Love Alarm Season 2 (2021)

Closure for Love Alarm that can feel confusing but also right at the same time

Hi, this is my first review, so hopefully everything feels okay to read. I'm doing it spoiler free and posting a comment that contains my full thoughts with spoilers.

Love Alarm Season 1 was the first K/Asian Drama i ever watched so it has a special place to me.

-Story
Although the story can be a bit confusing at times (mainly ep6 for me), the overall plot gives closure on the open-ended ending of season 1 for all the characters whether it is in the way you hoped or not. One concept this Drama plays with a lot is keeping you on your toes guessing who she will end up with in the end.
I feel like for the best viewer experience you should be watching this straight after finishing season 1. Unlike most other people who have been waiting for 2 years pondering on what would actually happen.

-Acting/Cast
The actors for the 2 male leads were great and definitely felt like the same old as season 1. I did feel that the female lead (Kim So Hyun/Kim Jo Jo) did give a slight different vibe, but that could be atoned to her character maturing.
Other notables are Gul Mi and Duk Goo, especially Duk Goo his visuals have gone up a ton.
Overall acting was great and I think everyone portrayed their roles in a good way.

-Music
The OST from what I could tell was mostly reused and had 1 or 2 new songs in there if I'm not wrong.
I Loved the OST and even ended up on my Top Songs 2019 on Spotify.

-Cinematography
Nothing notable and not bad either. Just what you would expect from a good film crew but nothing standout.


-Would I recommend this Drama?
Yes if you watched Season 2 no matter what your expectations are, closure is good, rather this than the open end of Season 1. The story keeps you on your toes and makes you wonder who she will end up with which is a big part of this drama as people were pondering over this for 2 years already and kept on doing it for most of these 6 episodes. The Music is great, the actors did their part.

-Rewatch Value
Would I rewatch this? No, I always saw rewatch value in season 1, but now having also watched season 2 there is nothing inside me that tells me that I would want to rewatch this.

It gets a 7 /10 from me as I liked it, but it had a lot more room to perhaps at least be 8 episodes to give the side characters some more developed stories.

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This is about the message behind, not the demand ship

The turn off about this season is the execution of events (everything is way complicated, rushed and flat) and how everything made it so unclear for two guys especially for Sun Oh who waited for a proper explanation so that he could move forward. I thought he just got stuck with his first love and can't love Yuk Jo back bcoz he had lots of questions for four years, thus making him unable to move on for real. Jojo didn't explain her side clearly to him. In the first season, I didn't like Sun Oh's character, but in this season, can't help to feel so bad for him and my hatred towards Jojo grew more.

Above all, I felt so so so bad for Yuk Jo among the characters here (but hey, even though she did not deserve it still Sun Oh still tries for her. I think Sun Oh likes her, but the disadvantage of Love Alarm is that maths can't actually measure accurately someone's soul (feelings), adding also that Sun Oh has a set of feelings towards Jojo that's why it's hard for him to like Yuk Jo completely) T^T

What's more is that Jojo didn't understand herself why she desparately used the spear feature just to ring Hyeyeong's love alarm, which made Hyeyeong get confused and made him question her sincerity to him. She said herself that she wants to get rid of the shield bcoz of Hyeyeong so she should understand better and let Hyeyeong understand her real motive. Jojo wasn't able to come up with her inner conflicts until Duk Gu came just to give a good and sensible explanation to her and Hyeyeong ?‍♀ And what lacks about this season is the character behind Duk Gu and his story with Gul Mi. End game aside, everybody is curious about Duk Gu but the film didn't show him that much.

Though genre and message wise, this isn't a typical love story and I like it. This drama is all about overcoming anxiety and the impact of social media and technology to everyone's life.

Without looking at the actors and just focus on the characters, the season 2 delivered what it is to love without the reliability of the Love Alarm app (since the girl can't ring either of the two guys' love alarm bcoz of the shield). The girl ending with the fine and understanding man who respected her, didn't touch (kiss) her, and courted her until she could finally say that she loves him, is much better.

If you guys can't appreciate Jung Ga Ram (Hye Yeong), just appreciate the maturity of his character in the film and also the beautiful message behind this series. It's not just bcoz Song Kang (Sun Oh) has better chemistry with the girl and is more handsome (and he suffered "more", they said), he would be the one. Remember, it takes a good foundation and maturity for a relationship to become pure and strong and that's what Hyeyeong x Jojo portrayed in this season. It's not all about the sudden feelings and "kilig", it's all about patience and understanding each other's feelings which both Sun Oh and Jojo failed to do when they were together. Jojo felt so inferior and Sun Oh failed to see that. Sun Oh just hated Jojo and didn't patiently work out his feelings and waited when Jojo did not ring his love alarm anymore (which Hyeyeong did even though he did not receive even a single ring from the beginning). Their relationship started as just selfish feelings of lust and infatuation.

