City Hunter: Episode 8

by girlfriday

I can’t get enough of this show. I wail when every episode ends. I gnash my teeth and curse the heavens and wait breathlessly for the next installment. It hurts, but it hurts so good.

 
EPISODE 8 RECAP

HOLY CRAP. She shot him! I mean, I know she doesn’t know that it’s him, but aaaaaaaaah!

The bullet hits him, and for a second, he hovers over the ledge, breathing hard and struggling to jump. I hold my breath.

He flings himself off the roof, leaving Seo Yong-hak behind, and Nana takes off running toward him. He rappels down the side of the building, though it’s really more like a slightly-guided freefall, and he lands with a thud on top of a car.

By the time Nana looks over the ledge, Yoon-sung has crawled off the ground. He gets into his car and drives away.

Young-ju and his team arrive on the roof, and Nana tells him the direction the getaway car was headed.

Yoon-sung manages to get far enough away, but struggles to stop the bleeding. He calls Ajusshi, who doesn’t pick up because he’s in the middle of his own getaway, after having been caught with the fake badge.

Seo Yong-hak finally comes to, and upon hearing that the election rally has been postponed, he gets in an uproar about being perfectly fine and not willing to lose this opportunity to get voters. He angrily tells Young-ju to catch the man who kidnapped him, and gives his rousing speech on stage.

Jin-pyo sits in the audience and scowls, knowing that something went wrong today. He’s met outside by trusty sidekick Sang-gook, who tells him that he heard a shot fired, but he must’ve gotten away, and the police are well, policing.

Young-ju and his team survey the roof, and the two biggest clues are: the rope (tied in some newfangled fancy way they’re unfamiliar with), and the blood. Aw crap. Young-ju orders a DNA test to be done right away. Double crap. I mean, I know Yoon-sung’s probably got false identities for miles, but he had to have something on file to be hired at the Blue House, no? This is bad.

But the more immediate question is how the hell is he going to survive the next two hours? He breaks a window and steals into a darkened room – it’s Sae-hee’s veterinary clinic, which will have the basic medical supplies he’ll need. Smart boy.

And then? He proceeds to do that one most badass of things… He digs the bullet out of his own goddamn back. Aaaaauuuugh. No matter how many times I watch an action hero do that, I will never fail to be impressed and equally grossed out. *swoon/shudder*

Problem is, Sae-hee returns to the office because she forgot something, and she notices the broken glass. For some reason (though thankfully I suppose) she decides to inspect the place herself instead of calling the cops.

She goes in to the exam room and turns the light on, not noticing that Yoon-sung is standing in the corner right behind her. Chills.

She turns around and gasps to see him there, trembling and bloody. Without explanation, he says suddenly vulnerable, “That thing you said you owed me… Can I collect on that favor now?”

Ah, NOW I SEE why there’s a vet in the story! Is anyone else having a Duh Lightbulb moment here? Just me? ‘K then.

She stitches him back up, and he gets his pretty boy sense of humor back long enough to ask if it’ll scar. Ha. He wonders why she’s not asking him what happened, or why he’s here.

But she’s totally calm about the whole thing, and surmises that there must be a reason he came to an animal vs. human hospital. She’s familiar with the type of wound, having treated one like it before, and so can guess what happened, but doesn’t press for more. I all of a sudden REALLY like her.

She hooks him up to an IV and turns on the tv, which reports news of Seo Yong-hak winning the primary – he’s now the majority party’s candidate for President. But the story doesn’t stop there, and reports of his attempted kidnapping, with the culprit still at large after having been shot.

Though the coincidences are too large for anyone to ignore, she doesn’t say a word, and offers for him to stay at the clinic for the night, since the streets are lousy with cops. She makes the offhanded comment, “Why do I suddenly feel like I’m a character in a movie?”

Way to be self-referential. Well this does officially give you significant character status, since now you’re the only one who knows that Yoon-sung isn’t some cowardly desk jockey. No, he digs out his own bullets, and there’s kind of no goin’ back from that.

Yoon-sung gets interrupted by a call from Dad, who’s so hardcore that he’s more pissed than worried. Gah. Did you dig out your own heart and feed it to the elephants? Your son was SHOT. He barks at him to get his ass over there at once. It’s almost like a normal dad scolding a normal son, except it goes more like you are SO grounded for not killing your target! ISSUES.

Nana comes home and waits up for Yoon-sung, unable to keep the day’s events from flooding her brain. Something about it rattles her and she struggles to push it out of her mind.

