Love Alarm Season 2 (2021)

Did Love Alarm Season 2 Ring Another “ Alarm” Bell For Bad Story-writing?

With a nearly two year gap between season 1 and 2, an additional director Kim Jin Woo onboard, anticipation from drama fans about the fate of Jo Jo ( Kim So Hyun)’s love life, and high expectations about the overall production value , it may surprise a lot of reviewers scrolling through some of the top reviews, how many fans have scored the drama with adequate ratings. Some of these comments tend to argue along the same ineffable and biased notions that it was a “ bad ending” and “ not as good as season 1”, however, how does the story actually play out through an objective criticism in terms of characterisation, coherency and storyline in season 2?

“ Love Alarm Season 2” picks itself up during the initial time-skip of season 1, with previously “ high school” characters now ensuing careers or studies; Jo Jo is a university major, her current “ complicated ” boyfriend Lee Hye Young ( Jung Ga Ram) works as a technician at JoAlarm ( the development company for “ Love Alarm”) and former flame Hwang Sun Oh ( Song Kang) is becoming a famous national model and endorser for the app, however, Jo Jo has been hiding a secret about her app that allowed her to cut off the signal in order to inhibit her true feelings from Hye Young and Sun Oh . With the desire to reveal her feelings again, Jo Jo decides to pursue the mysterious Brian Cheon in order to unlock this feature.

Before addressing anything about the show, it is probably most prominent to point out the confusing chronology at times within the opening of season 2, by not initially “ leaving” off from the cliffhanger of season 1. Although it is understandable that a wide gap between seasons could have left viewers a little cloudy upon events and thus starting on a different storyline wasn’t “ too illogical”, it was a little head-scratching that screenwriters Lee Ah Yeon and Lee Na Jung didn’t attempt to even address or explain this suddenly “ different” storyline from season 1’s ending. This naturally left a massive hole within story development, not least for our main trio and their previously poorly-tackled characterisation from the past season.


Kim So Hyun wasn’t entirely “ unwatchable ” within her role as Jo Jo, but her performance did feel a little lacklustre due to general line deliverances. In terms of Jo Jo’s character development, there were a couple of more notable traits for Jo Jo than her season 1 counterpart , by actually acting out upon her emotions rather than remaining “ obliviously unaware” as well as a fairly traumatic backstory. On the other hand, Jo Jo still failed from breaking her initial mould as the “ prosaic heroine” of the series due to the same ridiculously staid personality traits imposed onto the character by screenwriters Lee Ah Yeon and Lee Na Jung.

The most evident example of this being Jo Jo’s “ complicated” feelings between Hye-Yeong and Sun Oh, which whilst evidently used to “ heighten” the tension of Jo Jo’s love life, still seemed fairly cruel by Jo Jo’s similar indecisiveness as the first season at times, by not forthright addressing her affections rather than leading on both male leads in such an immature manner . ( This is advocated by a later plot development which proves Jo Jo’s true nature.)

It is important to address this factor of immaturity, due to the evident age difference from different seasons often allowing a character to develop and mature as a consequence of their experiences. Instead, Jo Jo seemed to make the same mistakes as her past self by making ridiculously stupid decisions questioning how on earth she lived so long, let alone pass her exams to get into university. This is exemplified in an early scene of the series when she is working at the convenience store and hears a love alarm go off and her stalker’s uncomfortable actions towards her, Jo Jo’s first thought is to walk home by herself, talk to her stalker and then proceed to run away without thinking to call the police or at least her friend Mon Soon ( Bae Da Bin) in order to ensure the same thing doesn’t happen again. Whilst this scene was used to “ drive tension”, it did seem to gloss over the uglier possibility of what could have happened to Jo Jo as a consequence of her stupidity in reality as well as the more “ romanticised” tones of emotional and physical abuse appearing in the series.

This naturally draws us onto the biggest elephant in the room since season 1, the “continuously brooding” ( and “ preferred” love interest by many devoted fans of the series ) Sun Oh. Similar to his costar, Song Kang is a fairly good actor, however, his performance consisted mainly between stoic, constipated expressions and furious yelling for a major proportion of the series.

Arguably there were some better insights than season 1 into Sun Oh’s fairly estranged relationship with his mother Jung Mi Mi ( Song Sun Mi) and his unhappy family life, however, rather than screenwriters allowing this to gradually mature or allow Sun Oh to develop from his inferiority complex in season one, his personality is still written off as fractious, immature and egotistical within his portrayal in season 2 by often storming off, breaking things and hurting others in the procedure. In particular, this is seen through how Sun Oh interacts emotionlessly his “ girlfriend” Yook Jo ( Kim Shi Eun) and often manipulating her overt feelings towards him, as well as his interactions with Jo Jo.

