Another week, another Jung Kyung Ho appreciation post. These will never get old, I tell ya. This boy/man/hotness in a slim package will only get better with age. I remember how fresh-faced he looked in MiSa and just look at him now, all well-earned little wrinkles and the gravitas of having served in the military and come back a more focused actor with laser sharp precision. Cruel City (Heartless City) has just two weeks left in its run and I’m amazed this drama has packed quite the punch on what is essentially a rather small scale. There is a core cast and the conflicts at times feels like variations of the same theme – to survive by being one step ahead. We went from Scale v. Doctor’s son to Slant-eyes v. Doctor’s son to Busan v. Doctor’s son, not to mention all the side conflicts within Shi Hyun’s side and within what is essentially a broken law enforcement. Episode 15 and 16 were the first that really made me see the glaring holes in this drama. Shi Hyun’s fighting ability was initially incredible in light of his slight frame, but after every single episode where he single-handedly fights off a dozen gangsters or outruns police offers, he’s starting resemble a secret superhero even moreso an undercover cop. When he showed up for the nth time to save Soo Min’s useless and clueless ass in episode 15, I was rather sad she didn’t suffer more first.
I like what Soo Min represents, hope and goodness and a fish-out-of-water juxtaposition to all the jadedness around him, but good lord is she getting on my nerves. She talks like she knows it all, when we know she knows nothing, and she blindly taking orders from Hyun Min who is just as clueless. While they mean well, part of me just want to yell “move out of the way, you two are seriously ruining everything Shi Hyun has sacrificed to do!” It’s funny how the OTP went from blazing hot chemistry to lukewarm for me the more they spend time together, because it just highlights what a liability Soo Min is and how Shi Hyun really does NOT have time for her presence in his life. I know she’s the only person he can connect with on a non-undercover and non-drug lord level, but I’m pragmatic and I want him to get rid of Busan, clean house in the corrupt police and prosecutors office, and then move to Jeju and take Soo Min with him and they can go run a bed-and-breakfast and live a truly boring but safe life. I like Shi Hyun way too much for him to risk his entire mission for some Soo Min time, especially since these two are not even knocking boots anymore and he’s just rescuing her all the time. I’m not looking forward to Soo Min misunderstanding Shi Hyun, especially at this juncture when even the world’s biggest doof Hyun Min seems to have finally gotten a clue about the bigger threat out there. Let’s hope episodes 17 and 18 exceed my expectations and start ratcheting back up the tension in time for the finale.
I’m attributing soo min’s weakness and typical need-to-be-rescued heroine to the fact that this is a male writer, so it may be harder for him to write a fully fleshed out heroine that isn’t so stereotypical. Hard for a guy to get inside a girl’s head, I presume? Reminds me of Chun Sung Il, writer of chuno and level 7 civil servant.
There are times where i think soo min is good for doctor’s son. He needs someone normal, someone innocent in his life. But then there are other times where I’m smh at her, wishing she could defend herself more. She is, after all, going undercover in the world of drug kingpins. That requires alot more training than hyun min thinks.
Oh no, it has nothing to do with the writer’s being male. Plenty of female Korean writers pen superficially strong but actually pathetic characters who need a lot of help. (See any drama by the writer of Lovers in Paris, A Gentleman’s Dignity, etc.) I am beginning to think it’s an industry-wide practice to allow the primarily female viewership a point of identification/substitution.
You guys are forgetting about Jin Sook! She is an awesome female character who doesn’t take any BS from anyone and can take care of herself.
Oh, i don’t doubt for a second female writers aren’t any better. Some are just as guilty.
In my experience, all the k-drama male writers i’ve come across so far has failed at creating a heroine that was flawed, complex, and badass all in one.
Being a male doesn’t really give you that leg up, though.
I adore Jung Kyung Ho, but I need more romance with the OTP. They have incredible chemistry, and I’m getting frustrated with the lack of romance. Everything else is excellent. By far the best drama of 2013 so far for me.
The bigger problem for me is how badly the romance has been written. NGR and JKH have great chemistry and all, but even I can’t buy the fact that she loves him so much already. They know nothing about each other besides their name. They’ve barely talked to each other and had real conversations besides ep 15. Nevertheless, I roll with the romance and I live for their 5 minutes of screen time together. LOL
“more gorgeous stills of jung kyung ho is always a good thing” and i have nothing constructive to say to that other than incoherent squeals. thanks koala unnie.
