It's a very high quality show, I can tell there was a budget. I liked that the narration makes you feel like you're the one living this and struggling along with the main character. It's very entertaining and some parts hit hard as a member of the LGBTQ community, it feels like good exposure of the real life struggles. The acting was also INCREDIBLE, I found myself crying just because it felt so real and genuine that I forgot it was just a show. The story is also amazing, it made me reflect a lot on life.
I wish this wasn't seen as just a "bl" because it should be a mainstream show meant for the whole world to see, its also better than the average bl that feels like it's just feeding teenage girls illusion. However, I can't help but feel empty at the end, it's sad but the truth and I personally relate a lot more than I wish I did to the character, it's fiction but it felt painfully real.
Overall, an all-rounded show with good actors, good story and expensive quality, anyone that likes k-dramas should watch.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
The best series ever
Literally EVERYTHING about this show was amazing!!! So realistic! I actually like that Yeong ended up not with Gyuho in the end because he needed to know he didn’t appreciate what he had until it was gone. I cried way too many times watching this show, which to me means it was an amazing production and acting! I loved how they showed both perspectives in the scenes in Bangkok because it shows just how blind love is! Gyuho was too in love with Yeong to see that love had been gone for a long time but he was just holding on to little parts of their old relationship that would come out. I also love how Yoonsu was able to have great chemistry with every single guy he had to act with! But my hot take on this was Yeong was a selfish guy, but only because he didn’t believe he deserved love. With his mom sending him to conversion therapy and then later dying and then an ex-boyfriend dying after he treated him badly, and then Yeoungsu dating him basically as an experiment, Yeong understandably didn’t feel worthy of love. But yet he still wanted to try again with Gyuho. I think Yeong is just one of those people who don’t know how to live with being alone, and unfortunately everyone except his three friends left him. This show had me sucked in from the beginning but I really knew it when even I missed Gyuho when he left. I cried so hard! It’s a beautiful story and I want to rewatch but I’m definitely gonna need to heal from the first watch before I do!Was this review helpful to you?
Love fully till it hurts, and it would make the best memories ever each time
Prepare yourself to fall in love as soon as it plays, loving is a continuous action with fall downs and real high moments, explore "what love is" in the soul of Ko Yeong.The series explores the life, lovers, drama and growing of Ko Yeong. The acting is espectacular, the stories of all the characters are very emotional and be prepared for many touching scenes.
How many times a heart can be broken? How many times you can rise from the bottom? Who would be there at the very end? Nobody knows, even less Ko Yeong, the future and life itself could trend to be cruel and ironic, but every step forward is a new lesson learned to love fully and love more the next time.
The whole series is a movie each episode, so well produced, the great acting, the plots, is a masterpiece, to experience love in a korean big city.
Was this review helpful to you?
A joy to watch.
This was honestly such a joy to watch. I didn’t want it to end.It had a few heart wrenching moments too. It was pretty late for the realisation, but I did love the protagonist character development. Genuinely was not expecting much going into this but ended up loving every minute of it.
While I hope for a sequel, I can’t help but feel that was the perfect way to end it.
Was this review helpful to you?
A summary of modern dating.
Nam Yoon Su consistently puts out bangers, every new piece is his new best but this was just perfect. It resonated with me thoroughly, it just felt like a representation of true modern youth. Highly reccomend, a must watch at least once.The sub actors were also really great, the production, visuals and even dialogue was just so perfectly crafted, a beautiful drama.
Certainly an improvement in the genre of Korean Bls, their budget, their length and their production.
Was this review helpful to you?
its really amazing
one of my favourite series, the cinematography 🤯the characters are so fine 👌. pero sana naman may mas happy ending pa dito 😭 please gwn nyo ng season 2 HAHAHA dipa ko maka move on.
btw naghahanap ako ng ganitong vibe ng movie or series sana may recommend dyan.
maganda tlga ang series nato iniyakan ko ba naman ang isang gabe medyo nasaktan ako sa ending, but andaming realization sa series 😭 if you know know ayaw kong mag spoil HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA kaya kung di nyo pa napapanood please panoorin nyo na. 🫶☺️
Was this review helpful to you?
a story about losing yourself for people who won’t choose you.
oh my!!!!!! this drama is absolutely one of my top 3 bl dramas of all time. i have so much to say about it, so let’s start this review because i already know it won’t be short!'love in the big city' is not a perfect love story. it's messy, bittersweet, and sometimes uncomfortable, but that's exactly why it feels so close to real life.
what i loved the most about Go-young is how painfully human he is. he is not a perfect character, and that's exactly why he feels so real. he makes mistakes, he holds on to people who are NOT always good for him, and sometimes he loses pieces of himself while trying to find love and acceptance. but instead of judging him, i actually found myself understanding him so much, and now he's definitely my comfort character.
his relationship with his last boyfriend (Sim Gyu-ho) especially stayed with me.
it was heartbreaking because it felt SO real.. that feeling of loving someone deeply while slowly realizing that maybe you are the only one still fighting for the relationship :( the pain wasn't just about losing someone, but about realizing how much time and energy you can give to a person who might not even look back at you in the future.