With his unrequited love towards Jo Jo since high school becomes the main highlight of their “ possible pairing” for many fans and whilst it is understandable why Sun Oh felt anger or upset towards Jo Jo not replicating her feelings, it does not excuse some of his terrible actions towards our female lead. Sun Oh’s actions of publicly embarrassing Jo Jo in front or her classmates , kissing her without permission whilst she is respectfully dating Hye-Hyeong and then throwing another temper tantrum by flaring up in Hye Hyeong’s face without accepting or apologising for his mistakes , made him an incredibly difficult individual to truly romantically pair with Jo Jo by his lack of respect towards her feelings ( and his former best friend Hye Young).

This naturally draws us to the lovelorn Lee Hye Young, who viewers are made aware early on in the series that he is aware of Jo Jo’s ambiguous feelings towards him in their relationship , yet nevertheless does not force or implicate Jo Jo to give him an answer. Whilst Hye Young remained the most respectful towards Jo Jo as an individual and as a love interest, his obsequious beliefs that “ one day she will love me too” seemed a little questionable towards Hye-Young’s fairly hot pursuit of his own feelings towards Jo Jo in in season 1. Consequently, the introduced relationship between the two characters felt more “ obliged” in order to keep the “ storyline moving ”, than intricately complicated as it should have been with Jo Jo’s feelings. In addition to this, there still remained many unanswered questions towards how Hye-Young landed a job at the company as well as more realistic insight into his qualifications at work whilst presumably not in full-education.

Perhaps the one actual interesting element of the second season remained within the mysterious appearance of Brian Cheon ( Ki Do Hoon) who makes the characters ( most notably Jo Jo) wonder if he is actually their “ dead” classmate and seemingly former developer Duk Gu. Whilst this is an overarching storyline in parts of the episode, the ending result felt incredibly letdown and lacklustre by lacking development or screen time as well as wider development for second female lead Park Gul Mi( Go Min Si), rather than in favour of the heroine’s questionable romantic pairings.

As a consequence, the pacing of the show felt oddly imbalanced between moments of genuine interesting development, and dragging scenes of puppy dog eyes by Hye Young and Sun Oh towards Jo Jo from a distance creating many notable plot inconsistencies . The ending of the series was more a matter of opinion that particularly “ bad” or “ good”. Diehard fans who haven’t really acknowledged the direction of the plot, may feel disappointment, yet whilst still undeniably half-baked in comparison to the initial premise introduced in the show back in season 1, it was not an entirely “dire ending” for the show as well .

Ultimately, “ Love Alarm Season 2” did initiate more mature themes and backstories behind our characters, however, lacking character development, inconsistencies, a coherent and riveting plot line in a fictionalised reality and rushed development in parts, made the second season feel more like a surreal dream phase, than a coherent and complete finale for “ Love Alarm”.

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The Story (plus Ending) is Beautiful!

I love the story so much! I would ring Love Alarm's Love Alarm 10x a day!

I love how the story changes from First Love to True Love. It is actually very realistic! These *effing teenagers here* dont understand what is the real essence of love.

And now I wanna explain to all who plans to watch it (you might be spoiled tho) and already watched it on how the story really goes.

It's not that I dont like Sun-oh, he's actually kind of a nice guy, and we can really see he loves Jojo, but you might've forgotten that he took advantage of her because his bestfriend liked her. And continues to break her protective barriers to the point Jojo can't handle it anymore.

If you're a real fan of the show, you should read the manhwa where it contains more details and explains why this happened, why that happened, I absolutely know the drama and manhwa might have different sequences, but bro— they are still under the same writer, still the same characters, still the same story.

So let me tell you that Sun-oh actually admitted that the reason why he chased after Jojo in season 1 is because he knows Hye-young likes her, and wants to steal her away from him. It was also mentioned by their driver that Sun-oh tends to be obsessed with Hye-young's company to the point he doesnt want him to be friends with anybody other than him, even doesn't want to let him save phone numbers other than his!! So that's where Hye-young developed his skills on memorising numbers and being good at math—which led to his future job on being an accountant/stock holder in LA corp. This where comes why Sun-ho decided to tail Jojo, because he is intrigued why his bestfriend likes her so much. So you might wanna throw me your "Hye-young denied that he likes Jojo" card, but you better rewatch LA again and properly read the lines and underlying actions, because it's very clear to me that Sun-oh KNOWS Hye-young— his bestfriend AND somewhat like a brother, likes Jojo.

I know Sun-oh wants to do his best to show all his love to Jojo but how it goes creates a heavy burden to Jojo. She gets all the unwanted and (physically and mentally) painful attention, specially from her cousin Gul-mi.

