What if you could find out who loved you with just the click of an app? Love Alarm is exactly that. Based on a web comic with the same name, the popular k-drama returned to Netflix with a fresh new “update” as well as much more drama. Spoilers ahead.
At the end of the first season, Kim Jojo (played by Kim So-hyun) is forced to make a decision when both Hwang Sun-oh (Song Kang) and Lee Hye-yeong (Jung Ga-ram) ring her Love Alarm. Jojo has had a rough life; orphaned when her parents tried to commit mass suicide by setting the family home on fire, being taken in by her abusive aunt and being bullied at school. Life only gets worse when she starts dating Sun-oh and becomes a target for the popular crowd at school. After an accident during a school trip, she breaks up with Sun-oh and is forbidden to see him again because of his family. When both he and Hye-yeong ring her Love Alarm, she then has to make a crucial decision. Season two picks up roughly a few months after the season one finale.
The new update that Love Alarm receives determines potential individuals who will love you. In the previous season, it only revealed who loved you within a 10 meter radius. So you could be standing in a crowded room and your alarm could ring multiple times but you’d never know who rang it unless you rang theirs as well. With Love Alarm 2.0, it shows you the faces and names of the people who have the potential to love you as well as their location, which eventually creates problems between Jojo and Hye-yeong.
This series is very interesting. One can almost say it mirrors our world because we’re so dependent on technology to determine practically everything for us; how to think, how to feel, when to do this, why we should do it. It’s interesting that there’s an app that determines who loves you and who you should love based entirely on an algorithm. The people in the series don’t even say “I love you” out loud. They let the app do that for them. And if someone’s alarm never rings, they’re considered unwanted or unloved which can drive a person to extremes. It’s actually very scary how much people on the show depend on Love Alarm to speak for them. But again it shows how much we rely on technology these days. Technology runs our lives, whether we want to admit it or not.
The only real beef I have with the show this season is how selfish the characters are. Maybe it’s just me but they were very annoying this time around. I recognize the fact that Jojo has been through a lot and isn’t exactly the most open person but my god. It irritated me that she wasn’t fully transparent to Hye-yeong who was always by her side and ready to listen. Hye-yeong on the other hand, when Jojo is actually ready to explain her actions (can’t say what they were because it’s a major spoiler), he refuses to hear her out. Sun-oh is so pushy and borderline forces Jojo to like him back which made me want to roundhouse kick him through the screen. But thankfully, the characters do find resolve at the end and you can see that they’re attempting to grow and learn which is character growth. I’m thankful the writers didn’t make it so that there was no growth and they stayed the same throughout the whole season.
Overall, the series is really good. If you’re interested in k-drama or you’re already a fan looking for your next binge, definitely check out Love Alarm. Available to stream on Netflix.
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