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City Hunter: Episode 10

City Hunter, why do I love you so? I can’t help myself, even though I fear that you’re just gonna love me and leave me in another month. What am I going to do when you’re over? Can’t Korea finally make the leap into multi-season programming and do this sucker for, oh, five seasons? I won’t be greedy and ask for forever — just until Lee Min-ho goes off to the army! Pretty please? What do I have to do to MAKE THIS HAPPEN?

SONG OF THE DAY

City Hunter OST – “Cupid” (Acoustic version) by Girl’s Day [ Download ]

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EPISODE 10 RECAP

Both Yoon-sung and Young-ju arrive at the hospital at the same time. The prosecutor confirms Lee Kyung-wan’s dead body, while Yoon-sung spots his father glowering at him, still dressed up as a doctor, and heads out.

First off, I have to say I freaking LOVE that Jin-pyo went all badass revenge-seeker and killed Lee Kyung-wan. I get Yoon-sung’s aversion to the eye-for-an-eye vengeance spree, but it’s totally fitting that Jin-pyo’s bloodlust spurs him to act. Plus, it heightens some already steep stakes between father and son, and hammers in the whole Nana’s-in-danger worry — because Dad is not above a little collateral damage, and anybody could be next.

Young-ju and his partner Pil-jae follow Yoon-sung’s car, puzzled when it pulls up outside Dad’s hi-tech lair.

You’d think the slick City Hunter might have noticed the car on his tail, but perhaps he’s too upset over the deaths to focus on that; he beelines for Dad and asks incredulously why he had to kill two cops in addition to the target.

Dad has a chilly response: “Because that’s my method.” Damn, can’t argue with that, when the father-son battle had been about winning the right to handle the case however he saw fit. Jin-pyo adds that he hears the sound of that maritime massacre every day of his life, and that his sole purpose for surviving is to mete out revenge.

Yoon-sung challenges, “Whose revenge is that? I’m suddenly curious, whether it’s for the country’s betrayal of your comrades — or whether it’s self-inflicted torture over your survivor’s guilt.” Dayum. He may have a point, but making that point? Balls of steel.

Yoon-sung adds that the two dead cops also have families that have been left behind: “This is no longer revenge. It’s just murder.”

Dad ups the badass-crazy quotient by a factor of, oh, a thousand by warning grimly, “If you fight me, you may even die by my hand.” He’s not so much threatening to kill Yoon-sung, as he is telling him very clearly that even he could become collateral damage.

Yoon-sung replies, “I won’t avoid it — because I’m the only one who can stop you. I’ll stake my life to stop you.” Fuuuuuuck. I mean, yay for heroism and fearlessness in the name of justice, blah blah blah, but noooooooo, you can’t take my Yoon-sung!

As he exits, Yoon-sung comes face to face with Young-ju, waiting outside smugly: “You said you didn’t know Steve Lee.” Impressive how Yoon-sung turns on that flippant charm like a light switch, saying that he was just introduced to him today through an MIT colleague, regarding some investments in Steve Lee’s agricultural enterprise.

But Young-ju is not to be thus distracted, and points out that he’s entirely capable of tracking Yoon-sung’s whereabouts for the times corresponding to Lee Kyung-wan’s delivery to his front steps, Seo Yong-hak’s sniper incident, Seo’s kidnapping, the broadcast debate…

And then Young-ju goes back to his office to the upsetting news: “Lee Yoon-sung has a perfect alibi?!” Ha! Nana’s aunt confirms that Yoon-sung used hotel keycards on the nights in question, and those card entries correspond perfectly to the CCTVs in the elevators. The video shows him with a different woman each time, HAHA. Keeping up alibis and your image? Whatta multi-tasker. The only day missing an alibi, however, is the day of the sniper attack.

But our smart prosecutor connects more dots, realizing that each hotel is located mere minutes from each incident. Guessing the City Hunter had orchestrated this to solidify his alibi, it’s time to bust out the big guns: DNA testing. How to get a sample from Yoon-sung?

Yoon-sung understands that Dad is going to kill Target No. 3, Kim Jong-shik, as soon as the man returns to Korea from his business trip. Calling Jin-pyo a vehicle whose brakes have gone out, he says that the only way to stop it is to crash into it: “I’ll have to crash him.”

Ajusshi asks, “What if you die?” Yoon-sung: “I’m preparing myself.”

Shik-joong wants to run away and live in the mountains somewhere, but Yoon-sung still thinks those baddies have to pay for their crimes, and he’s still in it for his revenge. Yoon-sung’s also wary of Young-ju sniffing around him, particularly since the prosecutors have samples of the City Hunter’s blood from two locations.

Nana hears the news report about Lee’s murder, with many speculating that the City Hunter did it. That shakes her, and she tells herself that there’s no way Yoon-sung would have committed the murder.

This is when she spies the photo dropped by Shik-joong as he was packing up Yoon-sung’s things — the torn-up, taped-together photo of Yoon-sung’s biological parents.

She recognizes two of the faces: Kyung-hee and Jin-pyo. And that’s enough to get her brain whirling, as Nana recalls Yoon-sung’s reactions regarding his mother, and draws the connections. Thank goodness for a drama heroine who isn’t too dumb to put together two and two!

We don’t get far into Target No. 3 Takedown Plan today, so for now Team City Hunter is in research mode. Yoon-sung looks over the accounting records of top universities (Target No. 3 was the education minister), and notes that they rake in enormous amounts of money.

Adorably, he jumps to keep Shik-joong from drinking his energy tonic — the one given to him by Kyung-hee — warning him not to touch it, not clarifying even when Shik-joong assumes that Nana gave it to him.

Kyung-hee sees a doctor for a bruise on her arm, and already I’m not liking the looks of this, especially as she explains that she didn’t even know she had it until she changed her shirt. The doctor looks worried to see that she has no guarantors or children to help her, and tells her that her bloodwork came back with bad news: leukemia. She needs to be admitted immediately.

(OH OH OH this is brilliant! ‘Cause she’s gonna need a bone marrow transplant…and there’s no better match than a blood relative…like her long-lost son…and this may just be the thing to push him over the edge and approach her, misconceptions-about-abandonment be damned… AHHHHHHHHH so prematurely excited!)

The doctor tells her she has to begin cancer treatments immediately, and they’ll start looking for a bone marrow donor. Kyung-hee is so rattled that she asks to be allowed to return to her store first to close up shop before admitting herself, which makes me fear that she won’t return for treatment after all.

At home, Kyung-hee takes out her baby’s old clothing, telling it sadly, “I’ve just been surviving, waiting to meet you. Will I be able to live and meet you?” She sobs clutching the baby clothes: “I miss you…”

Yoon-sung arrives outside the cafe where Nana works now, telling himself he’s only here because of Kim Jong-shik. Suuuure. Tell yourself that, Captain Denial. He asks Nana to chat, and the impatient guy next in line taps Yoon-sung’s shoulder to ask him rudely to get out of the way if he’s done ordering. Nana bursts out unthinkingly, “Sir, be careful! You shouldn’t hit someone that…hard.” Which makes sense to no one, not even Nana, who can’t think of a better excuse to cover up her worry for his injury.

Yoon-sung hands over Nana’s file on Kim Jong-shik, saying that he found it in his luggage, and asks who the guy is. Nana answers that he’s the man who caused the car crash that killed her mother and turned her father into a vegetable, and that she’d been collecting information hoping to reopen the investigation. However, it turns out that the national identification number of the crucial witness, Bae Man-deok, had been erased — a feat taking some doing, since you’ve essentially wiped a person’s existence from all public record.

Nana says she saw Man-deok at the noraebang a few days ago, which gets the wheels turning in Yoon-sung’s head. He asks for a physical description, and recognizes that she means Shik-joong.

