This review may contain spoilers
Slow comfort?
Well, the sub-genre of the show is not new. Like welcome to samaldari . Problems in life, kids come back home, they have a village full of support system. Everyone has their own problems and grudges, and everyone gets angry at each other and solve each others problems, sticking to each other when times get tough.Considering that the title if "love next door", and one assumes that it is romantic and not famial love or community warmth, i feel like this drama really decenters the main leads romance. I would rather say that they main leads are each others support system. The romantic feelings dont really come out till even ep 6 or 7. and nothing productive happens about it, even 2 sided acknowledgement till ep11. This drama is slow burn ultra pro max.
Its not bad at all, there are many sub-plots and the side characters are all of veteran actors who we've all seen somewhere before.
One may want to watch it for its community warmth, but the drama was too melodramatic for me to be healing. Im sorry but i dont consider alzhimers (probably), or cancer or even the threat of those looming around be an environment that i could relax in. Both our ML and FL have their own set of family issues to deal with. Distance in marriage, lack of work life balance, financial stress, health issues, inferiority complex in male breadwinner. And while i think that regret among family members (parents) was shown, it was too wishy-washy, abrupt and swept under the carpet. It didnt have that feeling of catharsis at all. The moment such situations happened, the tone of the drama suddenly lightened up, out of nowhere. And when your finally beginning to laugh and have fun, ur hit again with something sad, that cant be taken lightly. It all gave a whiplash and stressed me out. The pacing is also very slow. I found myself skipping large parts ahead. There was a lot of filler content.
Things i liked:
-the ML and FL's acting. Like i said, the main leads go through a lot, or express and admit that they have been through trauma, and the other appears to be there for the other (there is span where the ML is going about being very rude to the FL but for the sake of writing something +ve we're gonna overlook that).
-The FL bff. The 2nd leads? I was actually more invested in their romance. the 2FL is also very level headed character, as a member of audience sometimes her dialogues were my thoughts. I also really liked how they put a light focus on her work as a paramedic. It was cool. Paramedics are cool.
-Lavender group or suk sisters. They were cute.
You should watch if:
-You are new or ok with the tropes of this sub genre.
-Are ok with very slow almost non existent romance.
Its actually not bad at all, theres nothing majorly problematic. I just found the way they went about various challenges extremely distasteful. If the cast hadnt been so good at acting, and i hadnt seem shorts gushing about this drama i wouldve dropped it at ep 1. I wished they couldve focused more on such family issues which they put in so much large qty in the drama with some depth , and added some nuance and resolution.
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Sweet light romance
If there was a parallel universe with ML and FL from LLG being their most happiest lightest versions this drama would be it.the plot is very everyday like. its a drama you can trust to not get on your nerves, not raise your BP.
Pros:
- Silent ML, very very supportive of FL. ultimate wife lover. Blossom grade.
- FL is very "feminine". she behaves exactly like one would expect a child left alone in wealthy estate to grow up would. She wasnt ever mistreated, always pampered, but one can always sense the unsureness and lack of security that comes with having lack of elders in family around to look for reassurance.
- FL has lot of sismance.
- ML lot of bromance, he has his own bro gang
- FL supportive father. very green flag.
- FL not mistreated by step members in family - or dealt with swiftly.
- even the most high stakes situations viewers get the idea that everything shall be ok
- Smart and supportive emperor......very big green flag for drama in CDrama
- interesting side characters' romance
Cons
- can be not engaging. too light weight.
- the FL got a lot of hate for being too girly and prissy. i got a lot of 2nd hand embarrassment at times. "reputation" and "narrative" are significant matters to her. she wouldnt exactly smack someone she didnt like, but would make it explicitly clear in very polite ways. very feminine indeed. buut i dont mind. thats just her character charm.
- misunderstandings bet ML and FL. there is a very humorous take on relationships. like "make a fool out of yourself in front of your loved ones". the misunderstandings dont amount to great damage (if any), but they are present in quite a few number. little cringe at times.
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Boring
I havent read the original book series.For the show as a standalone, I found it very hard to sit through. The central romance plot is a guessing game/ misunderstanding. In this quest sometimes it seems as if the FL is trying to scam the ML. This plot point was dragged throughout the show, when they should have wrapped it neatly earlier on and then focused on something else. And the score make everything worse, adding a 'humour' sign to everything. I was cringing and face palming almost the entire time. There was a lot of 2nd hand embarrassment that i felt because of the FL. Someone had commented that the title of the series should have been "only For Work" instead, and i agree. The makers tried to portray FL and ML as aspiring hard working career driven people, and so the viewers have to sit mostly scenes about their projects, and work related drama. It seemed like how they show random hello world code and keyboard tapping to represent programmers and hackers. aka, im not sure of the credibility of the info, so how is it of any use to me? Is needed tutorial on how to take a business interview, run a large corporation or write a economics article i would be looking it up elsewhere, not watching your show.
We have 3 couples in focus. 3 girl-friends and 3 guy-friends. The friends give wrong advice, and misunderstandings keep getting prolonged. The 2nd lead couple has some commitment issues. The 3FL is a little naïve but has her heart in the right place. There are some other side couples too, and everyone is falling in love.
