City Hunter .1
I am one of the only people in the world not currently watching Pinnochio. And that’s alright, because 1) I don’t have the time to give it undivided attention, and 2) the last time a series was so anticipated was Heirs. Of course, it seems Pinnochio is being well-received, which is relief.
I was just going to go full hiatus (joking to myself that “It’s Okay That’s Love” was unsurpassable anyway, so why bother?) but I got a text from a friend that was like: “I have Netflix. I’m curious about Korean drama. What should I watch?” And after several minutes of just cursing Netflix left and right about its licensing decisions, I offered 3 options.
This week, he tells me to watch the first two episodes of City Hunter so that we can talk about whether it’s a fair representation of the form, but I know it’s because it’s unsatisfying to watch Korean drama alone. So here are my notes, I’m about halfway through the third episode.
I didn’t think the first episode was all that violent. It is an action thriller set up, involving military missions. You expect a bodycount. It was no more violent, in my opinion, as its western equivalents. I suspect the violence he felt was more in response to the man emotions that absolutely run ravage through Episode 1. So many man feels. Overall, I thought the episode was incredibly tight, actually. They had a big, big set up with a sprawling cast, and I felt it accomplished what it needed to without shortcuts that might have spared them (us) 15 minutes of time, but would have undermined the emotional intensity necessary to lend credence to Oppa’s quest for revenge for twenty years.
Episode 2 was a weird one, because you go from intense action thriller grim revenge into your sort of standard KDrama comedy, including the two psuedo-adopted kids to complete the bizarre picture of this little instant-family. I didn’t feel it was too awkward, but it skirted the line on how fast you can go. Guy goes from getting dumped for being a pervert on the side of the road to carrying her up the stairs and clucking over her height measurements on the wall in, like, an hour, and it just seems peculiar because normally there’d be a little self-reflection about this sudden attachment, but here? Nope. I'm just saying, if I found myself spending every day with someone who looked like that, even if I was in mad denial about the nature of the relationship, I’d still be like: "Huh, how well do I even know this person? Who is this person?" Like, she never asks him anything. You can claim politeness but yeah no. Even by KDRAMA standards, it's weird. But whatevs.
I think the corruption theme that serves as backbone to this story is interesting because I do not know if real Korea is plagued by corruption but hoo boy do they like to show all their rich people as corrupt, much in the same way that Americans like to show our politicians as narcissistic and frequently lawless. The difference is that we have very few black hat/white hat dramas anymore, but in these dramas, it’s held to be a terror if The People were to find out. They would, and I quote, “never forgive him.” Considering that this is a country where real people kill themselves out of honor and a sense of responsibility, I suppose that threat of being shamed carries weight.
I think it’s interesting how poorly treated the mistress is in the first two episodes. She’s shown drunk, horny and spurned. Our hero is basically a big jerk, up to and including his obnoxious kissing of the heroine which he does on impulse and to further demean the mistress. I liked the mistress, honestly. She was a damn fool, but she was doing her thing and seemed to be doing so by her terms. And I don’t know what I’m to make of his instantaneous and unnecessary and really quite cruel break up other than to conclude that he’s a jerk. Like, actually a jerk, a person who’s kindness is subject to his own immediate needs.
Halfway through episode 3, I can’t help but notice that our heroine’s career - protecting the first family, no less - is so easy going and leisurely that she has time to help the kids with their flower project and allows ample time to go with them to the event.
Sigh. Already.
