City Hunter (Korean TV series): Difference between revisions

[[File:Cityhunter_4441.jpg|frame| Lee Jin Pyo and Lee Yoon Sung, multigenerational badasses]]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Investigating corruption with idealist fervor is Kim Young Joo, a prosecutor with the police department. His father is also one of The Five.

As Yoon Sung funnels the evidence of wrongdoing through Young Joo, he is given the persona nickname "City Hunter" by the police, as a shadowy vigilante, who skirts the law but also helps to destroy [[Screw the Rules, I Make Them|those in power who feel above the law.]] The corruption may even go all the way to the [[The White House|Blue House]] itself.

 

 

* [[Abuse Is Okay When It Is Female On Male]]: Eun Ah when she spars with Ki Joon.

* [[Action Girl]] / [[Faux Action Girl]]: Na Na, who is introduced as a judo expert, but does not really help out in fights until episode 11.

** Na Na after she tells Yoon Sung that she wants to help him expose the corrupt politicians even though he refused to do so. {{spoiler|He gives in almost all of the time.}}

* [[Action Series]]

** Na Na embroiders a poster for a car with the words "Flower Boy on Board" on it. Lee Min Ho (who plays Yoon Sung) was the main male lead in ''[[Boys Before Flowers]]''.

** Yoon Sung and Na Na shop at a Trugen store, the menswear line for which Lee Min-ho has been a brand model.

* [[Age Cut]]: Yoon Sung is shown riding an elephant as a 10-year-old boy in the first episode; the camera pans away and pans back to find him atop the elephant as a teenager.

* [[Almost Kiss]]: Interrupted by a phone call in Episode 8.

** Both Na Na and Yoon Sung stand still in a plaza in Seoul, while the crowds and cars rush by.

** Young Joo when his fellow prosecutors learn of his father's corruption.

* [[Alternate History]]: Partially on the response to the Burma bombing. No commando attack/infiltration was initiated as the Americans, Chinese and South Koreans condemned the bombing via media. Chinese officials including the President did not want to meet any North Korean official due to the perpetrator's links to the country and to the military.

* [[Amicably Divorced]]: Sae Hee and Young Joo. Usually.

* [[Anguished Declaration of Love]]: It takes Na Na ten episodes to admit that "I like you."

* [[Archnemesis Dad]]

** Also, Yoon Sung when he finds out about his kidnapping as a baby by Jin Pyo.

** Young Joo to Na Na after she finds out exactly why he has been secretly watching over her for so many years.

* [[Buxom Is Better]]

** In Episode 2 Na Na, serving as a designated driver for Yoon Sung, indignantly pulls the car over and ends the ride after Yoon Sung makes a fool of himself snogging on a girl in the backseat. In episode 10 the same thing happens again.

** In the final episode Yoon Sung has a flashback remembering all of his targets and how they were exposed.

** And yet ''again'' when Yoon Sung {{spoiler|confirmss who his real birth father is--uncovering yet another lie Jin Pyo has been telling him all these years.}} Let's also not forget Young Joo's frustrated attempts to reason with his own psycho dad. If we had a 100 won coin every time this trope appeared...

* [[Casanova]]: What Yoon Sung pretends to be and what Na Na thinks he is. In reality he's just using his charm on women to extract information important for his plan.

* [[Catapult Nightmare]]: Na Na dreams of her parents' car accident in episode 6.

** Yoon Sung has a bad dream about Na Na in episode 9.

* [[Contrived Coincidence]]: One might think Seoul is a small town, given how often the principals run into each other at random.

** See [[One Degree of Separation]] below for other examples.

* [[Cool Car]]: Yoon Sung has several of these. He seems to switch cars every two episodes.

* [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]]: Chun Jae-Man is this; his chemical factory uses unsafe toxins that are poisoning his workers, and the factory's waste is polluting the environment as well. He doesn't care.

* [[Cover-Blowing Superpower]]: Yoon Sung, pretending to be bad at judo.

* [[Cycle of Revenge]]: Yoon Sung's argument for why he wants to humiliate the Council of Five and force them to be punished by the law is that if he just kills them, he will continue a cycle of blood-for-blood revenge and one of their family members could end up just like him.

* [[Dead Partner]]: {{spoiler|Young Joo for his coworkers and boss, who promise to uphold his ideals of justice and avenge his death.}}

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Young Joo when he confronts Yoon Sung, accusing him of having a hand at his father's attempted murder.