Yoon-sung falls asleep at the vet and has a nightmare where he and Nana face each other, guns cocked. In the dream he’s being chased and she’s the shadowy relentless one, and she shoots first.

He gasps for air and looks at her, frozen. Then Jin-pyo appears between them, shouting at him to shoot her. Then it goes dark, and they both fire on each other.

They lie on the ground, both bleeding out, and finally turn towards each other. Nana cries and he struggles to reach for her bloody hand. He clasps it for a few seconds before she dies, and dies alongside her.

Damn, how can a nightmare so literal be so traumatic? I love that now his fear is two-fold; he’s always been scared that he’ll hurt Nana, but now he’s just as scared that she’ll hurt him.

It startles him awake, and then he grips his shoulder in pain. He sees Sae-hee asleep, hunched over at her desk.

In the morning, Nana grumbles that Yoon-sung stayed out all night, huffy at the obvious implication. “Master of the One-Night Stand! Busy Every Night Man! The man who resents, resents, resents that all 24 hours in the day aren’t night!” Hahaha.

She gets so worked up that she chokes on her own toothpaste, and then gets mad at him for causing her nothing but grief, as if it’s his fault. Heh.

Sae-hee returns to the clinic in the morning bearing one of Young-ju’s old suits that never got cleared out of her place. Yoon-sung looks surprised, so she explains that the prosecutor is her ex-husband. OH. Well that explains a LOT.

I always thought they were way too close to be simple exes, and just assumed they had a really long history. The fact that they were married, eventually ending because he consistently chose work over her, his protectiveness, her resentment, his trust in her, why she knows his secrets… it’s all coming together.

It also makes things really complicated, if she’s going to start keeping one man’s secrets from the other.

She checks on the wound and re-bandages it, her hands drifting…

Oh, get your mind out of the gutter!

She notices all the other scars on his back, saying, “These wounds must’ve hurt a lot…” He quickly puts his shirt back on, making it awkwardly clear that it’s not up for discussion.

She tells him to take his meds and then adds cheekily that her hospital doesn’t accept insurance. “You’re about the size of a large retriever, so I’ll charge you that price. 50,000 won.” [50 dollars, give or take] Hehehehe. She says an expensive dinner will do as well, so he laughs and says he’ll take her out next time.

She walks him out and they say their goodbyes, which is right when Nana walks up and sees them smiling at each other. Oh, dear. Well, I guess he really did spend the night with her this time, so there’s no talking your way out of this one.

To make matters worse, she’s carrying a suit for him to change into (presumably this vet office is just on her morning commute route, and she’s bringing the suit to work), but seeing him with Sae-hee again flips her out and she goes running in the other direction… right smack into a guy on a bike.

Yoon-sung sees her and picks up the bag with his suit, and tries to stop her to talk. She refuses and keeps walking ahead, until finally he puts a hand on her shoulder and she body slams him to the ground, landing him on his bum shoulder. Ouuuuuch.

He asks why she’s running away like she did something wrong, though she denies it, of course. He tells her not to jump to conclusions, but she’s heard that one before, and now wonders what’s really true and what’s misunderstood.

He takes a step closer to her. “Do you… like me?” She stutters, “Who said I liked the Bad Luck Bastard?” He tells her not to concern herself with his personal affairs, since it’s overstepping her bounds. Aw, he’s probably trying to nip her feelings in the bud before it gets them both killed, but still… WAH.

She now regrets having thought of him enough to bring him clothes, and he just mocks her fashion sense, or lack thereof. She counters that he seems to have a stash of clothes at this house too, so he can coordinate his outfit however he likes. So there. Heh. That’s so ineffectual it’s cute.

At work it’s back to the firing range, and Yoon-sung gets paired up with Nana, who shoots her target with deadly accuracy. The agent in charge tells them to think of the target as the kidnapper who got away, and when Nana hits the target right through the neck, Yoon-sung actually cringes.

He steadies his gun to take a shot, but his hand trembles and he finally puts it down, too rattled to fire. I love this turn – that now Nana is kind of terminator-scary, and Yoon-sung is no longer indestructible.

As they walk away he asks if she likes being a secret service agent, and wonders if she can’t teach judo to kids or something. Oh, NO. Don’t be that guy. He asks how many women in Korea could shoot a gun like that. Dude, this is totally not the tactic you want to go with. I mean, don’t you know girls at all? I’d be like, That’s right. Just ME. Badass, huh?