Remember!!! Jojo doesn't have a very great childhood. A survivor of a family mass suicide—with severe trauma about what happened, bullied by her aunt and cousin, overworked and feeling pressured so that she can pay her grandma's hospital bills and pay her mother's depts, which result to sacrificing her LUNCH MONEY, and forced to eat EXPIRED goods and even results to running laps instead. Blamed by everyone that it is her fault that all bad things is happening, even telling you WHY DID YOU NOT DIE, ( more like telling you to Kill yourself ). Majority of the people watching this show are teenagers, probably because the first season is in a school setting. BUT PLEASE CHECK LOVE ALARM again because it is an 18+ show. (Not all 18+ shows contains sexual content) I've read a comment which they said Jojo is a gold digger, EXCUSE ME??? I bet you're a kid leaving comment hun, grow up first then watch this show again so that you CAN understand what really happened in the story. Jojo is NEVER, and NEVER WILL BE a gold digger. She couldve just asked for a house or a car ot to pay all her mother's depts, but SHE DID NOT. She's even frustrated that Sun-oh paid for her school lunch and other things. Because she doesn't want any help from anybody, BECAUSE she feels and will feel small. And that's actually one of the reason why she was burdened on being in a relationship with Sun-oh and finally installed the shield.

You're blaming Jojo that she broke up with Sun-oh, but you didn't put yourself on her shoes. I bet you didn't even properly follow the story, and just want to watch the fluffs happening between Jojo and Sun-oh, cuz boi-oh-boi this show is not for you.

Hye-young is and will always be the right choice. He is just the perfect fit for Jojo's life and Jojo is just the perfect one for his as well. You all are too focused on Sun-oh's good side and ignored how toxic he became. In real life you will be mad as hell if your bestfriend/like-brother or sister just even stole your crush, let alone kissed them! And dated them! Lucky us, Hye-young is very mature and understanding he didn't even had a chance to show that he is mad and hurting. But thankfully blessed to be given a chance to court Jojo after 4 years! He held it in, endured it and he deserved the ending. They both deserved the ending.

Please take time to think how the actors and even the production staff worked hard to make this show. Atleast give it a good rating. You all are so childish.

And to those who planned to watch it, you should have a mental checklist — you should be mature enough to watch this show.

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Through its different approach to love, Love Alarm also denounces the excesses of technology.

P.S: My username wasn't taken because I'm team Sun Oh (not that I don't appreciate the character or the actor, on the contrary) but because I wanted to change my username after a long time and it happened when me and my friend named ourselves Jojo and SunOh in a game for fun (I also had a character named Hye Yeong lol), at the time I hadn't even watched Love Alarm but I really liked the name so I kept it. Note that Jung Ga Ram also has a character named Sun Ho (such a close one) in another drama called Mistress and he's now my favorite underrated actor.

If you want to avoid major spoilers, you can skip to the conclusion. (which I will post in the comments section because MDL reduced the characters limit)

This review of Love Alarm was written as the episodes progressed (I binge-watched both seasons in a few days) and I'd like to say that everything I wanted came true and everything I understood about the characters' feelings was confirmed in the end, so I can only be satisfied.

This conclusion is perfect because it's healthy and realistic. That she should end up with Sun Oh was inconceivable, she loved Hye Yeong, not him. Sun Oh found happiness on his own and moved on, such is life.

From the beginning of the story, Sun Oh's character didn't come across as a very nice guy, but he's also somewhat pitiful. He wasn't the person Jojo needed, and vice versa. Is he a monster? No. He actually has a pure heart but that doesn't change his immaturity which turns into toxicity for the people around him. Yes, we can see that he starts to have genuine feelings for Jojo, even though his initial motives were questionable.

On the whole, the drama focused more on the psychology of the main characters and I love this kind of romance, the transition from high schoolers to young adults really makes the difference with season 1, the tone changes (highlighting the contrast), you can feel the characters coming of age and the fact that we've followed them through several periods of their lives gives way to a nostalgic feeling, the music etc. also plays a big part.

Apart from all that there were so many good things, from the cinematography, the music, the sci-fi aspect, to the fact that so many things are represented in the form of drawings (even animated ones) and the whole thing around Jojo's drawings and their meanings.

To the people saying Jojo did not consider Sun Oh's feelings : First, stop watching from his perspective only. You are the one blinded by your biases, only caring about what Sun Oh feels instead of Jojo, Hye Yeong and even Yuk Jo. So blinded that you failed to see his character development. Since you didn't even understand his character and the drama, you couldn't appreciate the perfect ending he was given or anything. Second, https://www.tumblr.com/lucymontero/646944171870109696/love-alarm-lovestruck-in-the-city-and-a-womans this article should be enough.

To the people who blame Jojo for kissing Sun Oh in the beginning : She was on bad terms with her boyfriend and eventually she was able to breathe thanks to Sun Oh. It's true that he was forcing, but she ended up accepting the kiss. They were where no one could see them (well, obviously it's a drama, so it doesn't go as planned), and she was tempted... the way he looked at her, the sexual tension, and it is a real handsome guy, we can't lie to ourselves. When we know that many adults (men and women) have already cheated in their lives, it's not a teenager who lets herself go with this kind of context that shocks. I don't think she felt that way with her ex, far from it. In short, she is not to blame. If you want to blame someone SO much, blame Sun Oh.