Yoon-sung asks what she’d like done to Kim Jong-shik, and she answers that she doesn’t want a death for a death: “But I’d like for the City Hunter to catch him and deliver him to Prosecutor Kim Young-ju.” She wants Kim’s true nature revealed to the world, because her research on him has shown that he has a number of skeletons in his corrupted closet.

You know what makes this great? She’s dropping this info purposely, much like Sae-hee did, knowing he’s the City Hunter — yet here he is thinking his secret identity is safe and sound, so he’s asking questions AS the City Hunter, posing as Yoon-sung.

Then Nana screws up the courage to ask hesitantly, half-afraid of his answer, “The City Hunter…probably isn’t someone who kills people, right?”

He answers noncommittally, “How would I know?” She replies, “I believe he won’t.” Yoon-sung: “Then you’re probably right.”

Yoon-sung goes straight home and confronts Shik-joong about being Bae Man-deok, demanding to know the full story. Scared and sorry, he explains.

Flashback: Shik-joong/Man-deok had been on the sidewalk when he saw a car swerving wildly into the wrong lane, slamming into Nana’s parents’ car. The man behind the wheel was Kim Jong-shik, and by the time Nana had gotten there, she’d seen Shik-joong giving his statement.

Shik-joong had been called by Kim Jong-shik and told to change his story. Using Shik-joong’s gambling history as blackmail, Kim warned that he was powerful enough to have Shik-joong imprisoned, falsely if necessary. In exchange for his revised witness account, he’d make sure he’d be well compensated.

Shik-joong admits that he was foolish and weak, too cowardly to even die, wracked with guilt at the thought of Nana. He says he’s glad Yoon-sung uncovered the truth, and vows to help him fully to nail Kim Jong-shik: “And after I help you, I’ll turn myself in and receive my punishment.” Awww. He’s a coward for what he did, but his resolve brings tears to my eyes and surely makes up for it, at least to the extent that I can respect him now without feeling guilty about it.

Nana is called back to the Blue House, and because of her good work during the sniper incident and the kidnapping of Seo Yong-hak, she’s not fired. However, she’s relegated to Da-hae duty, which I think seems fair; she’s not exactly the best bodyguard anyway, despite her few key saves. I’m sure most people would rather be guarded by someone with a consistent record, rather than someone with a few spectacular saves mixed in with some gross negligence.

During judo practice, Ki-joon congratulates Nana on her good luck for facing probation twice and escaping firing. She retorts that she’d had two commendations, too, then purposely fiddles with her bullet necklace as she adds, “Thanks to somebody.”

Eun-ah and Ki-joon engage in more of their judo-as-flirtation before we turn to Nana and Yoon-sung for their…well, judo-as-flirtation. Seriously, how anybody gets properly trained in this place is a wonder.

Yoon-sung waits expectantly for Nana to begin, but she’s wary of hurting him and begins a few throws, but pulls back each time. So he pulls her down to the mat, hovering over her for a few charged moments (*whzzzzrp!* rewind), before he pulls back and walks out.

Nana finds Yoon-sung at his favorite bench and offers him coffee, reminding him that they were still supposed to be friendly at work. He gives her the cold shoulder while she keeps up a cheery stream of chatter, explaining her coffee-making technique, until he impatiently shoves her hand away and sends her coffee to the ground.

He asks if she has no pride — why does she keep approaching him?

Nana replies, “Because I like you.” Eeeeeep!

He goes through the whole rigamarole again, telling her he didn’t mean anything by the kiss, that she’s not his type, that if every woman he kissed clung to him, blah blah blahhhh. She says that she likes him anyway, and misses him.

She admits that she feels pathetic, “But I want to be faithful to my feelings.”

All he can do is turn the rejection dial to full-blast, and he mutters that he’d better ignore her entirely from now on, stalking off. I do love how this puts him in a strained spot, since it was hard enough denying his own feelings — but to turn hers away? Yeah, good luck with that, buddy.

Nana tears up, but tells herself she did the right thing: “Liking him is a good thing.”

Ki-joon sees his expression and guesses that he’s had a spat with his girlfriend, and offers to give him a few lessons at the art of the romantic push-and-pull, of which he is (reportedly) a pro. Ha.

Da-hae visits a university campus, clinging to Yoon-sung’s arm, pouting when his eyes stray to the girls on campus. They happen upon a student demonstration, demanding that Kim Jong-shik stick to his word of half-price tuitions, because those students came to school believing that promise and now have difficulty remaining enrolled. Basically, if Kim reneges on his promise, he sends the message that (1) Only the rich deserve education, and/or (2) If you want schooling, you’ll stay poor.

In the cafeteria, a rich spoiled brat gives a cleaning lady hell for not properly doing her job, at which point Yoon-sung steps in to deliver a setdown about cleaning up her own mess, which he learned in kindergarten: “Or did you not even make it that far?” He says that if she spent all that money to be thus educated and has this crappy character to show for it, her personality can’t afford the half-price version.

That night, Yoon-sung flips through his books looking for something — that missing photo — and comes up empty. When he sits down for dinner, he sees that Shik-joong has prepared his favorite — that japchae dish without vegetables — which makes him think of Nana.

He sends Nana a text requesting her driver services, and she heads out with excitement (stopping at a makeup store to freshen up with their samples first, hee). Only…when she gets there, he’s got some new floozy on his arm. Aw, you bastid. I totally get why you’re doing this…but it doesn’t make me like it any!

Then Nana has to sit there stewing while he flirts outrageously with the girl, and he tosses out the barely veiled insult that short, dumb, inexperienced girls do nothing for him — the kind “who overreact and think you like them if you treat them the least bit nicely.”

Nana gets fed up watching Yoon-sung sucking face with the girl and pulls over, and I do love how perfectly this mirrors their first encounter in Episode 2. Only, this time she grabs the girl out of the car and hails a taxi, sending her off in it.

Yoon-sung asks if she’s jealous, and Nana replies, “No. That woman isn’t even worth getting jealous about. If you’re doing this to push me away, you don’t have to. My feelings are my own — I never forced them on you. If you still want to push me away, then at least date someone good enough that I can accept it. I’ll get properly jealous then. But don’t waste precious time and money like this! And don’t call a designated driver when you haven’t drunk, either. Acting like this — your parents wouldn’t like it.”

With that, she returns his photo, and walks off.

Aw, looks like someone’s onto you, smooth operator. At home, he sighs, “Kim Nana, don’t like me. You have to be happy.”

Young-ju reviews the facts of the hospital murders: All three victims were taken out with one efficient blade. CCTVs were obscured by spray, as in the sniper incident, and Yoon-sung was right there with him at the hospital. He orders his co-worker Pil-jae to have Yoon-sung followed again.

Kyung-hee’s back at work, as feared, where her health is not holding up well. When she gets up to fix Nana some food, she collapses, breathing heavily.

Nana calls Yoon-sung, who feigns indifference when she tells him the snack shop ajumma is at the hospital emergency room. But she tells him to come anyway: “Because she’s your mother.”

(Omo! This is even BETTER! ‘Cause Nana knows, and she’ll be the one to push him to donate his bone marrow…My mind’s running wild with all the fantastic dramatic possibilities.)

So Yoon-sung heads to the hospital, unaware that he’s being tailed by Pil-jae, although that tandem illegal U-turn really shoulda been a clue. You sure do stalk people really well, but you suck at detecting stalkers of your own. Good thing Daddy’s got your back. Even if he may be the one to ultimately stick a knife in it.

Yoon-sung arrives at Mom’s bedside, where Nana introduces him to the doctors as Kyung-hee’s guarantor and son, despite his protests. (Mom’s unconscious and doesn’t hear this.) He’s shaken badly by the diagnosis, especially when the doctor informs them that she’ll need to receive cancer treatment immediately. He also advises Yoon-sung to test his bone marrow for transplant right away.

This has thrown him for a loop, and Nana admits that she doesn’t know their family circumstances — but he’s ajumma’s son, and should get tested. Yoon-sung finally bursts out, “And why should I?! After she abandoned me?”

