Love in the Big City (2024)

Unenjoyable Art

This is ART, no doubt about it. Stellar acting, exquisite editing & script and gorgeous, breathtaking shots. This Korean BL shouldn't be called just a "BL". This is "the BL" of the year for sure. This is the result when the directors & scriptwriters finally took its audience seriously. It's a near-perfect series. Beautiful & honest. But as it stands, I could NOT wait for it to be over.

STORY & CHARACTERS: It's painful. The whole story. And no, I'm not talking about the heartwrenching scenes. I'm just saying that it drags. GOD, it drags. Painfully dull. I bet that the majority of the people here who rated this a perfect TEN for a rewatch would never watch this again. Because the story is all the same. It's a repetition of self-sabotage. The MC Yeong jumps from one guy to the other and sabotages the relationship himself. Honestly, it's one disappointment after the other. And here lies the pain. It's too realistic that it fails to be enjoyable anymore. I can't even root for the MC because he's a raging asshole. He' a hypercritical, pretentious coward who demands so much from his partners but in the end, he's the one who's going to run away. And I get that this is a drama and supposed to show an honest portrayal of relationships but it just feels dismal and almost cruel.

The ACTING is at least superb. I must say, the casting is so good. Everyone really stepped up to the plate. I just want to give Yeong's gay friends a shoutout too. They stole the spotlight for me. Their shenanigans are very entertaining and very real. Speaking of them, I should mention that whoever wrote the summary for this BL is tripping. What a misleading summary. Thought for sure the girl BFF, Mi Ae would be there for the MC throughout the whole series. Made it looked like she'll play a huge role too, but she was barely there.   She was not even there for Yeong's mother's funeral. Why put her in the summary at all? The summary should've mentioned Yeong's very loyal and wonderful gay friends instead! Not the hetero girl who barely did anything for Yeong. She even outed him just to save her boring-ass relationship with the judgmental guy.

MUSIC: Could not remember any memorable bg music or soundtrack for this BL because I must have fell asleep halfway thru. (Not kidding).

REWATCH: Obviously 1. Would not touch this again. It's not a waste of time. At least I learned something. There were a LOT of memorable quotes and nuances. The scriptwriter really did a great job with MC's lines and POV but they're not just enough for me to care at this point. MC should just be single forever. He's perfect alone. He has great talent and have such great friends. I don't know why he has to feel like he needs to be in a relationship just to feel happy or feel complete.

Bottomline: Most definitely NOT a love story. It's ART & a critical success for sure, but its hopeless and bleak, and awfully unenjoyable. It's like a painting you'd admire for its details but will never keep.

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Not a BL but worth every penny the taxpayer spent....

Of course this is not a BL, it's a drama about a gay man. We see a real depiction of gay life in Korea with all the harsh realities Korean society (and many other) offers. There is no pink-washing of reality, there is just reality in an unapologetic way. Of course we wished for Ko Young to have a happy life. But life is tough, espeically as woman or gay man. I am glad the Korean culture ministry spend tax money on this show, because it's an important piece of education too. And because it's not a BL, we don't get the happy end Ko so much deserves.

One of the best gay shows ever produced even when some parts of the story were not perfect or not expanded and explained in a way I wished for (mother/son for example). On the plus side is the great acting, especially for the MLs who never played a gay character (and went into it giving 110%), and the stunning visuals.

So overall I can only recommand everyone to watch this series, 400 minutes worth spending!

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you're still you

my perception of nam yoon su as an actor has grown exponentially since seeing this drama. his performance as the flawed yet poignant and poetic go young left me laughing, smiling, and in tears multiple times throughout the drama. his chemistry with each of his love interests was amazing and i can safely say that this might be the best cast i have witnessed in a korean bl so far.

honestly, this was a beautifully sad watch (hence the slightly lower rewatch value), but the visuals, music, acting and dialogue are an easy 10/10 for me. this drama is an absolute win for korean bl, in my opinion. hope to see nam yoon su choose projects as interesting as this in the future because he definitely has the talent for it!

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Unafraid, Unapologetic and Raw

After a long time I have watched a series that left me completely satisfied. The writer, director, creative team, actors, producers all did a phenomenal job of bringing a complicated subject on screen in the most poetic way. I commend their bravery that they could look beyond the hate.
The story is a unique exploration of one man's inner world while he navigates through his identity and tries to find love in a big, brutal city. He stumbles, makes mistakes of gigantic proportion which leaves him broken and scarred for life. Yet he stands up, fumbles but steadily moves forward. The story explores this journey and shows many things which generally is off limit for romance dramas. It bravely discards the theory of love heals all! Love doesn't. In fact misplaced love can scar and damage someone beyond retribution. Through the struggles and triumphs of a gay man's love life, the drama taps into this often unexplored side of romance.
All the actors acted brilliantly. The production quality was top notch and the star of the show was the screenplay where it did not drop for a single second. I commend the creators again for creating such magic on screen.

