Love Alarm Season 2

I liked

I must say that I generally liked this second season more than the first and these are my reasons:
1. The female character had a good development in this season, while in the first one she was always closed to what she thought was "right" without overcoming her traumas.
2. The male characters also grew and in this season we get two totally different male protagonists.
3. I feel that the female protagonist stayed with who was the best option for her, since that character grew along with her.

4. Also the change from school to a life outside of it, makes the drama itself should be more mature and I think people were expecting something more of school and it is something that could not be given by the context.
Overall it had a good closure in all the plots it proposed.

NOTE: Can you imagine a series of suspense with the theme of love alarm, it would be good because although it does not touch the subject talks about the extent to which the app tells you that only likes you or that person is obsessed with you.

SPOILER

5. While it didn't stay with who most people wanted, I think it's still a good kdrama, since as I said before there was a better character development, the story is not dramatic, but still intriguing a bit.

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More than I expected and more than welcomed

This was a perfect conclusion to another surprisingly good Netflix Kdrama. The Sci-Fi genre tag got me interested in this drama in the beginning, and then the first season's finale had me invested in what was going to happen next for this alternative universe that was heavily influenced and indebted to an app called Love Alarm.

What I appreciate more than anything is the conclusion and logic making sense until the very end of the show. It was completely rewarding to stick with the show until the end of the second season finale. I'm glad the series is short because it feels like it makes the story better. No excess airtime to waste time and put in red herrings, or smoking guns in the series that takes away from the plot and character's development.

From the outside, the drama seems average. Average cliche stories and character stereotypes with repeated plotlines that we've all seen before. I wasn't expecting much when jumping into it. I just wanted to know how much of an impact will an alternative universe with an invasive but innovative app called Love Alarm will have? The impact was major.

First and foremost, the drama isn't a Romantic Comedy, Coming-Of-Age, or Love Triangle with an emotionally constipated chaebol and the 'nice guy' who is just a friend. This drama is Science Fiction in a way that overshadows the other genres of this drama. It was during the season finale of season one that I first realized that this drama's only important and constant main character is the app: Love Alarm. This drama is about Love Alarm and how it affects society and the individuals that reside within.

There's a time jump in the story and a well-done one at that. It jumps forwards and later reveals important and crucial details that happened in the time jump. The cinematography was perfect, as well as the music and acting from the small cast. These otherwise flat and one-dimensional, trope-like characters were able to showcase deeper and complex emotions and experiences in a considerable amount of time. Worth a standing ovation in my opinion. Everyone has a just end that made sense for their characters' decisions and development. I particularly like the fact that the son and mom of the horrible husband and father politician have a.....mutual understanding and concern for each other despite the trauma and pain they went through in the past together and separately.

There was growth and healing in the drama. A journey of self-identity crisis, self-discovery, and self-love that was missing in a world monitored by an app. The main female, JoJo was able to make peace with herself and heal from her Survivor's Guilt that she carried with her since she was a young girl. A tear-worthy moment at the 2nd season finale in Jeju. It was beautiful and I cried I admit. I think anyone would too after the positive message that was relayed to her by Duk-gu, the founder of the app. I like what he said in the end, that he doesn't regret making the app despite the fact that he didn't directly benefit from it as he hoped. He was glad it worked out for others. However, he realized that too many people were depending too much on an app and not their own instincts and feelings. What I got from that was the idea to always seek out companionship and connection in person as well and not just through algorithms suggested through an app. There's always room for error in science because science is man-made and humans make mistakes. Get to know yourself, love yourself, and trust yourself.

I think the great message that I took away from this drama is related to the Sci-Fi genre of the app Love Alarm making decisions for humans that humans can never be able to calculate through science. Love isn't an exact science, just like any area of science isn't exact. Humans are too complicated and complex to be conveniently computed and researched into data.

I'm always down for Sci-Fi dramas and this was a great but wonderful surprise and I would love to see more of this Netflix! You hear me?!?!? Make it happen!

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A good amount of people will hate this but I gotta say.

First of all: the second season is better than the first. Period.

To be honest I've only watched the second season because I was very excited when I've heard about this drama where the second lead actually got a shot. I was sick of dramas putting an unecessary love triangle that everybody knew the second lead had no shot (still suffering from True Beauty). I got through the cringey plot, the corny scenes and problematic characters only for that. In 2019, when the drama was first released, I watched. I barely could finish the first episode of so bad I thought it was. Yes, I did only rewatch the first ep, and then watched the rest of the show (2 years later) due the buzz of the second lead having a shot.

