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twig-tea · 1 year ago

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Love Class 2: A Love Letter

I caught up on the last episodes of Love Class 2 and I felt like I need to give the whole show (both seasons) a rewatch because s2 had so much going on, and my attention definitely suffered in the beginning of S2 from everything else airing at the same time and the proliferation of characters. But I finished the series feeling like something special had just happened, so I wanted to sit with that for a minute and see if I could articulate why. Especially after the disappointment that was the ending of the Minato's Laundromat sequel, I wanted to process my thoughts around what made this one good.

This is not very coherent and very long, mostly because I just wanted to get it down before I got absorbed by other shows again [Spoilers for both seasons follow].

To remind/recap about Love Class 1: The first season focused on Cha Ji Woo and Lee Ro A. Ro A is a returning student who was just released from military service; he lives with Kim Nam Joon who has a crush on him and another roommate. At first, Ji Woo has a crush on Bae Yoo Na, a girl in his class who is being stalked. Her uncle works at the college and so she knows the professor, who is being pursued by one of the other (female) students in the class, Kim Hye Won.

I had forgotten most of this tbh. On rewatch, I remember how much I liked that Yoo Na and Ro A fell for Ji Woo for the same reason, and Ji Woo fell for them for similar reasons too. There is a lot more forced proximity between the leads in S1, with both the class and then the broken arm, which helps because the entire season is so short. There's a resolution with the stalker plot, a nice moment where Ji Woo is honest about how his feelings, and in the penultimate episode, Ro A decides to protect Ji Woo from himself (and homophobia) by rejecting him and disappearing.

Season one ends with a standard separation (that is only kind of earned); an explicit message from the surf shop owner: "If you keep avoiding things out of fear, you'll never experience the good things in life"; and in the last minute we get basically a standard K-drama dead fish kiss (@gabrielokun has done some very kind cropping here so it looks a bit better).

Overall it was ok. Felt very standard at the time, the leads were cute and it was nice that the love rivals Yoo Na and Nam Joon were not treated as villains in the end. The het side plot with the professor felt tacked on. Ji Woo's changing emotions towards Ro A were signposted well but felt fast, and Ro A's fear of ruining Ji Woo's life by turning him gay felt a bit overdramatic and disappearing entirely (including dropping out of class and moving) was a lot. The end left no time at all for them as a couple, so it was very unclear to me whether they'd actually last.

After rewatching S1, I need to give S2 major props for doing the sequel thing right. The show picked up on a lot of the elements of the original while being a completely stand-alone story and not repeating anything in the OG.

Really quick summary of S2 mostly for the names: Lee Hyeon and Min Wu are friends in university together who have known each other since high school. Min Wu has been trying to ignore his crush on their mutual friend Ma Ru (who went straight into the working world and then quit so got kicked out by his parents). Meanwhile Lee Hyeon has been looking for his former tutor Kim An for 2 years; Kim An appears and Lee Hyeon pursues him by joining Love & Marriage class with the help of the TA Sung Min. Sung Min is being pursued by returning student Ju Hyuk after Ju Hyuk sees him in an embarrassing situation with his pants literally down. Shenanigans ensue [many more details recapped below].

Rewatching S1 helped me realize why I liked S2 so much. In season 2, it's like they heard all the complaints and addressed them:

The only heterosexual is there to support the gays; no love rivals here (also PS Sa Ra's character was delightful; I loved the way she knew exactly what to do on those stairs during the fake date!)

All of the couples are gay and get more time overall (the whole series is longer too; 10 instead of 6 eps and some of those eps were over 30 mins each)

All of the couples also have a history together before the show starts, so all have [a varying amount of] feelings before we even begin

And because of the difference in where these couples are starting, everything happens so fast and there is so much more character development

Rather than the love & marriage class being about getting to know someone, because of Lee Hyeon and Kim An's history, the assignments from the class end up being about getting to relearn someone who has changed and you don't know why; bridging barriers and re-establishing intimacy, which was a fun twist

While the first season did a bit of talking about building relationships and forming meaningful connections, it really didn't have time to do much with this and the premise of the "love class" felt barely used. In this season these themes get explored more, with everyone at one point or another needing advice or having to work on their relationship

Of all of the characters, only one didn't know he was gay/bi going into the start of S2

All of the couples express obvious sexual desire and have sex (some before they even date, it's a miracle)

All of the couples have multiple kisses!

