Tanky Toon

I think it's less of the fact that he's powerful, but in the eyes of the law he did nothing wrong. Pre-2020, the age of consent in South Korea is 13. in fact, there's a famous case in 2017 where a 42 old man is found NOT guilty for having sexual relations with a 15-year old based on the fact that apparently she consented. So for them, they see nothing wrong with this. Only in 2020, did SK raise the age of consent from 13 to 16. So that's why they are not cancelling his new shows. The only time he can be convicted is if they find evidence that he is complicit in her death, like if he instigated KSR's bullying etc. But unfortunately, bullying (cyber-bullying) is so rampant in SK, that it seems it becomes their national past time. They don't hold these bullies accountable for the suffering of many, including those who committed suicide.

All we can do is boycott his shows, movies, endorsements, and rile against the companies who associate with him like Disney producing his new show, I think we will get more traction that way, and let the money stop flowing into his bank account. Hit him where it hurts, if he can't go to jail, at least him make him broke.

Pre-2020, the age of consent in South Korea is 13. So technically, in the eyes of SK law, they are not doing anything illegal. in fact, there's a famous case in 2017 where a 42 old man is found NOT guilty for having sexual relations with a 15-year old based on the fact that apparently she consented. So for them, they see nothing wrong with this. Only in 2020, did SK raise the age of consent from 13 to 16. One of the clause in Current SK law states that even If you are over 16 years but under 19 years old, then it is not a crime to have sex with a person who is over 13 but under 16 years old. Where I come from, the age of consent was 12 for the longest time until a few years ago. 12!!!! Like I was still playing with Barbies when I was 12, let alone have a relationship with a grown-ass man! This is not the 1800s where child brides were common, so disgusting.

All we can do is boycott his shows, movies, endorsements, and rile against the companies who associate with him like Disney producing his new show, I think we will get more traction that way, and let the money stop flowing into his bank account. Hit him where it hurts, if he can't go to jail, at least him make him broke.

This is where she did not put the same trust in her husband as he did for her. I get it: she was suspicious of the Xu family in the beginning, but I thought after all that time and all the things that Ling Yi did for her, would convince her otherwise. Even when the evidence was stacked against her, he chose to believe his wife. Why not offer the same consideration for him? It’s only right for him to be mad at her for not trusting him.

In several instances in the drama, I also believed that if her mother hadn’t been murdered on the day of her planned escape from the arranged marriage, Yi Niang would have ended up with Shi Xian. Although Ou’s family were vile characters, at least Yan Xing is not.

I think it’s the first time I’ve seen either of the leads in a show, so I have no expectations whatsoever about going into this drama, but I can say that both acted remarkably well. As the stoic general who can fight everyone else but his mother, Wallace Chung brings his serious demeanor on the table when he is supposed to be aloof, and his playful smirk when he is being mischievous. Contrasting him is Tan Song Yan as the cunning concubine’s daughter, who is level-headed even when facing problematic obstacles and who is quite cheeky when dealing with people who try to manipulate her or the situation.

The rest of the cast gave commendable performances as members of the Xu or Ou households, and the actors cast as villains were so despicable that you wanted to gouge their eyes out—they truly embodied their characters. Although the plot is solid and has a lot of interesting narratives, the pacing, however, is quite tepid and slow. There are scenes that are unnecessary and bring little to the drama progression except for filling time.

I ended up not watching this for the romance, but only to see how Tan Song Yun maneuvers herself around sticky situations. I was rooting for her much of the drama except I felt betrayed during one instance. (in the spoiler below)

A lot of the comments I see are those hating on the Mother-in-Law, but I think I’m just so used to seeing more despicable characters that she was tame in comparison. On the other hand, I could not stand Lian Fang a bit. If I had nails, it would be on her face, so good riddance to her. What also pissed me off is the supposed redemption arc of Er Niang. I still don’t think she deserved any type of forgiveness because she was complicit in a lot of inflicting pain against her sister.

Anyway, this is a drama where once is enough. I don’t need to go through it again to know that there are as many shitty people in the world as there are survivors.

I don't have enough time in the world to worry about this when I'm more concerned about whether the neighboring country will trigger an economic crisis in my country. For my part of protecting gay stories, is to support actual production houses that DO produce them, to make more LGBTQ voices heard, like paying to watch Strongberry productions on Vimeo or subscribing to GagaOOlala.

Actions that don't contribute and seem futile like raging against the CCP for banning danmei adaptations, will fall on deaf ears. I'm well and good to be part of agents of change, but when it's heavily stacked against you, the effort will be just wasted. OR you could rage at FilmK Co Ltd, which produces this drama, AFTER seeing what they had to offer. If it's still not in line with your expectations, you can bang on their door all you want, spam this page and downvote it, be my guest. I won't even stop you.

