Love Alarm (2019)

Strange premise, nice development

I hesitated to watch this drama because I thought it would be just another dumb high school drama ft a weird concept of a weird app, but once I got into it, I actually liked it and found myself unable to stop watching it.

Kim Jo Jo is your typical hardworking female lead, shy and smart that attracts the popular guy because she does not act like everyone else does around him. She works hard to pay the debt that her parents left to her aunt, but she lives in constant harassment from that aunt and her cousin. She has so many problems but sticks to her moral, so Hwang Sun Oh is immediately attracted to her and the way she looks at him.

Hwang Sun Oh is not your typical chaebol, though. He's definitely the rich, handsome boy who recently transferred from the US (any similarity between Cha Eun Sang and Kim Tan from Heirs is pure coincidence). Except that he's not rude or jerk or arrogant. Sun Oh is surprisingly humble, thoughtful and warm. I expected the typical jerk chaebol but I'm glad he was not. He was a genuine boy who happened to fall for his caring best friend's crush. (Wrong!)

Lee Hye Young. The shy friend of the rich guy who lives under his house because his mother is the housemaid. A selfless, shy guy who values his best friend more than anything in the world and falls in love for the girl who seems different and keeps many secrets.

I personally loved Kim Jo Jo and Hwang Sun Oh's chemistry. They were genuinely in love with each other, they cared for the other and were always there whenever one felt lonely or hopeless. They were all over each other, overcoming different challenges at school and learning more and more from the other. At this point, having finished the drama, I still don't understand why they broke up. I guess Jo Jo suddenly felt overwhelmed by having a boyfriend who actually cared about her and would do anything for her, and thought that she didn't want to be left behind eventually with these big feelings, so she cut him off her life and ghosted him. Wrong way, girl.

I don't know how people can say that Hye Young and Jo Jo should go together. I understand that's how the webtoon goes so far, but their relationship would be so awkward. Hye Young's confession in the school yard was NOT okay. He said he would be okay no matter how much she rejected him because that would mean romance to him? That's... So not okay. And comes from a terrible low level of self-love. He deserves to be with someone who gives back as much as he gives her.

Jo Jo and Sun Oh are in love after being apart for 4 years, they still remember the other with good feelings, despite the way Sun Oh is pissed off at her (for good reason). So I really hope they twist the ending and make them end together.

Also, I read that Hye Young deserves her more because he doesn't give much importance to Love Alarm and that he would love Jo Jo "in the old way" but that's such a lie. Hye Young also wanted to hit her alarm and wanted to know how it would feel if his alarm went off. It's not like he didn't give it relevance.

Anyway, this drama has a weird premise but an entertaining development, I watched it in one go, actually, so it's also quite addictive as the main leads are all over the other. I'd recommend to watch it and wait together for season 2.

Lire davantage

where is season 2

I've watched about 100 A-dramas over the last few years and i think this is the first one in which you are left hanging after the first season with no chance to start watching the second season. But even the other ones had a resolution to the main issues after the 1st season and then would move on to new issues the next. This one just leaves you scratching your head.
As always, my interest is the female lead. I think she is quite good..her choice seems easy to me- one selfish rich guy, and one sincere nice guy..but as with all the dramas the choice is not easy to her and she usually ends up going with the wrong one.
Well, just have to wait and see...not sure how or when season 2 will be available, but i'll watch it.

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IT IS SO BAD I WANT TO GIVE YOU A 0 BUT THAT'S NOT POSSIBLE SO I GIVE YOU A 1.

I'll start off by saying I'm no professional critic just a girl saying what's on my mind so do with that what you will.
Let's begin because I have a bone to pick.

Love Alarm? Nah more like Love is stupid dumb I hate it I hate it.

Listen don't waste your time she ends up with the wrong guy. It starts out good everything is swag. But low and behold nothing lasts forever the couple we all wanted breaks up and she ends up with a guy that couldn't even look her in the eye for 7 years. WHY because she's dumb. It's like the roles reversed of the second lead syndrome. The male lead was great he did the stuff the swag. The second male lead sucked as I have said. Which one does she pick? The one that sucks. lalalalala DUMB. I have never once been so disappointed like the potential this show had to be amazing????? Like the whole concept was freaking fantastic. BUT WHY WERE THE WRITERS THE WAY THEY WERE FREAKING AWFUL. Don't waste your time, or do. Each to their own. but DON'T.

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Even Song Kang couldn't save this disaster

Let me preface by saying that I started watching this drama for Song Kang (I watched all of his dramas in somewhat reverse chronological order - started with Sweet Home, then Nevertheless, and Navillera). I love him in ALL of these dramas and thought he did an amazing job, so it was only natural for me to start Love Alarm.

Ok, first off the bat, you could really tell that Song Kang's acting improved dramatically as the years progressed...and I'm sad to say that in Love Alarm, his acting was...lacking. by quite a bit lol just wanted to get that out of the way.

From the beginning of the drama, nothing made sense. The concept of the love alarm app is just weird imo, and the storyline was boring and shallow, with no character development and no chemistry between the two leads.

