Though this did come out later in the year, I sure did take my sweet time to check out one of the most well received BLs of 2024, Love in the Big City.
While I did ultimately enjoy this show, I did find it to be boring quite often. It reminded me a little bit of Queer as Folk, but I do commend the show for bringing a more realistic storyline with difficult topics to the forefront. The series follows Ko Yeong, a gay man trying to make it as a writer. He narrates the series through both thoughts and what he is writing about. It’s clear a big inspiration is he various relationships over the years, but there is also mention of his friends, his mother, and his mental state at any given time. In college he becomes close with Mi Ae, who was a bit of a wild child, but the two connect and become roommates until she is set to get married.
I thought it was odd that that friendship essentially ends, but as the show went on I realized that important people in Yeong’s life each got about two episodes dedicated to them and their impact in his life. His friends, while they are caring, aren’t seen as serious anchors in his life, and his mother provides some more trauma. She is sick with cancer for several years until she eventually passes. It’s at this time when it’s clear that Yeong is in a desperate search to be loved by someone. Though he is frequently, they are typically not loves that are made to last. His first love is Nam Gyu, an older man who is pretty quirky and ultimately obsessed with Yeong. Things don’t work out between the two, but Nam Gyu also had some more serious mental issues going on as he dies shortly after their break-up.
He then moves on a bit later with YeongSu. They meet in a philosophy group which Yeong starts attending during his mother’s cancer battle. YeongSu is a bit older than Yeong, but their relationship is a steamy one. The only problem is is that YeongSu is deeply ashamed of queerness. The fact that he does all of these things with Yeong is kind of sickening and a bit sad. Yeong finally decides that they are just too different and then YeongSu deals a blow about how they weren’t even anything at all. He does apologize sometime later with a letter, so Yeong does get some closure in that regard.
His next relationship seems to be the most defining or serious for him. It’s with a local bartender named Gyu Ho. It’s like they almost get together on accident and it’s hard to tell who fell first or even who fell harder. They both can’t get enough of each other and share a lot of similar outlooks on life. They eventually move in together, but this seems to be a little bit of their undoing. From my perspective, it came across as a normal relationship timeline. There were some arguments and boredom, but by the end of the day they forget what all the fuss was about. Gyu Ho is only deeply sympathetic when Yeong reveals that he has AIDS, and it seems to strengthen their relationship. After a trip to Bangkok, their relationship reaches new highs before falling a bit back into complacency, but when Gyu Ho is offered an amazing career opportunity in China, Yeong’s health means he can’t go along. Their break-up is heartbreaking.
In the final chapters, Yeong deals with his mother’s death by spending more time with his friends, going back to his writing full time, and finally moving into a new apartment. It’s definitely the shake-up that he needed in his life. But he is also helped by meeting a strange foreigner named Habibi on a dating app. The two meet for drinks and later spend some limited time together in Bangkok. It’s here that Yeong reflects on his relationship with Gyu Ho. He realizes that both he and Habibi are chasing past feelings, so he heads home. He realizes that there is still a lot left for him to learn about love. I personally think that he and Gyu Ho will reconnect, so that’s where I’m ending things in my head.
Like I said, a very thoughtful and comprehensive series, but it just didn’t hold my interest as much as I was hoping. Still, it’s very solid and worth checking out. I also plan to watch the movie that came out around the same time. It stars different actors and apparently only covers a portion of the novel that this series is based on, but it will be interesting to see where any similarities lie. Stay tuned!