A lovely, traditional Korean drama love story that reminded me of older Korean drama classics that had focused heavily on dynamic family relationships, similar to the beloved masterpiece Four Seasons' K-dramas from 2000 to 2006, Love Next Door (2024) never once seemed tiresome, even though I had seen similar K-drama story structures like it in the past. It remained endearing and interesting throughout, largely because of the phenomenal talents of the superb, appealing ensemble cast, all popular young actors, veteran actors, and even some adorable child actors as well. I caught myself smiling through 90% of this story, hence my grade of A+. Well deserved!

Both lead actors Jung So Min (Bad Guy, Playful Kiss, D-Day, The Sound Of Your Heart, Because This Is My First Life, The Smile Has Left Your Eyes, Can We Get Married?, Fix You, The Red Teacher) and cutie pie Jung Hae In (Snowdrop, DP 1 and 2, Something In The Rain, A Piece Of Your Mind, While You Were Sleeping, Goblin, The Three Musketeers) always pick memorable dramas to appear in. They obviously can read a script and know immediately that the characters would be perfect for them! They are two pros who know instinctively how to make the audience fall in love with them.

 

All the mature characters were played by top professionals whom I also always enjoy in any drama or film they appear in, especially beautiful Jang Young Nam (The Crowned Clown, Crash Course In Romance, Find Me In Your Memory) and Park Ji Young (Jealousy Incarnate, Wok Of Love, Lost). They played best friends and adjacent neighbors, and mothers to Jung So Min's and Jung Hae In's characters. They are also friends with two other ladies in a social group they set up called The Lavender Club, played by Han Ye Joo and Kim Keum Soon. All these older female characters boast about their adult children's accomplishments with pride, in scenes that are often very sweet and amusing.

Young Nam's character's husband is played by long time favorite character actor Lee Seung Joon (Nine: Nine Time Travels, Hyde Jekyll and I, Descendants Of The Sun, Castaway Diva) and Ji Young's character's husband is played by the endearing Jo Han Chul (Jirisan, 100 Days My Prince, Romance Is A Bonus Book). They all have perfect chemistry together. I wouldn't have minded if any of them were my parents! ;)

A lot of extra joy in the story came from our young second male and female leads, Yun Ji On (Memorist, Jirisan) and Kim Ji Eun (Children Of Nobody, The Good Witch). They sparkled on screen whenever they had scenes together and many fans online mentioned they'd love to see a spin-off drama with their characters as leads in a separate story!

The Story:

We meet two friendly families who live adjacent to one another in a nice residential suburb in Seoul; the Choi family, including son Seung Hyo (Jung Hae In) who is an architect in his thirties working in his own company called Atelier In, whose Dad is a doctor named Gyeong Jong (Lee Seung Joon) and whose Mom is a diplomat named Hye Sook (Jang Young Nam); the second family is named Bae and includes a daughter named Seok Ryu (Jung So Min) who's a corporate manager for a prestigious company with a base in the U.S., plus her Dad named Geun Sik (Jo Han Chul) who owns a local restaurant and her mom named Mi Sook (Park Ji Young) who helps him run the restaurant. Because their parents are all friends the children (child actors Oh Eun Seo and Jo Yeo Joon) are thrown together a lot and end up going to the same schools.

 

Both the son Seung Hyo and daughter Seok Ryu of these two families grew up close and were very supportive of their individual personal goals. For instance, in childhood Seok Ryu would stand up to bullies who made fun of Seung Hyo's gentle spirit, and in high school Seung Hyo loved to swim and Seok Ryu would attend his competitions and cheer him on. They were so close that they even made up a list of what they wanted to accomplish in life and buried those wish lists underground with the goal of digging them up together when they were adults, to compare how their lives turned out in relation to those earlier personal goals. The two of them had bedroom windows across the narrow street from one another and they often opened their windows at night and chatted and laughed and teased each other about the events of their days.

