This review may contain spoilers
Surprised!
I am surprised about a lot of things with Love Alarm. One being it's low rating!
And maybe because the promotions suggests a light rom com sort of drama, which for me was off base...I thought it was anything but...for me it was a surprisingly good and surprisingly sensitive growing up kind of story that also addresses our exponentially growing dependency on anything outside our own guts for affirmation of what we think and feel.
Hurting, learning, accepting and growing...what life's lessons are really all about.
The story arcs of our main characters were full of the complexities we all face in life. They at times handle it like any HS kid would, and at other times they were surprisingly mature in their reactions...just like HS students. No one at a certain age is suddenly what we term "adult" in their reactions to events and issues. Some reviews were frustrated with the characters reactions but when I think back to what I was like at 16 to 19 years of age...I'd be surprised if any of us could say we would have dealt with any of the issues that came up in this drama any better.
Even as adults we stumble through our lives don't we?
I also loved that none of the main characters, actually all the characters, were either "black" or "white"...just like real life, they all were shades of gray so we, in turn, loved and hated them all. Each character in Love Alarm; Kim Jo Jo, Hwang Seon O, and Lee Hye Yeong all deal with their own personal issues just as you would expect they would. Jo Jo's defensive walls dealt with, besides her original horrendous trauma, peer bullying. Seon O who lived an emotionally isolated life dealt with the pain with a devil-may-care flippancy, and Hye Yeong 's feelings of inferiority manifested as a quiet withdrawn young man...I know so many people, myself included who have dealt in the same ways with the same kinds of problems.
Like many I fought her growing away from Seon O ( a little nod to the bittersweetness of "first love"). I at first wanted them to end up together but as I watched I slowly fell truly in love with Hye Yeong and how perfect he ended up being for Jo Jo. In fact I think everyone ended up with exactly who they needed, and thus I was surprisingly satisfied with the end of this drama.
Couple that with a surprisingly good score ( that includes the haunting Blooming Story and wistful In My Little Mind) and for me this drama was a surprising pleasure to watch.
And maybe because the promotions suggests a light rom com sort of drama, which for me was off base...I thought it was anything but...for me it was a surprisingly good and surprisingly sensitive growing up kind of story that also addresses our exponentially growing dependency on anything outside our own guts for affirmation of what we think and feel.
Hurting, learning, accepting and growing...what life's lessons are really all about.
The story arcs of our main characters were full of the complexities we all face in life. They at times handle it like any HS kid would, and at other times they were surprisingly mature in their reactions...just like HS students. No one at a certain age is suddenly what we term "adult" in their reactions to events and issues. Some reviews were frustrated with the characters reactions but when I think back to what I was like at 16 to 19 years of age...I'd be surprised if any of us could say we would have dealt with any of the issues that came up in this drama any better.
Even as adults we stumble through our lives don't we?
I also loved that none of the main characters, actually all the characters, were either "black" or "white"...just like real life, they all were shades of gray so we, in turn, loved and hated them all. Each character in Love Alarm; Kim Jo Jo, Hwang Seon O, and Lee Hye Yeong all deal with their own personal issues just as you would expect they would. Jo Jo's defensive walls dealt with, besides her original horrendous trauma, peer bullying. Seon O who lived an emotionally isolated life dealt with the pain with a devil-may-care flippancy, and Hye Yeong 's feelings of inferiority manifested as a quiet withdrawn young man...I know so many people, myself included who have dealt in the same ways with the same kinds of problems.
Like many I fought her growing away from Seon O ( a little nod to the bittersweetness of "first love"). I at first wanted them to end up together but as I watched I slowly fell truly in love with Hye Yeong and how perfect he ended up being for Jo Jo. In fact I think everyone ended up with exactly who they needed, and thus I was surprisingly satisfied with the end of this drama.
Couple that with a surprisingly good score ( that includes the haunting Blooming Story and wistful In My Little Mind) and for me this drama was a surprising pleasure to watch.
Was this review helpful to you?