Homophobia isn't removed from the world entirely, but it's not a major plot point in this season

None of the couples split up right before the end; the closest is the older couple in ep8 and they reconcile by ep9 [and sidenote: did the professor drop that whatever he lost on purpose so Sung Min would see him with his nephew?!]

They essentially dedicate two episodes to revelling in the happy ending and building out what these characters are like when they are in a relationship, and I love that; no penultimate episode drama

The couples get an entire episode to triple-date and they all just relax being able to be out and comfortable together, it's extremely cute and also heartwarming and a little sad that this is the only place they can feel away from the gay boy scrutiny [this is what I meant by homophobia not being removed entirely from the world, but it's presence is in its absence rather than it being a plot point, and this was refreshing]

The couple that is in the class is out to the class by choice at the end; no more being afraid of rumours the way the original couple were in s1

The stalker plot got darker (it's one thing to stalk someone but to impersonate them at a job that could get you in trouble? Diabolical) and had more clear motivations for his character; also no police were involved in the resolution this time which felt more realistic

Both seasons deal a lot with characters holding in secrets and not communicating; but in s1 the confession from Ji Woo led to Ro A lying to him directly. In contrast, in S2 direct communication is met either with being shut down or with communication back; the other characters sometimes say it's not the time, but never punish the other character for direct communication. And in some cases the direct communication finally helps move them forward/out of misunderstandings. And not directly communicating leads to mess.

In s1 the seniors were bullies and they didn't really face any consequences; in contrast in S2 the boss at the cafe was such a bully and he got harassed into taking a break, realizing he was being horrible, and becoming a better person (and getting a love interest lolol)

In addition to all the things they did differently, there were so many things that echoed or called back to s1! Parallels to the first season:

Sa Ra gets to repeat the moral from the first season: love requires bravery. All of our couples exhibit different levels and kinds of bravery at different times, but all of them at one point or another take that leap and decide to be brave.

The storytelling strategy of flashing back to show us something we hadn't previously seen to recontextualize what we have since been shown was used once in s1 and used in all three couples at the end of every episode of season 2, as well as sometimes mid-episode.

Someone startles/disrupts the Love & Marriage class to ask to be paired with someone of the same sex in both seasons

There is ominous door-knocking in ep2 that ends up being a fake-out but works extra well as creepy because of the knocking by the stalker in s1

There are also similar moments in s1&2 where the "friend" (who is more than a friend but was rejected but still lives/lived with the love interest) stalks and surprises a character to tell them 'truths' about their loved one

The show keeps the feel of s1 in terms of the mix between cute, funny, and sinister (for better or for worse, though I think S2 balances these better)

The relationships in S2 have a lot in common with S1: there are friends who have been friends since high school one of whom is pining and the other rejects him and they agreed to be friends only who live together; rather than a teacher and student there is a returning student and TA; there is a returning student in both seasons; there is one friend out of a trio who is more of a himbo and doesn't go to their school but is still around all the time

Both seasons had a character who seemed to be unaware he was gay/bi until he was put in a position to be forced to realize it, and credit to both seasons, any gay panic was mostly off screen/tied up in figuring out their feelings, and none took place after they told their gay crush

Both seasons touched on how rumours and social isolation can affect you (though the rumours in S2 were not about being gay)

I mentioned it above, but the way the couples relax when they're all in the open and on the trip together was a really touching callback to the first season dealing with the scrutiny of homophobia (whispering, rumours); and the in-class couple showing a photo of them kissing in class is such a huge contrast to s1's couple having a photo of them feeding one another taken and shared without their consent.

Also also in s1 there was a double date near the end of the show so that was also a cute parallel!

While the bullying seniors didn't face consequences in s1, they were interrupted by various people trying to protect their love interests throughout the show. That theme of protecting your love interest from bullying continued to greater effect in S2 and I thought that was really cute!

Cameos of s1 couple and the couple from Private Lessons appeared in s2; it was unclear to me whether the couple from s1 was reprising their roles (though I assume so) but the couple from Private Lessons definitely had the same character names!

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Putting aside comparisons now, the storytelling and characters in S2 are so much more interesting!