CC is the first kdrama in a while that i’ve been following live. you’re right about the gaping loopholes in plotline and logic.. but jung kyung ho is riveting to watch onscreen. all simmering intensity with a centre of vulnerability and it’s those glimpses at the boy beneath that steely exterior that’s just so awesome to watch. i rmb him most from his smile you outing with lmj, and boy oh boy, did the army do miracles to this boy. and i’m not even referring to the new army-minted bod.
Hmmm, I like how you address using his name.., for me Baksa&SHyun are the same.., and I don’t mean just because it’s one person.
I love all the superhuman Baksa fighting.
I am not really sure what it is supposed to mean, that he can take down that many assailants every single time. It isn’t as if he is using some mystical martial arts, unless street fighting has become one. I have theorized that the final twist will be Baksa’s father is an extra-terrestrial. This explains that he actually isn’t completely human.
And Soo-min? It actually makes sense that she is clueless because, well, she is clueless and completely in over her head. If and when she suddenly becomes less of a ditz and more capable of protecting herself, it won’t be any more believable. She really has to die if they want to keep this noir-ish. IRL, she would have been ID’d as an informant and murdered a long time ago – an apparent suicide. Maybe the forced drug use was foreshadowing of her future death by OD.
And plot holes don’t bother me as long as I get to keep looking at him – brooding, drinking, flirting with Soo, screaming at Hyung Min, not listening to Meany Min.
Soompi thread got me rewatching TBDaW and I was reminded how awesome a second lead JKH was. The bromance in that show makes my little heart flutter. As cool as LJK was as Kay, I honestly think that JKH has caught up with and maybe even surpassed his hyung. Wouldn’t it be awesome if they re-paired for a film together?
jomo – clueless is one thing, completely useless and incompetent is another. I started off liking her scrappiness, but the writer is basically just using her to fill the trope of damsel in distress now, and not even very well.
But never mind, there are gorgeous stills of My Precioussssss so I won’t complain any more. And it would slay me if he and post-Arang (LJK’s finest performance yet) Lee Jun-ki got back together in a drama, I don’t even know which one would have me swooning harder.
Her usefulness is in proportion to the amount of training she had.
What did Hyung Min think she would be capable of doing?
Honestly, when he told her to go follow JS, and she ends up getting picked up in the car by her, it was the worst undercover person ever.
Lol @ clueless soo min and clueless hyung min
I agree with you… They are getting on my nerves each time both of them appear on screen
But the drama needs to have character who would give our hero a hard time… Kkkk
More so than Soo Min, Hyung Min’s brutish idiocy leaves me slack-jawed. Soo Min actually has an excuse: she’s untrained. Hyung Min, on the other hand, is supposedly LEADING this unit? He’s supposed to be the cream of the crop? Puleeeez! He makes highly emotional decisions. That is, STUPID.
Also, whatever happened to being reassigned when a case gets too personal? Does that not happen in Korea?
Whatever, I love Cruel City for Baksa. I want him to live happily ever after, WITH his unconventional family of Jin Suk and Cutie Su. They break my heart. Just thinking of what’s to come when Baksa’s identity as a police officer is exposed… heartbreak for that trio. The rest be damned.
Jung Kyung Ho is soooo hot in this drama! I almost fainted when he started fighting.
Jung Kyung Ho is smokin’. I saw him in Ja Myung Go and he looks as gorgeous in regular clothes as he did in the hanbok *___*
what else do we (girls/women)looking in man… good looking (he’s not extremely handsome), seriously can fight (for good deeds), great kisser, sexy and cool, he’s wealthy (i don’t care how he earned it)
Jung Shi Hyun / Jung Kyung Ho… you’ve just one complete package for me ^^
I love reading mister x review about Soo Min’s character
http://vaultofdoom.wordpress.com/2013/07/11/무정도시-cruel-city-episode-914-review/
I can’t take my eyes off of Jung Kyung Ho! Not only is he positively gorgeous but his performance is riveting….he commands the screen. Be still my heart!
A DOCTOR is ONE OF THE BEST ROLES IN KOREAN DRAMA written recently a piece of cake for the actor i guess he is going to be nominated this year.
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