What can we expect from a character whose childhood was so painful, whose youth was full of struggles, a traumatized teenager with burdens so heavy to bear? Yes, you could say she acts in an annoying and selfish way, however, unless you are completely biased because of Song Kang and that you have a very superficial view of the drama and her character (did people throw their brain in the bin while watching season 1 or did they forget it all? or maybe they skipped through it because all they cared about was Sun Oh and seeing him end up with Jojo. being offensive here, but that's nothing compared to what I've seen), you will feel nothing but empathy. Don't even make me start on the impact that such an event can have on someone... Survivor's guilt, yes, but it was her parents who tried to kill themselves with her.

Sun Oh's behavior can be explained because of his family situation, right, I do understand that. But if you think it's all Jojo's fault or that what Sun Oh did at the beginning is right but what happened afterwards isn't, there's something wrong with you. Viewing lens, I guess. This drama is not for everyone and I've learned to accept it.

What Deuk Gu says to Hye Yeong, "It was Jojo's will to use the shield and spear. Without it, she would never have gone out with you. It was because of the shield that she broke up with Sun Oh and you appeared on the list of people she could love. The shield being a variable, Jojo's will intervened, and you became a potential love interest. She wanted to ring your Love Alarm, even if it meant using the spear. She was willing to go that far to express her feelings for you. If that's not being sincere, what is?" This moment sums it up perfectly.

What's also nice about the end is that Jojo still doesn't ring Hye Yeong's Love Alarm without the spear and she still has the shield, but they know their love is sincere and it was really beautiful when they confessed their feelings out loud. It reminded me of when Hye Yeong was courting Jojo the traditional way without relying to Love Alarm, and the fact that he wanted to build his relationship with her bit by bit was great. Of course, there's that final scene where we see the moments when Jojo rang Hye Yeong's Love Alarm, they left before it started working but anyway, it was obvious. Nonetheless, it was perfect as a conclusion, for us viewers.

I transcribed two other dialogues that are important:

(the discussion between the two brothers) - Five years ago, I told you that we shouldn't release 2.0. - You don't realize that the Love Alarm you created makes people feel lonelier. Version 2.0 was created for those lonely people. If they'd known that lots of people would love them, there wouldn't have been any mass suicides, 23 lives would have been spared. - Is that really what you think? People only go out with the app's recommendations. Just like we only read articles from our search portal. Just as we only watch movies recommended by the algorithm. - What's wrong with that? - It eliminates countless possibilities. If there's an error in the suggestions, version 2.0 prevents love from being born. - An error? How are you going to prove it? - Kim Jojo. When she installed the shield, the person she loved changed. - Programming bug. - It wasn't a bug. It was Jojo's will. With the introduction of synchronization and willpower, this little mistake changed her life. Do you understand now?

(Deuk Gu talking to Jojo) "It was obvious you liked Hye Yeong. Do you know why you hesitated so much? You've never seen his Love Alarm ring. That's why. Even though you knew it was because of the shield, you doubted your feelings, because his Love Alarm had never gone off. That's why I wanted to stop the new function. People have become too dependent on technology."

Conclusion + quotes from the last episode in the comments section

Thank you for taking the time to read !

Because I felt the need to share this awesome review with a more sci-fi perspective: https://mydramalist.com/profile/imanirine/review/155009

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Just stupid

So I’m relatively new to k-dramas and this was one of the first k-dramas I watched on Netflix and up until season 1 episode 6 I loved it,it all goes down hill from there, jojo and sun-oh’s relationship seems genuine and they both care for eachother a lot, atleast that’s the way it looks?! But then they flip it on its head by making jojo heartless, cold and indecisive in the process messing with everyone else’s feelings just because she can’t get her shit together, they way she breaks up with sun-oh pisses me off because why?! It doesn’t make any sense the fact she drops him just like that after 6 episodes of them building the relationship up what was all that for!? Then there’s Hye-yeong who’s a good guy but it just doesn’t feel real between them two, anyway season two is just more indecisiveness and throwing sun-oh and jojos connection out the fucking window,until she finally decided that hye-yeong is who she wants, shows like this make me tired, jojo becomes heartless towards sun-oh when he never did anything wrong?! By then end of it I started leaning more towards jojos cousin more than her and that’s saying something! Watch it if you want but for me it was a waste of time

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SUN-OH and JOJO'S Fans Don't Watch Seriously Advised

Not Worthy Sequel Of Love Alarm. WHY??

1.)If you watch it then it totally destroys your expectations of waiting for 2 years.

2.)You will turn into anti-fan of Love Alarm and would hope that it would have better or the best to not watch season 2 as it break your all hopes being rooted for ideal happy ending in pieces.

3.) I hate second lead who has more scenes than main lead. In which drama the main lead is made to cry so much and not even given perfect match.

4.) The so-called happy ending is really not happy for any fan of this show. I really don't think it was really really necessary to follow the Manhua novel so seriously and to force everything according to that.