Then watch something else.

whelp ! you just spilled the beans!
btw, I agree that we may be jumping to conclusions without seeing the actual drama yet.

China has done this a lot of times: take a BL manhwa and turned it into a drama with Socialist Brotherhood as MCs, so not surprising that Korea does the same. They already did that with At a Distance, Spring is green. But you may be right and hopefully the initial assumptions that this is not BL will be proven wrong.

Hopefully!!! But doesn't look like there's romance here. Or if there's any, probably minimal

I was Waiting for their pairing but looks like there's no romance here or at least not a main theme

i feel there's more chemistry between the CEO and his secretary. both males, and nearly thought they would end up together. hahaha.

i don't think this is borderline homophobic. in fact, i expected this ending, after having watched "The Butterfly Effect" a long time ago and it pretty much ended the same way, and this was with a hetero couple. Also a lot of popular time travel dramas/movies don't have a have a happy ending and are mostly bittersweet regardless whether it is LGBT or not: Rooftop Prince, Scarlet Heart, A Time Called You, Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo, Someday or One Day, Somewhere In Time, Queen In Hyun's Man, and so on and so forth.

I like Ryan Ding, but not enough to finish this drama coz I can't stand the whiny voice like nails on a chalk board. Sorry not sorry.

What can I say about this show is that it’s unremarkable. I wanted to watch it because of Hwang Min Hyun, who was great in “Alchemy of Souls,” and the premise of someone who can hear through people’s lies, piked my interest. But the execution fell short, perhaps due to the flimsy source material, budget constraints, lack of inspiration, or whatever ailed this sad excuse of a drama that could have been great, but settled for mediocrity.  

As individual actors, Kim So Hyun and Hwang Min Hyun were not too shabby. As Mok Sol Hee, she was spunky and conflicted at the same time because of her supernatural ability to detect lies. It’s no surprise that she has trust issues, which explained her backstory with her previous fiancee.  

On the other hand, the male lead was as mysterious as he gets, hiding his identity from almost everyone because of a past incident that pegged him as a suspect in a murder case. Because of this intrigue that I kept watching this drama, to see how it unfolds. The first half of the drama was decent until it lost steam. Speaking of which, there’s not even a semblance of heat between the two main characters to justify a romance. Not even a tiny spark to light a fire. But you know who has chemistry? Mok Sol Hyun and Lee Kang Min. So much so that I wished they gave Do Ha’s role to Seo Ji Hoon instead. I would have rooted for this ship, hands down.  

As for the secondary characters, they are even less memorable, except perhaps for Yun Ji On, who plays a complex character. I was really impressed by his portrayal of Jo Deuk Chan, the ML’s best friend, who happily plays second fiddle. But the rest of the cast were technically just props, perhaps to fill a body count, and move around to make the drama look substantial when it’s not.  

Then the plot twist and the whole fake-out at the end was disappointing. And coupled this with the fact that two of the female characters here used emotional blackmail as manipulation is very unsavory for me. I’m not really one to justify this, but in the end, this is not a romance story or even a murder mystery, but a drama about obsession, whether it’s for a one-sided love or a love lost, for misplaced justice, for a twisted truth or for greed of money. So while there’s a semblance of a message is there, it failed to deliver.

One of my favorite tropes is childhood friends-turned lovers, so this comes as no surprise that Love Next Door would be up my alley. Coupled that with charming actors such as Jung Hae In and Jung So Min, I was highly expecting this drama to be damn good. Where it started strong, especially love the banter and easy camaraderie between Choi Seung-Hyo and Bae Seok Ryo, I thought this was pretty much a done deal: an easy 10 points for me. But sadly, this was not. The drama’s attempts at realism, while admirable at first, became tedious and prolonged, and it’s no fault of the actors.

I get it really: these characters are supposed to be flawed because we know that no one is perfect. And while I commend people by being self-sacrificing for their loved ones, there comes a point where this self-righteousness becomes overbearing. Take in case Seok Ryu’s example. She was adamant about not letting people know that she and Seung Hyo started dating, for reasons she believed their families may not receive the news well. But we see that her parents have loved Seung Hyo and considered him as part of the family already even before they started dating. I don’t see why they would oppose him now that they are. Then she has this inkling that they may not end up together in the future. Now with that mindset, why even agree to be together in the first place, if you already had plans to abandon the person who has loved you for most of his life?

Then only when your partner suffers an injury, that you finally declare your love for him, only to reject him later when he proposes. I find this behavior extremely flaky. Seok Ryu did Seung Hyo a disservice by stringing him along, afraid that she will lose him to an ex-girlfriend who was not even in Seung Hyo’s consideration. Granted, it may be too early for Seong Hyo to suggest the idea of marriage, but can you really blame him? They are both already in their mid-30s, and he has waited so long for her to agree into a relationship, it’s not surprising that he wanted to “seal the deal.”

