SunOh

“It doesn’t feel like two guys are fighting over one girl. I thought it was not a love triangle. Rather it was just a story about people facing each other. Rather than competing, it felt like expressing and conveying each other’s feelings. It didn’t feel like the typical ‘I’m going to have her!'” - my boy jung ga ram

Jojo had her own journey, her own emotions, her own psychology, so much that was shown that made her easy to understand (it was actually VERY heavy, too...). She wasn't the one who "split a male friendship" (if anyone did it's Sun Oh, but there isn't really such a thing. this is one of the most surface-value takes you can have about the drama), Hye Yeong himself needed independance because the relationship was based on his mother working for his family and Sun Oh was an immature teenager. In the end the meaning of the story was about healing, reconciliation and maturity for everyone (even side characters had great development, like Sun Oh's mother) and as I called it, the drama as a whole was a metaphor beyond a concept. The drama was a parallel to our reality and Jojo was a crucial character from what she proved about the app and people to the new developper who was delusional about 2.0 (how people just follow the algorithm and a program can't replace us because of timing and free will), how her backstory was also tied to the shield was beyond amazing, same with the theme of loneliness as she was tied to that subplot (the build-up to THAT scene, damn), and Love Alarm symbolizing people's loneliness. The shield represented people hiding their feelings while the spear was one's courage to face the weight of love. Meanwhile, she abandoned the plush, and at the same time her inner child which represented her trauma because it was too heavy. The same as she abandoned love later. She also felt bad and didn't blame Sun Oh. This was not about Sun Oh doing something wrong. And yes, Sun Oh never had a bad intention. I'm not going to say I wasn't conflicted about him from the start but this was never a black-and-white drama...

Love Alarm came out as the Netflix-trendy "love triangle for teenagers" and most of those only cared for the looks (Hye Yeong is gorgeous mind you but anyway) and the teenage romance from the beginning. ALL the comments about the drama were about how annoyed they were at the ending and subsequently Jojo. I also thought the subversion of clichés was brilliant (Yuk Jo's softness instead of being a villainous SFL was also refreshing), not to mention that reasons for breakup in kdramas used to be less realistic. (I suppose breaking up because your parent killed the other's would be pretty rare...)

Also, it is quite obvious that many skipped through it.

Season 1 was a base for the plot and the end of it was where I truly started to fall in love with it as the main romance started after Jojo's long isolation. Season 2 had a natural flow and logically way superior. The writing through seasons and the meaning of each (autumn's youth, winter's isolation, spring's blossoming romance, summer's new beginning), the parallels (between both seasons too) and contrasts, the lines, the beautiful narration and internal monologue, the metaphorical drawings, even animated, and the surreal scenes? I couldn't believe it was considered the worst drama... If anything it's better than most. It's rare to find so much symbolism in a kdrama, both visually and narratively. Also, of course nothing more was filmed for the first season's cliffhanger (Season 2 wasn't confirmed and it was unusual for a kdrama) but that was really not needed and what was done was much better as they paralleled the ending scene with the one where they all cross ways.

The more objective criticism tries to imply that the show was poorly thought-out with random and unnecessary storylines but that makes no sense to me. Everything was connected and meaningful, set up from the first season. I don't see how it was going to be anything else either, it's not a true dystopian show (well 2.0 is kinda that) but an alternate reality.

"It was not because of Love Alarm" - Jojo to Sun Oh

Character posters -

Jojo - "I told him for the first time that I like him"
Hye Yeong - "Whether that thing rings or not, it doesn't matter to me"
Sun Oh - "From now on, I'll trust only what your eyes tell me"
Yuk Jo - "I know that feeling of a burning heart, how can I beat that?"
Gul Mi - "Who, me? Why? What about me, exactly?" (our favorite comic relief with whom I had a love/hate relationship)

In conclusion, I found it to be the best representation of romance and Season 2 was CINEMA (though I already loved Season 1's dreamlike atmosphere), so many amazing shots. Which were far, extremely far from being meaningless. It was paintlike imagery level. Hye Yeong and Jojo are my favorite couple of all time, the subtle chemistry they had was a masterpiece by itself and I cried a LOT at the end. I appreciated the mature view of love after their young days and the nostalgic feel, it was a very sweet drama and the complex female lead was particularly compelling. Also the best ending I've ever seen... It reminded me of Melancholia, one of my favorite dramas as well. Love Alarm quickly took the first spot in my heart and how much I connected to Jojo and Hye Yeong made me never forget them.

P.S. I picked this username because of a Korean MMO where my friend named herself Jojo and I liked the name Sun Oh so I kept it, haha.

A fun fact: Song Kang and Jung Ga Ram became close friends in real life and they are both fans of Love Alarm.