5.) If the writers really can't predict what the viewers want then they aren't even worthy to write something new in future.


Why I WATCHED IT??

1 .) Like everyone I am also fan of Sun-oh and Jojo from the arrival of love Alarm season 1. So was hoping them to meet at the end of season 2 and to have a good and happy ending.

2.) From Trailer like everyone I also hoped it as going according to our expectations but really felt disappointed by this cheap trick to get viewers.

3.) Only having Great cast but the plotline and story made it worse for all of them.

4.) Best character of the whole show is Park Gul Mi. You will know why?(only this worth watching)

SHOULD Watch Season 2 For what??
1 ) Just Ost is ?.
2.) Plot of Gul mi and the love alarm 2.0 developer.
Expect this nothing is worth watching.

Last warning ⚠️:-
If plan to watch watch then should have 0 or negative expectations .

2.) Fans if not want to be very upset or left heartbroken then in my opinion skip the scenes of sun-oh crying and the forced chemistry of second lead and jojo.

Final Thoughts;- After watching i am feeling like an anti fan same as the ones that came and protested against love alarm app in season 1 last episode.

Feelings:- Heartbroken, Sad , And Angry on Writers of the season 2.

Wishing To Not have To be This Sad On Any Other Shows Sequel As it destroys the expectations, hopes, as we waited for almost 2 years to get a sequel but it was not even an average or 1/4 of love alarm season 1.

HIGHLY DISAPPOINTED AS A VIEWERS AND HEARTBROKEN AS FANS ❗❗❗.?????

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My alarm would not ring for this show

I withheld my opinions for this series until the second season came out, hoping they would tweak the things that were wrong with the first season. First off, I am all for realistic storylines with flawed characters. But what I do not stand for are characters that do not have a character growth at all. From the onset, there seemed to be a lot of potential because of the premise. An application that reveals the feelings of the other person? Interesting. Does that mean transparency from the get go? Yes (which was later on conveniently wiped out, but who cares, JoJo can do whatever she wants. But more about that later)! Refreshing? Sure. A distorted way of communicating? ABSOLUTELY.

Let me breakdown what and where this went wrong for me -
1. A sudden cliched "two worlds apart" situation between the 1ML and FL. I was suspicious they might add that trope of "leaving for the benefit of the other", but I hoped, really hoped they wouldn't do that. Proved me wrong.
2. The way FL's story arc progressed flatly until the last episode where she suddenly decided to right the wrongs. It took someone to murder people for her to finally realize she wasn't really being a nice person. If I had to describe her story graph it would be _________/ At least that's what it was made to look like, for me it never picked up. There are far, far better characters arcs that overcome childhood traumas, without playing with other people's feelings and messing up their heads.
3. The writers probably wanted to show that the two MLs were unconditionally in love with JoJo, but all it looked like to me what she could do whatever she wants, and they'd still be at her beck and call. There were multiple instances she stepped on their hearts and didn't care to explain why. They still followed her like lost puppies. They both deserved so much better. Sun-oh definitely did. That man was made to cry for years - YEARS - over the FL who TILL the end never made up for her actions.
4. I would have been very happy if the bromance of the two MLs had more substance. It felt empty. I was supposed to feel it, but couldn't.
5. The second season felt so forced it made me cringe. Like a 16-episode melo was attempted to be cramped in a 6-episode mini-series. The story felt off, the wrap up was messed up, there were no emotions attached.
6. I feel I need to emphasize a little more about the FL's character. It is going down as one of the most frustrating leads I have ever seen. I see zero reason for her being the lead at all, she showed zero maturity, zero sensibility, zero empathy, zero growth in any sense whatsoever and still looked like a victim in every situation till the last episode.

There were several things I liked as well though, I should mention them nevertheless -
1. The first season was shot beautifully. I loved the setting, it was really refreshing. One word to describe it would be - promising.
2. The way the relationship between Jojo, her aunt and her cousin evolved (however limitedly).
3. The acting was good, I loved the work of the whole cast! I could see them trying their best with what they were given.
4. The overall concept of the show and what we could learn from it. It's thought provoking.

Comparing the things I liked, and the things I did not, it is safe to say it was the writing that ruined it for me. The storyline + characters. The way the flaws of the FL were glorified and excused because of her past basically undermines the growth people actually undergo when they overcome traumas. I wish the actors chose a better project. I'd love to see other works of theirs, because this show is a bad memory now. What's worse is that along with the FL, the audience is made to play ping pong with their feelings regarding the MLs. I hate when shows do that. Now the 1ML is being inconsiderate and heartless, now the 2nd one is doing the same, oh god the 1ML is hurt, oh no no the 2ML is hurt now. What exactly are you trying to do writers? Do you have no other content to keep the viewers watch your show until the end? It's a rhetoric question. They do not, in fact, have any other content.

Never re-watching this, and never recommending this to anyone.