Ep1 starts with the mysterious fall from the roof [fake-out #1] and then the scene with Lee Hyeon and Min Wu [fake-out #2] in which they call Ma Ru and establish some of the friend group dynamics and then we get the hint that something else is going on with Lee Hyeon (Min Wu asks if he's given up on looking for someone); and then we get the moment that connects storyline 3 to storylines 1&2 between Kim An and Sung Min. So much tight storytelling in this first ep, I remember on first watch being surprised by how much attention this series was requiring considering s1! I scrolled the tag and saw most people found eps 1&2 confusing, and I can say I definitely found it much easier on rewatch and going in with different expectations.

Ep2 hints at the past we don't yet know between Ju Hyuk and Sung Min (only on rewatch did I realize Ju Hyuk asks Sung Min to eat with him like a normal person and the way he promised he would but Sung Min doesn't remember or realize what's happening, and turns him down kindly, which is why he resorts to being an ass.

Ep 3 we get the first hints Ma Ru knows something is up (being afraid to knock on MinWu's door), the first love & marriage assignments (observing your partner and writing them a letter of what you want to say to them) as well as the underwear gift from Ju Hyuk to Sung Min, and the note at Kim Ann's locker. This episode really starts to build on the theme of intimacy and what intimacy means, when is it appropriate, how do you establish it, and the conflict that arises when people are on different pages about your level of intimacy. Like most have noticed, this is where it really takes off and comes into its own as a good show.

The rest of the show really builds on and plays with these histories, intimacies, and conflicts. They have time to actually hurt one another (eg the slut shaming) and actually make up. Each one moves at a different pace. [Sidenote: have I said enough how happy I am that the older couple slept together before dating?! To be clear I am just as excited when an ace/demi/inexperienced character gets to be ace/demi/explore or come into their sexuality, but I only have so much patience for the blushing maiden trope in adult gay men who have clear sexual attraction and interest especially when they have previous experience, and anything outside of one-partner-in-their-entire-lives is still so rare in BL. And as an aside on this aside, I love how much Ju Hyuk's rizz works at first but then backfires on him later, forcing him to use actual communication after all!] Each couple has a reason for the hesitation or delay in becoming a couple (power dynamics and uncertainty about where you stand; friendship you don't want to lose; being burned before and feeling like you aren't allowed to have anything good in your life). Even more importantly, we get reasons for everything: why Min Wu is growing distant with Ma Ru; why Kim An is more terse and cautious with Lee Hyun; why Ju Hyuk is so weirdly rude to Sung Min. And, as I mentioned above, we actually get a motive for the villain of the story too, Kim An's childhood friend/brother/rejected love/stalker (whose name I keep forgetting even in rewatch lol sorry bro). He thought Kim An was only with him because he was desperate, and so when Kim An started making other connections, he thought he had to ruin Kim An's life. And he thought when he came back into Kim An's life, Kim An would still be desperate, and he'd be able to fit back in. He didn't understand that Kim An had still loved him even if he was no longer interested in a romantic or sexual relationship, and would have kept him in his life if he hadn't been betrayed; he didn't understand that Kim An would be able to rebuild his life without him; he didn't understand that Kim An would not forgive him even though he still cared about him. It really is tragic, and the tragedy is in a lot of ways understated.

Yes it was a bit messy with the three plots going on simultaneously but when binged, and definitely on rewatch, it was easier to follow and I enjoyed how the interaction between the characters moved each of the plots forward. I wonder how much the pacing bothered some viewers because it definitely is not paced like a usual kbl, but that's one of the things I liked about it lol and there were some parts that I enjoyed only on rewatch because I could focus on them.

All of this incoherence is to say: I really like the storytelling in S2 so much more than S1; I think it's one of the better sequel attempts I've seen, in that there are clear connections to the first season but everything is built on rather than recreated; and the stories were also just more interesting. Season 2 delivered on the premise of Season 1 without re-using the same structure, plot points, or story beats. Lots of tropes were repeated but they were always used in a new way and played out differently. The finale felt queer in a way I don't expect from Korean BL. We got some of the things I always say I want more of in any series: more time with folks as a couple working out their relationship post-get-together, clear communication, and queer community. Overall, this show affected me more than I expected. It wasn't perfect execution, but TL;DR, more of this please!

#love class the series #love class 2 #typed so i can stop thinking it #this tag has probably never been more true lol #everyone has moved on but i had to process my emotions with idk how many words this is but lots #thank you for coming to my ted talk #long post #bl meta #Youtube

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