For music, I love it. For me it feels so nostalgic and beautiful and they really suit the scenes in the film. For acting, well, I love Sun Oh's acting best. You can see how he portrays a broken man.

To be honest, this season is not highly recommendable to watch given the plot made. If they just made it more detailed and time-oriented as how it's made in the webtoon, maybe people would understand and accept more why it should be Hyeyeong, not Sun Oh. Or if it would have shown more of Hyeyeong in the first season, not only focused on Sun Oh and Jojo, maybe they may have considered Hyeyeong as a better choice. As for me, regardless the acting and chemistry between the actors, I've always been rooting for Hyeyeong. I write short novels too and I understand why the author of the original story made it this way. Good thing also that the director and staff considered the original and did not follow fans' demands and bandwagon or else, this series would have been a more turn off for me.

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Happy miserable ending

First of all, i am writing this review to thank the director and screenwriter of this drama for the way they have folded the season 2 of it, such unpleased watcher.
Second, the main story(5.5 rating) is disappointing and messed up for a love triangle to end this way, Kim jojo dumping sun-oh for not clear reason and chose hye-young while she doesn't believe in her feeling and sincerity and because of her terrible scar of the past that shadowed her present life. Her immature acts lead her to hurt the feeling of others and i think she deserves a beating just to wake up from the dark hole that surround her and influence negatively the persons she love. My anger got alleviated a bit by apologizing to sun-oh for her misdeeds but still she needs to give a reason!!!
Third, i gave a 7 overall rating because of the side stories that were interesting, geul mi hardworking to enter that badge club and her discovery that the developer is choi suk duk the one who rang her love alarm and she rejected him is quite epic and funny, that suk-duk is a thing but this 2.0 function created a disturb and caused some suicide crimes so he wanted to remove it after the person called as his brother and the fake developer of love alarm was keen to activate it. Geul mi believing in herself despite her continuing fails make her suscced in the end she even forsaken her online shopping to enter the club, i liked her character.
Fourth, the acting and ost were amazing and well played whether by the leads or the supporters that why i gave a rate of 8.0. The ost called tearliner is quite impressing.
In general, i don't recommend to rewatch this drama but those who will to watch give it a try even if i spoiled everything her

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Contains heavy spoilers!

I think I get it...

It was a sea of emotions. I wasn't a bit happy when it ended. The second season is surely *dark* in one word.
I have to say I did resent Jojo for being inconsiderate to Sun-oh. She never settled the tie between them properly. A "mianhe" doesn't cut it in my book yet, I can't blame her... Why? Because what I get is this story was mostly about perseverance.

Sun-oh could have fought for her but he didn't. Yes, he never stopped loving her but obviously he needed to act, take responsibility. Simply, do something.
Hye-yeong did. He was there no matter what. He helped. He didn't sit still and give up.
Yeok-ju too, she didn't give up on him till the end. There is a line between being clingy and hopeful. She did well in her own way.
And JoJo... she didn't give up on her life. Jeju story was so moving, the backbone of it was so strong.
What I liked the most is the way she found herself healing her childhood trauma. Hugging that little girl, telling her "it's okay." really made it worth.
But....
Can I get over how my ship was ruined ? No T.T

Minus is ; the last scenes about her love alarm... it felt off. They didn't need to convince us she did like Hye-yeong. Sun-oh coming back to Yeok-ju felt like he was looking for a band-aid. I just hoped for a better future for him rather than leading by his mother's example.
Dear writers I know it is about JoJo but don't you think this is unjust to a character like Sun-oh?

I will always remember my ship <3 JoJo - Sun-oh <3

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Most people won't like the S02

I did! A lot more than S01 but it has a "but". A big one!
All the characters were super interesting yet we had absolutely no time to get to know them. Even the main characters... what do we really know about them?! Jojo's best friends from highschool never showed up again, even though i was pretty sure they would. Jojo's new best friend also had a lot of potential but was completely forgotten. The new app developer (the brother) has no story, nothing. The Duk Goo's comeback was also out of the blue and not explained at all. The character development for Jojo's cousin, just for hearts, was also very sudden and hold no meaning for her. Jojo was never into drawing yet all of a sudden, for this season, she is an artist on her free time. To me, everything was touched on the surface. Absolutely everything.