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Trash.

The plot can be descried in one word; trash. No matter how good the acting is, it cannot make up for the terrible plot.

The plot was not unique; it was the same classical boys over a girl but adding an love app to the mix. The reason this plot was supper disappointed was because of the main character Jo-Jo who was so-so throughout the series. She could not decide on what she wanted until the end. Furthermore, she had to rely on an app to decide how she felt... Like seriously? How could you not know YOUR FEELINGS? Also, how could she not figure them out even after 5+ years? She doesn't need love, she needs serious therapy.

One thing that annoyed me to the end was that she was never able to give Sun-Oh a proper reason as to why she did not want to be with him anymore. Also, poor Sun-Oh was rejected until every end and he wasn't even able to get over his feelings. The writers just make him end up with someone without even giving him proper closure with his ex.

Jojo can be described as a coward throughout the series as she just running away from her feelings. I honestly don't feel any pity or relate to her. Throughout the plot, she was going back on forth between her feelings as if she deciding between chocolate and vanilla. She ruined the boy's friendship and the worst part is she always plays the victim.

The least she would've done was have some character development, but she didn't. She doesn't grow up even as an adult. She runs away from her problems like she always does. She remains selfish and a self-centered bxxx to the end.

I wouldn't recommend this, but if you want to waste time, go ahead! This series is just about a girl who's going back and forth as she is too much of a baby to figure out what she wants as a teenager or an adult.

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Season 1 is far more better...

Love Alarm S2

Netflix just wanted to do a variety not like any other K drama but they just failed completely....

The worst drama i have seen this year..
I just feel bad for waiting for this drama for all this time..The main reason how this S1 was hit is mainly because of jojo & sun oh chemistry...
In S2 sun oh & jojo scenes are very less...
They are just trying to make sun oh negative...
They just gave importance to the character who doesn't have importance in S1..
Even though only six episodes, lagging in many scenes...

Positives
Ost...
The acting of the actors..

Negatives
A lot of negatives are there....
The chemistry b/w jojo& hye yeong, i just felt like it is forced.(especially in episode 1 )
Didn't gave any role to sun oh. ( even hye yeong had more scene than him in S1)..
Ksh worst character will be jojo..

Still now the korean doesn't know how to take drama's with love triangle plot..
Look into Hollywood series and see how they make...
One of the best love triangle(not the main plot)Drama i have seen is The vampire diaries.
From episode 1, they have given equal importance to both the male leads( Salvatore brothers). So we will be happy with who ever she ends..


Total Disappointment in Love alarm S2.....

Not because of the ending, the ways to come to that ending felt forced...

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One of the most illogical romance ever

This drama just proves that the writer has never been in a relationship or in love before.

The first season started off well with the introduction of an interesting-but-yet-realistic creation of a love alarm app along with the infusion of aesthetic visual elements and the intriguing storyline stemming from the mystery of the missing creator of the app, Duk Gu. Hwang Sun Oh and Kim JoJo were made to be the main leads in this season. Despite the interesting storyline, the puppy love was undeniably weak and unconvincing. I simply couldn’t understand why Sun Oh and Jo Jo were attracted to each other. It made Jo Jo looked like an indecisive cheater. She had a boyfriend but she liked Sun Oh. Their chemistry never made sense because she couldn’t reason out why she liked Sun Oh and it completely didn’t even make sense as to why she decided to end the relationship with Sun Oh when she actually liked him. She ended the relationship by using the shield that Duk Gu gave her exclusively to download in order to lie to Sun Oh that she never liked him. It hurt Sun Oh as he did not understand the reason why it happened that way and he never got proper closure. Perhaps that’s the essence of puppy love. Nevertheless, I shipped the two because the director wanted it that way. At the end of the first season, Duk Gu was hinted to be alive, Sun Oh having a new girlfriend he did not love and Hye Hyeong courting Jo Jo. The episode ended with Sun Oh’s new girlfriend ringing her alarm for Sun Oh while Sun Oh and Hye Hyeong ringing their alarms for JoJo; signifying the love triangle. Jo Jo’s alarm didn’t ring because of the shield that conceals her feelings which was why she later desperately wanted it to be removed and was so obsessed with the findings of missing Duk Gu.