Go-young is someone who wants to be loved, understood, and chosen, but sometimes he searches for those things in people who cannot give them to him. and honestly, i think many people can see a part of themselves in that.
this drama made me think about all the moments when we hold on to someone because we are attached to the version of them we created in our heads... not necessarily who they really are. it's painful, but also incredibly honest.
i finished this drama feeling sad (i cried my eyes out), but also grateful. some stories don't need a perfect "happy" ending to be meaningful. <3
at the end, i want to add:
this drama is incredibly important for young queer people, especially gay men who are struggling with their identity, feeling lost, or trying to find themselves.
Was this review helpful to you?
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.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
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.
Was this review helpful to you?
Best bl ever
This was not just the best bl I have ever seen, but one of my all time favorites series in general. I cried so many times. I felt validated. It was literally life-changing for me. It was so beautiful, so realistic, so emotional, full of messages and it dealt with a variety of topics. The first 3 eps were a bit more meh for me because I still couldn’t understand where this show was heading. But I found myself getting more and more attached and I said out loud “masterpiece” many times throughout the show. 10/10Was this review helpful to you?
intense and lovely
What a beautiful drama, full of emotions, friendships and super real cases, the beginning was beautiful and the ending was sad but necessary.It was an incredible drama where we can see the evils and wonders that love/relationships can bring us.
I highly recommend this drama and it is certainly one of the best of the year without a doubt.
Think about a good performance, Nam Yoon Su and the entire cast presented a very refreshing drama with correct performances from beginning to end, it's great to be able to see something where the actor didn't show any fear at a certain point in the story, in addition to talking about several important issues.
Korea always gets it right and this is one of the big hits, a drama of this quality where despite boycotts from conservatives it never lowered its head, a great attitude that was quite worth it.
I loved it so much.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
A poignant and cathartic tale of flawed people, with some stellar acting
Why does no one ever have the courage untill it is too late! This is a heartbreaking and yet, beautiful tale of flawed people. Also, a stunning gay-themed show from Korea after a rather long time.BL needle score: 7.5 - Reasonably strong BL-ness, interspersed with serious themes
The story meanders through Ko Yeong's life and struggles as he goes from one love interest to other, failing the first one, love-hating the second, and loosing the last one, which ultimately makes him find himself in ways....
If you are a gay man (or even a woman) growing up or living in a big city in Asia, you'd find so many characters that will seem familiar...the story, while depending on some of the usual cliches of gay-besties gang (girl gang) and that hallowed chosen family support, does deliver a rather realistic and relatable story of a sort-of-closeted gay man from a conservative family, weighed down by the pressures of being the good son, the fabulous gay man, and also living that 'I dont give a shit bitch-will have fun' big city life, while pining for love that feels like home....all at the same time.
Yeong abandons the first one that loves him dearly, Kim, the most dedicated and stable one, because he isn't cool enough...(haven't we seen that happen like every other day in the gay dating scene!!).....fast forward the next one he falls for, No Yeong is, no surprises, the emotionally unavailable one, deep into the closet, with several unresolved issues and baggage...which expectedly, can only end in a traumatic way, and it does (again, a story that we see happen all around)....fast forward.....Yeong grows some....and then comes Gyu Ho, the real deal, the one he loves and the one who loves him back, the way he is...and I thought Yeong's confession about his being HIV+ to Gyu Ho was plain beautiful....the vulnerability, emotions, and desperation is portrayed so beautifully....but off course feeling loved as your authentic self is the most difficult and scary thing there is, right? The fear of losing makes us leave them before they do....but here the story is slightly less predictable, Yeong and Gyu really understand how strong their love is, and really try to work things out...but the fear.....THE FEAR...never goes away.....and that makes Yeong almost force separate from Gyu Ho.....in other words, he runs away from that one love that made him feel like he's safe and home.
The story, delves deep into the layers and nuances of a queer life...there is the obvious references to homophobia, struggles of living with HIV, the trauma of enforced closets and dual lives, the lack of love, care, safety and often betrayal by family, the contempt from society, and how religious dogma can turn people into monsters,...and then the beauty of finding support and love from your chosen family and finding a space that you can belong to.....it takes you through many a familiar feeling that is validating in ways.....at the same time it flags the lack of courage to accept ourselves and all others around us, as their everyday, non-glamorous, non-thrilling selves that is ...it definitely touches upon the all-too-familiar pressures of having that perfect and fabulous relationship, reaching the pinnacles of unrealistic standards of 'romance-that stuns and outdoes everyone'......and how the everyday mundane comfort around each other, the snoring, the stains that stay, and the 'don't have mind-blowing sex most of the time' familiarity, end up being no match for that....that is, until you find the courage to be just yourself, warts and all, and find beauty and comfort in it....find the courage to allow yourself to love and be loved with all your flaws, failing, and shadows........but, by that time, it is usually too late...or is it??
The series has a bit of an open ending, which one can interpret the way they want ...with a passing allusion to the possibility of Gyu Ho coming back to Seoul, hope floats.....just may be, Yeong moves out of his old apartment and moves into a new one...it ends as fireworks light up the sky, with Yeong and his gay-gang, seemingly happy celebrating their own selves....
But the question lingers, why does no one ever have the courage until it is too late!
Was this review helpful to you?