'''Yoon Sung''': “You must really feel wronged to take your anger out on a random person. You’ve wrinkled my clothes.” }}

** Young Joo confronting Jin Pyo in his Seoul residence.

'''JP''': "Sunlight? I have always been standing in the sunlight." }}

* [[Destroy the Evidence]]: Chun Jae Min burns the classified 1983 records to prevent the truth about the raid from ever coming out.

* [[Did Not Do the Research]]: Montreal is not in the United States.

* [[Ditch the Bodyguards]]: By [[The President's Daughter]], Da Hye.

* [[Diving Save]]: Yoon Sung for Na Na. Likewise, later, Na Na for Yoon Sung.

** Suk Doo-Shik, Chun Jae-Man's personal bodyguard, assassin and ex-amateur boxing champion.

* [[Dramatic Shattering]]: Na Na shoots a bullet that goes through a window and {{spoiler|into Yoon Sung's shoulder}}.

* [[Foreshadowing]]: Yoon Sung meets a university student who was rude towards the canteen employee because of the high prices. An episode later, {{spoiler|she is a student protestor demanding lower tuition.}}

** Yoon Sung threatened Kim Jong Shik that Young Joo may be forced to stop being a prosecutor if he makes the latter arrest the former. Later on, Young Joo doesn't mind not being a prosecutor if he eventually has to investigate another corruption case after hearing the secret recording.

* [[Government Agency of Fiction]]: The National Forensic Service doesn't exist in South Korea.

* [[Government Conspiracy]]: Chun Jae Man reveals to the press that the 20 commandos killed in 1983 {{spoiler|were shot by the ROK military for [[Blatant Lies|getting away with top secret documents]].}} This pisses off Yoon Sung and Jin Pyo.

* [[Grey and Gray Morality]]: The Council of Five, the main antagonists, are not initially portrayed as [[Complete Monster|Complete Monsters]]; they're just convinced that what they're doing is good since President Chun Doo-hwan would not allow a black ops operation without his approval. Even after most of them have become completely corrupt, they still show love towards their family. Likewise, Yoon Sung isn't a pure, squeaky clean hero; he uses some unlawful and invasive methods in his revenge. And Jin Pyo is pretty much an [[Anti-Villain]] at best by this point.

* [[Handicapped Badass]]: Jin Pyo.

* [[Hero Antagonist]]: Jin Pyo after 1983.

* [[Heroic BSOD]]: Shik Joong {{spoiler|when he revealed to Yoon Sung that he's very familiar with Na Na because he was threatened by a politician when the man learned of Shik Joong's gambling debts prior to his self-exile to Thailand, being forced to change his witness statement to the police or face trouble.}}

* [[Hey, It's That Guy!]]: Goo Hara of [[KARA]] as Choi Da Hye.

* [[Hey, It's That Voice!]]: In addition to Aya Hirano in the Japanese dub, [[Axis Powers Hetalia|Japan]] [[Hiroki Takahashi|voices]] Yoon Sung.

* [[Hired to Hunt Yourself]]: Yoon Sung is charged with finding out who hacked into the Blue House computer network.

* [[Hollywood Healing]]: Na Na and Yoon Sung both recover from bullet wounds amazingly quickly, and Bae Man Deok is up and around a couple of episodes after a car runs him over and puts him in a coma.

* [[Hospital Gurney Scene]]: When Bae Man Deok gets injured.

* [[Insecurity Camera]]: Yoon Sung and Jin Pyo are both highly capable of disabling security cameras.

* [[Improbable Weapon User]]: Yoon Sung. Has successfully used a tie, a three ring binder, walkie-talkie, metal pipe, water bottle and ''a spoon'' in fights. Jin Pyo and his sword cane.

* [[Jumping Off the Slippery Slope]]: Jin Pyo does this immediately after the 1983 raid by stealing the newborn child of his best friend for the sake of his revenge plot.

* [[Karaoke Box]]: What's a [[Korean Drama]] without a noraebang scene?

** Doo-Shik has a balisong as his personal weapon.

* [[Kubrick Stare]]: Jin Pyo is prone to these. So is Chun's henchman Suk Doo-shik.