Nana’s surprised, but she entreats him to remember that he’d longed for her anyway, that he’d kept that photo: “If you hate her, say so. If you miss her, say so. You have a mother you can say that too.” Ooooof. And that’s why Nana’s the perfect person to do this, because he knows she doesn’t have her mother, and this juxtaposition highlights that his reaction, while understandable, is something he ought to overcome while he can still appreciate having a mother who’s alive.

Nana hammers that nail in: “Or, you know, you can just watch her die.”

That does it. Yoon-sung signs forms as Kyung-hee’s guarantor and pulls out his credit card to request “the very best room.” He doesn’t see that he’s being followed by Pil-jae… and Pil-jae doesn’t see that he’s being followed in turn, by Bad Daddy’s cohort Sang-gook. HAHA. It’s both hilarious — this is like 49 Days, where even stalkers had stalkers — and worrisome, since you know that means Jin-pyo’s on the scent. Ahhh, crap.

Both minions report to both bosses, leading to a few conclusions: (1) If Yoon-sung is related to the patient, the prosecutor’s office may be able to get their grubby hands on a blood sample, and (2) Dad now knows that Yoon-sung is “a weak little boy” AND that the prosecutor is on his tail. Young-ju orders Minion to get that blood no matter what, and Dad orders Other Minion to prevent Yoon-sung from giving blood no matter what.

I just love this. It’s such a perfect setup on both sides, but it’s not just dropped from the sky into our laps out of nowhere; it’s laid into the plotting so well that when it all clicks into place, it just makes the suspense richer.

Kyung-hee protests to Nana that she’s not in a position to receive medical care right now (meaning: she can’t afford it), to which Yoon-sung counters that taking time to think about it won’t change her circumstances. Kyung-hee doesn’t understand why he’s speaking to her so harshly all of a sudden, while Nana urges him to soften his words, to no avail: Yoon-sung continues, “You say you have no family. Why don’t you just obey [the doctor]?”

Nana assures Kyung-hee that despite his mean words, he’s not a bad person, and this also happens to be the first time that Mom hears Yoon-sung’s name.

Yoon-sung stomps up the stairs to the rooftop, where he yells in frustration. He asks Shik-joong, “Does this make sense? She abandoned me to live happily on her own. Then she should be living proudly, and well! But why is she sick?!”

With that, he tells the doctor that he’s not family after all, and that it was a misunderstanding. The doctor worries that this means her situation is dire, and that in a worst-case scenario, Kyung-hee could die while waiting for a donor match. She doesn’t have much time.

Yoon-sung asks if he can donate if he’s a match, which requires a simple blood test. Eee! Do it! No, don’t do it! Do it! Don’t do it! You’re driving me mad, drama!

For once I’m relieved to see Jin-pyo there, since that takes care of the dilemma. Yoon-sung says that he can donate the bone marrow if he has to, despite Mom’s abandonment. Jin-pyo tells Yoon-sung that until their revenge is complete, Yoon-sung doesn’t have the freedom to do whatever he wishes with even a hair or drop of blood. Yeesh. That’s taking the term “possessive parent” to extremes.

Yoon-sung says that even if she abandoned him, a mother is still a mother: “And if she dies now, I can’t even hate her freely.”

Jin-pyo warns that the instant his blood is drawn, his identity will be revealed, and their revenge is kaput. Plus, if the prosecutor followed him this far, he should be able to connect him to Kyung-hee as well: “I’m warning you: Your life rests on your choice.”

Yoon-sung tells Shik-joong he’ll do the blood test anyway, because otherwise his mother might die. Shik-joong reminds him that he might die instead, but Yoon-sung says, “It’s okay.” (Ughhh, I’m feeling mighty uneasy with this episode’s constant reminders that Yoon-sung may be facing death… This is a red herring, right? They’re just trying to surprise us later, RIGHT?!)

That’s when Minion Sang-gook (who has just come from locking Minion Pil-jae in the bathroom, heh) stops Yoon-sung, saying, “The Boss says NO.”

Throwdown!

They relocate to a shady basement area to duke it out. It’s three to one, but our City Hunter knocks ’em all down. Shedding blood so he can go shed blood…that’s deep, man. (LOL.)

Yoon-sung gives blood for the test, only to be joined by the prosecutor duo, who have him just where they want him. Pil-jae’s looking mighty smug for someone who’s just had to be liberated from the bathroom by his boss, I’m thinking.

Yoon-sung smirks, “Someone might misunderstand, and think you like me.” Oh, don’t I WISH that were the case. He tells Young-ju to pick a number and wait his turn, so as not to upset the others waiting in line. HA.

Young-ju answers that he needs his blood, and Yoon-sung quips, “Are we playing vampire now? I hope it’s fun!”

Young-ju produces a warrant and demands the blood, and rather than balking, Yoon-sung gives his okay like it’s no concern of his. The nurses hand over the vial, and Yoon-sung maintains his careless attitude until he’s out of there, and then it’s a race to get that vial before Young-ju can get it tested by the forensics lab.

Pil-jae is sent back to stalker duty, but as he’s about to follow Yoon-sung from the hospital, he’s stopped by Nana. She’d spotted the prosecutors leaving the hospital and understands, partially, that they’re after Yoon-sung, so now she races in front of Pil-jae’s car with a trumped-up excuse about the reinvestigation, ensuring that Yoon-sung gets away. Atta girl.

Yoon-sung is, at the moment, busy following Young-ju, who remains unaware since his tail’s tail has lost the trail.

Yoon-sung waits as two ambulances are stopped at the security point of the National Forensic Service, and oh-so-casually ambles his way over to the one in the rear. He slips inside and disguises himself in a body bag among the other dead bodies being delivered here to the morgue. *Shudder* Also, ballsy.

From there, it’s an easy matter to exit his vault and walk out, leaving the slab open and bound to freak out some coroner tomorrow.

A senior lab technician is insulted at the prosecutor’s high-and-mighty demands, waltzing in with one teeny vial and insisting on instant analysis when they’re up to their eyeballs in materials awaiting processing. She storms out to give Young-ju a piece of her mind…but one sight of his charming, polite face has her smitten, and suddenly she’s all understanding and smiles.

This gives Yoon-sung the chance to spot the lab tech holding his vial, and he seizes his opportunity — by stepping off the rooftop, freefalling a full story, and catching himself on the window ledge below with his fingertips. JEEZUS, Mr. Death Wish.

And then he does it again, down another story, and this time manages to catch himself with ONE HAND. Holy shit, Balls of Steel. That’s your new nickname, I swear.

He hoists himself inside the lab, watching as Ms. Lab Tech moons over the hottie prosecutor (“He’s exactly my type!”). She waxes poetic about his shining eyes, perfectly chiseled features, physique like Michelangelo’s David… Get a grip, lady! It’s not like he’s Lee Min-ho.

Yoon-sung is smart enough to swap in a false vial for his, so that she’s none the wiser when she takes it to test. Young-ju, alas, is just as sharp as he is, and he notices the open window, out of which Yoon-sung has just leaped, where he dangles by his fingertips.

Suspicions firing, Young-ju approaches the window and looks down — and sees nothing.

City Hunter, why so cool? He struts down to the lobby, mission accomplished, not seeing that he’s not out of the woods yet — because Young-ju is just half a flight of stairs behind him.

He hasn’t been seen yet, but he’s in imminent danger of it — just as an arm grabs Yoon-sung and yanks him out of view. Young-ju walks out, none the wiser.

Meanwhile, Yoon-sung instinctively grabs a hidden blade and whirls his assailant/assistant against the wall. Nana.