I liked Sunoh, i did! But i also didn't.
Even though deep down he was a sweet boy, he was always following JoJo around trying to convince her that she loved him, and for this season where they are no longer teenagers, that suddenly started to annoy me. I was team Hye Young even halfway through S01. I just loved the way he loved her so genuinely without asking anything in return, and without making scenes at school. Because no matter how "desperate for love" you are, Jojo and Sunoh's sudden kiss in the S01 felt so so wrong to me. Putting a girl in a corner... but also she just went along with it - why? Cause he was a pretty boy? I overlooked it all season, but i just didn't find any reason for them to like each other... like what was it? the stalking and kissing on empty feelings?! my empathy for them wasn't quite there.

But- then they got cute in the middle of S01... only for the writer to take it all back without a proper explanation. Yes ok, Jojo was scared to love cause she was scared to lose him and cause him pain (while doing just that...) but hey- believe me! I get it! But it wasn't well explained here. There's a lot of things the screenwriter just skipped over. Cause Jojo did all that in highschool... ok, but then you grow up and at the very least you should give closure to someone that cleary is still in pain because of you. Even if you still love him back, if don't plan on dating him, then let him go. So he can start to heal, instead of giving him mixed signals.

As for the Hye Young x Jojo couple, is like a dream honestly. He's been an absolute sweetheart to everyone since episode 1. Always so humble, always waiting, always supportive, always respecting her space and boundaries. When his love alarm went off i was so happy for him, was like watching a friend finally winning at life after being the best human being possible on earth. More beautiful human beings like him should win in kdramas. The oustanding beautiful/model/rich ones always win and it bugs me a lot - Also for an "adult character" season... the kisses?! hello?! Puff-

Yet again, Hye Young chapter with his father was left unfinished... a lot to unpack there! Even Sunoh'sparents... I feel like there was something to explore there too. Like, did they ever loved each other? Why is his mother still with his father if she's the one not ringing his love alarm. like what happened?

Everyone was a side character in their own lives, including the main ones. This show had potential to be explored for full 20 episodes, and i never say this... i kinda always want shows to have less episodes... but not this one. All these characters looked awesome! Plots about suicide over having no one "love" you, also super interesting considering we live in a "likes on insta add value to my life" generation... so much potential wow. it's sad.

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It was okay

Though i started watching kdramas like two years ago this was one of the dramas that interested me the most,actually the one i was most awaited for,i won't say I'm disappointed with it but ya I'm sad because I wanted jojo and sunoh to be together, but at the end i can understand why they don't end up together. One thing i can't take in was the hye young and jojo ending together it was like the writers were forcing us to accept that. They both had no spark no chemistry even sunoh and yuk jo's relationship looked better than them. I hated that the writers presented sunoh as third wheel till the fifth episode, the only thing i liked was the last 35 mins of the last episode and the only thing that made me emotional was the last moment where jojo and sunoh saw there past while walking on that road, this season was actually more focused on the smaller parts than the bigger picture of bringing the main charaters together

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Started off dull, builds up the latter half of the season nicely

I watched Season 1 of Love Alarm two years ago and have been on the wait for Season 2 ever since. Recently, as the second season's release had been fast approaching, I rewatched the first just to hype myself up and get a grasp of the plot once again, and I really have to say, the first season IS GOLD. Every second of it felt nostalgic and inspiring. Unfortunately, I might not be able to say the exact same for this season, though there are some noteworthy and loveable parts from this season too.

Warning: Pretty long review (?).

PLOT

Plot-wise, the first two episodes of S2 were honestly quite slow. Especially since I was fresh off my S1 rewatch, I really waited for a continuation of the final scene where Jojo, Sun-oh, and Hye-young were gathered at the Love Alarm conference event, but to my surprise, S2 didn't start there. I have no idea if this was the intention of the Webtoon writer, but I really hoped it wouldn't just skip on it, 'cause it created a lot of tension, leaving me wanting its next scene. Are we supposed to just guess what happened after they met at the conference? The writers also introduced a lot of new storylines that weren't in the first. What happened to Jojo's job at the wedding events place? How about the friend she made there? Did Gulmi's family move elsewhere and bought a new convenience store? (I wouldn't call these spoilers since they don't contribute much to the plot, but if they are for you, I'm sorry. There are many more surprising new plots in the new season that I didn't include here.) It took a while to get used to them, so I only picked up on the plot and found it interesting halfway through.

