It’s a very warm and very fuzzy outro for Love Next Door, and we spend our final week lingering with this story a little past its prime. Nevertheless, there are loose ends to be tied up, happy endings to be guaranteed, and some last-minute sweetness to make you forget all that angst next door.
EPISODES 15-16
While I think we all deserved the sweet endings the drama served (and so did our characters), I’m left feeling a bit unsatisfied. Despite all the drama in this story, it was hard for me to connect with these characters, and the emotional undercurrent seems like it’s missing something, even in the finale.
We pick up with Seung-hyo and Seok-ryu’s embrace in the street, with their fighting moms and drunk dads interrupting them. Seung-hyo is quick to announce they’re dating, and — as expected, how annoying — everyone seems royally pissed and drags our OTP apart. It’s needlessly comedic, to me, but that’s the way it goes.
Happily, the family drama quickly resolves over the finale — and that really starts with our two main mothers making up after their fight, and finding a sweet common ground by sharing what the other knows. Seok-ryu’s mom teaches Seung-hyo’s mom to make banchan, and in return Seung-hyo’s mom teaches Seok-ryu’s mom English. It’s just a small moment in their friendship, but it’s nice to see they found their balance again. But if there’s anything I have learned from this show it’s that the squabbling will go on. Indeed, at the end of our drama we see the two are now bragging in reverse about the other’s kid.
Egos are definitely at the center of this story, but I’m not sure if that was intentional or not? So much of the drama has been caused by hurt feelings, inferiority, wounded pride, etc. For instance, Seok-ryu’s mom goes so far as to think that Seok-ryu will be belittled because of her past sickness. Thankfully, Seung-hyo’s mom debunks this with a wonderfully heartfelt: “Of course I’m worried about her health; she’s your precious child!” And by the end, we get all the families on the same page and accepting of the romance. I still don’t buy the fact that neither set of parents ever saw this coming, but that’s an argument for another day.
Because now, we just have a happy couple to enjoy. We have dates! We have embraces! We have the engagement bracelet. But because we know our leads by now, we also have tons of work. Don’t tell anyone, but Seung-hyo’s been working on a secret project. See, Seok-ryu’s dad has indeed decided to close the snack shop, and it’s a heartwarming farewell. But I’m not as dumb as this drama thinks I am, and I know exactly where they’re going with Seok-ryu’s sad staring at her “I wish I could eat your food” NerTube comments.
But the drama did surprise me with the fact that it’s Seok-ryu’s dad who proposes she take over the little snack shop. I expected it to be her idea, or Seung-hyo’s, so I loved that it was Dad. He goes secretly to Seung-hyo’s office and asks him to take on the project of renovating the restaurant. A few paltry weeks later and the place is looking fit for a magazine. It’s too beautiful to be real, but I’ll take it because I love this plot point. I also love Seung-hyo taking Seok-ryu there and telling her: “This place is yours. It was a collaboration between the two men who love you most.” Okay, that line killed me.
All along this drama has fallen a bit short of its own logic, and maybe that’s the problem, and why these really nice endings for our characters feel flat. For instance, for the righteous stink everyone made over Seok-ryu cooking, I find it hard to believe she is going to single-handedly run an entire restaurant herself with no one saying a word (though thanks for pitching in, Dad). Similarly, when Seok-ryu is comforting her dad after he announces his retirement, she reminds him of the family motto: “No keeping trouble to yourself.” I’m sorry, Show, but is that really their motto? If so, why have we not heard of it before, and why did Seok-ryu do just that with her cancer for three entire years? But I digress.
Seung-hyo’s business has been taking off even more, and even Myung-woo has gotten fussy about the projects they take on. Seems the firm has found its sweet spot with meaningful local projects instead of big-city money-grubbing projects. In fact, Seung-hyo becomes the de facto redeveloper/renovator for their little neighborhood, and it’s very sweet.
For the other love line we’ve all been waiting for — well, they get their sweetness too. Mo-eum and Dan-ho are happily dating, and Mo-eum even buys matching tees for the four of them. In an especially precious scene, the two ask Yeon-du how she feels about them becoming a family, and she’s over the moon.
I was loving all of this until the point at which Mo-eum’s one-year post in Antarctica is approved and it’s made clear she has no intention of not going. Like, how she can leave Dan-ho and those arms and a traumatized little girl who loves her is beyond me, but she has no qualms going. In fact, Dan-ho and Yeon-du are a little too supportive, intercepting Mo-eum’s announcement (which she was nervous to tell them) with their pre-approval. Dan-ho scoffs that she thought he would hold her back, and Yeon-du promises they’ll wait for her return. Over here, I’m just scratching my head because a paramedic going to the south pole never tracked for me anyway. Never mind the fact that you finally get together with the man of your (literal) dreams only to willingly leave a month or two later. But that’s our Mo-eum.
If you thought that was the only stall button on romance, you’d be wrong, because Seok-ryu also pumps the brakes on her wedding with Seung-hyo. Now that she has this new restaurant to run, she wants to give it her full attention. What does this mean? It means they delay their marriage till Mo-eum returns, and also that Show teases us with a wedding dress try-on, and a not-their-wedding wedding, both of which I found terribly cruel at this point. (It was Seung-hyo’s parents renewing their vows or something.)
Beyond the needless delay to the plot’s conclusion with these romance stalls, this is just a part of dramaland I think I’m getting truly tired of. Why do dramas insist their heroines have to do A Very Important Thing before they can give their hearts to the man they love? I don’t understand why they’re consistently mutually exclusive, but part of me thinks dramas have been doing this so long they’ve just convinced themselves it’s true.
Other than these main plot points — and romances confirmed but in a sort of holding pattern — the finale contained a few other random sweet moments and a bunch of PPL (I counted four items, and that’s not counting what we saw last week). We also saw Dong-jin really getting into his career, while Na-yoon finally sets her sights on him (yay! And also, why these mere crumbs, Show?). I’d also like to take this moment to give a round of applause to Seok-ryu’s wonderful silver hair clip that made it through the entire drama and caught my eye in every episode — nicely done, fashion director.
Things finally reach a resolution of sorts as the curtain begins to close ten months later. Mo-eum is doing great in the south pole and Dan-ho is planning to visit her. Our ahjummas are ever the same. And our childhood-friends-to-lovers? Bickering as much as ever. Seung-hyo has been designing their future home, and he’s hurt that Seok-ryu isn’t more invested in it. They squabble all the way down the road together, and it’s clear that nothing has changed, and nothing will ever change between these two. The end.
While I found this a rather awkward point to end the show, I get the idea — their story isn’t really ending but beginning. And while that’s lovely and all, I would have liked more of a solid ending, at least for one of our couples. God knows this show put us through enough. Still, the ending was quite sweet, and the overall message of the drama is there if you squint: something about living life true to yourself, appreciating and supporting your family, and finding love. Sometimes next door. Well, always next door, in this drama’s case.