 
COMMENTS

Goddammit, City Hunter, I love you so hard it hurts a little. You’re cool and exciting, but you’ve also got a soft underbelly of sweetness to counter the bloodlust and revengey bits. Mmm, revengey bits…

It’s not a perfect drama, no, but it serves up such a perfectly balanced plate of intrigue, action, romance, moody ambiance, suspense, hero suffering and inner conflict, and superhigh stakes that I’m left feeling satisfied and craving more. There’s just so much more to be pleased with than to nitpick here. It’s been a while since a drama has got me so hooked, and so assured of its continued delivery of the goods — the last time was Joseon X-Files, and the time before that probably Story of a Man. That’s pretty good company.

When you see a drama with really poor writing, or really poor directing, it’s easy to declare that the deficiency is really THE key ingredient in making a drama work. Crap directing in the presence of decent writing makes you sigh, “If only this drama looked as good as its story is written — it could have been elevated so much higher!” (For instance, I’m imagining Miss Ripley with Bad Guy’s music director and cinematographer.) And then you see a decently directed drama with insane or inane writing and you think, “You can’t make a silk purse out of a cow’s ear.” And really, it’s a little bit of both, because the exact same story, expressed visually in a different (less arresting, more pedestrian) way wouldn’t have nearly the same effect. It’s just the nature of the beast in this visual medium.

But those extremes aside, it’s when you’ve got a solid handle on both that I’m happiest. Addicted. Drooling a little at every one of Lee Min-ho’s perfect angles. (Hey, I’m screencapping this sucker — you really notice it when you end up with a folder containing hundreds of almost-identical frames of his face. Swoon.)

No, really — can’t we have another season or four?

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OOMF.

that is the initial (and only?) reaction i have to all things lee min ho.

what a SMEXY BAMF.

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Thanks JB, awesome of the awesomeness show!
I need one on one Judo lesson with CH, and he can knock me down anytime. *swoon*

Man, that last sequence, when YJ was trailing behind CH, turned after turned, they missed each other; it's so good, kept me at the edge of my seat!

Well, gotta give credit to the Japanese original manga writer too. ^^

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"From there, it’s an easy matter to exit his vault and walk out, leaving the slab open and bound to freak out some coroner tomorrow. "

Literally guffawed at this sentence. Thanks for the recap!

Question though, if the fake blood is getting tested, then how would they know if he is a bone marrow match? Doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of donating a sample of blood for testing (of course, except for awesome daring scenes of free-falling) Note: I haven't seen the raw yet, so if there were two vials (one for hospital and one for forensics) then this makes more sense..

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Furthermore.. how did Nana get into the NFS? Man, I feel like I'm nitpicky, but that's because I tend to re-watch scenes again.. and again.. this is one of few dramas that make me do this..

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yupp i thought of that too. But remember nana heard the conversation between YJ and his search warrant officer to follow YS and he will go NFS. probably nana went to NFS after stopping the officer to "ask" for YJ's number so as to let YS slip away. But i still havent thought of HOW nana know where YS was in NFS.

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Khanny, i agree with you abt HOW Nana came to be at
NFS and how is it she knows/could see
where Yoon-Sung was to be at JUST the place and time
to save Yoon-Sung from being caught by Young-Ju?

you are definitely not nitpicking because a drama
needs to be as authentic and believable as possible
for viewers to root for it and not just turn a blind eye
to its faults...

i suppose this is one of flaws that made JB say that
CH is not perfect... ;)

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I was asking the same thing. Here City Hunter had to sneak in inside a body bag just to get there, so how did little ol' Nana get in? Yeah, she's a bodyguard to the Prez's daughter, but surely that's not enough credentials to get her past the front gate.

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well, the yoon-sung was trying to "sneak in", because later when the blood sample tests negative, there should be no question about the vial had been tampered with. he can not walk in in plain sight because he is under suspiciion of being city hunter.

nana, on the other hand, can just walk in in plain sight even as a random civilian, saying she is there because she wants to talk to prosecutor kim young-joo. or make something else up.

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First, you have to consider that the blood drawn from YS in the hospital has been officially confiscated by the authorities, which means that in order to test for blood marrow match, the hospital would require another sample from YS.

Consequently, I don't think the blood forensic testing/results have anything to do with the medical blood testing/results.

The forensic blood work will be used solely by law enforcement agents, specifically to compare the blood samples found at the sites of CH activity with the prosecution's suspect (i.e. Yoon Sung).

On the other hand, the medical tests on YS's blood will be used solely by the hospital for the purpose of determining compatibility between donor and patient.

It's a difficulty situation for our hero, since he may have to abort his DNA contribution deeming it too risky for his safety and the viability of his mission, but then where does that leave his sick mama? Ooooh, the drama -_____-

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What prosecutor would just pick up a blood sample and take it to the lab... where it is carried around by two different people and set down in a rack of vials without a proper chain of custody. It wouldn't hold up in court. :)

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how right you are, Celexa! ;)

this is one of the flaws of CH...

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They made two vials of the blood sample from YS one is with the blue stopper for the hospital and they gave YJ the extra one with the red stopper.

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I thought he only switched the one that's getting tested? Not the one in the hospital...

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i super love it!!! thanks, thanks, thanks, javabeans.

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Orginially I was totally against Park Min Young being the love interest of City Hunter... But... I've got to admit... I LOVE KIM NANA!!! Out of all the girl love interests or heroines in a Kdramas that I have seen I love her the MOST!!! Episode 10 wasn't as Kickass as Episode 9, but it was equally pleasant. *Sigh* It pulled at every heartstring I had, if I was a cryer I'd be crying throughout this whole episode.

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I've always liked the Kim Nana character :P But this episode made her character awesome for me :) I like how she's true to her feelings and her actions are badass too (I <3 that taxi scene, and the confession scene! you go girl!) Strong female leads are <333

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SAME HERE. I mean I expected her to just slump to the floor and bawl her eyes out like a wishy washy woman after he told her that he was just playing her but she didn't and remained true to her feelings. That confession at the bench was totally unexpected to me, and the trying-to-make-her-jealous-and-not-like-him-anymore scene was excellent. For that scene I actually expected her to get jealous and leave but the part where she told him that a random floozy was not worth her jealousy was so aewsome, and she's so right about that. It makes more sense to be jealous of a more respectable girl...............someone like saehee (OMG.)

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I LOVED NANA dismissing that girl in the way that she did. It was soo Bad Ass!!!!! Shes better than me that is for sure. If it were me, instead of a taxi taking her home it'd be a ambulance taking her to the hospital, Lol. Even if he wasn't my man, and I had no right to do so; my jealous, possessive nature probably would have taken over and destroy her. Lol.

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OMG! I immediately thought of SAEHEE too the moment she said, only when you are with a girl worthy of me being jealous! I think SAEHEE's character might just be used as YOONSUNG's fake gf to get NANA to forget him...

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I love that she is true to her feelings too! Before this episode I never understood why people would admit that they liked someone if they didn't expect a relationship out of, then came the scene where Nana sits and semi-happily eats alone, and then it hits me! People admits to the person they like so that its out there, and they don't have to carry it around with them anymore. (IE, Nana can eat in peace.) I love her for that because if it were me, I would be mopping around all "Why can't he like me? *Waaaa*"
Where as to Yoon Sung who is still keeping his feelings bottled up, and eats and sleeps and.... does pretty much everything with a heavy heart.

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OMG! I just can't get enough of this show.
Thanks for the recap.

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i thought u should know that lee minho cant go to army bcuz of his past leg injury.. which is good for us :DD more LEE MIN HO :))))

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that might be the case but don't you think he'll come off being hypocritical if he'll use the lame leg excuse to get out of army duty when he's doing all these fancy moves for a drama? *City-Hunter-does-not-approve*

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i saw the behind the scenes and i saw after every action scene lee min ho is usually sitting and resting, rubbing his leg :(

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Awww, really? I heard about his injury not too long ago. I need to research about that one. So he really won't do his army duty?

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@loverrr

Hope you don't mind me asking, but where do you watch the BTS?