 

Eventually, though, Seok Ryu got a lucrative job offer in an American corporation and she moved overseas, much to Seung Hyo's private disappointment. Her parents, the restaurant owners, are very proud of her achievements and even more proud of her when she announces she is engaged to a Korean-American executive named Chris (Hayden Won). Meanwhile Seung Hyo had pursued his career as an architect and was well praised for his talents. However through the years he still thinks of Seok Ryu fondly, misses her, but yet is afraid to admit his feelings for her are still strong. He tries to date other women, like a beautiful professional woman named Jang Tae Hui (Seo Ji Hye who had played the complex Eun Jung in 49 Days and also had great roles in Crash Landing On You and Dinner Mate), but nothing much comes from these dates except the women eventually go on to find other men to marry besides the very busy Seung Hyo who has little time for them. He works hard with his male business partner named Yoon Myeong U (Jun Suk Ho, Moving) to make a great, award-winning success of their architectural firm Atelier In. However, in quiet moments alone, he often reflects on his lonely life without Seok Ryu.

Then with sudden great dramatic flair Seok Ryu returns from America and states she quit her prestigious job! This is a lie, as we discover later that she was fired. She also says she broke her engagement with Chris and won't be returning to the States. She claims he cheated on her, but this too turns out to be untrue: she had misunderstood his platonic relationship with another woman. Seok Ryu's mother can't control her disappointment. At first. As a truly loving mother, however, she is quick to forgive her daughter. Seung Hyo is also amazed to see his old friend return to her home in Seoul, it seems this time permanently. When she is out about town Seung Hyo enters her neglected bedroom and styles it professionally in a way he knows she would love, including glowing stars glued to her ceiling. When she discovers that Seung Hyo did this for her she is truly touched.

Would You EVER See A Beautiful Scene Like This
In An American TV Show? Nope! NEVER!

The couple begin to spend more time together, often going to the same park they frequented as children, to hold deep conversations about their lives, and Seung Hyo becomes supportive of Seok Ryu's new goal to become a professional chef and open her own restaurant like her Dad did years earlier. She takes classes to become a professional chef and in her off hours she is only too happy to spend more and more time with her old friend Seung Hyo. The parents think nothing of this growing closeness; to some extent they are all are blind to the true love growing between Seok Ryu and Seung Hyo. At one point their relationship is tested when Chris, Seok Ryu's former fiance, comes to Korea to try and re-establish a romantic relationship with her. However, Seung Hyo is having none of it. Nothing and no one is going to take away the woman he loves, not anymore!

While their relationship is heating up, their mutual friends Jung Mo Eum (Kim Ji Eum) a paramedic, and Kang Dan Ho (Yun Ji On) a news reporter for the Chungwoo Daily, seem to be headed toward a deep romantic relationship as well, though it is complicated by the fears of Dan Ho to become close to any woman since he has primary care of a young girl he refers to as his daughter, named Kang Yeon Du (Shim Ji Yoo). Later on it is revealed that Yeon Du is actually his niece, a child who had survived when Dan Ho's entire family had tragically perished on the same day. When he finally faces his fears of telling Mo Eum about this tragedy she is of course all the more sympathetic toward him, not less. (It is another great pleasure of this drama to follow their relationship!).

Will Seok Ryu's and Seung Hyo's romance evolve to the point of discussing marriage, and what would that possibility do to both their sets of parents, and Seok Ryu's younger brother Dong Jin (Lee Seung Hyub), who have no clue their relationship is more than just an old friendship? Would everyone strongly object, or come to eventual acceptance? What about their professional lives? Will Seok Ryu ever be able to open her own restaurant, or Seung Hyo to strengthen his business dealings to make enough money to support a family?

Often when there were scenes with no dialogue for periods of time I found myself singing that old Judy Garland song from Meet Me In St. Louis (1944) "How Can I Ignore The Boy Next Door?" If I was a teenager who had a cutie pie like Jung Hae In living next door to me I would certainly have entertained a crush on him! LOL I suspect Jung Hae In probably relished making this more lighthearted drama after some of the harder, more serious melodramas he had been in previously. And of course Jung So Min is darling in everything she makes, whether a serious story or comedy! The Two Jungs were a perfect match here!

Love Next Door had a familiar theme but the ways in which it was brought to life were rather extraordinary, and the visuals were outstanding. Highly recommended for those who like old fashioned family stories and romances. Enjoy!

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