City Hunter

I'm pretty sure this Korean drama has gotten a lot of reviews, but I already made a resolve to write one once I finished this drama, so I'll do it. I know I'm a little behind, but I was waiting for all the episodes to actually come out for this drama because there was just way too much suspense! I hate suspense, I hate how it drives me insane that I can't focus on anything.

The story takes place in Seoul, 2011. Lee Yoon Sung is a talented MIT-graduate who works on the international communications team in the Blue House. He plans revenge on five politicians who caused his father's death with his surrogate father Lee Jin Pyo and eventually becomes a "City Hunter." - DramaWiki
(AsianMediaWiki has a longer summary if anyone wants to know more. Beware though...it's really lengthy. But it actually explains the plot!!)


- This is my first time watching a action/suspense/romance Korean drama and I have to say I loved it. The Korean dramas that I've watched so far are usually romance and humor so this is a totally different genre. I forgot why I ended up deciding to watch it, though I think it had something to do with the plot and the main actor (Lee Min Ho). With most Korean dramas, it usually takes a few episodes before the plot actually starts moving and so it drags on. City Hunter's plot (I admit) was confusing the first half of the first episode, it took me a while to realize that it was foreshadow. That was what I liked about it though. Rather than doing flashbacks throughout the series and piecing the reasoning together little by little, they had another story line set up for it. Though I guess it was sort of necessary; the first episode  became the foundation for the entire drama. 
Like I mentioned earlier, this is a action/suspense/romance drama. There's a bit of humor however, as to lighten the atmosphere of the scene when called for. But overall it's the action and suspense which really grabs your attention. The romance was an obvious factor right from the start, but I started to loose sight of  its place in the drama near the end. And rather than romance, love played a more important role. The love residing in family bonds is probably one of the main themes of this drama. Most movies and dramas usually don't emphasize on such extremes, but I really liked how City Hunter chose to focus on those themes.  (Though it was pretty melodramatic.) This drama also really focused on "the ends justifying the means". It really focuses on the way politics work and how it never is black and white. Even those who seem  "pure" and good have gotten their hands dirty in order to reach their cause. It reminded me of a line from the movie, Dark Knight. "You die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain."  To every child, their parents are like their heroes and it's hard for us to come to terms when we realize our parents aren't perfect. We want to save them or lift them up to the stature we originally came up with because admittedly...who wants to acknowledge that their parent is no hero, but a villain?