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Welcome to my Lonely Enough to Love – Unspoiled Review.  For the young, single person who spends the majority of their time working long hours, lonliness is a serious issue.  Finding time to make friends and try to start a romantic relation is a real struggle.  Which is why Happy Together was started.  A share house for young people, so that they could feel connected by sharing meals and common areas.  But living together in such close proximity is bound to create some lasting friendships and even a few romantic sparks.  

Kim So Eun as Lee Na Eun

Lee Na Eun is a struggling author who makes money editing other writer’s manuscripts, while she waits for her big break.  She ends up at the share house after her apartment is condemned.  Her best friend, Hyun Jin is taking a vacation with his girlfriend, so he offers to let Na Eun stay in his room at Happy Together.  While she is sure that Kang Woo is a violent jerk, she can’t help but be drawn to him.  And the share house offers the perfect material to start an online diary about the fascinating residents.  

I have been a fan of Kim So Eun since Boys Over Flowers, but I have to admit this was not my favorite role for her.  Ne Eun had the potential to be a hard-driving, aspiring author on the verge of discovery, but instead she came off as desperate and careless.  I would have liked to see her stand up to all the creeps who took advantage of her along the way instead of just bemoaning her luck and diving into the next disaster.

♥ Dr. Cha’s Office

It wasn’t a large part of this drama, but I loved all the great toys and interesting treatment techniques in Dr. Cha’s office.  Seeing him stay up at night to build kaleidescopes and other gadgets gave an interesting dimension to him as a doctor.  I looked forward to seeing how he would use his gumball machine and stuffed animals to help connect with his patients.  Usually psychiatric offices are shown as minimalistic and a little sterile, so it was fun to see a different approach that seemed to give some warmth to his approach.

♥Jung Hoon and Bo Ra

As individual characters, these two didn’t have much storyline, but I really loved their relationship.  In the beginning, Bo Ra spent all of her time flirting with him, so when she figured out that he didn’t actually date women but preferred men, I thought it would lead to lots of begging and attempts to change his mind.  So, it was so refreshing when she shrugged it off and decided they would just have to be great friends.  And then she actually made good on the promise by spending time hanging out with him and supporting him.  This could have been a very cliche and boring story but they turned it into a heartwarming story of friendship and acceptance.  I love that!

Na Eun’s Trauma

Everyone has been hurt and has their own emotional baggage, so it made sense for Na Eun to come to Kang Woo for a free “session”.  But I just didn’t see anything in Na Eun’s character that would make me think she had any deep-seated issues.  She seemed entirely too naive and trusting to be someone dealing with issues of trust or betrayal.  I just didn’t get the sense that she was someone struggling with some intense emotional trauma, even though her psycho-drama session seemed to be saying she was.  It felt like a part of the plot that came out of nowhere and then disappeared just as quickly, never to be brought up again.  

Cliche-driven

Lonely Enough to Love relied a lot on cliches.  I can forgive a lot because there are some cute kdrama cliches that always make me smile, but this drama really overdid it.  Especially in the earlier episodes, it seemed to be one cliche after another, and even I have my limits.  Whether Na Eun was falling down the stairs, trying to reach a high cupboard, or too drunk to walk home on her own, she seemed to be one walking kdrama troupe after another.  A little bit of originality and character development would have gone a long way in making this drama more interesting.

The ending of Lonely Enough to Love was okay.  There was love for some of the supporting characters that seemed happy and appropriate.  Na Eun’s friend Ji Ah and David are happily expecting their first child together.  The owner, Dong Seok, finally finds love with the cafe owner, Ah Reum.  Jung Hoon has kept in contact with Hyun Jin as he pursued his dream of becoming a travel writer.  And of course, our main couple is still going strong.  Na Eun has finally achieved her dream of being a published author and her boyfriend, Kang Woo, provided the illustrations for her book.  The gang all gathers at Happy Together to celebrate Na Eun’s success.  And though he is late and looking decidedly world weary, even Hyun Jin comes home to see everyone and congratulate her.  While there were several stories that didn’t get resolved, all those that did had happy endings, and, for me, that is a good thing.