Love in the Big City (2024)

Go Young's Tragic Autobiography

The best way to describe this show is snapshots of our main character Go Young's (Nam Yoonsu) life. We first meet him in college, where his queerness makes him a loner. This doesn't stop his pursuit of love, but not all romantic encounters are created equal. Go Young finds again and again that love requires not just the right person, but also the right circumstances. In his quest to figure out what love looks like and how to make relationships work, we see him continue to get his heart broken, both by his own faults and his partners'.

I think what really sold me on this show was the way it was done. It felt like it was being told as if Go Young had written his own autobiography, where he emphasized what he found important and left out the details that seemed too mundane. We get glimpses into his life and his relationships, without ever getting to see his day-to-day life. What happens in an episode may be a few weeks or a year, depending on how important the events felt to Go Young himself. Each relationship he enters presents new challenges, and unable to navigate them, Go Young continues to feel tired and alone. I did not expect such depth of issues on queerness coming from a Kdrama, and it was done beautifully. The issues were never taken lightly or laughed at, and the relationships were portrayed in such a realistic way that it truly felt like this could be someone's autobiography. It was unfortunately sadder than I had anticipated, and the realism just emphasized the tragedy, but it was beautiful nonetheless.

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Gorgeous! Real! Perfectly imperfect! Loved it!!!

One of the best shows (if not the best) I have watched in years! I loved every bit of it. I’s very real, honest and human. The cinematography is astonishingly beautiful. The characters are perfectly imperfect, deep and down to earth. The acting is superb - there was not even one supporting actor in the whole series who couldn’t act. Kudos to the casting director.
Nam Yoon-su portraits Gu Young in the best way possible, showing his character development and his imperfections very realistically and authentic. He deserves all the praise for his acting and for his bravery to accept this role. The rest of the main cast did an outstanding job, too! Every character was played with sincerity and I could easily imagine them existing in the real world.
The book is amazing and the series does the book complete justice, even though the Gu Young from the series is a tiny bit different from the one in the book. If you read the book, you will understand the series a little better, but the series can stand on its own.

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BEST KDRAMA OF ALL TIME

From the beginning until the end, I was amused and amazed in this series.

There were no dull moments in every episodes. The story portrays a life of a gay man living with HIV who actually seeks a genuine and eternal Love at the end. My empathy in this series is very high. Mostly those scenes I experienced it like trusting other people so much, guillable in love, loving someone who is already married and many more flashbacks in my life after I watch this Kdrama.

I hope this will be the eye opener to end the stigma of HIV, proper communication in a relationship, and just reciprocating receiving LOVE.

I love this series, the story, the cast, everything is a masterpiece. The best. This must be the best KDRAMA I'D EVER WATCHED! Rewatch worthy!!! Hoping for a continuation of the love story of Gyu Ho and Go Young.

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I will never move on from this movie!!!!!!!

This is one of those movies that just gets you. It’s all about Go Yeong, a gay guy trying to deal with love, family drama, and the pressure to fit in. His roommate, Mi Ae, a straight woman, is the one who kinda shows us what’s going on in his life, and it’s a ride full of emotions, awkward moments, and real-life struggles.

Go Yeong’s love life? It’s complicated, to say the least. He’s got a mom who just can’t accept who he is, which causes a lot of tension. Then, when he finally meets Gyu Ho—a guy who seems like pure love, something real—he has to let him go. And that’s the part that hits hard. You can see how much it tears him apart, but he doesn’t have much of a choice. It’s one of those moments where love just doesn’t work out the way you want it to, and man, you feel it.

After Gyu Ho is gone, Go Yeong ends up following some random dude to Thailand for a monsoon vacation, like he’s trying to run away from everything. While he’s there, he’s constantly looking back at the good times, the love he lost, and just everything that didn’t go right. But even though he’s reminiscing about the past, he starts to grow. By the end of it, he’s a different person—stronger, more in tune with himself, and kinda accepting the fact that life doesn’t always go the way you plan.

This movie doesn’t sugarcoat anything. It’s real, emotional, and shows the messiness of love and life. It’s not just about finding the perfect love, but about learning to deal with heartbreak, tough family relationships, and figuring out who you are along the way. It’s the kind of movie that sticks with you long after, making you feel all the highs and lows right alongside Go Yeong.

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Fractured universe

It has been a while since I wrote a review, but I can’t resist this one. I wanted it to be a heartfelt essay, but it may end up feeling more analytical. Or not, you be the judge!

• Depth was achieved in just eight episodes under an hour, proving that Koreans can do it.
• There’s a rich diversity among the male characters, though the female representation is notably lacking.
• I love the exploration of love, which is just another word for pain, and pain itself is a source of artistic fuel.
• The actors delivered outstanding performances
• Bangkok was a particularly nice touch

Me aspect:
On a personal level, what made this series special for me was the writing. I could relate deeply. I’ve been writing for over 20 years without any intention of being published; I write to sort through my thoughts and emotions. The pain expressed in words resonates with me. His overwhelming love and unbearable behaviors in long-term relationships moved me deeply, and I found myself feeling a surge of anger—was it because I recognized myself in him? His constant need for companionship, paired with an equally strong urge to be alone, created a powerful tension that mirrored my own experiences. The way these feelings collided, allowing him to find comfort in his loneliness, illustrates a vicious cycle of self-sabotage and the solace that writing provides.

