15. City Hunter

Broadcast: May-Jul 2011
Episodes: 20, Action/Romance/Thriller
Cast 
Lee Min Ho as Lee Yoon Sung / John Lee / Poo Chai
Park Min Young as Kim Na Na
Lee Joon Hyuk as Kim Young Joo
Kim Sang Joong as Lee Jin Pyo / Steve Lee
Kim Sang Ho as Bae Shik Joong / Bae Man Deok
Jung Joon as Kim Sang Gook (Jin Pyo's henchman)


Another Lee Min Ho drama. I'm still not a big fan but I'm sure one day I'll watch a drama of his where I'll become a big big fan of his.

This drama started off with an explosion scene. The South Korean president is visiting Burma when a bomb exploded. Later, it was discovered that the bomb was planted by the North Koreans. The bomb killed quite a few South Korean high ranking officials. 

To retaliate, five South Korean officials organised a project called "clean sweep" to kill the top ranking officials of North Korea. Twenty-one men were chosen for the project. The mission was successful except that the South Korean officials decided to pull the plug near the very end and had all the 21 men killed at sea. 

One man survived this mission, Lee Jin Pyo (The name here Jin Pyo was probably deliberately chosen since Lee Min Ho's name was Jin Pyo in Boys Before Flowers :)). He only survived with the help of another comrade Park Moo-Yul who died in the end. Jin Pyo swore he would return to South Korea and take revenge on the 5 government officials who pulled the plug and had all his comrades killed. 

He returned to South Korea and stole Park Moo-Yul's only son from Park's wife. He took the child with him to thailand to train him in martial arts, combat & weaponry. After that the child was sent to the US to study a doctorate in IT security systems. The child is Lee Yoon Sung. Jin Pyo reveals his plans to Yoon Sung to avenge his father and all the comrades that died in that mission.

Both return to South Korea and lived alias lives and at the same time plotted and researched to kill each one of the high ranking officials who created the "clean sweep" project and then aborted it by killing 20 innocent soldiers. 

Yoon Sung got a job in the Blue House as head of IT security systems. There he meets Kim Na Na, a gorgeous Blue House bodyguard. He has been warned by Jin Pyo not to make close friends or fall in love because his mission will hurt those around him and could jeopardize things.

One by one, he takes down those government officials ruining their career and their reputation. He would put them to shame by capturing and tying them up wearing next to nothing and putting them in ridiculous situations so the local prosecutor would find them and a whole can of worms would be opened. Yoon Sung was dubbed the City Hunter by the locals. A trendy masked hero loved by the public but disliked by the pretty faced prosecutor Kim Young Joo who wanted to catch him for doing things the illegal way.

Yoon Sung falls in love with Kim Na Na and is in conflict with his secret life and loving her. The president was also part of the five who killed those innocent soldiers. Yoon Sung would also have to kill the president but at the same time Kim Na Na is protecting him.

The president is a good man, he didn't want kill those soldiers in Clean Sweep but was pressured by the other 4. He also turns out to be Yoon Sung's biological father as he had an affair with Yoon Sung's mother before he became president. Park Moo-Yul was not Yoon Sung's biological father but married his mother regardless.

The last episode was a cliff hanger all the way through. Just when the pretty prosecutor was going to get back with his ex-wife, he gets killed. That broke my heart. I liked him and was really happy to see that they were finally getting back together. The last scene with Jin Pyo protecting Yoon Sung declaring that he was actually the City Hunter and wanted to kill the president. He was shot by Blue House body guards. Yoon Sung lost the only father that he ever knew. Sad. However, it was a happy ending. The last scene is with him and Kim Na Na meeting up and assumingly heading to the States to live a life together.

I love the stylist for Lee Min Ho in this drama. Pink pants! only Lee Min Ho can pull off pink pants and look good. His jackets and his sense of style was really nice here.

The gorgeous Park Min Young is a favourite (Sungkwankung Scandal). Her acting never disappoints. She is sweet and strong here.

Goo Hara, the kpop star from girl group Kara playing the president's daughter. Annoying, childish and silly outfits. I saw her up in Sydney 2011 for the Kpop concert :) ). I have to say the majority of kpop stars in dramas are just plain annoying. There are exceptions like Im Yoona in Cinderella Man and Love Rain. More reviews to come for those later...

Memorable scenes: the scene where Kim Na Na is pointing a gun at the back of Yoon Sung. He had a mouth wrap on and was just about to jump off the building balcony. She could make out who it was but wasn't sure. She shot him just as he jumped over, and he suffered a wound because of her. Another scene involves them again. This time Na Na falls over a partition wall and Yoon Sung as City Hunter with is mouth wrap on grabs hold of her and pulls her back up. He had already suffered a wound shot to his arm but grabbed her with his life to pull her back. Na Na knew for sure it was him.

OST:  So GoodBye – Shinee’s Jong Hyun; It’s Alright – Yanghwajin; Suddenly – Kim Bo Kyung.

I loved the cast, the fashion, the plot, and the martial arts in this drama. I highly recommend this drama.

Rating:4.5/5

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