A Powerful, Beautiful, Gritty Work of Art

This is one powerful, beautifully written and wonderfully produced work of art.

I want to say it was not your typical BL but in all honesty it was not a BL at all. Had it had a happy ending it would have been ruined.

This series touched me all the way to my core. So many of the damaged, broken, painful relationships felt horribly familiar.

I have decided to consider this a modern day Asian version of Maurice (E M Forster/Merchant Ivory) except there was no 'sort of' happy ending.

As someone who has lived a life that seems to always be faintly touched by sadness I identified fully with Go Young's character. My manic depressive nature reveled in the absolutely blue tone and mood of this whole production.

For gay men living today the series left few stones unturned. It beautifully renders the reality of guilt-ridden, devoted, not-so-devoted relationships with sometimes good and sometimes unworthy mothers. It touches on the many lousy paternal relationships. With No Yeong Su's character it honestly depicts those of us who hate ourselves for being so different and so hated by many in the world that we never ever gain enough courage to live our lives openly and honestly. The scene at the end of the relationship when No Yeong Su is on the floor just accepting the beating broke my heart. It was as if he felt so absolutely unworthy that he simply accepted his fate. The series dealt with those of us that are so damaged that when we are in a good and nurturing relationship we don't realize it and inevitably damage or end them only to realize, too late, that the relationship was a good thing.

I almost forgot to include a major character—RELIGION!
How could I when religion has played such a major, horrifying, world hatred-and self-hatred inducing role in the lives of so many members of the lgbtq+ community? But I guess, I could be forgiven because while it was there it pretended to assume the role of a background character. Introduced by Go Young's mother, insidious and serpent-like it slithered its way through her life and his impacting both because clearly there had been a moment when she had him 'caught up' in her efforts to 'fix him'. She spent so much of her time on screen praying for a miracle that never came.

I could go on and on but I think it best to stop here so that viewers can unravel and experience this for themselves.

I want to thank the production team for creating such a wonderful series. I want to thank Sang Young Park, the writer of the novel for doing such a beautiful job of realistically depicting the typical, unvarnished life of many gay men. I want to thank the actors for an amazing, amazing job especially Nam Yoon Su and Na Hyun Woo for their powerful performances.

On x.com user Rafa @dongttaro wrote "BREAKING NEWS: Love In the Big City (2024) received a 55 minute standing ovation from me in my living after watching it for the 3th(sic) time" …

Were we in a theatre, I too would give this a 55-minute standing ovation.

As for watching it again… it really touched too close to home ? I would end up drowning in my own grief. In time, I will probably find the courage to watch the happier moments at the beginning of Go Young's relationships.

I will end with this… I cannot recommend this series enough. To anyone coming across this review, I say please watch Love In the Big City. It is truly brilliant.

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