Love Next Door – K-drama Episode 2 Recap & Review

Hate

Episode 2 of Love Next Door begins with a flashback where Seok-ryu convinces Seung-hyo to help her with her part-time job cleaning barbecue grills at a restaurant. She later uses the money she earns to buy glow-in-the-dark star stickers for her room’s ceiling and a gold brooch for her mother. Then she wakes up in a storage room that used to be her bedroom.

Her mother remains grumpy, refusing to serve her breakfast even when her friends, Seung-hyo and Mo-eun, arrive to check on her. In a flashback to the previous night, despite her parents’ efforts, Seok-ryu refuses to tell them the truth about her return. This is the reason behind her mother’s unrelenting anger, which she expresses through drumming whenever she’s upset and wants to hit something.

Seok-ryu later brings rice cakes to Seung-hyo’s new office. His co-workers are obviously interested in their childhood story, where Seok-ryu presents herself as Seung-hyo’s saviour since he was born in France and did not speak Korean. But the beautiful picture she paints about herself is soon shattered by Seung-hyo, who claims that she was not only dirty as a child but also had no sense of boundaries—peeking at him in the bathroom and bullying him by making him “it” in the games the children used to play.

Elsewhere, thanks to Seok-ryu’s mother, Mi-suk’s, display of anger on the streets, the entire neighbourhood now thinks that Seok-ryu was fired from her job and cheated on her fiancé. Mi-suk complains about this to Mo-eun’s mother, Jae-suk, and learns that their high school class reunion is taking place at Seung-hyo’s office building’s grand opening.

Meanwhile, Seok-ryu is having a blast doing absolutely nothing. This doesn’t sit well with her mother, who tries to call her former fiancé the next day, but Seok-ryu eventually deletes his number from her phone. Elsewhere, Seung-hyo’s company is struggling even before officially beginning their projects due to payment delays and a lack of clients. They meet with Dan-ho, who interviews them about their new venture.

Simultaneously, Seok-ryu spends her time endlessly traveling on buses. Here we learn that not only was she laid off and struggled with racism at her workplace, but her fiancé also cheated on her when she needed him the most. Eventually, she ends up buying a pomegranate tree to gift Seung-hyo for his grand opening.

The next day, things between Mi-suk and Seok-ryu seem to calm down as Mi-suk prepares to visit the grand opening but keeps Seok-ryu from going because she’s embarrassed about her situation. At the grand opening, Mi-suk becomes the butt of jokes about her daughter’s unlikely comeback amidst all her bragging. We also discover that Mi-suk was smart enough to go to university but couldn’t because of poverty, so she derives all her self-worth from Seok-ryu.

Mi-suk is having a hard time among her high school friends when Seok-ryu turns up at the venue to deliver Mi-suk’s brooch. Unfortunately, Mi-suk’s friends also meet Seok-ryu, and Mi-suk ends up lying to them, saying that Seok-ryu will be leaving for the U.S. soon as she’s been scouted by another big company. Seung-hyo watches this exchange from a distance.

Back at home, Seok-ryu and Mi-suk get into a huge argument when Mi-suk tries to force Seok-ryu to go back to the U.S. No matter how much Seok-ryu tries to make Mi-suk understand her struggles, she doesn’t budge. Eventually, Seok-ryu leaves home with Seung-hyo behind her, as he’d overheard their heated exchange.

Seung-hyo keeps Seok-ryu company at the park, where Seok-ryu tries to hide her emotions, reminiscing about their childhood. Eventually, she lets go and cries profusely, with Seung-hyo quietly keeping her company. The next day, Seok-ryu is out the whole day, but when she gets back, she finds the storeroom transformed exactly like her old room.

Mi-suk had asked Seung-hyo to help redesign her room from scratch. He even got the glow-in-the-dark stars for her ceiling. Seok-ryu soon finds out that Seung-hyo has moved back into his old room in his house, which is right across from hers. In a flashback, we see Seok-ryu and Seung-hyo sharing an intimate moment when they trip and fall on the bed while putting the glow-in-the-dark stickers in place.

The Episode Review

‘Love Next Door’ has picked up with the second episode! The show feels like a slice of life, interlaced with great chemistry between Jung Hae-in and Jung So-min, creating a perfect recipe for success. The characters are so well-portrayed, with phenomenal performances that elevate the experience of watching the Kdrama.

Not only that, ‘Love Next Door’ is extremely thoughtful and sensitive. Did you notice the text at the end transforming from “Hate” to “Love” with just a single change in a line? This little detail emphasizes a core theme in this episode—you cannot hate someone you don’t love.

The emotion of hate arises from love, justifying the tension between Mi-suk and Seok-ryu, as they both want what’s best for each other. Their anger and fights stem from a place of love, and this episode, with its thoughtful and memorable dialogues and details, successfully brings out this theme. Overall, a great episode!