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hii i dont mind at all :)
sbs had a city hunter/lee min ho special which showed behind the scenes and other stuff
i downloaded it :D
dramabeans already did an article about it
http://www.dramabeans.com/2011/06/behind-the-scenes-with-city-hunter/

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Past leg injury? please enlighten me. like LMH only recently after watching City Hunter.

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When he was younger, LMH was in a serious car accident. Basically, his leg is reconstructed. If I remember correctly, he had pins removed only in the last few years or so. (one of my nieces is a big LMH fan so I get more detail than I really want.....)

So, no, he would probably not pass a physical to be active duty military. This, actually, is why Kim Nam Gil is currently serving in the public sector as a clerk - because he also had a leg rebuilt. K!R!W! is serving as a library clerk because he blew out a tendon playing basketball.

There are several levels of fitness, and these guys are fit enough for civil service, but not military service. Also, if memory serves me, if you have to take pretty much any drug regularly, such as an asthma drug, you aren't going to be in active duty. Hence, they spend 2 years clerking.

And, btw, people - stunt doubles. If you watch, for instance, Dong Yi, (blame that one on my Mom) they weren't that great at disguising when the double was doing the sword work instead of Bae Soo Bin. I'm sure LMH's stunt double is getting a workout.

So, while very likely he's got no army duty in his future other than basic training - he'll still be gone for 2 years in government service.

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momosan thanks alot for the info!

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thank you very much for the info, momosan! ;)

very interesting read ;)

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I think that LMH still will need to serve, although, in a sedentary capacity. So, he won't be joining Hyun Bin in the Marines :P

Also, like other commenters have mentioned, he may not be enthusiastic about skipping his military duty, since it won't endear him to the general public (i.e. non-fans, neutral bystanders).

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very truee many people may be disappointed that he did not serve

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Hrmm.... that rises a really good question.... Can he?
Originally, with that whole deali-o with North Korea, I was afraid for Minho!!!! xC
But, unless its something big like that, I kinda want him to go....- I think this is influenced by Ki-wook's speech in episode 9, but- I think it would be an honor for Minho to go into the military.....
I'd wait for him.... I've come to realize that the wait for your favorit Kactor, or Kpop star is not that bad....
I need to KNOW!!!!! Someone!!! Please clarify this for me!!!
Minho should be fine to do into the military, right?! I mean.... he's ok now.... The leg shouldn't be that big of an issue.... right? xCCCCCCC

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While we are at it, I just feel so uncomfortable that he has to piggy-ride, carry, lift whether the heroine or other actors in basically every drama. My uncle had the same situation with a metal inserted after an accident and maybe his situation differs medically from Lee Min Hoo...but man..you don't want him to lift/carry heavy stuff like Geum Jandi, Soh Ye Jin or Lee Kyung Hee...

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i agree with you totally, momosa! ;)

how compassionate you are, to worry abt
the adverse effects of all the lifting/carrying of co-stars
and the tough fighting sequences on his body...

hope he takes care not to push himself
to the point of exhaustion or
to the point that his old injury will come back
to haunt him...poor boy... ;)

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Addicted to CH. Enthralled by LMH. His eyes are extremely skilled in expressing YS's emotions, they let me in YS's soul -- I feel what he feels.

His eyes again delivered the most powerful line, for this episode, at the end when he saw Nana's face.

What will those eyes have in store for us in the ext episode?

GF/JB, thanks for the recaps, they are cracktacular!

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Oh I LOVE LMH's eyes! <3 His eyes convey his inner feelings and emotions especially when he thinks of his mom and Nana. Aw

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if i can't be Na Na can i at least be Shik Joong ahjussi? so at least i can rub LMH's arm up and down and fondle over him all the time ^___^

i just saw the Myth Buster's disprove the hanging-on-the-ledge-myth over the weekend, but since LMH is hott he might as well be flying and i'll still believe it, lol.

Mr. Balls of Steel and Perfect Angles *drool/swoon/faint*

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"He doesn’t see that he’s being followed by Pil-joo… and Pil-jae doesn’t see that he’s being followed in turn, by Bad Daddy’s cohort Sang-gook."

Hmmmm, you're still under Best Love spell, aren't you JB? Pil-joo? No worries though. I am too.

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Ooooopps, I'm late. You've edited it out already LOL

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I wasn't really into Lee min-ho, he was alright in boys over flowers and the other drama where he pretended to be gay. But, this drama City Hunter... omgosh I can't believe I haven't realized his hotnessss... I'm head over heelzzzz... :P I hope he doesn't die and doesn't hook up with the vet later on for show. That would be awful. Oh, I hope I didn't jinx anything (crosses fingers)

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You know what I want to see happen? :P YS gets injured again, but this time, instead of the vet (since YJ is suspicious of her already), Nana will be the one to tend to his wounds (since he knows Nana knows his secret anyway). And let's just suppose that ajusshi is a no go cuz he's busy and away somewhere haha. Nana will see the scars on his back, etc etc, and they'll share a romantic moment...I can feel the sexual tension just imagining it... argh gosh LMH is making me perverted, or maybe it's their on-screen chemistry that's making me this way..
is it just me getting all giddy seeing YS pulling her down on the mat during their judo practice??

anyway, back on topic, I really hope that YS doesn't use the vet to push Nana away too
I like the vet character too and she shouldn't be used like that

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Sooo excited for the next episode!! The way they're standing together at the end is sooo HOT!!
Lee Minho is really too HOT!! I can't get enough of him!

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so awsome!!

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soooooooooo in love with this freaking show~~
Miss Ripley and City Hunter two different productions but my weekly gluttony to Kdrama is always satiated by these two,, plus 49 days .. plus Best Love.. ahhhhhhhhh this year is my best Kdrama year,, and we just about to reach the second half.. Korea why so cool???

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So awsome i just finished watching it and I love city hunter especially the ending part so cool "na na" heheheh can't wait for the next episode...... :)

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yes I agree with you JB, I hope this series is like in the U.S. till season 6! harharhar! just like my favourite Chuck! it's just getting more and more exciting in each episode, what more will be surprise for us! I will wait for it till the end, and thank you for the wonderful recap, I love how the way you write it! fantastic, consider me one of your avid fan. more power!

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The main problem for me watching this drama is LYS doesn't seem like a man who graduated from MIT, especially scenes when he worked in blue house, but after all the mother-son relationship in this drama is heartbreaking, making me want to hug my own mom...

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Hi venthung,

i feel the same way too about the LYS being a graduate from MIT. Maybe its just a background story that is setup by Jin Pyo so they have a clean background. So he probably didnt go to MIT.

But it made sense to me that he grew up in Thailand in the wild, thus LYS is more a practical sort of guy rather than techy/nerdy(MIT).

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I thought I would be skipping this drama, but now I can't wait to watch it!

I may be the odd woman out since I don't consider LMH's physical appearance remarkable. He's a normal dude with decent corporal traits. So, his presence it's not a motivation for me to watch this or any TV drama.

However, in reading the recaps I find myself enthralled by the story and the characters. Now, I'm a City Hunter addict~

(Go, Nana, Go! You may be a horrible secret service agent, but you're making up for it by joining the CH team - YS don't cut her -_-!).

Thanks for the recaps JB~

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1st scene of ep11 - KISS! KISS! KISS! haha
thanks for the recap!

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OMG!!! I'm so addicted to this drama. Lee Minho is sooo hot and Nana's soo prettyy. I don't normally like action drama but I just can't stop watching this. Whe did LMH start acting so good. Can't wait for the next episodes.

Thanks JB and GF for the recaps.

Looks like Nana is teaming up with the City Hunter now... Great!!! I hope that the Dad is not completely evil and show his humanity towards the end.

Thanks Thanks Thanks!!!!! I love you dramabeans!!!!

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Am I the only one that thinks the score sounds something from Batman or the Dark Knight?