I would have to say though that even if there were these new interesting workable storylines introduced, they still added to S2 being very disconnected from the premise of S1. The first two episodes, as I have said, took so long to build upon the continuation of the first, and it's probably because of the large time jump they made. This, honestly, I'm not a fan of. We literally caught a glimpse of all 3 leads in the final episode of Season 1 and at a dramatic encounter at that, but why did it take 1-2 episodes just to establish the same situation as last season. Did nothing happen at the event such that it had to take 5 years for the next encounter to happen?

Regarding the set and environment for this season, it looked really different from the first season's. It may be due to the pandemic's push-backs and restrictions that the original filming sites were abandoned due to not being available, but it really didn't feel right. I think I speak for a lot of us when I say that the sceneries from the first season were absolutely iconic to love alarm. The school's environment, the convenience store, and even the alley. They all added to the warmth of the series. I understand though that S1 took place during the fall season, while I think S2 is during the summer. This could be a reason for the vibe change. I sure the writers could also defend the scenery changes (Sun-oh's house, new convenience store, etc.) by saying that the plot's 5-year time skip from 2018 to 2023 had a huge part. However, the dryness of it all still added to the disconnection from S1 that I felt this season.

The plot's development could definitely have been better, most especially for the first half of this season. Also, the characters' maturity arcs could have been introduced more slowly too, since I really felt like I was watching a different drama multiple times throughout the first half. Toward the end though, I still found myself warming up to it anyway, so I wouldn't give the plot an extremely low score. Give it a chance I guess, since its scenes still advance the story quite well. About the direction of the plot and romance, I'm not against it, since thinking about it from Jojo's point of view, it was the most logical choice for her, although not the most logical choice from a viewer's perspective who does not know what happened during the 5 years in between the seasons' settings. As much as I did not find this season to be iconic as the previous, I still absolutely want an S3, because this drama really has a knack for making their viewers invested with the plot.

ACTING/CAST

Top-notch as usual. The actors are perfect for their roles! The chemistry between the couple this season, it's there--as well as all the heartbreaks. They really did a good job conveying their characters' emotions.

MUSIC

I'm glad they kept the OST and background music from the first season because aside from the sceneries, the music really sets the atmosphere up for this drama. I definitely felt the nostalgia and remembered the bittersweet that came with it from the first season. It really helped lessen how disconnected S2 felt from S1. Whenever I heard songs they used from the previous, it brought lots of memories. From the newly added songs though, I didn't really feel for much. Maybe I should give them multiple listens? Anyway, the music was great!

REWATCH VALUE

Kinda low for this season, since there weren't many iconic scenes like you know, S1's alley-kiss scene. I would watch several clips on YouTube though when they come out. And who knows? Maybe when S3 is under works and about to come, I might watch again as I did for S1 while I waited for S2.

CONCLUSION

Season 1 may have been better overall since the first half of this season was slow and dull, but I'm still a fan and willing to wait for the next season if ever there is one.

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There was also positive things

I agree storyline wasn't best, I really don't have much to say about it. I didn't like how first half of s1 was built around jojo and sunoh and then they just dropped it and they didn't have anything after it till end. They really had chemistry and for me the best and the cutest moments. I think writers didn't thought that sunoh and jojo would get that much love from watchers since it didn't get what they would have to offer. When it comes to Hye Young and Jojo story separately it was logic, cute and realistic. I just hate the feeling that I didn't watch a same show anymore.

the endgame wasn't bad. Im not mad because the couples were cute and so was their stories. The problem was still for me, my bitterness because of how sunoh and jojos story ended so fast and sadly I couldn't see the same chemistry anymore with jojo & Hye young and sunoh & Yuk Jo.

characters themselves were good. in s2 I specially liked Gulmi and Yuk Jo. Gulmi had little character development, she made me smile between I ugly cried for other scenes. Yuk jo have really sweat personality. I had little pity towards her because she really loved sunoh and it hurted her when she didn't get same back. She deserved happy ending.

Also filming scenes were so beautiful. Cherry trees and Hye Young's house...I loved them :)

After all it still broke me and even if I someday want to watch it again I will not. I miss Jojo and Sunoh moments little too much.

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okay honeybuns, let's talk about the ending

OMFG let me explain all of my thoughts while watching this.

