We can agree to disagree! I really don’t think I am looking at just his looks. I was thinking about it this morning and the writer just didn’t do good character development for the 2nd lead. I can fall for a good 2nd lead. I have had 2nd lead syndrome before. Just not here. I didn’t see chemistry. I feel like she settled for the person in her “social status.” I think I get where the writer was going. That he comes back in the cafeteria all handsome and she falls for him (2nd lead). I am not the only one that feels like the show went off the rails. I get where you are coming from but I feel Sun Oh was made out to me a likeable character with flaws and sadness. I also see JoJo’s character as somewhat toxic and manipulative. It is all in how we all view things. Like I said previously a friend of mine also watched the 2nd season and she is a AP Literature teacher and feels the story just went flat. I think most of us feel like it was like her ending up with Jacob instead of Edward in Twilight.
Glad that you loved it and enjoyed it! I will still be disappointed with a lot of others. I do not tend to look at just a pretty face as I am a lover of the arts, literature, music and I like to delve into the character themselves. I guess I just see Sun Oh differently.
I’ve avoided this thread until I finished watching. I think JoJo was the toxic person in the drama. She was beyond selfish until the last 2 episodes. Her pain was the only pain that mattered and the torment that using the shield cause Sun Oh didn’t matter to her.
Yes Sun Oh was out of line when he started going after JoJo but Hye Yeong being the compassionate sweet guy he is gracefully stepped aside and seemed to be fine with it because both boys agreed Jo Jo would make the final choice.
At the end of Season 1 I also wanted Sun Oh to end up with Jo Jo because he needed the love more, he had only been loved by Hye Yeong, whereas Hye Yeong had a mother’s unconditional love. But after she decided to date Hye Yeong, I would have been mad if she had switched back to Sun Oh and shattered Hye Yeong.
I was glad that the writers had Sun Oh accept Jo Jo’s choice and let him move forward, it would have been wrong to leave him stuck in the past.
I hate the first love trope, well not all of them, the ones where someone has been pining for years unable to move on and destroying their present relationships. It’s so stupid. Are you telling me that the relationship you had at 17 where you dated for 1 maybe 2 months means more than the current relationship that was built over years? It’s stupid, frustrating, & unrealistic. Ok, rant over.
Thank you! We are in agreement! I thought she was totally the toxic one! So I’m not crazy on that point! I’m still team Sun Oh though but maybe I should be glad he got away from her!
Why AM I so MAD about a dumb show!
I understand this was a webtoon and it ended the same. So maybe I should have not been looking to forward to Season 2
Yes, she was completely toxic, I really don’t know why the guys were hung up on her for all that time. Normal people just move on from high school. Sure you may have fond feeling if you think about someone but to still be head over heals in love? Stupid.
You’re not the only one that has that happen. I get very invested in the dramas I watch, that’s why melodramas and I don’t get along well. I always want to either throttle someone, throw my laptop, or on the rare occasion, hire the white truck.
SPOILERS
Ok what is “the white truck” I don’t know that one!
My friend who is an AP Literature teacher said the same. Why the heck were they so invested in her? What made her so great? Now I guess I should be happy Sun Oh got away huh. And him being with her even though his friend liked her didn’t upset me, that happens in HS. He also told him directly! You can’t help who you fall in love with at the time. Just FRUSTRATED
I think if Twilight had ended with Jacob getting the girl, there would have been a RIOT
You’re not familiar with the white truck of doom or death? Whenever someone dies in a car accident it’s almost always a white truck. I don’t know what drama it happened in first but the rest of the writers seem to have latched onto it and now it’s a common trope.
Well, one thing I’m sure that writers in Asian dramas always manage to draw the viewers deeply into each character, and identify with the one closest to their ‘‘liking.’’ Many will have different views about who deserved what, which needs to be respected. I usually defend the women bc I suffered a lot through life, so I identified myself with her pain and struggles in her life. I honestly feel the writer in the goal to make such a great drama in the end accomplished to make each one of them a villain in their own way. I’m happy and satisfied with the ending and wished the ending included pictures of their wedding, and another one baby in arms with a smile from ear to ear. The smile that would show they overcame the dark obstacles in their life, and lived happily ever after whether anyone likes it or not.
To be fair, if they had shown more chemistry between the two - maybe it would have needed more episodes people may have accepted it more. Everyone wants a happily ever after but you can’t help who you decide to root for in a drama. I love literature so I tend to find deeper meaning in characters flaws and angst than maybe I should. Maybe a character isn’t as deep as I see them. But that is why reading a good book or watching a good show makes everyone feel differently.
To be fair, the only one to be blamed here: is the writer. The writer typical Asian writer go around in circles; with same story lines/tropes? In the end, they leave most viewers frustrated with one thing or the other.
What need was there to show such a young girl waiting for a guy in the darkness just to be killed by a serial killer? The way they catch the killer was even more ridiculous, and the scene where she throws herself in the floor was to me was even more ridiculous. Then, everything goes on like nothing ever happened, the serial killer is arrested and that part is over. An innocent life taken away, and it was like it never happened. But the damn application stays making money and is not discontinued.
The writer who wrote the story IS the only one I blamed for lack of chemistry with the second ML. I also blame the writer for making viewers frustrated bc they didn’t end up together but completely disregard the fact that an innocent girl using an application called Love Alarm lost her life in the most savage way, but no one mentions that at all. A life a precious life gone, and viewers are only frustrated that the ML didn’t end with the FL.
