming to terms with her past.

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Wasted potential

A lovely premise, very original. But I speak as someone who soley watched the drama, and not the webtoon.

The main character is plain, and doesn’t seem to particularly have anything going for her, she is a walking cliché (and although I love clichés, this wasn’t it). I did find Song Kang’s and Go Min Si’s characters much more interesting but that didn’t really matter.

To put it plainly: It sucked.

The first 2 episodes pulled me in, the other 12 repulsed me. I honestly don’t think I even watched the second season properly, I did want to finish it to give it a chance but I do regret it now.

The actual ending? A shit show, I don’t think I rooted for JoJo any less than I rooted for GulMi or actually any character in the show. Everyone was so inherently dislikable even though the writers tried hard to condition us to like JoJo.

I personally don’t think its a good drama, and definitely not worth the wait and hype for the second season.

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Blech - read Crime and Punishment instead. it's a fun read comparatively

Actor who plays ML has the dubious distinction of being in two of the worst Chinese dramas I have ever seen: Nevertheless, and this piece of garbage.

Utterly depressing story about how people are so dependent on apps to tell them who they like, that they don't even think for themselves. After they kiss in the alley upon meeting (gross) they have to check their love alarm app to see whether they like each other. They are relieved when the app tells them what they want to hear. More storytelling that is complete crap. Not a love story, not "feel good". You will leave feeling completely depressed, hopeless and broken hearted.

SPOILERS AHEAD
2ML "loves" FL from afar for years but never even speaks to her. He tells his ML friend/brother new on the scene that he likes her. So ML goes for it. Then the checking of the apps begins.

FL bullied and abused by her cousin for no apparent reason. Aunt hates her and abuses her and treats her so badly that she doesn't even feed her. She lives with them because her parents died in a fire. Cousin likes the ML and to break them apart, she threatens to reveal FL's "dirty little secret": that she failed to drag her parents out of the fire when she was 5 years old. And this "dirty secret" will apparently mark her as evil. Are the characters completely stupid? How is this a character flaw? The abuse is so relentless that FL feels "forced" to dump her boyfriend so that cousin will lay off her. Storytelling is complete crap.

Then there's the "love" story. She breaks off with him, resulting in us watching the ML being completely broken for years. At the end he can't love anyone else.

In the end we're supposed to have hope that maybe this broken ML can somehow love because the FL eventually found love even in this dystopian, depressing, tragic show.

END OF SPOILERS

I beg you to spare yourself. I wish I had.

Music, didn't pay any attention to it, so just gave it a 3.

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It's Dry ...

I watched both seasons for the sake of trying to understand why the heck this was popular enough to get a second season and I don't understand it.

The Story: It had so much potential. it really did. I have not read the webtoon and I don't know if it differs or goes more in depth, but for eight hour and a half episodes, I really expected more substance. There's zero character development. You're just assaulted with characters and their trauma and expected to know who, what, where, when, and why. It makes for a very awkward and dull drama. You don't get a chance to love, hate, learn to love a character.

The acting seems forced and fake. I didn't feel there was any chemistry among any of them.

The music was OK. It seemed a bit out of place to me, but it was decent.

There is zero rewatch value for me. Even as background noise, I'd tune it out.

Overall, I am curious to read the webtoon to see if I'm missing anything that would make the drama make more sense or give me a sense of the character/story. As for the drama, it's not it.

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How to Fall in Love?

I watch this with zero knowledge of anything. The premise is really inviting. I was drawn by curiosity of how this world would become after the breakthrough of love alarm technology. How it would effect our normalcy. How to fall in love.

Story
It's originality and storyline is intriguing. The story was unfold pretty slow but still acceptable. What I love the most is I was being misled the whole time but in a good way. Just like the app invention that I thought would bring a great outcome for many, however it speaks differently to the main characters. The story cleverly written to paints us this picture perfect illusions of what love means when in actual reality it doesn't work that way. Love works differently for everyone. That one app doesn't have the absolute answer for all, and certainly not for the FL.

This drama really push the usual kdrama cliches on romance. Yes, it's a pretty long and crawling journey but it's getting there. Finally a drama that pushes normalcy into building a relationship. How FL finally breaks her barrier and pushes through the wall that everyone else is trying to forced on her.

What's with all the hate and backlash that this show is receiving? Just because the final outcome doesn't go your way? LOL. I guess some are missing the point of the story. How FL was being forced into a situation. A situation that she still perplexed and having trouble to understand. The whole first kiss drama is supposed to represent WHAT NOT TO DO in starting a relationship (Ooops sorry to stranger). Heck in any situations. It's a big NO-NO. But the reaction from everyone else speaks differently from how I felt. Am I sane or everyone else is crazy?

Cast
I hated that rich guy. I found him to be annoying as hell. The character is unbelievably self-centered and obnoxious and I found it so alarming that almost everyone else seem to love him. Is it just because of his looks? If it is, that is pretty messed up.

FL is convincingly troubled and I sometimes annoyed by her reactions to all the shenanigans that she had to put up with. But her character growth really speaks volume and I really love her towards the end when she finally stand up and has the courage to pursue what she feel, regardsless of the app.