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To All The Boys I've Loved Before

Gyu Ho was God's apology to Go Young for all the boys he'd loved before, and I cried when he fumbled that blessing for a half eaten hamburger. But, thank God they met again in that bar, moved in together to the new place and decided to get married in the finale. #heartheart XDXDXD

Listen, this drama coming from SK in itself is a wonder. I went into this with high anticipation and I wasn't disappointed. I enjoyed it a lot. I liked the characters, the story, the education it gave me when it came to Kylie, and how realistic it was. I laughed, cried, and related so hard in some parts, I cried some more.

Go Young had three main lovers, one who was too boring to take karaoke-ing, a pretentious prick who came with a side of abs and left scars, and a happy-go-get it boy who wanted a home, and broke our hearts when he left the one he found. Let me explain.

MR SPLENDID:
Listen, Go Young and Nam Gyu could have worked. Sure, he was slow, a classic and drove like his grandmother, but my man was committed and serious. Frankly, I thought he was fast... he pulled out that ring faster than my internet connection. He genuinely loved Go Young. A bit obsessed, sure, but he came off as someone who loved with all his heart, and I felt sad when he was turned down, again and again. In the end, when even his marinated crabs got rejected...poor guy. This is another guy, Go Young fumbled, and it's sad he only realised that when it was too late. Also, are we going to ignore the reason he was speeding or... anyway, rip.

MR. ACTIVIST:
Yeong Su was a fun hating, people pleasing, pretentious bummer! God, I couldn't stand his arse. Yes, I have eyes and went dayummm Susan, come here often?? And that table sexy time scene was... but damn, that brother sucked! I literally wanted to throw rocks at his head whenever he was on screen. Dafug you mean you don't celebrate Halloween because of its history and you look down on people who does? And the mfker even hated pasta. I clapped when Go Young finally clocked him, and threw his stupid arse case study away in the trash. I couldn't get why Go Young didn't see all that glaring red flag, and kept letting himself be hurt to the point he took those meds. But then I understood, some hurt goes deeper than others. Either way, he was beef cake, but if I ever see his arse on the street, it's on sight.

MR. NURSE
Gyu Ho, Gyu Ho, Gyu Ho, how I would have loved to be friends with you. Sure, they were not perfect, and his dingdong went on and off like a light bulb whenever they were doing the devil's tango--protected, but, these two were my main ship and I loved every moment with them. In the end, I understood that Go Young was scared, and perhaps wasn't sure why Gyu Ho was so accepting of Kylie and didn't even seem to care about it. Perhaps he didn't trust that Gyu Ho was truly okay with it, and that's why he had one foot out the door and took the first chance to accept their fate, but I still cried. They were in-tuned with each other, and Gyu Ho finally seemed so happy to have found him. In my head, I am full on delulu, and imagined them living together with a dog.

Anyway, I also liked the friendship between Choi Mi Ae and Go Young. I was sad when they had a fallen out, brought back memories of all the friends that were everything at one point, and then... we sort of dimmed out. Seeing their friendship from start to finish brought back memories that added to the tears.

All-in-all, a great show, that many dramas and bl lovers would enjoy. It's a realistic portray and the ending would knock you back into reality. I highly recommend it. Kudos to the cast, especially Nam Yoon Su who did his thing. My man was on, and I loved him for it. I can't wait to see their future works.

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Ascenseur émotionnel et réalité brute (l'amour n'est pas rose)

Beaucoup d'adjectifs me traversent l'esprit pour définir ce drama. Pourtant, j'ai l'impression qu'ils ne suffisent pas à capturer mon sentiment à son sujet. Unique et réaliste, il est fort et n'hésite pas à faire passer le téléspectateur par un éventail d'émotions, tout autant que les personnages, notamment Go Yeong.

Derrière son magnifique sourire, Nam Yoon Su est un excellent acteur. Il le confirme en prenant les traits de Go Yeong. Plus encore, il pourrait tout aussi bien être récompensé pour avoir balayé les nombreuses critiques qui lui ont été adressées, et pas toujours de façons correctes. Quoiqu'il en soit, Nam Yoon Su dépeint un personnage auquel il est facile de s'attacher.