** Kim Jong Shik {{spoiler|tells his son Young Joo that he was lucky Na Na's mother died from the car accident and that her father was a human vegetable since that meant the truth wouldn't be revealed, and prior to that discussion orders Bae Man Duk and Kim Na Na to be taken cared of when Na Na tells Young Joo of her intentions to re-open the investigation regarding her parents' deaths ten years ago.}}

** After Yoon Sung freezes the credit cards because of Shik Joong's overspending habits, Shik Joong packs his bags and heads over to Na Na's house. Na Na quickly calls Yoon Sung to say that Shik Joong has ran away from home. To make this even more hilarious, as Yoon Sung walks in, Shik Joong is wailing to Na Na that Yoon Sung "has changed."

'''Na Na''': “So ... [[Audience Surrogate|maybe you could have your lovers' spat at home]]?” }}

* [[Love Triangle]]: Both Lee Yoon Sung and Kim Young Joo are crushing on Kim Na Na.

* [[Luke, I Am Your Father]]: {{spoiler|The president and Yoon Sung.}}

* [[Mangst]]: Young Joo after hearing a recording that Jong Shik wanted the City Hunter to leave his son alone. This drove him to tears. Jang Pil Jae after seeing Yoon Sung in the wake of {{spoiler|Young Joo, blaming him for the events that led to his murder.}}

* [[The Masquerade Will Kill Your Dating Life]]

** Also Yoon Sung and his mom at the hospital and the university.

* [[Missing Mom]]: Na Na's mother was killed in a car accident ten years before the start of the show while Yoon Sung was stolen from his mother shortly after he was born and told that it was a case of [[Parental Abandonment]].

* [[Mr. Fanservice]]: Yoon Sung and Young Joo

* [[Neck Snap]]: Administered by the commandos in the opening episode.

* [[Nerves of Steel]]: Na Na after Jin Pyo threatened to fill her up with .357 magnum bullets. He later admires her fearlessness.

* [[No Peripheral Vision]]: The only possible explanation for why Young Joo and Yoon Sung don't see each other at the end of episode 10, and why everyone is so bad at realizing they're being tailed.

* [[Nobody Poops]]: Averted in episode 6 when Na Na squats only to yell at Yoon Sung for leaving the toilet seat up.

* [[Not What It Looks Like]]: Na Na, on an errand for the presidential candidate, knocks on the wrong door and encounters Yoon Sung in a bathrobe and Sae Hee with his clothes in hand. Then Young Joo sees them, just to finish the square. It turns out that Sae Hee had spilled alcohol on his clothes and was washing them for him.

** It happens again when Na Na witnesses Yoon Sung, who hadn't come home that night, exiting the animal hospital with Sae Hee. Obviously he had been busy {{spoiler|recovering from, you know, being shot and avoiding being caught by the police. Sae Hee's hospital just happened to be the most convenient way to do things, ''and then'' said hospital owner had discovered him}}.

* [[Only a Flesh Wound]]: Partially averted. Yoon Sung and Na Na's {{spoiler|shots through the shoulder}} were both treated as serious injuries, but [[Hollywood Healing|they still healed ridiculously fast.]] Yoon Sung's stab wound in the hand is a straight example of this trope.

* [[The Only One Allowed to Defeat You]]: Young Joo tells Yoon Sung not to let anyone else arrest him.

** A dream sequence has Yoon Sung squaring off against Na Na.

** How most episodes end.

* [[Post-Kiss Catatonia]]: Na Ha after Yoon Sung lays one on her in episode 2.

* [[The President's Daughter]]: Has a crush on Yoon Sung.

** [[Your Mileage May Vary|YMMV]]. He does come off as this at first but as the series progresses it seems like he was acting more out of {{spoiler|guilt for his father being the cause of the accident which killed Na Na's mother and put her father into a coma}} than romantic attraction.

* [[Product Placement]]: Hyundai/Kia autos, their logos covered if an episode airs with their appearances. Iphones too.

** Yoon Sung gets a lot of use out of his iPad.

* [[Punch a Wall]]: Yoon Sung does this to the mirror in the male toilet after getting Shik Joong to a hospital.

* [[Real Men Hate Affection]]: Yoon Sung before {{spoiler|he met Na Na and reunited with his real mom.}}

* [[Real Men Wear Pink]]: Those pink pants of Yoon Sung's...

* [[The Reveal]]: The President is Yoon Sung's father.

* [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]]: Jin Pyo wants to kill the Five as revenge for his [[Dead Partner]], and he doesn't really care who gets caught in the crossfire.

* [[Recycled Soundtrack]]: "Mombasa" from the ''[[Inception]]'' soundtrack was used during {{spoiler|a chase scene between Yoon Sung and Jin Pyo.}} There are other tracks used from the movie as well.

