Hot Summer K-Drama: City Hunter!

Has anyone else started on City Hunter?!! Our tall cute dashing Lee Min Ho is back, and this time as the adorable city hunter!  I like!!!!!

I almost wanted to skip past episode one so that I can get going just to see Lee Min Ho! Haha. That was how impatient I was.

I wont say its a spectacular drama but it definitely is entertaining enough for the summer. I would say it is an average script to date, with average director execution but all that has nothing to do with Min Ho. If you are familiar with HK movie of City Hunter, then you should expect something different here. I didnt read the Japanese manga for this so I am unclear what was the original plot.

Synopsis (up to episode 6)
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This Korean drama version has shifted ground zero from tokyo to localised it to Seoul instead. The story begins with Lee Minho's character's dad being a govt president body guard. They were told to infiltrate North Korea to assassinate some of the high officials but they were being betrayed at the last minute by the Seoul officials and secretly being killed off. So Minho;s dad who was already injured and feeling he was gonna die anyway decided to shield his best fren and protect him from death by sacrificing himself, not before entrusting his wife and newly born son (minho) in his fren;s care.

However, his fren who would not take this betrayal laying down decide to take matter into his own hand. Instead of caring for his best fren's wife, he stole the baby and left a note asking the wife to move on with her life and she would be better without the baby burden. Thus comes the vengeance plot where the soldier trained Minho mercilessly and relentlessly with all the fighting skills, where one day he will assist to avenge his father's death.

Minho grew up to be a sweetie pie really and not some hard core cold blooded soldier despite his upbringing. However, upon witnessing the death of his nanny-carer being shot to death before his eyes, he sought revenge and in his haste he accidentally stepped on a landmine intended for the enemies. His stepfather saved him but in the process, lost his own leg. While the stepfather was in half daze, he finally revealed the truth about minho's birth and how he must exact revenge on the people who had ordered the death of the 21 soldiers without a valid cause, except in the name of corrupt politics. He asked Minho to extract the bullet embedded in his shoulder blade and told him that was the bullet that had pierced minho's dad's heart. However, the stepfather failed to reveal the truth that Minho wasnt abandoned by his biological mother. So minho still had the notion that he was unwanted by his mum in pursuit of a better life for herself.

Once his mind was set, Minho underwent all sort of training both academic and military skills. He was successful recruited by MIT and became the youngest IT PHD holder to graduate and returned to Seoul. His first mission was to be hired by the Seoul Govt IT dept (somewhat like pentagon in the States). Then he was to find out the 4 other people who ordered the assassination on his father and his peers.

During the time there, Minho got to know Kim Nana for real (whom he already been confiding to her picture back in his Thailand hidden village. he got her pix from a guy he had saved.)

Unknowingly, he had already started to fall for her and because of his mission, Nana was also being targeted by the politicians who are digging deeper into her relationship with Minho who by know is known as the "city hunter" after exposing the first corrupt seoul high official. In trying to protect her, he decided to make excuses to move in with her in the name of renting out the apartment rent free in exchange for housekeeping and cooking meals.

Through the guy he had saved (and now serving as their cook), he found out where his mum was. From a distance, he looked on at her filled with conflicting emotions. He couldnt understand why a woman who had abandon him isnt living as well as he had thought, but instead was slaving alone managing a small cooking stall. He didnt approach her. At the same time, his step father appeared. His step father told him he might as well "go see" his mum. Minho tried by pretending to be a customer but he couldnt sit through it and left without eating the noodles she cooked after she passed a comment that "Your parents must be very proud of you to graduat from MIT at such young age." Unknown to him, his mum actually still have not given up on him and still searching for him.

His step father meanwhile had returned to Seoul because he was furious at Minho defying his instructions to kill the scumbags who ordered the death of the 21 brave soldiers and perished out in the cold sea. Minho's intention was never to kill these people though he hated them for killing his biological father. Yet Minho had wanted to return to normal life after he was done with this revenge business so if he had killed them, he knew he can never return to being the same guy he was anymore. So he explained to his stepfather that the circle of vengence will never ceased through blood shed and so the best revenge is to destroy them publicly through the legal justice and public outcry. These people will be ruined for life. However Minho's step father on the surface agreed with Minho's method but in reality, he plotting to kill these officials once Minho tracked down the masterminds who gave the order to assassinate the 21 soldiers.

Kim Nana is a simple but filial daughter who had witness the death of her mother in a car accident and having her father in coma for the past 10years in hospitals. She had lived in poverty because she was raising money to give her dad operation in hope he will wake. By chance, Minho learnt of her situation and being the tender hearted guy he was, he paid for the operation without a second word and left. Kim Nana insisted on paying him back little by little, and unknowingly, got drawn into his life.  However, due to Minho's inability to communicate with girls (as well as male ego issue) , the both of them ended up squabbling more than anything else. Minho always ended up pissing her off and constantly have to devise ways to "appease" her but was always one move too late.

Another Govt Prosecutor who was zealous about capturing all these corrupted official obviously like Kim Nana too. However the secret was that his father seemed to have something to do with Kim Nana's parent's car accident and he seemed to be trying to make up for it by being a secret penpal to Kim nana in giving her encouragement via letters.

I have watched to episode 6 and so far has rather enjoyed the drama to date. It's light hearted and its amusing to see Minho's uncertainty and self muttering when it comes to dealing with his emotions with Kim nana. The fighting scenes are certainly nothing to crow about but then again, we are talking about idol star, not action movie star so I am not expecting alot of that so its ok.

Anyone else is watching this apart from me?
My frens have been asking me to watch 49days but I just kept putting it off. Maybe its the theme...I prefer something more lighthearted I supposed.