This may escape from being a critical review, it's more like a "defense" of an unjustified attack this drama got. I can't get why people are so in love with Sun-Oh. Is due his looks? (I personally don't find him attractive, neither of both, but I do think in fact Hye-Young is better looking than Sun-Oh). But really, you guys should revalue your concepts, that's not what love is, that's not a healthy relationship, not in terms of friendship or romantic. He only expect and demand from people. He's what we call a rebel with no cause. I've heard one of the reviews saying "Jojo had no regards of Sun-Oh's feelings".... DID SUN-HO HAD REGARDS OF JOJO'S FEELINGS? Hyn-Yeong' feelings, his allegedly bestfriend? His girlfriend who always stood beside him? NOO. He did not have regards for anyone's feelings. Potential? No, he had no character's potential. The writers didn't ruin him, he was already bad written in the first place.

The drama itself only revolves about the relationship between these three. To be honest, it's more Jojo trying to live her relationship and Sun-Oh going after her time after time hurting Yuk-jo's feeling over and over. Interesting enough, I didn't think it got dull to watch, and look, I'm not a very romantic kind of girl, I do think it'd be better if they had a plot beside the love triangle, so many wasted material: Jojo's art thing for instance. The characters didn't have bigger aspirations in life, what Jojo was studying? What Hye-Yeong wanted to do as a career? Many unanswered questions. It had a lot of loose stitches, not gonna lie. But still, I liked watching it, maybe because I was keen of the main couple, they really grew on me. I thought they look good together, it had a lot of cute scenes too. Hye Yeong was always a very supportive and respectful about Jojo's life and decisions, while Sun-Oh would only be shouting at her demanding answers, acting like his life was the worst of all. So entitled, he thought the world was only about him. It truly made my day when Hye-Yeong punched him in the face.

Back to my point, I tend to drift away from my subject. In the second season you're more used to this whole love alarm idea, and you kind get why this is so important for them, although it may seem silly at first. Once you get used and set your mind for this concept, the actions and story becomes better (or at least less frustrating and less: "why they care so much about this?"). Although it could be better developed, there is a message behind it, about the issues/bad side of social media, technology and algorithm.

The OST here is awesome, it really made everything better and more emotional. A lot of depht. As you can read by know, I developed a big aversion of Sun-Oh, however, his last scene with Jojo was very good, very emotional, full of nostalgia. It touched me. People change, the heart changes, love change, life moves on. Another thing that usually annoys me in k-dramas is this scenario where someone you dated for a month in high school and that you're still madly in love and it makes impossible to you to date anyone after that (or worse: to feel you don't deserve love again). Gosh, you're not a penguin, it's not only one love for life and that's it. You can have crushes, you can love again.

Overall, is not the best drama ever, obviously is not. But this season deserves way better. I just needed to say these things. Thank you if you read to this point. :)

*I'm rating this keeping in mind the last season *

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S2 is good, for me.

Love Alarm is not a masterpiece, however, the actors are really good, the music is amazing, I enjoy the production value of most scenes, AND, it stuck to the values of the author, which I respect so much. The author doesn’t owe viewers anything, so the hate she, the drama writers and directors are getting feels a bit much to me.

I guess if you are heartbroken about the pairing you ship, and feeling dead inside, you will find the plot of S2 boring, but, that’s not my case, so I was never bored at all, except for one moment in the last episode where they went all mystic. I never even used the skip 10 seconds button, which is usually used a lot.

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Great Message and break the usual K-drama stereotype!

Tackle the aspect of moving on in life, healing from past wounds, and relying too much on application to determine one feeling.Despite the majority of outrage of the ending of Love Alarm 2. I really enjoy the show for what the message trying to convey.

The Characters

Jojo
This girl really went through a lot and a major guilt complex. Her flaw of running away, "wishy-washy" attitude, and lack of communication with other characters can cause a lot of frustration for viewers. Despite that, I'm glad that she make a decision and move towards being a better person.
For me, the highlight of her character when accepting her past and feeling of heaviness and moving on with life. I'm glad she slowly heals from her past baggage. She's actually my favourite out of the three.

Hye Young
Hye Young character takes some time to grow on you from season 1.He remains to be a patient and respectful to Jojo. His presence brings comfort and serenity to Jojo. His flaw is always sacrificing his feelings for others, which Jojo highlighted on. Moreover, this season briefly touches on his family which adds a nice character to him.