* [[Shirtless Scene]]: Yoon Sung gets several throughout the series, and Young Joo surprisingly ([[Hello, Attorney!|but rightfully]]) gets one himself in episode 11.

* [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil]]: Played straight with the order in which the first four targets appear, with each new target being deadlier and more willing to kill than the last. [[Subverted Trope|Subverted]] with the final target.

** Scenes from ''Prosecutor Princess'', a [[Korean Drama]] which PD Jin Hyuk also directed, is shown on a TV in episode 8.

* [[Shower Scene]]: Yoon Sung, showing off various scars.

* [["Shut Up" Kiss]]: Between Yoon Sung and Na Na, in the middle of an argument.

* [[Slashed Throat]]: Administered by the commandos in the opening episode.

* [[Sleep Cute]]: Yoon Sung fakes this, laying his head on Na Na's shoulder in Episode 5.

* [[Split Screen]]

* [[Stalking Is Love]]: How many time has Yoon Sung followed Na Na around without her knowledge again?

* [[Statute of Limitations]]: {{spoiler|Kim Jong Shik}} repeatedly points out that the statute of limitations concerning the car accident with Na Na's parents has passed and that he is innnocent. {{spoiler|Young Joo}} strongly disagrees and Na Na is even hoping to re-open the investigation now that she has evidence from Bae Man Duk that says he gave a false testimony.

* [[Stealing From the Till]]: Kim Jong Shik {{spoiler|embezzles 200 million won from the university funds and keeps it hidden in a secret room in his house.}}

* [[Survivor Guilt]]: Yoon Sung calls out Jin Pyo on this in episode 10. See the page quote.

** When Yoon Sung muses out loud about hungry children, the Welfare employee shouted, "Are you stating that ''I'' embezzled the money?"

** Eun Ah after seeing Yoon Sung toss Young Joo over his shoulder at the Blue House parking lot. This raised her "admiration" over him. Ki Joon won't have any of this.

* [[Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist]]: Prosecutor Kim Young Joo.

* [[Take a Third Option]]: Yoon Sung {{spoiler|threatens to [[Driven to Suicide|kill himself]] when he realizes his choices are down to shooting his biological father, shooting the girl he loves, and shooting the man who raised him.}}

* [[Take My Hand]]: Yoon Sung catches Na Na after corrupt politician Seo Yong-hak cracks under pressure and chucks Na Na over a railing.

** [[Discussed Trope|Discussed]] by the presidential guards. Later, {{spoiler|Na Na for Yoon Sung after rescuing him in episode 11.}}

** Na Na later Takes Rotten Fruit And Eggs for Da Hye.

* [[Vigilante Execution]]: {{spoiler|Jin Pyo's murder of Lee Kyung Won.}}

* [["Well Done, Son" Guy]]: Yoon Sung wants Jin Pyo to acknowledge his way of revenge.

* [[Where Are They Now? Epilogue]]: {{spoiler|It's unknown when the following take place, but it's a long timeskip after Yoon Sung and Jin Pyo shoot each other: Eun Ah and Ki Joon announce that they're getting married, Lee Kyeong Hee moves out to America to begin a new life with help from Shik Joong, Na Na's father did not recover from his coma and passed away, Da Hye has her own coffee shop to run/manage and Choe Eun Chan has stepped down from the presidency (most likely impeached due to the controversy of the election funds brought forward by Yoon Sung), the public remembers the commandos killed in North Korea after a memorial is created with Jin Pyo being commemorated as a hero and not a killer alongside Mu Yeol and Yoon Sung has completely recovered from his gunshot wound before he meets Na Na. It's unknown if he moved with his mom to America or if he'll continue to stay in Seoul and be the City Hunter.}}

* [[The White House]]: Or rather, the Blue House.

* [[You Bastard]]: After Seo Yong-Hak took Na Na hostage with her own sidearm before tossing her over a railing. Yeah {{spoiler|that gave him some troubles after he's brought into custody.}} Jin Pyo after he sees Yoon Sung take the bullet for the president.

* [[You Killed My Father]]: Yoon Sung's reason for revenge.

* [[You Shall Not Pass]]: Young Joo does this {{spoiler|with Chun Jae Man and his lackeys, holding them off to give Yoon Sung time to find the record book that holds the information on Operation Clean Sweep and its instigators.}}

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Action Series]]

[[Category:Korean Drama]]