Summary
Love Next Door makes some startling revelations in Episode 8 that suggest perhaps a happy ending isn’t a guarantee.
There’s something in the air around Episode 8 of Love Next Door, and it smells a lot like pending heartache. Based on how people have connected to this show and these characters since it first debuted on Netflix, that heartache could be truly gargantuan.
Timing has already gotten in the way of Seung-hyo and Seok-ryu’s relationship, and as I implied in my recap of the previous episode, something’s lurking to get in the way, despite Seung-hyo finally having gotten the words out to describe how he feels.
It’s a lot to take in. When you’ve known someone your entire life, it isn’t easy to rebrand them in your mind. What is Seok-ryu supposed to say? When is she supposed to say it? A somewhat arbitrary deadline is put on her response while the show digs further into their background.
That’s the other thing. We already knew that Seung-hyo has been in love with Seok-ryu forever, but Seok-ryu had her own little crush on him in return. The interesting thing about the relationship isn’t two people discovering new feelings, but unearthing old ones that they’ve deliberately kept hidden.
But there are obstacles to that. One of them is Hyeon-jun. Another is… well, we’ll get to that in a minute.
We might as well break off to touch on some other matters in the meantime since that’s precisely the approach that Love Next Door Episode 8 takes. For what it’s worth, this also gives the show such a lovely sense of lived-in texture, which I probably haven’t complimented enough throughout these recaps.
But anyway, there’s something going on with Seung-hyo’s parents – an affair, maybe? – and we check in on Dan-ho and Mo-eum, as usual. The former has taken to writing articles about different professions by getting hands-on, allowing him to spend a working day with Mo-eum while he covers the emergency services, and it’s a nice little side attraction to the main event.
We also dig into Seok-ryu’s sibling dynamic. Her younger brother was born with a hole in his heart which has led to slightly wonky treatment between them. You can appreciate the idea of an unfairly favored kid (though it’s easy to be put off by anyone who aspires to be an Instagram influencer) but there’s more going on than just this. Part of why Dong-jin is favored is this idea that he’s somehow at risk, despite his heart having healed on its own, and the bias has led to rather extreme derision of Seok-ryu and her life choices, most recently the cooking certification.
But the extra layer of topicality here is that Seok-ryu has had stomach cancer, and despite the tumor having been surgically removed, she may well be experiencing a recurrence. That’s all of the medical woes and then some that Dong-jin has, with none of the preferential treatment.
You can see why Seok-ryu is annoyed, then, and you can also see why she has made several of the choices she has, from breaking off the engagement, returning home, and suddenly pursuing a new dream. Is she on borrowed time? Is Seok-ryu dying in front of our eyes?
This is certainly the implication of Love Next Door Episode 8. And of course, the idea intersects directly with her love triangle with Seung-hyo and Hyeon-jun, the latter of whom is the one of the two who is knowledgeable about her condition. When Seok-ryu suffers from the symptoms of a recurrence, it’s Hyeon-jun she turns to, much to the understandable confusion of Seung-hyo, who thinks she’s making a romantic decision rather than making a pragmatic choice (and likely protecting Seung-hyo from the knowledge.)
This entire situation is a real mess, and it’s easy to imagine many crushing ways in which it might develop. It seems the most obvious takeaway is that Seok-ryu is operating as if she’s dying, and is making choices on that basis. If she believes she’s dying, her love for Seung-hyo will prohibit her from wanting to cause him pain by pursuing a romantic relationship that will have a necessarily short shelf life. But to Seung-hyo, that’ll feel like a betrayal, or at least a rejection.
What to do? Are we heading for some deeply traumatic developments? Or will Love Next Door manage to contrive a happy ending after all? Time will tell, but either way, fans’ investment in these characters is going to put them through the wringer.
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