Overall, I haven’t encountered anything in ages that captivated me and stirred my soul. At times, I even felt hurt and offended and heartbroken and warm.And as I said, I find myself relating to it, yet struggling to fully grasp why. For me, this is undoubtedly the series of the year.

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Actually Idk what should I give title to this review but just read it. This series is not the topical bl or bromance series. This series talks about the true struggle of being gay and tell us how hard it is to find a true love.

Alert 🚨 this series is not for soft hearted people cause this series talks about the things that many homosexuals may not prepare to say or show to others. I'm a gay, even I had a feeling that I should stop being gay or become straight (ik it's not possible).

But truly speaking this series will hit you differently. It is something new to watch and can help to make some decisions in our own life.

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Queer chronicles of a gay guy living and loving in the big city of Seoul : a raw and poetic journey

This is clearly one of the most qualitative BL that I have seen so far, not necessarily one that I would easily re-watch but one that really left a strong impression on me. It is drastically different from what I have seen in the genre, as it provides a deep dive into the life the central character of the story, almost like a chronicles of his life. It can be seen as a slice-of-life with a lot of dramatic elements put in a realistic but at the same time poetic way.

The main character is a writer who in a way narrates his life to the viewer, which really give it a different flavor to most series. His relationship with his mother as well as with Kylie were central pieces of the story to me. The romantic interests in the series were more like passing boats into the hero's life, not the main focus but bringing up so many thoughts as he evolved through the various relationships. The ending felt bitter-sweet and made sense given all that happened to the hero and the way the storytelling was built from the start. I would not have minded an additional episode to better round it up tough.

Casting was very solid overall with the main actor clearly being the strongest part of the series. I really hope to see him in other works because it is his performance that elevated the watching experience and made me care that much for the character he portrayed. The cinematography was pretty good: the apartment of the hero was a character in itself evolving with him as he went through various life events, the OST was also very fitting to the drama and there were quite a lot of very memorable scenes that were filmed super impactfully.

I would recommend this to people that are looking for a different kind of BL story. It is more of a chronicle of a life rather than a standard romance. Of course, I have nothing against fluffy and butterflies romance or angsty tales of passion but here it is a different proposal both in terms of content as well as storytelling. The good writing, the very deep topics relating to what's happening in real life as well as the interesting arc of the main character arc strongly resonated with me and make it worth your time. If you enjoy BL such as 'I Told Sunset About You' and 'The Eighth Sense', I think you should give it a shot.

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A journey to self-acceptance

In the Korean queer drama sphere, this is unlike anything I've watched. This is a series holding the weight of emotions, love, trauma. There's so much packed in 8 episodes that you can miss out on the little details, but regardless it holds a message: self-acceptance.

The pacing isn't perfect. Time doesn't always work nicely when you have a large story to pack into eight 45-50 minute episodes. Nevertheless, with what they had, they made it mostly work.

Nam Yoonsu isn't just an actor, he's also an advocate. His performance in the drama and his persistence afterwards is something I admire. It's not often you see an actor being proud of their work, let alone in Korean queer media. Sadly, conservatism prevails in a rapidly developing society, I can only hope Yoonsu's advocacy is recognized under a mostly positive light. He committed to his role as a young adult maneuvering in between different realities and brought life to Goyoung. Additionally, the entire cast in this were fantastic.

The humour comes in great bursts. I was genuinely laughing during some scenes. To the scriptwriter, thank you for bringing in humorous jabs during tense scenes.

Flawed characters. Goyoung isn't perfect, Mi Ae isn't perfect, Gyuho isn't perfect, etc. But they make it work navigating as outcasts in society. I love how the writers weren't shy in expressing imperfection. It leaves you feeling discomforted, but in a way, it reflected in a lot of my life stories.

Themes of being an outcast. Goyoung is a gay man with something holding him back from love, navigating under a religious guise ironclad to Korean society. I loved the subtle ways in which the story shows the effects of being an outcast from character to character. There's so much I would discuss with this, but it would end up being a boring novel. In the many layers of Goyoung, he finds his eventual acceptance as a difference to the "norm". I appreciate his development as a character.

Cinematography is incredible. It's as if the words taken from the novel have been firm-pressed into animate scenes. The movement, the subtle tune of music, the careful blur to focus on a character. I could go on, it's just spectacular.

Watching Love in the Big City made me reflect on my own life, and the last time a show had that effect on me was I Told Sunset About You. This is going to be something that I will likely go back to, as it's unlike anything I've seen in a long time. It felt like a cinematic reflection on a young queer man going through a portion of his life to self-acceptance. I hope this review sparks a tick on your watchlist; you don't want to miss watching this.

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