Also, this is the first time that I disliked ALL of the characters in a drama...like ALL of them lol like how is that even possible?

Jojo - yes, it's great that she's hardworking and is taking on part-time jobs to pay off bills. The world didn't deal her the best cards, but what's up with kissing a dude that she JUST met when she has a BOYFRIEND?? I don't care if she no longer has feelings for him because that's just WRONG. they make her character out to be this innocent, hardworking high school student, but when the chance presented itself for the hot new classmate to kiss her, she was like, OK YES, TAKE ME INTO THE ALLEY.

Sunho - where do I even start with this boy? he knows that his best friend has a crush on this girl and instead of supporting this friend with whom he's with been friends with for yearssss, he decides to kiss the girl instead and tells his friend about it so that his friend would admit to liking the girl. YEAH, WHAT? he's not a playboy either but he actually ends up liking the girl (after speaking only one sentence to her btw). oh, and he also stalks her, but don't ask me why because again, it doesn't make sense.

Hye Young - ok, the poor boy. The girl that he has a crush on doesn't know his name and doesn't even know that he exists. We don't even know WHY he likes her (which I guess, is asking for too much at this point). He ends up stalking her to and from work, to and from school, etc. etc. and never says a single word to her and always has a silly (slightly creepy) smile on his face whenever she does something "cute". LIKE, WHAT? GET A LIFE PLEASE.

I'm sorry that this turned into somewhat of a rant but seriously, don't waste your time on this one. After sitting through 3 episodes of this, I'm only left with a lot of frustration and confusion. I read some spoilers, so I know I'm not missing anything by dropping this.

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Slow paced but cool concept.

Somehow this drama managed to make forty minute episodes feel like two hours. It's long drawn out pacing is somebody's cup of tea, but not mine. The main characters, had they had more depth, could have filled some of those back and forth panning of actors doing absolutely nothing except be pretty and look miserable with actual, interesting content. The most compelling character and the one that had the shortest amount of screen time was the app creator Duk Gu, but because this show wanted to just murder everyone with angst they decided to 'mysteriously' write him off (tw suicide) by making him jump out a window (/tw suicide) just so the main character wouldn't be able to undo her decision to never ring someone else's love alarm. There were some mentions of the consequences-- real, hard hitting consequences and not just 'does she love me?' 'does she love me not?'-- of having an app that exposes love, such as lgbtq+ hate and turning to murder because the person you ring for doesn't ring you back. These would have been infinitely more interesting subjects to tackle but they're pushed aside for this asinine main story. The pacing is already dragging, weighed down by teenage angst and sorrow and I found myself zoning out more often than not. What this drama needed to be better is a huge cut down on the retrospective "stares out of a window" scenes, less flashbacks and slow-mo.

I get it. Heartache is the worst, it feels like nothing worse could happen to you when you're going through it but there are so many other shows that I can think of that tackle this topic. What this show could have done with the 'Love Alarm' plot? What with the concept is so good, though?! They could have done so much more with it and I'm willing to bet the webtoon is a lot more interesting than its kdrama equivalent. I just see the first season show as a huge missed opportunity. Granted! I am always, always a fan of growth so I will be watching the second season.

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So I just finished watching this drama yesterday and all I can say is "WTF" . I don't even know if it's a good thing or a bad thing. Well, it only has 8 episodes so it is expected that the story line will be fast. Like f a s t. A lot of things happen since the very first episode and I will be very honest and say that I don't like everything about it. Here are some of the reasons why I don't like it

*THIS IS WHERE THE SPOILERS BEGIN*

first of all, in my opinion (pls don't hate me for this), the drama kinda romanticized cheating. it is when jojo allowed sun-oh to kiss her even though she's still in a relationship. I mean c'mon girl you can say no to sun-oh and say i have a boyfriend or smth. And while we're at this scene, for me, sun oh's character screams pervert energy. I mean this particular alley scene seems weird. A hot guy suddenly said let's get inside this alley then says things like "i wanna kiss you", "your lips are so pretty", then caressing your hair and stuff. They don't even know each other. It screams pervert energy for me. Oh and also he sent jojo a topless pic of him as a "gift". I mean-- wtf. Sun oh seems to be a fuck boy for me. :/

*END OF SPOILERS*

Okay so even though things like that happen and the plot is cheesy and kinda cliche, I still want to finish it and I look forward to the season 2 of this drama. I don't know if it's because of Song Kang or like the unique concept of "love alarm" but I am weirdly addicted to this drama hahaha.

