Love In The Big City: A Full Season Review
It’s the show that conservatives in South Korea didn’t want you to see! Love In The Big City is a provocative queer drama depicting the life of a young, gay man living in the city trying to make his way in the world. The release of the series in South Korea was met with considerable backlash from conservative groups in the country who began protesting the broadcast and attempted to pressure networks to cancel its release, claiming that it is a “glamorization and promotion” of homosexuality.
Love In The Big City doesn’t glamorize anything about homosexuality; it humanizes it and presents it as a normal, relatable thing – which is possibly far more confronting for conservatives trying to tarnish the queer community than any glamorization could achieve.
When the show opens, Ko Yeong (Nam Yoon Su) is a university student. He’s not closeted and he’s got a queer group of friends who are also out and living their truths, but the man does face the expected homophobia from people at his university campus. He bands together with the school outcast, Cho Mi Ae (Lee Soo Kyung), and the pair become instant friends. She’s the epitome of the straight female bestie that every young gay man needs in his life!
Ko Yeong has a difficult relationship with his mother, who refuses to accept or acknowledge his sexuality, and it’s not too long before Ko Yeong moves in with Cho Mi Ae, who also has a problematic relationship with her mother. They become each other’s rock and support each other through their dating quests, through school, and on into life as fully-fledged adults.
Yeong falls in and out of love as he stumbles through this thing called life. His mother gets cancer and eventually dies, and Cho Mi Ae sheds her partying ways and settles down into a mature relationship of her own. She eventually gets married and moves out of the apartment she shares with Yeong and he finds himself, once again, alone and contemplating life.
Enter Kylie. She bursts into Yeong’s life like a massive wrecking ball and for a few moments, she shatters Yeong’s very existence. Yeong is diagnosed with HIV (he blames his cheating ex) and Kylie is the name he gives his disease. Since she’s going to be with him for life, he personifies her and gives her a personality all of her own.
As the HIV storyline was introduced, we held our breath in anticipation. South Korea is not known for presenting sensitive queer issues without smothering them in homophobic undertones, but Love In The Big City artfully provides an accurate depiction of how it is to live with HIV in these modern times without pushing a conservative homophobic agenda.
Most prominently, Kylie doesn’t stop Yeong from living. Firstly, he’s not symptomatic and he’s not sick, as most living with HIV aren’t these days. He’s still sexually active, he’s just much more careful about how he goes about it now. But it does impact him in other ways.
This is most obvious when he falls in love with Gyu Ho (Jin Ho Eun). Their relationship is utterly ordinary and although Gyu Ho loves Yeong as he is, Yeong’s mental health takes a bit of a dive during this period of his life. Despite the brave face he shows to the world, and to his lover, Kylie pulls at the melancholy living deep inside Yeong and it impacts his relationship. Yeong isn’t always able to be the best partner to Gyu Ho during this period of time. Nevertheless, Gyu Ho wants Yeong in his life, so he never actually leaves him.
Until he does.
Like a dagger to the heart, Kylie prevents Yeong from following his lover to live abroad and Yeong finds himself all alone once more.
Korea is known for its conservatism in general, but particularly concerning LGBTQ issues, Korea’s BL industry has experienced some growing pains in recent years regarding quality storytelling and productions. Love In The Big City is not shrouded by any of these issues. The storytelling is seamless, realistic, and utterly binge-worthy. The physical intimacy shared between characters (both heterosexual and queer) is so smooth and believable that it feels almost like real life. Honestly, we couldn’t look away!
Ko Yeong epitomizes ordinary life. He goes out into the world looking for love, to love and be loved. He struggles with the monotony of corporate office life and feels stifled by its routine. And as he goes out into the world every day trying to find purpose and meaning in mediocrity, he eventually learns that he’s responsible for his own happiness, that Kylie can’t take that from him, unless he lets her, and that no one else can give it to him, unless he wants them to.
Love In The Big City doesn’t feel like a BL or a KDrama. It is utterly reminiscent of real life and the ebbs and flows that modernity imposes on our psyche these days. The characters are dynamic and relatable in every way and it’s impossible not to become invested in Yeong’s life and his pursuit of contentedness and happiness. Nam Yoon Su’s depiction of Yeong humanizes and normalizes the issue of homosexuality in an environment that would often try to demonize the queer community.
We all know that storytelling is a powerful tool in the process of changing hearts and minds, and Love In The Big City has a very real opportunity to do just that here. The conservatives didn’t win this time, and the show did see the light of day. People everywhere are talking about it, and for good reason. This is high-quality storytelling and high-quality television. Everyone involved in this show should be proud of their work!
Love In The Big City is a binge-worthy emotional rollercoaster that will make you laugh, cry, and feel All The Things.
Love In The Big City is available to watch on Viki Rakuten in 190 countries now. Follow us on X and Instagram for all queer stuff!
Featured Image: Courtesy of Viki Rakuten