He tries a different tactic, worrying that if she hadn’t shot the City Hunter first, she’d have gotten shot. She scoffs that he sure was busy with his love life for someone so concerned for her well-being. Eeep. One point, Nana.

She laments, “I should’ve caught the City Hunter last night.” He asks, a little scared to hear the answer, “Do you think the City Hunter is a bad person?”

She pauses, “Well, because I have to protect Seo Yong-hak. That’s my job.”

That it is. He sighs, watching her go. Oh, I hate this soldiers-on-opposite-sides thing, and yet… I LOVE IT. It wrings my heart, but in a good way.

Young-ju’s team finds that all the CCTV cameras in that building were shut off, and remotely by hacking into the police security system. The origin IP is the Blue House. Okay, this again? How come MIT doctor is so bad at hiding his virtual footprints?

Young-ju descends upon the communications team once again, announcing that he’ll be collecting every single computer in the place for inspection. I’m getting a sheriff vibe from him, like in old westerns. He’s totally riding high on being that righteous long arm of the law.

He turns to leave but then stops in his tracks at the sight of Yoon-sung, sitting there wearing his suit and smirking up at him. Ha. I love this. So much information exchanged in just two silent looks.

As soon as he walks out, Yoon-sung gets started in erasing his digital trail. You really ought to have done that before the sheriff came knocking, but I suppose you had a bullet to contend with first.

Young-ju finds Yoon-sung in the bathroom and asks, “That suit and that tie…”

Yoon-sung snickers and answers, “Yeah, you’re right. They’re your clothes, given to me by Jin Sae-hee,” and walks out.

Young-ju rushes after him, grabbing him by the injured shoulder. “Are you always this light? With all women?” (Read: easy.)

He tosses back breezily that it’s not even his style so he wasn’t going to wear it any longer anyway, adding, “But in a game that’s already over, isn’t your interest a little funny?”

He turns to go, but Young-ju slams him against the wall (again, right on the bum shoulder, aaaack!), yelling:

Young-ju: Sae-hee is someone to be pitied! She needs to meet someone right, not YOU!”
Yoon-sung: What’s the matter with me?
Young-ju: She’s too innocent for you to play around with her.
Yoon-sung: WHO SAYS I’M PLAYING WITH HER?! Aren’t you really afraid that I’m sincere? Clean up your own feelings. I’m not the one playing Daddy Long Legs, skulking around behind someone.

Ooooooooooo. Dayum. Why is this smackdown so hot?

Young-ju’s problem is clearly that he feels so guilty about his part in the failed marriage that he feels sorry for Sae-hee instead of treating her like an equal. Yoon-sung’s outburst right back at him surprised me—and wow was it effective—it probably scared the bejeezus out of Young-ju, who now thinks that the playboy version of him is the least of his worries.

But my favorite part, of course, is that somebody finally gave him some shit about being Nana’s lurky Daddy Long Legs. ‘Cause I’m with Yoon-sung on that one. And the look in his eye when he felt so exposed… gah, good stuff.

Ajusshi finally escapes, riding the subway back and offending others with his dumpster smell. Yoon-sung meets him on the train and Ajusshi starts to cry at the sight of him, and Yoon-sung hugs him tight. AW. I seriously love these two.

They’re so relieved that the other made it out alive, and Ajusshi whimpers into Yoon-sung’s chest, while he laughs and smiles.

They go to see Dad, who smacks Yoon-sung in the face the second he sees him. Aw, it breaks my heart to see him bowing his head in fear of Evil Daddy.

He apologizes (apparently getting shot is YOUR mistake, in this family), but Dad yells that instead of giving Seo Yong-hak a bullet, he’s given him wings. Yoon-sung knows he screwed up, and doesn’t make excuses.

He digs the knife, “Have you forgotten how your father died?” He declares Yoon-sung’s methods too soft, and announces that he’s out of the game. But that’s not an option for Yoon-sung, and he fights back, “This is MY revenge too!”

His fierceness is enough to win Dad’s trust for now. Jin-pyo: “But I will not tolerate a second mistake.” This guy seriously makes Average Korean Dad seem like a big fluffy teddy bear with a tummy made of pudding. I mean, the way he checks to see if his son’s bullet wound is healed? By hitting it with his cane. HA. WTF, Dad?

They discuss their plans for the next opportunity to get to Seo Yong-hak, during a live broadcast. Ajusshi worries that security will be even tighter, and the secret service on edge. Dad orders Yoon-sung to kill any agents who get in their way. Oh no. No more shooting!

