K-Netizens Critique “Love Next Door” Stomach Cancer Storyline: Outdated and Uninspiring

Late at night on September 8, a post titled “Today’s ending of ‘Love Next Door’ is seriously bad” surfaced on the Korean forum ‘theqoo’, garnering over 72,000 views and 300 comments by the following morning.

In the recent episode of the K-drama “Love Next Door,” featuring Jung Hae-in and Jung So-min, it was disclosed that Jung So-min’s character, the female lead, has stage 2 stomach cancer and previously underwent chemotherapy.

Ep. 8 of Mom’s Little Sister – Pomegranate Stage 2 Stomach cancer – Surgery? Chemotherapy? Are you crazy? During her leave of absence… This was her secret pic.twitter.com/nLrcMro039

— 무영 (@full_moonx2) September 8, 2024

Given that “Love Next Door” is meant to be a romantic comedy, many viewers are expressing disappointment over this melodramatic turn of events, considering it outdated, dull, and cringeworthy, leading to harsh critiques.

Here are some reactions from K-netizens:

Oh, why do I suddenly get so annoyed when something like a brain tumor comes up…
Ah, I have to stop watching it. It’s gone too far.
What the heck, I stopped watching because the dialogue was poor, but now the plot is terrible too.
Stomach cancer LOL. This is really a mess.
This trope is getting stale and tiresome… Can’t screenwriters move away from writing cancer into K-dramas?
It seems like the actors were misled by the synopsis as well.
Isn’t this meant to be a rom-com? Why is the female lead suddenly diagnosed with cancer?

Source: theqoo