Love Next Door – K-drama Episode 4 Recap & Review

Past Perfect

Episode 4 of ‘Love Next Door’ begins with Seok-ryu and Seong-hyo finally opening the time capsule and reading their individual letters, only to find Mo-eun’s letter missing. After reading his, Seong-hyo runs straight home, avoiding Seok-ryu stealing it from him. Later, he tries to convince himself that he no longer has feelings for Seok-ryu and that he has moved past his high school phase. As if we’re believing you, Seung-hyo.

The next morning, while we learn that Seok-ryu’s family is short on funds, Seung-hyo’s mother is preparing to leave soon and seems irritated when her husband asks her about it again. Later, Seok-ryu, who has nothing to do, hangs out at Seong-hyo’s firm when Myung-u informs them that Seok-ryu’s former company, Greip, wants to work with him.

Myung-u’s connection in the U.S. recommended their firm. The challenge is that neither of them knows enough English to communicate fluently, so even though Seok-ryu feels uncomfortable, she steps up to be their translator.

However, after the online meeting ends, Seok-ryu overhears the team discussing how they’ve finalized a different firm due to tight deadlines and Seong-hyo’s company being fairly new with no track record. She tells Seung-hyo, but he insists on doing his best and asks her to keep this information from Myung-u.

Elsewhere, Mo-eun and Dan-ho meet at the convenience store and seem to have become rivals over their shared taste for rarely available flavours and products. Later, Seok-ryu and Seong-hyo also run into the two, and they all chat. Dan-ho discovers that the three are childhood friends, but when Mo-eun asks where he used to live, he gives a vague answer and suddenly leaves the group to go home.

On their way home, the friends ask Mo-eun about her time capsule letter, and she reveals that she took it out later that night after they buried the capsule. However, she claims she doesn’t remember Seung-hyo’s letter. Whether it’s true, Seung-hyo and the audience are left in suspense.

Elsewhere, Mo-eun meets an interesting 6-year-old girl looking for crop circles in the park. The girl seems to believe in aliens and loves science fiction, much like Mo-eun when she was her age, and Mo-eun instantly takes a liking to her. Later, she tells Seok-ryu about the child and throws a tantrum because she forgot to ask her name.

“I almost lost my best friend to a random kid,” sighs Seok-ryu comically. Meanwhile, Dan-ho helps Mo-eun’s mother, a real estate owner who had helped him get his apartment, with some boxes. Seok-ryu’s mother enters, finds him charming, and inquires about him for Seok-ryu’s potential match. However, Mo-eun’s mother stops short of revealing something important about Dan-ho due to a distraction.

Seong-hyo, Myung-u, and Seok-ryu finally make their way to the big meeting, where Seung-hyo is to present their proposal to Greip representatives. Seok-ryu feels uncomfortable when she encounters a former team member who is now a team leader. In a flashback, it’s revealed that Seok-ryu was a victim of workplace harassment by her team members, who manipulated her into doing all the work for them. There’s also a rumour about the career break she took a few years ago.

Shaken by the team member’s presence, Seok-ryu excuses herself to the bathroom. On her way back, she meets the team member, who looks down on her and makes fun of her. Seung-hyo overhears how he harassed Seok-ryu and punches him. Amidst threats, Seok-ryu adopts her fierce “crazy woman” persona and beats the Greip guy, threatening him with evidence of his malpractice at the company. Later, the two friends curse him and all those who harassed Seok-ryu by using love locks at Namsan Tower.

While there, Myung-u informs them that they have been offered a different job by Greip since they liked their designs. He also reveals that Seok-ryu’s former teammate has been fired. It turns out Myung-u recorded their conversation and is also friends with the vice president of Greip!

In a flashback, we see that Seok-ryu skipped an important mock test to support Seung-hyo for his tournament. Dan-ho snapped their picture, which he later sent to Seok-ryu in the present time. In another flashback, we see Seung-hyo visiting Seok-ryu in the States, bringing her lots of stuff from Korea. She hugs him when he shows her that he brought her favourite books. The episode ends with Seok-ryu hugging him to congratulate him on getting to work with Greip, leaving Seung-hyo surprised and blushing.

The Episode Review

Is it just us, or is ‘Love Next Door’ uncannily similar to ‘Welcome to Samdalri’ and ‘Doctor Slump’? The plot is similar, and while the characters and their backgrounds are distinct, there are still bits of exact similarity. The little girl Mo-eun met might possibly be Dan-ho’s daughter, especially given her mother’s reaction when Seok-ryu’s mother inquired about him. And remember who was a single father raising his daughter in ‘Doctor Slump’? Exactly, as we said, uncanny similarities.

Overall, though, ‘Love Next Door’ continues to be a typical entertaining romcom with amusing characters. The cast is so good at what they do that, despite the plot and character background similarities, the humour and their chemistry bring a unique charm to the K-drama that’s hard to ignore.