Ajusshi cooks a meal for Yoon-sung at home, and frets over his heavy sighing. “Do you want me to feed it to you?” Hahahaha. I love Ajusshi-as-mommy so much.

He asks who the agent was who shot him… Yoon-sung tells him that it was Nana. Ajusshi: “NANA?! Nana shot you?!” I know. We’re right there with ya, buddy.

Yoon-sung tells him that he’s pretty sure she didn’t see him or notice anything weird, so they’re in the clear for now. Problem is, they’ve got to find a way to get her out of the next Big Plan, otherwise things’ll get hairy all over again.

Yoon-sung remembers that he once accidentally tripped her and sprained her ankle. Ajusshi: “No! You could break her leg!” Yoon-sung: “Should I slip some laxatives into her food?” Ajusshi: “But a woman… having to run around with diarrhea all day…” LOL.

Then Ajusshi gets a bright idea and whispers it in Yoon-sung’s ear (for no one else’s benefit but ours, since NO ONE else lives there, ha). Yoon-sung: “She could DIE!”

Next thing you know, they’re up on Nana’s roof, and sitting on the ledge are: a soccer ball, two flowerpots, and a bucket of apples. Hahahaha. I think this is a bad idea, guys. Yoon-sung agrees, “Ajusshi, no matter how I think it over, I don’t think this is it…”

But Ajusshi insists that it’s better than giving her diarrhea all day. She arrives, and they scramble. Yoon-sung has to stop Ajusshi from throwing a brick and a large flowerpot, “No, not that one! She’ll die!” but as they struggle, the smaller flowerpot and a cooking pot go flying down.

The copper pot hits Nana square on the top of her head, followed directly by the flowerpot, and she crouches to the ground with an “OW!” She looks up, and the guys duck in a panic. Yoon-sung: “You don’t think she died, do you?” HAHAHAHA.

She shouts up at them, assuming it’s a couple of kids playing a prank, “You guys are all dead!” Ajusshi: “She’s fine…”

The boys stare at each other wide-eyed in fear. Ajusshi: “RUN!” You clowns. I hope Nana beats your heads together.

Next, Yoon-sung buys a round of coffee for Nana, Eun-ah, and Da-hae, making sure to dose Nana’s coffee with laxatives. He doles out the coffees and then tries to WILL her to drink it by chanting in his mind, “Kim Nana, drink it. Drink it. Driiiiiiiiiiink.” So cute.

Only it seems to have the opposite effect, or perhaps on the wrong person, as Eun-ah declares her coffee more delicious looking, and asks her to swap. She downs the whole thing, and Yoon-sung cringes. Heh.

I love the comedy of all his failed attempts to keep her from her job.

Da-hae decides that she must sing, so they head to a noraebang and she sings a ballad and then plops down next to Yoon-sung, telling him that she cried while singing. Da-hae: “Wasn’t it a sad song?” Yoon-sung: “I think your grades are sad.” Pffft.

While the girls head to the bathroom, Yoon-sung meets with Ajusshi, who treats his wound and brings his meds. It’s cute that Yoon-sung’s been pretending to be fine with everyone else like Dad (to prove he’s capable) or outsiders (to keep his injury hidden), but lets Ajusshi take care of him.

Nana tells the girls she’ll wait outside while Da-hae primps and Eun-ah feels the full effect of choosing the wrong coffee. She looks over and sees Ajusshi making his exit, and her face goes white.

Flashback to her parents’ accident, where many astute viewers have already noted, Shik-joong was present. This time we see him give a statement to the cops while she cries over her parents’ bodies.

Back in the present, her memory flashes as she trembles, “That person… Bae Man-duk!” She runs out after him, calling his name, but Ajusshi hides in time before she catches up to him. He hangs his head guiltily and slips away, as Nana searches high and low for her first lead in probably ten years.

Meanwhile, all hell has broken loose in the women’s restroom, all because random girls have taken to insulting the President’s youngest daughter, and Da-hae is too young and foolish to just suck it up.

She starts a knock-down catfight, complete with hair pulling and screeching, and of course Eun-ah is too… incapacitated to do anything to stop it. The whole thing spills outside to the hallway where plenty of people catch it on video, because that’s what society has come to. Sad, but true.

Nana and Eun-ah get their heads ripped off by their boss, all while Da-hae’s walk on the violent side plays on YouTube on his computer. Heh. He particularly cuts Nana’s heart out by insulting her father’s name, or rather accusing her of dragging his name down with her bad work ethic. Ouch. He punishes them by reducing Eun-ah’s pay for a month, and Nana’s pay for six months, plus two weeks’ suspension, no pay. Damn, that’s harsh.

