BLISS RATING: ★★★★★
“Only in the agony of parting do we look into the depths of love.” – George Eliot
The brilliance of this series is its omnitude. This is a rare gem that tells such an aggregate story in an uninhibited way. Not from a BL slant but from a gay man’s perspective. It is refreshingly honest, touching, and one of the most contemplatively deep series I have ever seen. The title is a bit of a misnomer to me, however. So much more than romantic love is explored in this series. It goes beyond classical definitions and allows us to see affection, devotion, attachments, friendships, and yes passion and intimacy as well with gradations within those feelings as well, all within its location of a big city only as an afterthought. It is one of the most powerful dramas of this year.
The story is about Go Young (Nam Yoon Su) and his journey of triumvirate love. Ultimately concluding to an affirmation of who he is and how much he has yet to learn about love. Along the way, he discovers so much about himself. Always too late and too deep into a commitment that pain becomes inevitable. Sometimes with deep scarring, anguish, and debilitating consequences. Yet, the drive to find out what is proverbial around the corner or to take advantage of the next new opportunity still beckons stronger than the desire to give up. This is a remarkable story of resilience and a quest for self-discovery.
Go Young’s journey through life is experiential. We see him go through 3 loves, a platonic relationship with a female friend, and a conflicting yet cathartic path of reconciliation with his mother. Each time, he advances something new about himself only to realize how little he actually understands life. At one point, he gives up and attempts to end it all, only for his dying mother to say to him, “Don’t try too hard. We all die eventually.” Seemingly, that simple basic statement put him back on the road to recover and permitted him to perhaps see that life is made up of many focuses and failures. He constantly learns that lesson.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. this series? The one who takes it to a new level is Oh Hyun Kyung as Yeom Eun Suk, mother of Go Young. Unaccepting her son’s gayness, which she knew from an early age, tried to conversion him out of his condition. Religion became her crutch. Failing that, it became better to simply not talk about it and pretend that it was not. When she is dying of cancer, the two maintain a sort of truce and in a sense reconcile their differences without ever talking about it. It was the bond, a covenant of love, between mother and son that overcame the obstacle to acceptance. In a sense, we can see her grow and accept her son whom she always deeply loved. She exuded a motherly love without ever having to say anything. There are some powerful scenes, especially in the park with the two of them simply enjoying each other’s company that are magical. Sometimes you do not need words to convey the feeling of love. It lies in its presentation. She learned to accept. And Go Young learned to forgive and appreciate her strength of character. Some of the finest moments between a mother and son are in this series. There is some astonishing acting by her in a way that is so relatable to an underlying portrayal of an ideal mother figure, which she is not. She is just a mother.
This series gets ardently into the psyche of Go Young. We see, if you will, ‘karma’ in many cases come back around to Go Young. His actions had consequences. His failings are catastrophic. His only love was right in front of him, and he failed at it.
For all the right reasons. Bettering himself. Fear of vulnerability and discovery. Internal weakness. All valid. Sim Gyu-ho (Jin Ho Eun) was, is, and will always be his true love. Only after reflection and pondering what he had is he able to put it all into perspective. He failed and has so much yet to learn.
This is a genuinely pensive story with no real definitive outcome or ending. Only a reflection of life as it was and is. Neither good nor bad. We as watchers are left feeling empty but not necessarily sad. We might never know if Go Young and Gyu-ho will reunite. But what we do know, given the nature of who Go Young is, he will never stop searching for what love is. It remains elusive, just out of reach for him.
There is no doubt he will continue to write about his life and his longing for love. That is who the character of Go Young is.
This is a brilliantly acted, directed and written series. However, the series is diminished a bit for me because of its nebulousness in its approach and timelines. Although it sure started out to be a contender, I cannot credit it as the ‘Best’. Clearer delineations needed to be marked throughout the story to make it flow more evenly. In addition, the last episode simply exploded with raw emotions without the ability to process any of it. It got confusing with all the rapid flashbacks. We needed time to process with Go Young how that was all affecting him. Or at least, I did.
However, none of this diminished the quality of this series. This is still one of the best directed, produced, acted, and written gay series to come out of South Korea in a long time. It is meritorious for the strength of the characterizations of the protagonists. It was like watching them become who they were. Neither good or bad; simply presenting to us a picture or visualization of seeing how individuals can and do influence us. We were, honestly, watching ourselves go through life.
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