[REVIEW] SBS TV series "City Hunter" - Final Episode

Scene from "City Hunter" [SBS]

SBS TV series "City Hunter" - Final Episode
"Kim Young-joo probably did too. Because he was his dad, since he was his dad. That's why he covered up and concealed [his crimes] for him. But do you think it really was for his dad?" Lee Yoon-sung (Lee Min-ho) ends up succeeding at getting revenge on his dad Choi Eung-chan (Chun Ho-jin). But not in his foster dad Lee Jin-pyo's (Kim Sang-joong) way but his own way. Not by killing or harming but by revealing his crime and getting him punished for it rightfully which is City Hunter's way. For Lee Jin-pyo, getting the five men punished was priority but for Yoon-sung, bringing change to society so that the tragedies like that on the sea of Nampo does not repeat itself was priority. This is only natural for Yoon-sung who regards "the trust that politicians, elected by the people, will engage in politics conscientiously" as equal to "the trust of the 21 people who would've waited on the sea of Nampo based on their country's promise." Because that is the only way he can keep defeat the monsters of the past century without turning into a monster himself.

Of course, it was a shame that the fathers had to commit political/physical suicide to make it possible for the show to see the clean ending where Yoon-sung did not get blood on his hands and one did not give up on justice for his love of his family. Choi Eung-chan knew what Yoon-sung wanted but he handed him the books on the corruptions himself and Lee Jin-pyo, who failed at getting revenge, died after taking the blame for his son's criminal charges when Yoon-sung cried out that he wants to live an ordinary life. There were times "City Hunter" got criticized for its lax portrayal of Yoon-sung's action sequences but the way in which the drama had truly lacked reality was that it did not show that fathers will willingly die fighting for their younger generations. However, this is understandable given that the drama showed the desire of the times instead of being devoted to portraying reality as it is. "City Hunter," which claimed to be the prequel of its original work, succeeded at portraying on a Korean hero of the year 2011 who tried to put a stop to the wrongdoings carried out by previous generations. So this man, who was raised for revenge, rid himself of all of his ill-fated relationships and returned to the city as a free citizen, not a monster, and we came to see a hero named Lee Yoon-sung, not Saeba Ryo.

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