She walks out, her suspension effective immediately, and Yoon-sung catches up to her to say that he heard the news. He tells her to rest up, and to use the time to clean the house, since it’s a little dirty.

She spins around, angry tears bubbling up, and asks how he can tell her to clean when he must know how she feels right now. He stammers that he did also tell her to rest (ha) but she’s in no mood for his attitude. “Men like you are the worst.”

No argument here. Men that hot usually ARE the worst.

He sighs as he watches her go, and says to himself, “You have no idea how thankful a suspension is.” The second part of that sentence has an unspecified object, so it could be read as either: how thankful for you, or how thankful for me. Works both ways, and well, it’s true both ways.

It now occurs to me that Yoon-sung could’ve somehow sent in those random girls on purpose to antagonize Da-hae, but that seems like too many factors to be able to foresee. And if he’s thankful, he’s probably just relieved he doesn’t have to face off with her at gunpoint all over again. He should REALLY be grateful that he got her off duty without having to pull any more crazy stunts, which he was hilariously bad at.

Nana goes home and sits on the roof, remembering the last time she saw Ajusshi. She flashes back to a few days after the accident, when she had come to the police station wearing her funeral clothes, to ask why all of a sudden her father went from being the victim of the accident to the culprit.

The officer explains that the eye witness was drunk that night, and has revised his story. And though stammering, Ajusshi affirms his now revised eye-witness account, that her father’s car was the cause of the accident, and the other car merely stopped to avoid the crash.

Oh, holy hell. So basically the other driver (who Nana believes is Kim Jong-shik, aka Young-ju’s dad) got to Shik-joong first and paid him off or threatened him, or all of the above so that he’d change his story.

The officer calls him by name, Bae Man-duk, and he signs his statement and gets up to go. Nana pleads with him over and over, to no avail. She crumbles on the spot and cries, powerless to do anything and totally alone.

Ajusshi turns the corner and then watches her, guilt already settling in.

Back in the present, Nana murmurs to herself that it was him; she’s sure. She just needs to find that man again, because that’s how she’ll reopen the investigation.

Yoon-sung finds her there and tosses her some tissues, teasing that if she’s going to be crybaby, she should do it at home. She starts to walk away in a huff, but he grabs her by the hand and drags her downstairs and sticks her in his car. She demands to know why he’s doing this.

Yoon-sung: “Because I’m the worst!” Ha. Wait… is this YET ANOTHER car? How many cars does this boy have? A different car for every fling? For every pair of pink trousers?

She asks where they’re going, and he tells her that he’s trying to lift her spirits. Nana: “Why are you so good to me?” Yoon-sung: “Because we live together, like family.” Nana: “No you were, even before we lived together.”

She tells him that he talks ugly, but in fact he’s always doing nice things, like paying her father’s hospital bill, buying her house, getting her bandaids, taking her for a drive. Awww… she’s totally on to you! You big ol’ softie.

He just dismisses it, disliking all this nice talk, and instead tells her that whatever she says or does today he’ll keep it a secret. He tells her to yell or break things, or whatever she wants, and even gets her started by yelling at Da-hae.

She totally lets out her frustration, yelling out in banmal at her boss, at Eun-ah. She adds for good measure, “And you, Lee Yoon-sung! The way you look, the stuff you do, you’re a total Bad Luck Bastard!”

He throws back an insult that she thinks she’s so badass ’cause she’s good at judo and carries a gun, giving her the nickname Big Liver Girl, which sounds weird, but having a big liver is a colloquialism for being brave. They laugh adorably and he asks if she feels better now, and she nods, smiling from ear to ear.

They stop at a tree-lined dirt road and over coffee he asks if he’s really such a bad luck charm, insisting that MANY girls go gaga over him. What? That’s ludicrous. Why, what have you heard?

It starts to rain and his convertible top won’t close, so they race off, getting soaked to the bone. He takes her to his house since it’s closer and she cautiously walks inside. He turns to look at her, finally noticing her soaking wet in a white shirt, and has a little gaga moment himself.

Gulp. He finally snaps out of it long enough to toss her his jacket and a snide over-compensating remark, that he’s just ruined his eyes.

I’m just amazed that the first question out of her mouth isn’t And why do you live at my house again? He gives her a shirt to wear and they each shower, and Yoon-sung tends to his painful bullet wound, looking a lot worse for wear.