The FL doesnt really have a personality, she's just reacting to things happening in her life, and taking bad advice from her friends. Its almost as the makers made it such that the target audience may live vicariously through the FL (almost?).
The ML is a kind of secure man, who is very calculative and smart. Which makes the misunderstanding plot device more frustrating because the whole humour point is supposed to be "you thought he didnt know but he knew all along" type. He is a man of a few words, little snobbish. "Always watching you from behind", "got your back" kind of attitude towards the FL. And there is a lot of manhandling in the show. It is supposed to appear romantic.
I gave it a chance only because of Bai Lu and Dylan Wang.
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I found my role model
In Rong Shangbao, I have found my role model. In this life i will aim to earn enough merits to be born in a family like hers if i have to be born as a female in my next life.Jokes aside, the drama is entirely a scheming political drama. If you need a tutorial on how to decenter men in your life, this is the one for you, learn from this FL.
FL is the heir to a large tea company. She is always focused on how to run her business efficiently, and defend it from vultures. It was very eye opening to actually see how a matriarch family would function - even the female servants had self dignity and were never mistreated. very different view from the run of the mill feminist english content . The drama also indicated how even a female centered power structure could be toxic is it doesnt have any guardrails. i really really liked the world building. For a good amount of episodes of the drama, ie during the 1st husband selection arc, the world of the Tea king Rong family is firmly established. During this time, the romance element is very nascent and slow burn. The various conflicts and plots are also slowly building up, and we are given the 1st row view of the web of schemes.
In the second arc, we see the romance between FL and ML being more open. Various conflicts peak, and are eventually resolved. All the sisters too find their partners. The enterprise and family is at peace.
Then comes the 3rd arc, which left many people scratching their heads. However, I think this was what truly peaked the drama and made me applaud it. In the 3rd arc, the setting changes from the female dominated Rong family to the male dominated society in the Capital. We see parallels being drawn and comparisons being made with the Rong family matriarch system. Ultimately it is established that the Rong family system is better not because it has a matriarch, but because of their guardrails - their gender neutrality and sole focus on ability, and freedom. Also low key it indicated that even with its flaws, the rong family is a much better place to be born as a woman as compared to Capital. What was peak for me was the complete ease and confidence with which the FL solved problems in the Capital, far away from her family, in a society where just because she is a woman she would be house arrested. It was in the 3rd arc that now I will roam around wondering "what would Rong Shangbao do in this situation", because altho the 1st 2 arcs were really nice - they were closer to fantasy, the 3rd arc had a more realistic setting.
Other things to like about the drama are:
the costumes are very very beautiful. The sets are also very nice
There is a lot of Tea plantation setting. Very serene and beautiful
The music is very nice
One thing to note is that the personality of the FL doesnt change at all throughout the drama. We are just awed and amazed by how far and deep she thinks and then nod our heads and say "Indeed she is fit to be heir of the Tea king family".
The ML 's character also remains constant - altho various facets of him are revealed with each different conflict /setting. In my view his character is the ideal husband. He isnt a doormat, he has his own ambitions, views and backbone, but he also firmly supports the FL as he can.
My gripes with this drama are:
1. The butler was never reprimanded for the major goof up he did. Dude if you get a letter send to the person named on the envelope!
2. I couldnt find the song played during the ancestor ceremony.
At last i want to say,
Besties may such a love find all of us
I must be going mad saying such things. overwhelmed with feelings and work. Let me go and sleep.
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very underrated- Dont watch the compilation
The storyline is really nice. The main thing that was likable was the backbone of the female lead. I really liked her character. Unfortunately, i watched the compilation instead of the individual episodes, which i strongly do not recommend doing. please watch the individual long episodes from the get go. Towards the end, we see a lots of philosophically charged moments, and i think that this show handled this genre of "im just a character within a story" much much better that even mainstream and popular shows like extraordinary you- albeit lacking a bit in the production quality.We do see some problematic tropes- like forcible kissing and all, but they seem to be used so commonly to depict a 'love-but-hate' relationship that i just skip them. It rare to find a show that doesnt have them at this point.
Daisy Li playing the FL is also quite good- with her performances always being nice. I hope she gets main roles in bigger and better dramas.
Ill admit that i found the ML's performance to be a little woody and not in the same frequency as the FL, but thats ok, cause he's almost a side character, and the story doesnt really focus on him. Although Liu Shang Lin playing Prince Chun, emoted wayy better in the even shorter screentime given to him. idk. The other side characters were ok-ok. FL is the main focus.
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Very Overrated
The story is extremely slow. Nothing actually happens. the length could be restricted to max 3 episodes even with fillers.I think there was a vague concept of how unchecked human desires cause to become monsters (in various senses). But it was not touched upon, at all. There was close to no plot in the show. Everyone was just trying not to get killed. ML's backstory is touched upon a bit, we see the BEGINNING of a character arc towards the end of the show. The whole concept of why ML is special is because he literally has no thoughts, cause his mental health was already very bad, before the pandemic/acopolypse hit. So he doesnt have desires. So he cant turn into a monster. (like go crazy and kill other people)
And reading on the reviews of the following seasons, i gathered that s1 is actually one of the better seasons.
So im gonna stop here.
Theres nothing sweet about this home. It not even homely..
All the side characters (almost all) are killed. Even the ones with interesting backstories and possibilities of role in the story arc.
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