Season 2 made the whole storyline went downhill. We expect the drama and jealousy of the second leads arising from Jo Jo being honest with Sun Oh. However, that wasn’t the case. In season 2, Jo Jo decided to give Hye Hyeong a chance by giving the relationship a try even tho she did not like him. She flinched when Hye Hyeong kissed her at the beginning but let Sun Oh kissed her in the later part. This shows how confused, indecisive, and needy Jo Jo was. She looked like a lonely and needy girl that that didn’t mind dating a guy she did not like. In this season, you are going to be confused as to who you are going to ship because Hye Hyeong became the male lead of this season with greater screen time. Sun Oh became the second lead and the screenwriter decided to make Sun Oh a fool who was drunk in his family’s situation. Perhaps the screenwriter wanted to explain that his obsession for closure with Jo Jo was due to the ill relationship between his parents. In this season, Jo Jo is desperately trying to find Duk Gu so she can have her shield removed, be honest with her own feelings, and hope to ring her future boyfriend’s alarm. I thought the reason that Jo Jo wanted to have the alarm removed because she has always wanted to reunite with Sun Oh by being true to him. Because she was always triggered whenever she bumped into Sun Oh. But no, she wanted to get it removed because of Hye Hyeong. She wanted to use it to ring Hye Hyeong’s alarm so that Hye Hyeong will know how she feels about him. The ending was evident that Jo Jo chose Hye Hyeong and Sun Oh going back to his ex-girlfriend. This storyline is basically telling viewers that as long as you make an effort to love someone who loves you and treats you right, you will love them eventually. Sounds illogical right?

I waited almost 2 years for season 2 because I was curious if Duk Gu had actually taken his life because of a rejection. It hinted that he was alive. I thought the revelation of his disappearance was going to be way more interesting in season 2. Turns out that he has been hospitalized for 4 years and his brother was the one running his love alarm app business. Duk Gu later woke up and gave Jo Jo an armour to download so she could ring Hye Hyeong’s alarm. Yea I just wasted my time on season 2.

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Love Alarm might just be the best romantic drama I've ever watched!

[Spoiler alert] Do not read this review if you don't want the ending spoiled!

I have always blamed kdramas and films in general, why there are so many girls who are attracted to "bad guys" who disrespects them and will treat them horribly. Because in most dramas and films we are taught that the "bad boy" male lead is "bad" but that it's up to the female lead to "change" him, which is such an absurd and unrealistic idea to sell to young impressionable girls.
Though I do understand the film industry that a "bad boy" male lead will cause more emotional rollercoaster rides thus a more interesting storyline. But that doesn't change how it's inflicting this unhealthy view on what is a "romantic relationship" to girls. Which is why, I have always wished and prayed for a romantic drama where the female lead ends up with the "nice guy", to show how we as girls do deserve to be with a nice guy who treats us with respect and that a nice guy is a better romantic partner.
And this is the first kdrama I've ever watched where the female lead FINALLY ends up the genuine nice guy who treats her well and with respect instead of the "bad guy". ( I would say that she ended up with the nice guy as well in Start Up, but I thought both male leads were nice guys so it doesn't count)

Now for all the Sun-oh stans out there who disagrees that Sun-oh is a "bad guy"; In season 1, Sun-oh first encounter with Jojo was because he observed and saw that Hye-yeong had a big crush on Jojo. Sun-oh then became interested in Jojo more or less because he knew Hye-yeong had a big crush on her. He followed and persuaded her and forced her into kissing him, again well-knowing that his best bro has the biggest crush on this girl + she has a boyrfriend. I'm not a guy, but this should be a huge break on bro code. And Sun-oh is lucky Hye-yeong never got mad at him over this.
But Sun-oh is so hypocritical that he thought it was okay to go after his best friends biggest crush, but when Hye-yeong said he still likes Jojo and wants to pursue her 4 years after they have broken up, Sun-oh gets so mad and petty asking Hye-yeong how he could do that to him. But what about you, Sun-oh? How could you pursue a girl you knew your best friend has the biggest crush on? And the only reason you ever noticed Jojo was because you saw that Hye-yeong likes her.
And when Sun-oh dated Jojo, Hye-yeong respectfully stepped back and didn't interfere, uninstalled the Love Alarm app so he wouldn't ring Jojo's Love Alarm all the time and let Sun-oh and Jojo be happy. But when Hye-yeong is finally dating Jojo 4 years after, Sun-oh constantly interferes, follows (basically stalking) Jojo around and even forced a kiss on Jojo.

That brings me to another point; Sun-oh basically forced a kiss upon Jojo in the first episode of season 1 well-knowing she had a boyfriend. He constantly follows (stalking) her and interferes with her life (again well-knowing she has a boyfriend) and not respecting her boundaries at all. If this was me, I would've gotten a restraining order on this guy.
Also when Jojo constantly rejects Sun-oh telling him she likes Hye-yeong, Sun-oh is so immature and can't accept that fact and is constantly blaming it on Jojo lying, the Love Alarm app or the developer. He is both selfish and arrogant and only cares about how he is feeling and not what the other party is feeling and acts with no regard to either Jojo, Hye-yeong or his girlfriend Yuk-jo.