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Holy hell, just reading the recaps has me out of breath, I swear-- what'll happen when I really watch the drama? I'm sure the recaps won't make a dent in my watching pleasure because there's so much going on it's hard to keep track of it anyway.

Re: Min-ho's perfect looks, I'm actually glad there's that little pockmark on his left cheek [I first noticed it in that last episode of Personal Taste...] and well, he has that injury from the old car crash [that I'm NOT glad about]. Otherwise, he'd really be too perfect to be true. A lot of people I know have already complained they don't like him because he's "too perfect" but I'm all like hey, that sort of beauty's too rare enough already for me not to appreciate it when I see it!

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Can LMH be exempted in military service, just wishing! Craving for more of CH.

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uhhhh, no.

if you knew anything about korean sentiment these days regarding military service, it would be a VERY BAD IDEA for lee min-ho to try to get out of it, or even go into the "public service sector" of the military. he would be hated for miles, blasted on the internet etc, then some big trial/investigation would be held. then he would be banished from korean show-biz forever.

so better for us to let go of him for three years and then appreciate him when he gets out, ha.

he is still super young though, so he won't be going off for about 4 years or so i think.

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Nana ROCKED in this episode. I loved her response to Yoon Sung's true identity (although I thought she'd go through a little more angst first...), but more than that, I LOVED her maturity in her interactions with YS.

When she bucks herself up after confessing to YS, reminding herself, "liking him is a good thing," and again, when she calls him out for trying to push her away - "my feelings are mine - I never forced them on you," I found myself gasping and thinking, "she's so right! I wish someone would have told me that 6 months ago...." And then I cheered, because, seriously. How cool is it to have a heroine who knows her own heart and mind, and is secure enough to both confess her feelings freely and continue to function (nay, thrive!) in spite of apparent rejection? And then save YS's ass?

Kim Nana, I bow. If she stays this awesome, she has a shot at being my favorite kdrama heroine of the year....

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Last thursday I braved the rain and storm to get a highspeed download of ep 9 on an internet cafe.

Today I woke up at 5 am to check if my overnight download for ep 10 was finished.

It was worth it.

Next week is so far way... tsk.

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Amazing recap. This little bit : *whzzzzrp!* Rewind. <--- best onomatopoeia ever! (Also, I spelled that right on the first try! Score!)

I realized during this review that YS reminds me of Hamlet an eensy weensy bit. Or maybe, not so much of Hamlet, but of this analysis I read, that said that Hamlet was pursuing revenge, but that his revenge was impossible (or, at least nigh impossible) for it hovers in the ideal sphere. Book link:
http://bit.ly/jtgqgs . YS's particular way of pursuing vengeance hovers in the ideal sphere, and I think that's beautiful. Of course, this makes me rather sad, because I read that analysis to write my own, where I basically said that part of Hamlet's achieving the impossible is his being fated to die and I so don't want that to be the end for YS! So, for now, I'm going to go with Tolstoy and say that Shakespeare sucks and that YS will live forever and ever. :)

Anyway, this episode further confirmed my love of Kim Nana. She's the best Kdrama love interest I've seen so far, I've think. So many Kdrama female leads start out smart, strong, and self-assured, and then start believing some stupid BS, maybe something about the male lead, or some blatant lie that a stereotypical evil 2nd lead told them. They get sacrificed to the plot's twists and turns, often ending up as shells of the characters they once were. Sure, Kim Nana can be a bit sanctimonious, but her character development has involved growth rather than the loss of everything that made her Nana. I <3 her. And this show. So much.

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Thanks for the recap! You manage to always make me chuckle with your wise comments, JB! (You too GF!!!)

I totally agree with you: it has its faults but I am hooked. I love the fast pace in which the story is being told, I can't get enough of Daddy dearest/YS relationship dynamic and, although I really didn't like a few aspects of Nana as a character, I've totally become head cheerleader in 'team Nana' in the last two episodes.

I won't even start about Lee Min HAWT... Well... I just might... He is so hot that if we were to crack an egg on his tummy it will be cooked in 30 seconds flat! You know... we all need out protein, we should get it the easiest way possible. I've been getting mine on Weds and Thurs 9.55 Korea time!

Gracias de nuevo! ;)

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Javabeans, although this recap is full of your
trademark awesome, snarky and laughing-my-head-off
moments, something seems to be lacking...forgive me...
which makes me wonder if you are feeling under the
weather, or feeling stressed... ;)

somehow i expected more of your emotional reactions
to more of the scenes, esp these scenes :

i. YS's mother's heartbreaking crying scene over his
baby clothes -

i was crying my eyes out watching this scene and was surprised you didn't include your emotional reaction to it, JB... ;)

...

ii. when YS was lying in bed and mumbling to himself but addressing Nana not to love him so that she can be happy -

this scene speaks volumes of the emotional turmoil
he's going thru - loving someone but incapable of
accepting that love because of the threat to the
life of that loved one because of that love...

and so i was surprised you didn't have anything
to add that tells me how it affected you, JB... ;)

...

iii. the scene where YS had an emotional outburst
on the hospital top floor, after finding out his mother
is dying of leukemia -

to me, this scene, with his heartbreakingly tortured
words, was so perfectly acted by LMH
that i could FEEL the desperate longings of a child
who was told he was abandoned by hismother,
but can't help feeling so devastated by the news
that said mother may be dying right in front of his eyes
because he can't help but feel the invisible emotional
heartstrings forever linking him to his mother -
the unbreakable and indestructible bond/connection
between a mother and child...

and so, i was surprised you didn't include how
this scene has impacted you, JB ;)

...

also, you did not include this in your recap :

something YS said after Ajusshi confessed abt what happened between him and Nana :

YS said : "So, Kim Joong Shik is that kind of man?"

To me, this is important because YS now KNOWS
for sure what Nana meant when she said that
KJS is a bad man, and probably solidified
YS's resolve to nail the man Jin Pyo wants dead
because Joong Shik is also one of the men mentioned
by Lee Kyung Wan as one of the masterminds of the
massacre of the soldiers one night 28 years ago...

But, i hope you know that all of that are just
tiny gripes of mine, that do not in any way
take the shine out of another one
of your brilliant recaps ;)

i have said this in GF's recap of ep 8
and i wish to reiterate -

thank you from the bottom of my heart, JB,
for your and GF's recaps complete me... ;)

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My first thought with the leukemia thing was "are you kidding me?!"

I was thinking that would be the cheesiest way of getting his dna out of him. Using the pull towards his mother. Although I think there could have been a better idea, seeing him jump walls made up for it.

I look forward to the next ep!

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So true. I forgive the show because I have such a bias towards its cool, but it's so soap opera to have this happen. There were comments on Viki when she was sick before: "Oh no! Kdrama cancer!" I'm thinking though, that they might discover that target no 4 is irradiating the water or something and that's why Mommy has leukemia.

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Thanks Javabean for the recaps! Welcome back!
I'll be reading your recaps first before beginning my backtoback journey of ep9&10 together! Yay!
We know its impossible to have 5 seasons of CH, but hey, we're into half of the show now and only 2 out of the big 5 are down! The math just doesn't add up! We need at least another 5 episodes to work that out, at least!

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Oh SBS's gonna have another press conference this coming Monday (27 June) with YS, NN, YJ & JP! Hope that can sorta quench our thirst until Wed/Thur. Expect an avalange of photos!

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*avalanche* haha

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I'm Soooo addicted to this drama. the best on my list since I started watching kdrama's everything work so well together in this drama. I agree i want another season!!!

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I really hate it when the prosecutor is so focused on catching the city hunter only. There are more important things in life, dude!!

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Oh I forgot! thx jb for the recap!

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oh man, i know!! i think young-ju's an interesting guy but it's so annoying how determined he is to catch the city hunter. he needs to realise that his job's not everything!!