Speaking of flaky, Kang Dan Ho is no better. And it’s this so-called self-righteousness again that is at play. First, he claimed to be too good for Mo-Eum, then later revealed his affection for her in front of Mo-eum’s mother while Mo-eum was intoxicated. Is he hoping she will forget his momentary weakness when she sobers up the next morning? He then later backtracks at the slightest provocation that Mo-eum’s mother is against their pairing.

I’m not too sure what these characters are playing at, but if they were young, in their adolescent years, perhaps I will have forgiven them for their immaturity. But they are not. I could overlook their indecisiveness if it didn’t affect others, but it does. You can’t just have everyone agree to your terms alone, especially if you are in a relationship. There should be at least a semblance of balance between the giving and the taking. Just because you suffered a great deal more doesn’t give you the right to play victim all the time. You can only use this card a few times, but there’s a point when it loses its effectiveness.

When Seok Ryu points out to Mi Suk that Dong Jin is banking on their mother’s blatant favoritism, it’s the same concept. Her parents gave her brother many chances to screw up, and they excused his failures because of his childhood illness. But because Seok Ryu was always an excellent student, they demanded more from her. And then when Seok Ryu comes home after “failing” (losing her job and fiancée); instead of saying it’s okay, they will be supportive, their parents tried to kick her back out. Only when they found out about her sickness did they capitulate. Why does it need to take someone to be sick, for you to be supportive?

We can apply the same scenario to Geyong Jong and Hye Suk’s relationship. For the most part of the show, it looks like they could hardly stand each other being in the same room. Eating separately, sleeping separately. It’s no surprise that the path will lead to divorce. But it turns around only when Hye Suk goes missing and could have a probable memory loss.
I’m struggling through the second half of the drama, with all these curve balls thrown in to make the plot more dramatic, but it’s not making the show more endearing. In fact, the more I watch this drama, the more frustrated I get. And to think the show tried to liven things up, by inserting comedic elements that frankly fell flat. They were trying too hard to be funny that they’re really not.

There are a few redeeming points going for this drama. The message of friendship, family and love is well-meaning; in fact, this show excels in juxtaposing the different bonds. The fact that being brought up in better circumstances did not necessarily guarantee a happier life, or vice versa. The show also highlights the characters’ emphasis on “putting on a brave face” and the importance of “face,” arguing that these shouldn’t outweigh family and genuine friends. They are there for you to lean on when times get rough, the same that Dan Ho and Seung Hyo like to help those in need.

While it has its moments, Love Next Door is just a waste of the cast’s talents that could have been better utilized in another drama, given the right script. It tried to wrap up loose ends too quickly after dragging on others. There were an excessive amount of drunken scenes, over-the-top yelling, and contrived angst just to fill in long episodes that could have been better edited for length.

Thought Summary:

One of my favorite tropes is childhood friends-turned lovers, so this comes as no surprise that Love Next Door would be up my alley. Coupled that with charming actors such as Jung Hae In and Jung So Min, I was highly expecting this drama to be damn good. Where it started strong, especially love the banter and easy camaraderie between Choi Seung-Hyo and Bae Seok Ryo, I thought this was pretty much a done deal: an easy 10 points for me. But sadly, this was not. The drama’s attempts at realism, while admirable at first, became tedious and prolonged, and it’s no fault of the actors.

While it has its moments, Love Next Door is just a waste of the cast’s talents that could have been better utilized in another drama, given the right script. It tried to wrap up loose ends too quickly after dragging on others. There were an excessive amount of drunken scenes, over-the-top yelling, and contrived angst just to fill in long episodes that could have been better edited for length.

Complete Version in spoiler below.

I do think that this dramashort platform is also used a stepping stone used by many newbie actors who may not have exposure with mainstream dramas. Same with independent productions who mostly cast fresh faced actors who may later end up in bigger roles or productions.

Okay I will try FF if I watch on DM or KA. I use Chrome mainly because all my emails, G drive and apps and Phone are Google based.

I have ad blockers installed and somehow they slip through. On KissAsian, I would get like 10 notifications of pops ups blocked but 4 or 5 will slip through.
Ads on DM are not pop ups, and they are embedded so no choice to dismiss them. At least that's how it is with me, I only use Chrome as browser.

Blame this format on China who started it years ago and found success because they realize that people with short attention span love this type of thing!!! And the commute on the bus with one arm hanging on the roof rail and one thumb scrolling through their mobile is perfect for this bit-sized form. Sad news for those of us who prefer the good old TV where you can lie on your bed with a box of tissues and falling asleep with the remote control on our bellies.