Summary
A welcome change of focus keeps Love Next Door engaging, and while there are some strides made in the romance department, there’s still a lingering fear that something potentially tragic is on the horizon.
It’s probably fair to say that Seok-ryu has had the lion’s share of the focus in Love Next Door. And that’s fine, but after several episodes devoted to the life she ran away from, and recently her experience with cancer and the fear of a recurrence, I was grateful that Episode 11 focuses mostly on Seung-hyo and his relationship with his parents.
Of course, you can’t unpack any aspect of Seung-hyo without his relationship with Seok-ryu factoring into it, but that’s fine. The shift in focus is welcome all the same and shows that even after 10 episodes the show still has some legs beyond its core romance.
The big thing going on here is Seung-hyo’s parents getting divorced, which isn’t just bad news but the kind of bad news with a lifetime of personal trauma and anxieties bundled up in it. Speaking of which, can we just point out how well this show uses food to underscore its points and add a certain vibe to different scenes and characters? I haven’t mentioned this before but I’ve always meant to.
Of course, Seung-hyo isn’t exactly thrilled about the news. But then again he hasn’t ever been thrilled with his parents’ dynamic at the best of times. A flashback reveals that when he was a young kid, he overheard an argument in which his mother accused his father of having trapped her with a child. She wished she didn’t have Seung-hyo because doing so prevented her from traveling, seeing the world, and generally living the life she wanted.
We’re not supposed to take this comment seriously on its face, I don’t think, but we are intended to understand how it scarred an impressionable child. We’re also intended to note how it was, as ever, Seok-ryu who helped Seung-hyo deal with the pain of that, even if he was never open about it, and this is reflected in the present day when it’s once again Seok-ryu who finds Seung-hyo dangerously drunk and maudlin.
Seung-hyo is jealous of the openness of Seok-ryu’s family, which is ironic given how much of the show’s drama thus far has been predicated on Seok-ryu not telling them the truth. Nevertheless, Seung-hyo covets the idea of something as simple as the whole family sitting down for meals. Because his parents weren’t open with each other about they felt, he has grown up internalizing all of his own feelings.
This, again, we see reflected. Seung-hyo’s mother, who is apparently going to Africa, goes missing entirely. Her bags are left unattended at the airport but she herself is nowhere to be found. Her phone’s in her bags, so she’s unreachable. The last anyone saw of her was at a Buddhist temple, where she sat for a while before disappearing.
Luckily, she turns up unconscious in the woods, but the scenario leads to a breakthrough for the entire family. What they all want, fundamentally, to be happy together as a family unit, but they’ve all made their share of mistakes along the way. The big one has been not voicing how they really feel. Seung-hyo, somewhat overwhelmed by the whole ordeal despite Seok-ryu’s support, leads by example here, explaining how he has always felt neglected because they never included him in their important life decisions.
This is good news! But we mustn’t forget about the circumstances that led us here. What, exactly, is going on with Seung-hyo’s mother for her to be acting his way? There’s more to come in this regard, you can be certain.
In the meantime, Love Next Door Episode 11 ends with Seung-hyo and Seok-ryu having finally been through enough to realize and actually confess their feelings for each other. It’s just in time, given we’re approaching the end now, but hopefully, the show doesn’t cook up anything too traumatic to test their romance out of the gate.
I wouldn’t be so sure, though.
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