Sun Oh
To be honest for Sun Oh, acts the way he did is due to the lack of love in his family and getting hurt from Jojo. Despite his selfish behaviour I find his character quite endearing.
Though, he continues to act like a brat when things don't go in his way and in the process hurt both Jojo and Yook Jo in the confrontation scene.
I'm glad he gets the proper closure with Jojo in the end and slowly move on to have a proper "fresh start" with Yook Jo.

Gul Mi really grows on me this season. Her bratty attitude is still there but her motives to see the developer is hilarious and ironic. I do enjoy her character this season more.

I find the cast for season 2 shrinks by in size. For the characters, I do enjoy the 3 mains for their flaws and character development.

Cinematography
Continues to be good! The shots are beautifully taken. I stopped several times just to take a screenshot of the beautiful scenes.

Music
The new ost is great! Can't wait for the new soundtrack to be out.

Things I don't like
Several plot points got shafted and barely got enough explanation such as Brian Choo and Duk Gu. It will good to have a further explanation of the apps and their relationship.
Maybe it's just me there's a lack of proper explanation on The Ringing World plot. The stalker guy just got arrested all of the sudden. :/

Some parts of the show feel a bit draggy, this could be attributed to the slower pacing in season 2.

Most of the negative feedback due to the end ship :(

To those who are willing to give this drama a watch, please keep an open mind and try to understand the message and lesson behind it. You might truly appreciate it.

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NOT BIG SPOLIER just a few things you should know before watching thisb drama

This drama was different from the others i usually watch. That's why many watchers are dissappointed in this drama. Well firstly the FL mett her first love in school, then broke up with him and few years later falling in love with his best friend. That would not be that bad but they made whole season 1 and 2 look like she and her first love are supposed to be together. I was very dissappointed in storyline becouse i wanted somebody other to be the ML actually in the end i ended up crying. But i would not put this drama between those bad ones, i would just say it was waaaaay too realistic i mean the romance and for somebody it could be a big dissapointment. So you can try watch it but be aware of the twisted ending.

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Love Alarm could have been so much more than this.

The concept of Love Alarm itself is so intriguing - it's something that would fit right in with the Black Mirror series. However, it only scratched the surface of this amazing concept which is such a major waste. The plot itself was bland, horrible and failed the bring out the potential of Love Alarm and the effects it could have on society. The series was just filled with childish decisions, selfish thoughts, and half-assed feelings.

I did like the ending though, for the most part. I was only able to get through both seasons because of the actors.

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the ending was terrible :) i did not like the ending at all and i can definitely say hundreds of people agree with me because there were petitions for that character to be chosen but the director proceeded to ignore the public. Why on earth would the main lead girl choose him?? the ending just absolutely shattered me Read More

Could have been written better

I was disappointed with season 1 and hope for season 2 to change my disposition. Major changes on a lot of cosmetic touches, lightened up on the back to back misery and hurdles of Jojo, Aunt changed her treatment on Jojo.
What’s disappointing the most is season 1 written that the shield was to protect Sunho who Jojo supposedly love but season 2 betrayed that scene without any explanation. I like underdogs in a series to win the girl when the story flowed to it but this didn’t fit at all.
I also feel bad for Sunho’s current gf where he turned to after being dumped by Jojo. At the end, the way the story is conveyed, Sunho still couldn’t love her but will continue seeing her hoping one day he will. I felt like the girl didn’t value herself much to put up with that.
I skipped a lot and fast forwarded. To me, this didn’t bring a happy ending.

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It's about a mess and nonsenses.

I'm at episode 6 and I need to vent rn.
I really don't like this kind of love triangle.
I almost dropped it when she, then again, changed her mind.
but I'm at ep 6... the last episode so I'll finish it and vent here as I watch and progress in this last one.

Really FL likes to create troubles for nothing... I'm really disliking her more and more rn. She does whatever she wants without a care for the pain she is causing.
And when I think about 1rstML, even if he is the selfish type, my heart breaks.
4 years of rejection, trying to move on but always being reminded what his real feelings are when he rings her love alarm... that's so cruel. Is she keeping it on on purpose?
Don't have as much pain for 2ndML since he knows she does not love him but he chose to stay and be with her, without needing her to ring his love alarm. So yes she was cruel to him too but he chose it.

Let's go for the last episode...