The actual ML is the star here. He is the one that kept me on the show. He is the embodiment of 'How to Fall in Love' done in a sane way. Meaning; no force, no manipulations, no app, no agenda, no bs and no strings attached. It's about time that falling in love was shown in the purest way.

Overall casts are pleasantly good and pretty believable. The schools, the parents, the office are well portarayed as normal-no-that-perfect vibe. It's decent.

Music
The theme song is really captivating just like the app. Really draw your attention. I was spellbound.

As always; Would I watch it all again?
Yes.

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S1 is overhated

FYI: this review contains my thoughts on S1 NOT S2!!!
First of all it seems that y'all assume that S1 was as bad as S2 but that is FALSE INFORMATION! S1 was still watchable and kind of entertaining which is why I'm doing seperate reviews! I was actually kind of hooked at the beginning because the concept was original. I remember the visuals being kind of good too. Like it was just a vibe and I was rooting for the ml and fl! They kind of lost me in the second half when they actually got together because I could tell it was just visuals and vibes and there wasn't really a storyline! The love triangle was annoying asf too. The acting was not good and kind of started the song kang hate train for a reason! The fl's acting was just as bad. But at the end of the day this is just a cute rom-com and definitely could be a cute rewatch without S2!

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it sucks so bad

this has beeen one of the first kdramas i’ve ever seen in my life and i have to say i’m so disappointed by the story itself.
I must admit i am a very huge song kang fan and i was so upset to see the protagonist chose the other guy (sorry i don’t remember the names) because su-ho love for the protagonist was genuine and true, i can’t understand why she chose the other guy.
i cried at the end of the season because of how disappointing it was.
It was also kinda boring i remember falling asleep and noticing that the story remained the exact same, so it’s kinda stupid??
I DONT RECCOMMEND IT 0/10

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This show really made me upset in that it was seeming to go pretty well, but then the story got super lost.

While not realistic, the start of their relationship was super cute and exciting and I was excited to see where things were heading. The story of her past and her parents was brought up, but never really done anything with? Same with his backstory with his mom. It's brought up, but never done anything with.
It just drops all the major plot points brought up in the first 6 episodes or so and changes it with a car crash. I literally could not even tell if she had amnesia or it jumped forward in time.. It also made absolutely no sense the way this "time-line" plays out. They just have sudden memory loss and his "best friend" comes and basically tricks JoJo because he knows everything and she doesn't. It's really messed up, but even Sun-Oh was the same way to him in the beginning of the show.
Most of the background characters are really annoying and sort of frustrating. Gul-Mi is so insufferable and I could hardly watch any scene that she was in. She blamed JoJo for her parents wanting to literally murder her and them having to take care of her? Also tried to get with Sun-Oh any way that she could, if she could spill a secret she tried. She went out of her way to be a horrible person to JoJo and Duk-Gu. His backstory is another that drops off as well. It's insinuated that he created Love Alarm, but never brought up again. Him and Gul-Mi's story never goes anywhere either from what I've watched - which is slightly disappointing because it could have been something to make her character actually a little likable.
Just too many plot holes and too many things that didn't make sense at all. It could've been really great.

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"Love Alarm" season one or part one if you prefer, set a strong start for the love story , that will hopefully won't get stuck into cliches and get boring.

For now, the story was pretty good. The love alarm app was a bit confusing at first, but it quickly got clearer as the drama progressed. The part with the school love story was cute, although the begining of the romance was awkward. Still, the love triangle was strong and it only seems to get better and better in the second part.

The performances were really good, moreover. Plus the leads had nice chemistry between them. However, there were some parts that were just too predictable and common in korean dramas.

So, overall, seven out of ten.

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A Pack of Criticism Wrapped in 'Uncooked' Romance

This review is written solely depended on the drama since I figure that there is season 2 in the making (supposed to be released two weeks ago?) and based on a webtoon.

I love the premise! Love Alarm represents a concern and also a social condition where 'digital era' is one step ahead of people. This time, the technology is taking over people's feeling and make it visible through others by the presence of Love Alarm. The procedure of the app is still unknown for me, but the time I know how it works I am sure that its function to manipulate people to rely on it is damaging. I love the tone of the drama changed after the fast-forwarded scenes.

HOWEVER. I feel that the love story brought by the presence of the app is still lousy. The characters are still pretty much flat and cartoonish. Jojo with her naivety, Sunoh with his selfishness and Hyeyeong is just too kind...so does Dukgu. And Gulmi, she is pretty much an antagonist to hate here.

Jojo's feelings don't have basic ground. Her background story doesn't motivate her to do something. As if victim-blamed, she's just embracing her deeds just as it is. I thought there will be development about it. And then Sunoh, he may look like the main character everyone is rooting for, however, he is too self-centred to be called a protagonist. His good looking persona seems like taken for granted here so he can do things he wanted (pushing over Hyeyeong and Jojo, and rebelling without valid reasons). Hyeyeong and Dukgu here are collecting sympathy from the audience, I kind of feel sorry for them....as if their character here is only for the main characters to be happy and feel good. Again, the class problem seems apparent here for creating distance between the characters instead of as a reason for them to struggle to fight it in the name of their feeling.

Looking forward for the next season to confirm the next story and closure of this series. It ended nicely to continue in next season.

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