Tout d'abord, Kim Nam Gyu. Une relation intense pour laquelle il n'était pas prêt avant de goûter aux regrets. Ensuite, No Yeong Su. S'il voulait plus, son partenaire n'était pas prêt et sûrement un peu égoïste. Puis, Gyu Ho est arrivé. Et cette fois, c'était l'amour parfait. Son idéal. C'était magnifique de les voir, jusqu'au moment où ils se font rattraper par leurs vies respectives. Aussi terrible que ce soit, c'était comme si l'amour idéal avec Gyu Ho n'était pas le bon moment. C'est déchirant, mais réaliste. Combien de couples parfaits ont terminé ainsi, aussi ? Pour finir par Habibi, une sorte d'aventure et de réflexion sur lui-même. Fugace, rapide, mais qui lui a permis de poser certains mots.

L'amour, c'est compliqué. Ça fait autant de bien que de mal. Ça nous rend aussi heureux que malheureux. Pourtant, peu importe les blessures, la plupart d'entre nous cherchons ce sentiment qui nous rend uniques aux yeux d'une personne. D'ailleurs, une grande partie de sa richesse est là, ce drama parle à tout le monde, peu importe son orientation. Go Yeong est gay, ok. Je suis une hétéro, ok. Mais ce qu'il ressent, ce qu'il traverse, ce sont des expériences que j'ai également connues, parce qu'on peut tous s'identifier à ce sentiment.

Mais comment chercher ce qu'on ignore ? Au départ, Go Yeong est sûr d'avoir déjà aimé, mais est-ce vraiment le cas ? Pour moi, son premier amour, son vrai premier amour, c'est Gyu Ho. Ces deux syllabes laissées sur la lanterne. Chaque relation de Go Yeong l'a fait évoluer et grandir. Cependant, celle avec Gyu Ho était vraie, vivante et chargée d'amour.

Pour finir, j'ai souvent mentionné que le jour où nous aurons un KBL avec des épisodes d'au moins 40 minutes, alors ce sera comme un matin de Noël à chacun d'eux. Ce fut le cas.

En bref, Love in the Big City est sans aucun doute l'un des meilleurs dramas de cette année grâce à sa douceur, sa puissance et son réalisme avec un personnage central attachant et parfaitement interprété (tout comme l'ensemble de la distribution).

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This might be the Korea’s best lgbtq+ film ever to have been made

This isn’t only a drama where we go straight into the scandalous stuff which is great: We get to see what life is truly like, when being a part of the lgbtq community. The way Nam Yoonsu wanted to act in this movie made it even better, he didn’t care abt what the fans of his in Korea would think cuz it’s acting. And I do appreciate him for portraying this character. The drama brought me tears dripping down my face and a lots of good moments too. I recommend you to watch it cause it has a great story line and good actors which brings the act to life, but if you’re uncomfortable with lgbtq I think you should definitely pass on this one.

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SPEEDING UNIVERSE AND CRABBY TABBY

Critic:
This might be korea's best LGBTQ+ show of all time.

As a GAY person the Story was top tier, it was very realistic and well executed, every parts contains key memories to proceed with the other, pacing was good, Cinematography was just MIND BLOWING it definitely surpasses the cinematography of The Eight Sense, Like Your Name Engraved Herein Level.

Actors are visually attractive, they slayed their role, although Nam Yoon-Su was forced feminine on his role or he was a gay-masculine but he did a great job, I can see myself on him..

Overall this was worth of watching don't skip anything and prepare tissues.

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Realest types of men

I'll write this short and simple, this drama was so real that even I related to it.

In this story Young dates the most canonically accurate men in one's journey about learning about gay life and love. We have:
1. The man ready to risk it all but you/yourself are not ready, only to leave with regret and what ifs
2. The man that uses you to study homosexuality or the "CURIOUS" people of this world
3. Right man, right time but soon falters as time has other plans

I might be speaking from experience because I for one have experienced all three, but sheesh was this drama an nail to the head. I honestly was more dumbfounded than I was happy watching it cause damn did it hit. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy it, believe me I did! The quality is exceptional, from the actors, to music, to editing, to directing, to the script, and to the ending (more in spoiler), it all works. This is a show made to and possibly was born to tell a story, a story that is to be seen/heard and not be forgotten. I would say this is not for the fluffy bl watchers, absolutely not. This is for the people who wants to learn, understand and witness how life is on the rainbow. This is a show to truly show how it is to love in the big city.

Small side comment tho:
I really thought that gyu ho might be his end game because everything felt natural really, you go through those types of phases as you are in a relationship, up and down and vice versa! I felt gyu ho's struggle when they essentially broke up just cause he was going to china, but hey I have to admit not everyone is a fan of ldr. Buuuut it was the way gyu ho might even try just for go young. Like you can see how madly inlove gyu ho was with him! I'm sure he would give the world to him! But as go young said himself, he still needed to find himself and maybe he still wasn't ready. But I really wanted them endgame sooo maybe a special ep to see them get together? I honestly don't need another season (unless this isnt the whole story from the novel) because everything felt right already.

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