Now, I've also had plenty of frustrations with Jojo. Like why didn't she just push Sun-oh away when he kissed her. Why wasn't she honest with Hye-yeong about the shield and her feelings? Like, is it so hard to say "I love you" in this Love Alarm world? You shouldn't be depended on an app to tell someone your feelings. (But I guess that's the point of show)
Now I got frustrated throughout all 6 episodes at Jojo for not being honest and just explaining everything to Hye-yeong. But I think we sometimes tend to forget, that Jojo is a broken person with a lot of mental issues, she might not even be aware of herself. And obvious things such as just speaking your mind and being honest, might not come naturally for a person like Jojo.
But I think the show explained very well, that Jojo is not okay mentally and why she is not good at expressing love. Both with flashbacks and imagery of her traumatic childhood and how she copes with her mental issues through The Ringing World art page. Because if you've never received love from your family and surroundings throughout your upbringing, it's difficult to know how to both receive and give love when you're older. And even harder when it is normalised that you can only give and receive love through an app in this particular world. So I forgive Jojo for acting like she does.

Now I must give Jojo some points as well for the times she is actually really proactive; She hugs and kisses Hye-yeong on the cheek to show her feelings. She actively tries to contact the developer to remove her shield so she can ring Hye-yeong's Love Alarm and express her feelings towards him. She uses the spear to express her feelings towards Hye-yeong even though she should just have been honest with him about everything here (but I'm giving her a break on that one). So I actually really liked how Jojo became more proactive in this season, but also how we more fully understood her character on a deeper level with her mental struggles and past trauma.

I feel like we got to know Hye-yeongs character on a deeper level as well in this season, We get to meet his father in prison whom he has never met before. And we learn that because Hye-yeong grew up without his father, he has always imagined his father when he looks at himself in the mirror. Therefore pushing himself to be a good person, so that his father will be a good person. Which ultimately makes him face the hard truth, when he eventually meets his dad in prison. I really love how we got to see this other side to Hye-yeongs character, and that he has so much more to him than just his nice and good personality. I could really see his inner struggles in this season and I just loved how Jojo came and supported him no matter what.

On another note, Hye-yeong is not only the perfect male lead, he is what all other male leads should aspire to be like.
Now I know that both myself and others would have really wished for Hye-yeong to be more proactive in his relationship with Jojo. But I just love how Hye-yeong takes it slow with Jojo, respecting her boundarie,s and not pressuring her to do or feel anything, and really letting it to be up to her on how she feels and acts. Exactly the opposite of Sun-oh.
And when Sun-oh tells Hye-yeong he met Jojo, Hye-yeong doesn't care because he trusts Jojo. And when he sees the viral video of Sun-oh and Jojo, he never questions or blames Jojo, only worrying if she's okay.
Though I was sometimes frustrated at Hye-yeong for not showing more affection. Like if she is hugging you and kissing you on the cheek, you can hug her back, that's a green light for that it's okay. But I also really respect Hye-yeong for respecting Jojo's boundaries and never forcing himself upon her like Sun-oh did. And letting her decide when she is ready to kiss him.
I love how the show started in season 1 with Sun-oh forcing a kiss on Jojo and ended with Jojo kissing Hye-yeong on her own free will in season 2. It really shows that girls should be the master of their own feelings and fate and that they should've never be pressured into feeling or doing anything by a guy. I really think kdramas (and the whole film industry in general) should follow in Love Alarm's footsteps teaching girls they deserve to be treated with respect.

On a totally different note, the show's sci-fi element with the Love Alarm app, and how it has become so normalised to express your feelings through this app, that we forget how we actually used to be aware of how we were feeling before this app. And how couples break up if their Love Alarm doesn't ring anymore, and that we never say words like "I love you" anymore because the app does that for you - shows how you begin to trust an app more than your own judgement. Which really criticises today's fast evolving technologies and society, where we as humans has begun to trust technology more than ourselves these days. Just like how people are depended on Love Alarm to love in the show, we are in today's society depended on various kinds of technology to "function".
But the shows also portrays how this technology can be dangerous and harmful, especially with mentally unstable people like Jang In-su. But also in season 1 how Love Alarm caused more depression and loneliness with the people in the mass suicide. We see the show obviously criticising the app's nature themselves with the protests in season 1. But in season 2 they also show that even though a technology is bad and harmful, you can't just exclude yourself from it when everyone in the world is using it. Because how will you ever date or find love, when everyone around you dates and finds love based on Love Alarm? Which really draws a clear parallel towards social media, because even though you might be against social media, everyone arounds you uses social media and that it is their only way communication, inviting you to things and so on. So you're more or less forced to be on social media if you don't want to be excluded. Like how you're forced to have Love Alarm if you ever want to find love.
I must say I'm really impressed with how the show incorporated this criticism into the storyline.

All in all, I think season 2 of Love Alarm is such a good romantic drama. I really feel that the show portrayed the characters so well, and that the storyline allowed the deeper layers to the characters to be shown. It raised awareness about mental health and criticised today's fast evolving technologies and social media so well. The show also taught girls that they deserve to be treated with respect and that they should've never be pressured into feeling or doing anything by a guy. I could really go on and on about this show. I haven't even talked about how good the acting and the filmmaking is and so many other parallels. But this review has already gotten way too long, so thank you if you've been reading this far.

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