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oh right that reminds me! i read something on tumblr the other day that i think is interesting...it's about young-ju and sae-hee...

http://sheercompulsion.tumblr.com/post/6859571586/can-i-just-talk-about-young-ju-and-sae-hee-for-a

i hope jb/gf doesn't mind me posting an outside link. feel free to delete if you do!

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I loved that link you posted. It makes me miss photoshopping so much. Pretty pictures!

And it was very insightful [insert intelligent comments here].

Jk, the pretty pictures did distract me, but it was, I think, a very good idea of how SH and YJ's relationship probably was.

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One thing I love about the showdowns between Yoon-sung and Young-ju is that they are always smiling sarcastically.
It’s so good that everybody does the synapse very quickly most of the time.
I hope that in episode 11 they don’t try to justify the whole thing with bad excuses. If Nana already told him about his mom, she could do the same about the fact that she knows he is City Hunter.
The scene when he scolds the brat girl was random, but after the shower gel (and the fact that the camera focused on her name) I’m not taking anything as insignificant.

I love everytime I read ajumma in the recaps.

Thank you for the recap!

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the fact that the camera focused on her name

At the time I was wondering why the attention to this random character, and then nothing else concerning her in this episode. I didn't think about it coming up again later. Thanks for pointing this out.

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I didn't expect the shower gel will be used as a plot device in the later parts of the show, when dahae mentioned about them using the same shower gel. and yupp i think the brat girl maybe coming up useful in the coming episodes focusing on target #3.

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Drooling a little at every one of Lee Min-ho’s perfect angles. (Hey, I’m screencapping this sucker — you really notice it when you end up with a folder containing hundreds of almost-identical frames of his face. Swoon.)

-- sooooo at least i'm not alone! did this with BOF and Personal Taste... and now doing it with City Hunter, too LOL!

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Thanks for the recap! Totally admiring Nana's character in this episode. I love how, like Sae-hee, she is quietly assisting YS. And i loved how she told him off when he tried to push her away by flirting with that floozy in front of her! I was totally expecting her to really be jealous and fly off the handle, but she surprised me.

Jin-pyo is just cold. He will let Kyung-hee, the wife of his friend, die, just so he can get his revenge. Isn't stealing her baby enough? Wouldn't it be awesome if we can have Kyung-hee kill Jin-pyo in the end?

Part of me feels bad that Lee Min Ho is starting to look so tired.. but i think the tired look sort of makes him a more suitable City Hunter since it ages him a teensy bit.

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Awesome, awesome episode!!!

* When Yoon-sung's mom knew about her leukemia and asked the doctor if it is in any way hereditary, it made me think if there is a possibility that YS would die of it in the end...geeshh....HOPE NOT!

* The scene where YS went to the hospital rooftop to vent out his emotions was so painful, so sad...LMH is really a very good actor. He made this scene very believable and affecting.

* I literally held my hands over my mouth and held my breath in horror during the entire laboratory scene towards the end..so intense! I LOVE IT!! I was like "why did he agree to give his blood sample to YJ??" But of course refusing to do so would make him look guilty. CH is really a smart guy. I thought YJ was gonna see him hanging there by the window...phew! I should've known better. Haha! And the part where YJ was just behind him in the stairs, almost always just inches away from seeing him, was just GENIUS!

Show is very addictive! I LOVE CITY HUNTER SO MUCH!!!! It made me love LMH not just because he's swoon-worthy, not just because he acts well in rom-coms, but he's proven to be an all-around actor...always portraying his character with passion. I also adore his facial expressions and how his eyes tell a million words with just a look. Awww...love you LMH!!!

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ohmyfriggingawd if yoonsung gets leukemia I will be seriously seriously disappointed. SERIOUSLY.

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The rooftop scene was seriously great. Can we get a Best Actor nomination with that clip shown at the awards shows? :D

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Lizq! You are absolutely right about the hospital rooftop
scene! That was first-rate acting by LMH!

Kudos to him! ;)

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Ria, i agree wholeheartedly with every single word in your comment! ;)

thank you so much for articulating what was exactly
in my mind and heart! ;)

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I'm just so proud to be a LMH fan..and I think this is the best drama he's done. ;) City Hunter made me love action dramas. This is the first time I experienced being so in love with a show and the first time I watched raw episodes. Even without subtitles in it, I feel like I understand what's happening..good actors, good directing.

LOVE IT!

and I surely will also be disappointed IF YS dies of sickness. Just not right..

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"I’m just so proud to be a LMH fan..and I think this is the best drama he’s done."

Ria! You are absolutely spot-on!
Proud IS the word i would use to refer to
LMH's performance...
My sentiments exactly!

And YES again abt the best drama he has been in
so far because his talent and gift as an actor
has been stretched wider and deeper...

on top of that, there are tough action scenes
and his role is so challengingly multi-layered
and for someone so young,
he has so delivered them all so impressively,
while appearing to do all of it
so effortlessly... ;)

ive mentioned this before -

Lee Min-Ho is an unpolished gem of an actor
and i think City Hunter might just be THE drama
to reveal the shining brilliance of a gem
that is Lee Min-Ho - a legend in the making... ;)

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I really wish there was a drama with Kim Bum, Lee Min Ho AND Jung Il Woo. Somehow I think they wouldn't mind doing it :)
P.S. I just have the constant nagging feeling that YS is going to die by Dad's hands and that just makes me SO sad.

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Joy, i echo your wish -
put the hotter-than-hot best friends
Lee Min-Ho, Kim Bum and Jung Il-Woo in a drama,
and expect an explosion of spazzzzing,
swoooning, breathlessness going around the world!! ;)

heart surgeons around the world
need to be on stand-by to treat the
expected exodus of patients/fans of the 3 guys
as cardiac arrest patients... ;)

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Javabeans, muchas gracias! Your recap made me so giddy-happy-laughy :-)

Are we really on the half-way mark? And we're on to target #3?

The episode enders in 9 and 10 were not as cliff-hanger perfect as 7 and 8 but cool and slick enough.

Kim Nana is now officially the coolest chick on kdramaland for busting YS' girl-of-the-night and telling him to his face she likes him and not to worry cos she isnt forcing her feelings on him. She owns up to her feelings and throws caution to the wind. Who cares if he doesn't like back? Is it possible she is as cool as Hot Lee Yoon Sung? And forcing him to own up to his feelings for his mom whom he thought abandoned him? Way too cool!

I think they are perfectly made for each other...LYS and KNN...here in kdrama heaven.

Someone mentioned CH's director is the same one who did Brilliant Legacy/Shining Inheritance. is this right? No wonder! He or she should make more of this action-rom-com genre.

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samgetang dear! ;)

once again, you have the amazing way of
writing so perfectly that i can't agree with you more...;)

i echo your every word! ;)

thank you so much for articulating what has been
on my mind and in my heart but i wasnt able to
say it as well as you did! ;)

it is as if you could read my mind! ;)

fantastic observations and reflections and
an even more remarkably-written expression
of your observations and reflections ;)

well done, my dear! ;)

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dearest kdl! LOL!

but of course...moony loony sistahs rule! one moon, one mind! hehehe...

we think alike because we love alike, hahaha!

i've never really liked LMH before City Hunter. BOF was just meh...and his hairstyle there kinda annoys my hair-sensibilities, hehe. In Personal Taste, he looked better but the OTP just did not grip my imagination.

it helps now that PMY has first-rate chemistry with our LMH in CH so the visualization is heightened a million times. add up the slick action and fast-paced story plus cool fashion... Im really SOLD! ;-)

CH is like a drug...IRRESISTIBLE! ;-)

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samgetang darlin' ;)

you couldn't have said it better with
one moon, one mind and :

"CH is like a drug…IRRESISTIBLE!" ;)

you are such a gem, YOU are irresistible! ;)

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We should protest! Seasons sounds like an excellent idea!
Lol, am addicted as well and I haven't felt that way since, I believe, "My Name is Kim Sam-son!"

