“What Comes After Love” Episodes 1 And 2 Review: As Good As It Gets

After months and months of teasing, its finally here, “What Comes After Love” has premiered and it couldn’t have been any better even if it tried, lets talk about it!

I love me a Lee Se Young drama. The woman is a delight to watch and it felt like it’s been forever since her last project, even though it hasn’t, but she’s finally back!

And she’s joined by a Japanese actor named Kentaro Sakaguchi, a man I’ve only heard of since the casting news, but I keep asking myself, ‘where have you been my entire life???’

First of all, whoever cast those two together deserves an award for that alone, and a raise… because just… how can you even begin to picture they’d share great chemistry and you turn out to be right too??? HOW?

So the drama is based on a collaborative novel between a Korean and a Japanese writer published a long time ago, in 2005. This script will be penned by the director and a new name, Jung Hae-Sim. A new screenwriter with no prior works so this is likely their debut project.

This drama will only be 6 episodes long, which is…. Sad… so far.

I loved the introductions to both their characters and the settings. The directing was also a highlight for me as it focused on capturing the beauty of Japan and the recklessness of the youth. Take this in contrast to the gloominess and coldness of Seoul when the two reunite 5 years later. Loved the attention to detail.

The way they fell in love felt so real and so cute. I couldn’t help but comment on how cute they looked together while watching. They’re excellent actors because Lee Se Young said they had trouble communicating because of the language barrier and thus couldn’t get closer, but you wouldn’t guess it from the drama’s premiere because her Japanese was good and it seems they got along well and were comfortable around each other.

I cannot speak Japanese but I am familiar with the language slightly so I might be wrong here, but I found Lee Se Young’s Japanese to be good, I didn’t expect she’d speak so much Japanese throughout the drama’s run time. We need a Japanese reader to tell us their thoughts of her pronunciation but I loved the effort she put into it.

Learning a new language isn’t easy and she learned so hard as you can tell for only 6 episodes. The dedication, she’s a queen and we love her.

This is my first time watching Kentaro Sakaguchi and I am already in love with him. He’s too sweet for me. I might go back and binge some of his Japanese dramas.

I am guessing the drama’s script will have a two-way love triangle and my hunch tells me it might not be a happy ending or might even be an opening ending. But I am hoping that the screenwriter ends this happily for us.

I am so excited about next week’s episode but I will not be watching. Instead, I’ll wait until the finale week and binge it all at once with the ending. I cannot handle one episode of weekly kdramas, I just can’t.

Overall, I just loved the premiere of “What Comes After Love,” definitely among my fav kdrama premieres of 2024.

So, have you guys seen “What Comes After Love” yet? Thoughts?