So for anyone who's planning to watch this drama. I don't discourage you guys to watch it and judge it yourself. I, myself, did not regret watching this drama and it still gives you the romance you need. I think this drama is perfect for high school students especially those who are maybe 13 to 15 years old who are hopeless romantic. That's all. Enjoy <3

Lire davantage

Actually I really not understand the concept that your feelings is just based on an app of your mobile ,so I was curious to know how it would be happen and this make me to watch the drama.
So basically it was an app which tell you that who likes you and if you like him too so you become a couple .
I really not like the concept ,basically you depend on an app totally just like drama she told to him that she didn't love him and that's why she wanted to breakup so he also beloved because his app not alarmed but still he was in doubt then to he accepted it ...
Then in second scene one who make the app he also had a crush but when she came to knew about it she felt embarrassing that he liked her because he was not good-looking as well not fun type person ,he was actually had a boring personality and because of this he started making distance with everybody and then disappeared forever.
Two things they didn't show 1.why he decided 2.why so many people die
Three things I didn't like
1.first lead knew very well that 2nd lead like him a lot then why he become intruder in their matter secondly 2nd lead was the reason that he met her ,okay this thing handle that you can't control your feelings so first lead fall for her and he had courage so he confessed her and their story start
2. Then everything was going well why she broke up ,I really not accepted the reason of her for breaking their relationship.
3.when they all come across then why 2nd lead pursue her though he knew first lead love her lot and she broke up not he ....

What I expecting in second season that 2nd lead and her to be pair because first lead already has someone who love him purely with honesty but anyways what the story it will be.,let see
This drama confused me a lot .
Only because of acting and overloaded emotion connected me with a drama otherwise I would be dropped it after watching few episodes.

Lire davantage

Emotionally Invested and Don't Know Why...

The first half of the show was highly unrealistic, and dare I say it, pretty crappy that it almost made me drop the show, but let me explain why I'm glad I didn't. From the get-go, Jojo's behavior striked me as utterly foolish and illogical beyond belief. Her first slip-up was when she decided to basically cheat on her boyfriend by following a random transfer student she *literally* met twice into a narrow alleyway and agreeing to kiss him because he asked...? The logic here must've been "oh he's hot and popular, hence he must be good, safe, and not a criminal :)" Wait, so you're saying it's normal and not creepy to ask someone you’re interested in to kiss you the very first time you have an actual conversation? Guess it’s only okay when you’re hot and popular like Hwang Sun Oh. :/

Of course when the two kiss, Jojo's jealous "best friend" happened to be there spying on them at that exact moment to snap a photo, and rather than being a sensible person and confronting Jojo about it, she spreads it online. Then...it’s all downhill from there. At school, Jojo gets full-on dragged by other students once they found out she kissed Sun Oh, the hottest hunk of the school. x"D Personally, I didn't think the criticism was completely unwarranted and I felt she sort of deserved it for not only cheating, but also lying to her friends about attending an academy after school. But what's worse is that Jojo couldn't stand up for herself every time she was mistreated by her peers or her cousin and aunt, which made me lose respect for her. Please don’t get me started on Sun Oh and his cheesy flirtatious liners towards Jojo. LOL

However, things changed when episode 5 rolled around. To my pleasant surprise, the show improved when they revealed more of the thoughts and intentions of the characters. Jojo as a character grew on me too after I got a better understanding of her situation. Then suddenly something changed because I became emotionally invested. I think I’m just a sucker for dramas with large time skips and lingering feelings. Sure this drama has all your typical K-drama tropes, from parents dying during childhood to accidents, but it was still moderately entertaining, so I'm glad I stuck around to catch the good moments. Some scenes were tear-jerking, so prepare your tissue box. All that led to me ultimately giving this show an 8.5/10.

All in all, because the story revolves around the app Love Alarm and how it revolutionized the modern day dating culture, I really wish they would've fleshed out how the app works, or at least briefly discussed it from a CS perspective, as in how it detects love and rings another person. The premise of the alarm was rather confusing because would a minor crush ring the same as a long-term lover? One thing I did appreciate was the Love Alarm factual tidbits they interjected throughout the episodes. Those were really interesting. I tried not to question the missing details too much or else it'd take away from the viewing experience. Really, it is cool to think about a society existing where people place more trust in an app to dictate whether they are in love than their own feelings. Very Black Mirror-esque! Looking forward to the second season and dying to know whether a certain character is alive or not! :O

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With technology being on it's current peak right now, Love Alarm will surely be a hit for young people, and even young at heart. It's a light romance drama with two good looking male leads, and a good actress in Kim Sohyun. At times, it's making me wonder what if this application really exists. I wonder how could it be on real life.. It's just a pity that it ends on 8 episodes, and Season 2 is not yet sure :(

Story:
The beginning plot is very promising. For me, it's an easy hook. I finished 8 episodes in a day. Not too much complicated, but still enjoyable to watch.

Acting / Cast:
Kim Sohyun is an instant check. I'm pretty sure you might check this out because of her, but the two male leads is also good actors. They weren't as good as So Jisub level, *kidding* but, they sure have potential. Song Kang will surely get popular anytime soon.

Music:
There's not much OST for this. So I don't really remember any songs that stands out.

Rewatch Value:
I might rewatch it, when they release a 2nd Season to get refresh on the new one. But not on a rewatch list atm.

Overall, if you're just killing time and want to watch something light and new, I recommend this one.

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