kdramakitty
Hahaha okay I'll be the first to admit this show is not flawless. It's very... 2011. I don't know how exactly to describe what that means, but perhaps we'll figure it out together as I write this review. I am very biased towards this show because it was one of the first couple of kdramas I ever watched and I loved it then. I've also re-watched it with friends and that was a complete blast.
The premise and revenge plot are really solid. I found it really well-paced with great twists and turns. I like that the revenge plot is being driven by two characters who have very different perspectives on what revenge should look like. The conflict between Lee Min Ho's character and "daddy drug-lord" (my friends' name for him) is one of the most interesting aspects of the show. Daddy drug-lord is a great antagonist; the other antagonists, the people who they're getting revenge on, are corrupt politicians and don't get me wrong, they're good too, but daddy drug-lord is definitely more interesting. The show does a good job of working our way through the list of bad guys such that they are successively worse people--the first one is bad, the next one is terrible, the next is horrendous, and so on. But all throughout daddy drug-lord remains a constant threat, and you're really uncertain of what he might do next. I like that (generally speaking) most of the main characters are fairly intelligent and don't make a ton of dumb decisions. Otherwise the plot would certainly feel contrived.
That being said, some things do feel contrived, and that's a bit where Park Min Young's character comes in. I do like her, I really do, but she is very hit-or-miss at her job and it feels like it depends on what needs to be happening in the plot. She's also not the brightest, and how she figures out the identity of City Hunter is pretty funny (as in, the actual moment where she figures it out is pretty hilarious). I actually liked the romance quite a bit in this show. I'm not going to claim that the two have amazing chemistry (it's okay) but the premise for their romance is really unique and good. This isn't the Lois Lane and Superman situation like Healer kinda is, it's more of a Romeo and Juliet type situation where the two of them are on opposite sides of a conflict. I loved how conflicted Lee Min Ho's character was about her; at first, he was scared of hurting her, and then it shifts to also being afraid of her hurting him. So yeah, I enjoyed the romance aspect of the show, though I will admit it's the most 2011-feeling part of the show with some of the rom-com hijinks that go down.
The action scenes are pretty great in this show. I still remember vividly to this day the action scene in episode 18 or so where City Hunter hides from and fights a bad guy in a locker room. It's a single shot for like a minute and a half, where the camera moves along with City Hunter as he hides behind the mirrors, so you can always see both him and the bad guy, even though the bad guy cannot see him. It's masterful and well-coordinated and is incredibly tense and exciting. Definitely a lot of care went into the action scenes, so kudos for that.
This was the first kdrama to teach me that characters can and will die. I legit did not expect characters to die and stay dead (I know expectations are different these days thanks to Game of Thrones) and it genuinely shocked and upset me when a certain character died and it wasn't even the last episode! So that's probably another reason why I have a nostalgic appreciation for this show because it was the first show to subvert my expectations with character deaths.
The ending of this show is perfect. You cannot talk me down from this position. This show does not lose steam and keeps some amazing twists for the end of the show. It's so darn good. It still wowed me even the second time I watched it. It also wraps up the themes of the show really well.
Side note: thank goodness this show exists because I was not a fan of Lee Min Ho after watching Boys Over Flowers and Heirs and I'm now officially a part of the "Lee Min Ho is fine" club.
The premise and revenge plot are really solid. I found it really well-paced with great twists and turns. I like that the revenge plot is being driven by two characters who have very different perspectives on what revenge should look like. The conflict between Lee Min Ho's character and "daddy drug-lord" (my friends' name for him) is one of the most interesting aspects of the show. Daddy drug-lord is a great antagonist; the other antagonists, the people who they're getting revenge on, are corrupt politicians and don't get me wrong, they're good too, but daddy drug-lord is definitely more interesting. The show does a good job of working our way through the list of bad guys such that they are successively worse people--the first one is bad, the next one is terrible, the next is horrendous, and so on. But all throughout daddy drug-lord remains a constant threat, and you're really uncertain of what he might do next. I like that (generally speaking) most of the main characters are fairly intelligent and don't make a ton of dumb decisions. Otherwise the plot would certainly feel contrived.
That being said, some things do feel contrived, and that's a bit where Park Min Young's character comes in. I do like her, I really do, but she is very hit-or-miss at her job and it feels like it depends on what needs to be happening in the plot. She's also not the brightest, and how she figures out the identity of City Hunter is pretty funny (as in, the actual moment where she figures it out is pretty hilarious). I actually liked the romance quite a bit in this show. I'm not going to claim that the two have amazing chemistry (it's okay) but the premise for their romance is really unique and good. This isn't the Lois Lane and Superman situation like Healer kinda is, it's more of a Romeo and Juliet type situation where the two of them are on opposite sides of a conflict. I loved how conflicted Lee Min Ho's character was about her; at first, he was scared of hurting her, and then it shifts to also being afraid of her hurting him. So yeah, I enjoyed the romance aspect of the show, though I will admit it's the most 2011-feeling part of the show with some of the rom-com hijinks that go down.
The action scenes are pretty great in this show. I still remember vividly to this day the action scene in episode 18 or so where City Hunter hides from and fights a bad guy in a locker room. It's a single shot for like a minute and a half, where the camera moves along with City Hunter as he hides behind the mirrors, so you can always see both him and the bad guy, even though the bad guy cannot see him. It's masterful and well-coordinated and is incredibly tense and exciting. Definitely a lot of care went into the action scenes, so kudos for that.
This was the first kdrama to teach me that characters can and will die. I legit did not expect characters to die and stay dead (I know expectations are different these days thanks to Game of Thrones) and it genuinely shocked and upset me when a certain character died and it wasn't even the last episode! So that's probably another reason why I have a nostalgic appreciation for this show because it was the first show to subvert my expectations with character deaths.
The ending of this show is perfect. You cannot talk me down from this position. This show does not lose steam and keeps some amazing twists for the end of the show. It's so darn good. It still wowed me even the second time I watched it. It also wraps up the themes of the show really well.
Side note: thank goodness this show exists because I was not a fan of Lee Min Ho after watching Boys Over Flowers and Heirs and I'm now officially a part of the "Lee Min Ho is fine" club.
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