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the insignificant girl whom yunseong scolded in the cafeteria because of her own mess might be some Kim... i forgot her first name though......... but she may be the daughter of target number 3 and the sister of the prosecutor... ohhh well just random bubbling

on the other hand i salute you dramabeans for still talking about 49 days... hahaha i need a stalker

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diw, I agree and thought the same each time I saw that scene (watched the eps. twice); the pause to notice the girl's name on her notebook seems to be a significant foreshadowing or that random scene wouldn't have been included in this excellently edited episode. There's really no fluff scenes--each one reveals more to the story, so there has to be a connection there.

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yes, Giddy! i echo your every word!!

you may just be absolutely right! :)

*waiting with bated breath for the next episodes*

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yehh you're right giddy everything is intertwined here.

But I wanna put that girl in the forensic building especially in the cubicle for the dead for she needs to learn that trash talking to the ajumma and to the city hunter will not make her graduate in college or even in kindergarten.

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yes! i thnk the fact that the camera panned and paused
at her name has to have some kind of meaning,
which i am sure will be revealed soon enough...

i mean, if we think abt it, why the need to have that
scene at all, if it is just to show how cool YS is,
so i think the girl has a more impactful role
in the whole grand scheme of things in CH...

intriguing!! ;)

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Yeah..I think she's Kim Jong Shik's daughter, too.

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1. yoon-sung as city hunter is getting careless!

2. dad has turned completely evil!! i just don't get it. his revenge as supposedly to avenge yoonsung's father (plus the rest of the team that sacrificed), but does he stop to think that yoonsung's father is not gonna appreciate him KILLING his son, letting his wife die from lack of a bone marrow? i had to go back and watch the first episode again, to make sure i did not mistake the glimpses of affection he had for yoon-sung. wierd.

3. i guess jin-pyo does not really have affection for kyung-hee (yoon-sung's mom) either, if he is willing to just let her die like that.

4. LOVE that nana found out, and from the looks of the ending, now yoon-sung knows that she knows. also that she is helping him. now he can't avoid her like he had originally planned.

5. it bothers me so much in any spy/action/thriller type movie/drama when small careless things like not shutting doors etc happen. i mean, if you just took two extra seconds to shut the door, that would not clue whoever your pursuer is RIGHT AWAY. i was so bothered when yoon-sung slid out of his morgue hiding place and just left it all OPEN. geez. somebody could have come along and been alerted to something being wrong immediately. thankfully nothing had happened, but i am just bothered by things like that!

6. thanks so much for the mp3, javabeans. i have been looking for that song!

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Couldn't agree more...

Must the exhaustion of love, saving loved ones, revenge, stopping dad & prosecutor, playboying taking its toll causing him to slip.

The part where Dad is completely evil - what the heck, no matter how I think of it - he could have done it 28 years ago, alone. Maybe he waited 28 years, that's why he's so impatient, but yah, back to the same answer again. Maybe its instinctive for him to kill since he's been trained a killer machine. Then again, there won't be story to tell if the Big 5 were gone at the beginning....let's hope for some explanation in later part.

He might have a thing for YS's mom but as the show goes, he seems incapable to love. Again, he's been trained not to love (he's been telling YS all the time).

Somebodies mentioned the possibility of Dad being YS's real dad - YS being such a humane human doesn't seem to point to that. If so, then the genes must have skipped one generation.

Yeah, I totally get all annoyed & flustered by shows like this carelessly leaving the door ajar or leaving clues behind.

Ooooh....can't wait, I'm so addicted.

Please, JB, share the folder!!!!!

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Exhausting. Simply exhausting. The screams I emit at the end of the even numbered episodes, knowing that another five days stands between the next drool-worthy episode and me, leave my throat sore.

Agree with everything mentioned above about the awesomeness of LMH, and how the writing/directing/post-production click magically to create suspense and reveal the underlying inner conflict. Love Nana's character and how she's not taking any of it--and is now (in her own way) part of the team instead of the typical helpless waif. How rare is this in kdrama-land? Depending on how this ends, it could end up on my short list of 5 best!

JB, thanks for adding great literary delight on top of this already magnificent experience that is City Hunter! Your recaps are the cherry on top of the luscious dessert!

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The mom is such a plot device- I realize we're meant to feel sympathy and affection for her, but frankly all of her scenes have been coming across as exaggerated and rather a tool of convenience. Her colorless portrayal here as a weepy, mopey, depressed woman isn't exactly helping either.

Why do kdramas always oversimplify the mom characters to two major categories? The first is the incredibly-good-and-chaste mother who is sweet to a fault, holds undying love for everyone, is usually poor, and very passive and sickly.

Then you have the psychotic, overbearing evil moms who are super selfish and almost always rich.

Personally I've never encountered either type in real-life, and it's annoying when kdramas rarely flesh out their older generation characters. I mean, sometimes people (especially older women) don't just live for the sake of their children, but have their own lives and interests too. It'd be nice if dramas would bother to recognize that.

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What stood out for me about Kim Na Na in this ep
is her ballsyness -

she confessed her feelings to YS
despite his awful treatment of her before,
and she stood up to him
and faced up to her feelings with maturity
and sensibility even in the face of YS's
attempts at putting her down...

that is what i call a cool person
and am i glad the writer wrote KNN
as just such a person,
instead of a wilting wallflower,
or worse, a hysterical shrieking, whining hyena...

then at the end of the ep,
she even became YS's saviour from being
caught by the Prosecutor...

ballsy!! ;)

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can't agree more, kdl!

SHE IS ONE GUTSY gal! :-)

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yes, samgetang!! ;)

she IS one GUTSY gal! ;)

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ahhhhhhh...it's getting really really really good........ she'll be a partner^^

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Somehow I hope Last Secretary (or whatever the new title ) is late starting the shooting, so they have to extend City Hunter for few episodes!

I'm so addicted to CH to forgive the weird plot and coincidences.
And I wasn't LMH's fan - i like him alright but that's it - but now........he's so dreamy here IDEK.

thanks JB and GF! lots of love for you and your recaps!!

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Am I the only one who thinks that they will make out. I mean he will be making her a moral about how dangerous it is to be with him and etc and then out of sudden Nana will just kiss him. I am actually a quiet reader but just wanted to make this one comment because the way they looked at eachother was way too intense.

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LYS and NaNa make out and YJ arrives.

Three birds, one stone.

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HAHA that was exactly what i was thinking abt. if not they maybe locked in the theater for a night. hehe

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nana and sleipnir...you both have such a wonderful imagination! cant wait for epi 11 and 12. why is next week too far away? :-)

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Oh GOD! why is Yoon-sung so cool! I ♥ U CITYHUNTER. Probably 2nd to 49 DAYS XD

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Awesome recap. Now I loved City Hunter to death for delivering the unexpected good writing and giving me another side of Lee Min Ho. Its awesome!

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what about extending city hunter from 20 episodes into 25 or 30 episodes...

10 more episodes to go but it felt like it will be over in just a day or two...I will miss this series forever

city hunter season 2 is good also but they must remain the cast esp min hoo and min young...hehehe :)

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If the ratings continue to go up, which I think it will as Best Love had ended, there will be a probability of an extension.I do not know if LMH will last longer than 10 episodes. He is looking mighty tired and the schedule is really tight.

It is usually hard for season 2 series to beat season 1 and to stretch it out another few months will make it boring.

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I think PD-nim tweeted a week ago saying they can justify an extension if the ratings hit 30%. Er, that's a really high bar for any drama to reach, me think.

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as for now city hunter can't reach 20 % ratings, its beyond satisfaction that the drama reach more than 15 % right now..

I don't want to end up city hunter like Iris spin-off Athena series coz Athena isn't great like Iris..though I finished watching Athena but it didn't live up to the expectations of the viewers..

if decide to do city hunter 2, then I think they must remain the original cast especially of course the lead stars...:)

Min Ho and MIn young fighting :)

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