Oh God! she is so melodramatic... But I keep an open mind, people like her exist for real...

She is so selfish. She really does whatever she wants.
And I'm not swallowing her "I regret it every moment but I would do it again because I learned so much about myself"
Girl what did you learn exactly???
What did you learn??? Please give me just one thing. Of course producer didn't gave her this line...
And it's not like there is no other way to learn about oneself but keeping hurting people with bad choices....
At this point she is just childish and ridiculous.

What a headache of a drama.
Nothing makes sense
It was all along about a romance, first season included, but now, half an hour into the last episode, it's suddently about resolving past trauma.

The moral of the story makes no sense for me too.
Yes having suggestions limites people's exploration. But it also limits fails and pain and it saves time. Weighing the pros and cons, theoretical limit of exploration and choices are not a big price to pay.
And it really is just all theoretical.
Because it does not limits people's real life possibilities.
People can look first for suggestions but can also seek hiding gems.
And even if people are focusing only on people suggested by the app, it's their choice to save up time , pain and heartache.
I don't see the issue about it. people liking it, download it, people who want to explore just don't.
Finally if FL didn't download it or delete it when it became a problem (instead of downloading a shield... pff), it would have save us a lot of time.
It's just an app to download or not.
And it's just suggestions for people to follow or not.

And that's the thing in this drama.
The concept, a love alarm, is good but the processing and the storyline are failed.
There are almost no issue there (the real issue for me being the volume of their love alarm notifications...)
Feels like they add the trauma to create issues in the drama.
Same for the shield and the spear....

An other nonsense is that they argue that free will is what's best but loving someone is not bound to be controlled. Forgotten, of course, but real love is not controlled.
So saying that it's her own free will that she loves 2ndML is false since she can't ring his love alarm without a gadget.
That literally means she does not love him.
So please don't say it's because of love.
She choose to stay with him for other reasons. And that's ok in my POV. Some people don't consider love as a priority because they need other things in they life to be at peace. It's ok.
For her it's not love and she did not choose to love him. She choose to stay with him.
It's something else she needs from him and I would totally agree if they said it like that.
People have the right to choose their partners according to their needs, as long as both of them know and agree.

That's really upsetting me.
The moral makes no sense but they absolutly wanted to give us one with a "we can choose who we want to love and not having suggestion broaden the possibilities of free choice and free will... This app is bad."
errr.... No. It can be a bad thing but not because of that.
This app litterally shows you feelings. And you have the right to follow that or not. And that's ok.
There is no bad or good here.

Finally this drama is not a romance
It's an anti romance
Like : with time you can force love...
Even if you love someone who loves you back, you can choose someone else and maybe... with time... and chance... love will probably come. I don't dare wonder what the target would feel if it never happens. A life of "no one likes you in 10m radius". When you sleep beside them... that's so cruel, I can understand why they would choose this path instead of one of the suggestions...
Force yourself.... that's free will.
Yeah yiiiii....
Drop the rate

OMG until the last second they are going to make my blood boil.
I'm going to cry from the stupidity and nonsense.
"Force yourself to eat something you don't like??? because the target likes it???"
I just can't anymore.

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
I thought they could not say anything worse anymore.
But they did...
She's doing a list of things to do to show her "love" (but really you can actually call it attachement)
And he lovelingly adds : "And the more important thing is...."
I genuinely thought he was going to say something like "be sincere" since it was so important to him at the begining of the episode : for her to be sincere even when she does not love him back...
But no, he said :
"You have to say I love you to the other one"
Dude she does not love you!!! Your love alarm will rings at the first milli second she starts loving you but your phone stays silent. What are you talking about?? She didn't kissed you all throughout season 1 and 2. and when you tried to kiss her she took a step back fom you, falling and almost knocking herself out. With the right background music you would have look like a pervert predator in that scene.
I'm about to cry from their stupidity and childishness, but 5 minutes to go so I'm finishing this. For sure if we were mid drama, I would have dropped it, I can't listen to that anymore.

Annnnnnnnnnd in the last 5 minutes, they take us for idiots...
so now, she has a record of her ringings??? well. Good for her, she loves him finally.
She stopped loving him when she was with 1rstML but she loved him again when she was not anymore... make sense...
I don't need this kind of love, thank you. I don't watch romance for that.

Dropping the rating again. This last episode was the worst kind of final episode. never took out so much point on a drama I (kind of) liked because of the final episode.

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