So now let’s put all the blame on her; she’s the toxic one. It’s her fault all the bad things that happened to her in her life and it was always her fault, she did it to herself. The poor thing that didn’t ask to be brought into this world and had suffered so much, is the one to be blamed after all.
So I went upstairs because we have this dumb - spring forward thing so it not actually the time it is but one hour later am in the morning. This was kind of bothering me. I am a pretty sensitive person and I never put out these threads or questions to make anyone feel like we are trampling on anyone who may have some real life experience with anything that might be a part of the discussion. At no time, was I trying to look past other issues in the story line to only look at whether this or that ML or 2nd lead did this that or the other. It was just something I hoped would bring across banter about the show. So if in some way the discussion itself has become something hurtful. I apologize that was not my intention.
Let’s just leave it as a fact that it is a SHOW and we can be upset with the way it was written or the way it ended because that is what happens even with book clubs or whatever drama or art is produced.
As an artist and literature person myself, I would hope that even I could take any criticism or objective thoughts on my work as something constructive. I hope that on any of my discussions, I can continue to make it as constructive as possible as not to cause anyone any discomfort.
The show is the show is the show, I guess we move on to the next drama and that we get to decide whether we like it or not. That is why the artists do what they do.
I’m glad you finally see it that way too; that this is the work of a writer who writes a drama/movie/show to entertain viewers, and some to disappoint viewers too. We may identify with some of the characters, as long as we don’t become insensitive, and lose the sense of reality of the real world, and the pain and suffering we are all facing at this time.
Identifying yourself with a character doesn’t mean you lost your sense of reality, your own identity, it only means as HUMANS that we are, and if we have a good heart, we feel sorry for ALL the suffering depicted in the story as a WHOLE; not being enraged like some viewers did just because the girl didn’t stayed with the main lead.
I realized that is why we see many Asian writers never allowing second lead to stay with the girl because the overreaction of most viewers. The writers are afraid that the viewers will stop watching dramas written by them. Case and point; although there were so many tragic events in the show/movie/drama, all the comments and anger revolved around the girl not staying with main lead. This is what the world has come to. I have seen around me so many people dying with this virus young and old, and you see people partying, complaining bc they don’t want to wear the mask. While my neighbor lost her young husband and is alone with 10 year old twins, the upstair lady that knows her and knew him, made a PARTY a week after he died. While I heard her loud cries of despair and loss, I heard the music playing and ppl drinking and enjoying their life on the third floor. When did we become so insensitive to other people’s pain and suffering? I wonder…. You want to know something? I now feel guilty when I laugh so loud in my house when I see something funny in the dramas or TV so I watch TV in my room rather than in the living room. But that’s me, and that’s who I am since I can remember. You don’t need to apologize and nothing became hurtful in this whole discussion. It was just a constructive viewpoint from both our part, and I’m glad the way you pointed yours in a very mature and educated manner. Thanks.
So very sorry for you neighbors loss. My girlfriend who is part Korean. Her Korean mother, who I was so looking forward to meeting, they were going to teach me Stop Go the game and maybe I could have found a new friend. She died of Covid a week or so ago. I have been msging my friend daily as I am worried about her. I am still not over my mom![/spoiler] [spoiler] You should not feel guilty the living have to live. Wish you meaning blessings today and always.
Many Blessing to you and your family, and May you and your loved ones be protected with lots of health, and all the good things life has to offer. I’m sorry for your loss too
My sentiments exactly. She was the one who was running away to save herself, and that’s why the ending of the show really sat differently with me and made me happy. I love that she basically told Sun Oh, it’s not your fault, it never was, it was all me, and I’m sorry. I think that Sun Oh was in love with the JoJo from the past, not the JoJo that she grew up to be (as interpreted in the scene where she says goodbye to him and her smiling face overlapped with her smiling face as a teenager). She confronted herself and finally allowed herself to accept blame and then let it go.
One theme of the show that I liked was that true love isn’t always fatal attraction. It can be built up when both people put in effort. Also, that there’s a certain amount of volition involved. Before I got to the final episode, I was ranting to my sister that if the writer ended up implying that love could only be found through the Love Alarm, I would never watch the show again. Duk Gu said to his brother that due to timing and volition, JoJo was able to see Hye Young as a potential romantic interest. That was what propelled her. So, destined love wasn’t behind the romance in this series (unless someone interprets that differently?).
Also, I really liked how Sun Oh was finally starting to see a different side to his family dynamics. I wish that could have been explored more.
The part with the serial killer could have been incorporated a little better, I think.
I loved the cinematography in the show. The colors and the angles were just so telling in a show that, to me, spoke more with the camera and acting than with the dialogue.
(I think your interpretation is very mature! Although, I’m still not happy as excited as I was I can see your points of view. Although I still see a “settling” aspect to it but that’s just me)
Although I didn’t like the end pairing (no chemistry developed), I do agree with you. The essence of this App Love Alarm telling you who you love and don’t love was not the way anyone should find someone. I still love my Sun Oh! Waiting to see that actor in his new Drama! It is about a senior man going back to pursue Ballet. Should be Good!
. You want to know something? I now feel guilty when I laugh so loud in my house when I see something funny in the dramas or TV so I watch TV in my room rather than in the living room. But that’s me, and that’s who I am since I can remember.