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Pierce Conran

Lead cast: Jung Hae-in, Jung So-min
Latest Nielsen rating: 6 per cent
Echoing popular recent series such as Welcome to Samdal-ri and The Good Bad Mother, Love Next Door shows that sometimes the thing you have been looking for has been there all along.
Jung Hae-in (Snowdrop) and Jung So-min (Alchemy of Souls) lead this romantic comedy as childhood friends and neighbours who have grown up and left home, but life lures them back to the nest.


Choi Seung-hyo (Jung Hae-in) and Baek Seok-ryu (Jung So-min) were thrown together when they were just four years old, when their mothers, Seo Hye-sook (Jang Young-nam) and Na Mi-sook (Park Ji-young), became friends.
Both children excelled in their schooling and careers, which sparked a healthy rivalry between their mothers, who like nothing more than to boast about their prodigious progenies. Seung-hyo became an architect and Seok-ryu a corporate go-getter.
Seung-hyo keeps getting awards for his architectural projects and charitable works, while Seok-ryu works for a world-famous company in America and is on the cusp of getting married.
But one day, Seok-ryu makes an unscheduled visit back to Korea, unbeknown to her family. She tries her best to avoid them but cannot help bumping into Seung-hyo.

He quickly senses that something is up and is eventually able to pry the truth out of her. Seok-ryu has suddenly broken off her engagement. What is more, she has quit her high-paying job.
She dreads telling her parents, anticipating their bitter disappointment, which in her mother’s case is likely to manifest itself physically. But eventually she has to come clean.
After the fireworks calm down, Seok-ryu settles back into her old bedroom, which is now a glorified wardrobe, and proceeds to do what she came back to do – sleep and eat Korean food.
Though Love Next Door does not take place in the countryside, it shares much in common with so-called “healing dramas” about burned-out young professionals retreating to rural settings. The popular subgenre includes the aforementioned Welcome to Samdal-ri and Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha.

Given Seok-ryu’s struggles with her parents, who react poorly when she seemingly gives up on the security that they had sacrificed to provide for her – that, and the loss of bragging rights to friends and acquaintances – the series also resembles the recent medical drama Doctor Slump, in which Park Shin-hye’s doctor stays with her disappointed mother after quitting her job.
Beyond rest and comfort food, Seok-ryu wiles her time away with soothingly purposeless pursuits, such as riding a bus to its final stop, getting off and getting back on again before it restarts its circuit.
While Seok-ryu’s character is well-defined in these opening episodes, we get less of a sense of Seung-hyo.
Seemingly perfect – for now – he lacks the flaws and challenges that made the characters in those other shows, such as those played by Ji Chang-wook (in Welcome to Samdal-ri), Kim Seon-ho (Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha) and Park Hyung-sik (Doctor Slump), more immediately compelling.

On top of his good looks and awards, Seung-hyo also opens a new architecture firm at the beginning of the series and is abundantly kind and gracious towards Seok-ryu.
He redecorates her room while she is going around in circles on the bus, and even moves back in next door, presumably to watch over her. He is also generally a shoulder for her to lean on, offering her such wisdom as: “Don’t force yourself to laugh if you feel like crying.”
At least the show does not spend too much time on Seok-ryu wallowing in despair upon her complicated return home. Reinforcing the glow-in-the-dark stars that Seung-hyo returns to her ceiling during the redecoration, Seok-ryu has the chance to make a wish upon a shooting star.
Though the future is still unclear, we may not have to wait long for something to turn up on the horizon for her.

Though his character leaves something to be desired at this early point in the series, Jung Hae-in, who has recently excelled in edgy streaming series such as D.P. and Connect, exudes a strong screen presence.
Jung So-min also manages to exhibit her charms, which are often reminiscent of the tomboyish physicality of a slightly younger Jun Ji-hyun.
In addition to its leads, Love Next Door manages to mine some comedy and family drama from its colourful matriarchs, while two more members in their group of childhood friends – Jung Mo-eum (Kim Ji-eun, One Dollar Lawyer) and Kang Dan-ho (Yun Ji-on, Serendipity’s Embrace), who have yet to be fully introduced – are poised to play significant parts as well.
Love Next Door is streaming on Netflix.


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Jung Hae-in and Jung So-min both give strong performances as childhood friends thrown back together in adulthood


New Netflix Korean drama Love Next Door stars Jung Hae-in and Jung So-min as childhood friends thrown back together in a series echoing popular recent healing dramas.


Netflix K-drama Love Next Door: Jung Hae-in, Jung So-min in colourful healing romcom

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Jung Hae-in and Jung So-min both give strong performances as childhood friends thrown back together in adulthood

Jung Hae-in and Jung So-min both give strong performances as childhood friends thrown back together in adulthood