During the first couple of episodes I could not stop swearing at my screen because I was so pissed that she was with Hye-yeong. I actually cried watching her with him. Like sun-oh literally didn't do anything to deserve this. Anyway I was literally dying. Also, there's a lot of false clues in the beginning that she'll end up with sun-oh, like when her love alarm thing disappeared from hye-yeong's screen. So, since I was on team sun-oh, I'm sorry to say but there's a lot of heart ache and suffering to endure if you're rooting for him.

Don't kill me but I actually think the ending made sense. I mean when you think about it, sun-oh and jojo are both people who need to receive love. Meanwhile, hye-yeong and yuk-jo are both people who give love. If sun-oh and jojo really ended up together I don't think they would be all that happy since they're both receivers, I think? so that thought kinda made me calm down and think that it really was the best for them....

Now imma compare the seasons

Hands down, I think that season one was better. It has a stronger storyline and is more exciting. Season two almost felt like I was reading/looking through someone's photo book. It also ends the same way that it started, so I felt like I just watched a whole bunch of nothing. You could watch all six episodes in a row like I did, and almost think nothing of it. Also, season one made more sense. Like season two was shorter, but I feel like they didn't explain at all what happened to Duk Goo and what the heck he's been doing all these years.

I guess the ending was more satisfying than season one?? I mean I liked the way they explained why jojo's possibility of liking hye-yeong disappeared. Essentially, all the questions about the main characters are all answered in the end. But what about characters like Duk Goo, Gul Mi and sun-oh's family? I would've liked to see what happened to them as well, even though they aren't main characters.

I can't really remember the music in season one, but I really liked the music in season two.

Season two was deeper when it came to emotions. It had a lot of scenes/shots that needed thinking or could be interpreted to what the watchers thought, I liked that aspect of season two. It refers to season one quite a lot, which I also liked, since I watched season one a while ago and cannot remember everything.

anyway it's worth watching, but it's not the best.


BUT TEAM SUN-OH GOT ROBBED. He didn't have that many scenes and the story was mainly about jojo and hye-yeong. like pleasssseeee where are all the good scenes and shots????

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JOJO ENDS UP WITH HYEYEONG WTFFFF

OMG I WATCHED THE FIRST EPISODE AND IT WAS SO BORING SO I SKIPPED TO THE END AND JOJO ENDS UP WITH HYEYEONG WTH!!! Wtffffffff I was expecting sunoh to end up with her like sunoh still liked her and she only broke up with him because she didn’t want to hurt him. Like if your breaking up like that you can’t hurt him again when your older like did he own you in his past life or something?!!! THIS IS RIDICULOUS!!!!!!! SUNOH SHOULDVE ENDED UP WITH HER AND NO OFFENCE AND NO HATE BUT HYEYEONG AND JOJO DOESNT EVEN MATCH IN MY OPINION AND HYEYEONG SHOULDNT EVEN TRY TO HIT ON JOJO LIKE WHY ARE YOU DATING YOUR BSF’S EX LIKE THATS CRAZY! YOU CANNOT ABSOLUTELY NOT DO THAT IM SO PISSED AT THIS!!!!!!! The director should’ve went with the majority like 70% of the people wanted sunoh to end up with JOJO!!! Everyone is crazy!!!!

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Crying my eyes outtt

When I tell you I have waited half a year for this season just because I was so invested in Sun oh and JoJo I felt as if my heart was ripped out I love Hye yeong but there was simply no chemistry there to me and I am so disappointed I just felt as if this was a different drama same people situation I love the first season so much I cried for about an hour when I realized JoJo would not end up with Sub oh and Hye yeong deserves all love to but not with JoJo I feel as if his love for her was forced same for JoJo I really don’t want to finish watching this season because if I cried watching the first few minutes of the first episode I can only imagine what would happen watching it all but all love to the cast the season is just not what I was expecting!!

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Disappointing

Season 2 is so disappointing. If you’re team Sun o, drop this drama rn. Could’ve been better honestly. After watching season 1 and getting spoiled by season 2, literally disappointed. I just noticed how bad the FL is. Cheated on her ex, dumping her boyfriend without even an explanation and starts dating her bf’s best friend. Hye yeong was hella weird too. Stalking Jojo, always watching her wherever she is, and walking behind her when they didn’t even interacted many times in season 1. They should’ve change the ending after seeings the fans loving Sun oh and Jojo together. Now they better expect bad reviews.

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