Season 1 |
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Episode Guide
Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
Episode 5
Episode 6
Episode 7
Episode 8
Following hits like Death’s Game and Queen Woo, Love In The Big City is yet another exciting TVING K-drama that graced our screens this year. While its movie counterpart focuses on the female protagonist played by Kim Go-eun, the K-drama version focuses on the male protagonist, Go Yeong played by Nam Yoon-su.
Love In The Big City is an angsty romance based on Park Sang-young’s novel of the same name. The K-drama also happens to be one of the first major Korean BLs backed by a major studio and stars mainstream K-drama actors.
Well, the show begins with a lighthearted tone as roommates Go Yeong and Mi-ae try to find love but to no avail. While his disapproving mother is kept in the dark about his sexuality, Yeong seems to be going through guys till he falls for Gyu-ho. But when an incident has them parting ways, Yeong follows a stranger to Thailand while still being hung up on Gyu-ho.
The series stars Nam Yoon-su, Jin Ho-eun, Lee Soo-kyung, Kwon Hyuk, Oh Hyun-kyung, Na Hyun-woo, Jung Chan-young and Kim Won-joong, and is helmed by novelist Park Sang-young himself.
Love in the Big City is an earnest and intriguing exploration of love and loneliness and how intertwined these two emotions are. It is split up into segments with each one focusing on a guy who is pivotal to Yeong’s growth. The pacing and the execution also differ according to what stage Yeong is at in life.
This is seen in the way the first segment with Nam-gyu and uni student Yeong is filled with neon-lit backdrops, Mi-ae’s kitschy and chaotic apartment and rocky relationships as everyone involved struggles to stay afloat. But it switches to a calmer pace with the calm Young-soo and a more retro aesthetic that represents Yeong’s stable era, from old ballads to city pop romance.
It goes back to a passionate and rocky relationship with Gyu-ho before Yeong comes to terms with his life while enjoying Bangkok’s nightlife with the mysterious William.
Each character has a fleshed-out personality, likeable even when flawed (well except maybe for the social experiment guy, he can rot). And with these guys, friends and family members, we see Yeong change.
While the large ensemble cast successfully brings these characters to life, it is Nam Yoon-su who carries this show as we see him trying to find himself, learn about love and yet still be true to his short-tempered, brash self. He is no goody-two shoes but it is his messy persona that has us relating and looking forward to how he deals with the different men in his life.
What elevates Love in the Big City Season 1 from a simple romance is the fact that it includes different themes in each segment. At one point, Yeong literally takes a philosophy class and discusses loneliness in such a vast universe. There is also a streak of sophistication with Love in the Big City.
There are no comedic soundtracks hamming up the comedy, no overacting or cheesy moves to really hammer in the romance. The humour is crisp and witty, a little dark at times to match the bitterness of the story. The seriousness sells the story without overwhelming viewers for the sake of angst or making fun of the situations the characters find themselves in.
The K-drama is also a story of friendship and companionship. Yeong sees himself as a loner, and his need to find a partner stems from that loneliness. However, there are several incidents that constantly remind him that he is not alone, he has friends who are there for him through thick and thin.
But plot-wise, we do have 2 complaints that stop it from being perfect. The first glaring bit is Mi-ae’s storyline fizzling out in the first half of the show itself. In fact, we believed she was a main character with the way she got her own storyline, with her own problems and drama.
However, all that is resolved off-screen and she is never shown again, not even when Yeong has a certain life-threatening incident. Had she been given the guy friends’ treatment with the way they are only peppered in pivotal moments of Yeong’s life, we wouldn’t have had such high expectations from Mi-ae.
The second bit is a creative decision which isn’t in line with the structure of the show. Throughout the narrative, we only get a peek at Yeong’s thought process. Even when other characters have their own conflicts like Deacon Eun-suk (Yeong’s mother) or Eun-soo (Yeong’s friend). But we suddenly get an insight into the final guy, William which feels a little odd.
And the revelation from his thought process is in no way related to Yeong or the plot if we look at the big picture. It seems to have been used to explain his resolution but it feels out of place and the writers could have given him better closure without digressing from the established structure.
But when we peel back the sex-filled, neon-tinted haze of what is Love in the Big City Season 1, the K-drama is sincere in its portrayal of a lonely man coping with his red flags and grasping at love in all the wrong ways which many of us can relate to. And while the representation is definitely a step in the right direction, it is more than just queer media with its character study of human life.
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Verdict - 7.5/10
7.5/10