The Finale
The finale to Love Alarm begins with Sun-Oh showing up at Jojo’s work, only to find it closed. As it turns out, our protagonist appears before Hye-Yeong in the school courtyard. It’s here she reveals the truth about Love Alarm, that she had a shield up and it’s her fault their relationship failed. He reassures her, and the two step closer together, prompting her to smile as he rings her alarm. After a somewhat romantic and beautiful date, Jojo heads home only to run into Sun-Oh, who checks her Love Alarm only to find the notification go off again. She tells him she used to like him but right now she’s not so sure. Seeing the damage the shield has caused, Jojo tries to turn it off. Only, every time she tries to get rid of the shield it reactivates, seemingly condemning her to life without the love alarm activated correctly. Realizing the developer is the only person who can turn off the app, she contemplates what to do next while Gul-Mi continues to entertain the solitary person watching her streams. Sun-Oh accuses Hye-Yeong of using him to get what he wanted. He tells him it’s only a matter of time before he leaves as Sun-Oh turns the attention around to Jojo. The two discuss what she did to him and he tells his friend that he still likes Jojo. Yuk-Jo shows up midway through their fight and checks out Sun-Oh’s yearbook to find out who Kim Jojo actually is. The big day of the Love Alarm launch arrives, and with it the promise of the developer being revealed. Jojo laments the arrival of Love Alarm, realizing it’s caused more harm than good and wonders where they’d be now without it. However, the big talking point here is the reveal of the developer himself. Is Duk-Go still alive? However, as protestors arrive to stop the launch, Hye-Yeong learns the artist of The Ringing World is actually Jojo. Seeing the protest on TV, Hye-Yeong rushes to the scene to check on his love interest. In the auditorium, the presenter mentions that Love Alarm was created in a shy boy’s bedroom. Glimpses of Duk-Go’s apartment flash up before the developer reveals himself to be a man named Brian Chon. While protestors outside question the morality around the app, inside the building, the Badge Club are told the new features for the app will accurately predict ones feelings and how they will develop. In the aftermath of the meeting, Jojo, Yuk-Jo, Sun-Oh and Hye-Yeong all meet in the hallway while Jojo contemplates over just who she’ll choose. As the quartet deliberate over what to do next, the developer upstairs reveals that the Love Alarm will accurately predict who you’ll fall in love with where the episode is left hanging in the balance. Love Alarm leaves things hanging on an almighty cliffhanger here, one that sees Jojo torn between two sides. With Hye-Yeong heading off to Busan and Sun-Oh clearly conflicted by her feelings with Jojo, could we see a situation arise where Yuk-Jo and Hye-Yeong get together while Sun-Oh and Jojo rekindle their past flame? It seems unlikely of course but the triangle itself continues to keep things interesting, right through to this final episode. It may not have been the best drama, and there’s plenty of questions left unanswered if Netflix and TvN decide to renew this for a second season. I really hope they do too as one of my big pet hates is a series left with so many unresolved questions in the hope of being renewed. I’ve said it before but for me the darker elements of the series have been far more interesting than the love triangles and it’s a shame these haven’t been explored in more detail across the episodes. The mass suicide attempts, Duk-Go’s suicide and the depression that appears to stem from this app are all interesting and very real talking points but none of them are ever fully explored, feeling more like dramatic pit-stops to break up the romance. Still, the finale does set things up nicely for a possible second season but whether Netflix will green-light this or not, remains to be seen.