He comes out and finds Nana in the kitchen, but freezes in his tracks at the sight of her in nothing but his white shirt. Omg, I love watching him go googly-eyed over her.

She asks him to turn on his newfangled electric stove so she can cook some ramen, and he helps her awkwardly, the close proximity getting to be a little too much for him. She looks for bowls while he does that, and finds them sitting up on a shelf designed only for giants and supermodels.

Yoon-sung looks over at her reaching and jumping up, dangerously close to being nekkid as a result, and he nearly puts out the lights in the whole city trying to tamp down his reaction.

He reaches up and gets the bowl for her, making them awkwardly close again. Eeeee! The sexual tension is enough to drive him out of the kitchen for good. “Eat by yourself! I don’t want any!” Heh.

He puts out wine and fruit though, and in a bit of meta, she watches Prosecutor Princess (which City Hunter‘s PD Jin Hyuk also directed) and falls asleep.

He sees her sleeping on the couch and tucks her in, watching her sleep in that totally smitten way. He brushes the hair out of her face and gets up, but then stops and turns around…

He leans down toward her face and traces her eyebrow with his finger, totally making me swoon. And then he leans in ever so slowly, to kiss her…

And she opens her eyes. Eeep!

He stops, but he doesn’t pull away either (So. Hot.) and she squeezes her eyes shut. Omo! Green light! Do it! Do it!

He moves at the pace of molasses, which is both making me crazy, and making me crazy…

He gets thisclose, and then the phone rings.

%^$&#*#(@*^%^@#&*@#*$^@%#@%^#@&@#&!!!!!!!!

Fuuuuuuuck!

Dad, you have the WORST timing ever! Show, I love and hate you so much right now.

What’s worse is that Dad calls to say super obvious things about tomorrow being D-Day, and I’m screaming, Yeah, we already know! Can we get back to the almost-kissing?!

But the moment has passed, and he curtly tells Nana to sleep. How’s a girl to sleep when you were so very recently close to her lips?

He stays up and prepares for tomorrow, the stress and his weakened condition starting to really take a toll.

He drops her off at home in the morning. She thanks him for everything yesterday, and sheepishly asks if she should make something for dinner, wondering what he likes. He says he likes glass noodles with no onions or carrots, just beef, and heads off.

The problem is, Nana gets a call from her boss that Seo Yong-hak had her there through every recent crisis, and doesn’t feel safe without her there. So she’s reinstated. Oh crap.

It’s time for the live broadcast of the presidential debate, and the show begins, with Nana and Young-ju on the sidelines and Yoon-sung getting ready backstage. He starts by gassing the director’s booth, and then when Seo Yong-hak cues a video clip, Yoon-sung plays the recording of his shady deal with Mars. Nice.

He quickly ditches his gas mask for the black one and starts his way out, only Young-ju is pretty certain the City Hunter is behind this, and catches up to him. What commences is a damn good fight, mostly because the music is cut for great dramatic effect (love) and Yoon-sung is severely injured, making it evenly matched and even a little in Young-ju’s favor.

He manages to shake him off long enough to get a head start. Nana leads Seo Yong-hak out a different way… leading straight to the same corridor where Yoon-sung ends up.

Nana points her gun at him and Yoon-sung freezes, seeing her there. Young-ju comes careening after him, so now he’s totally trapped between them.

Nana squints her eyes for a second, possibly a glint of recognition, but he’s too far to see clearly. And then panicking, Seo Yong-hak grabs the gun from Nana’s hand, and then TURNS it… on her! What the hell, crazy?

But it’s his survival instinct that’s kicked in now, not logic, and he threatens to shoot her if they come any closer. Now all of a sudden Young-ju’s standing next to the City Hunter with his hands in the air in a total reversal.

Nana waits and then sees her moment to elbow Seo and get the gun out of his grasp, only her getting away from him means flipping over and hanging off the ledge, up many many stories.

Seo takes off running and Jin-pyo watches it all from down below, surveying the events with a scowl.

Young-ju and Yoon-sung both take off running at the same time…

…only Young-ju zooms past Nana towards Seo Yong-hak, while Yoon-sung runs straight for her. Everyone with me now: And this is why you’ll never get the girl, prosecutor.

Yoon-sung grabs her hand just in time as she loses her grip, and struggles to hang on. His shoulder sears with pain and he starts to bleed down his arm all the way to her hand, and she clutches his hand as his strength starts to give…

 
COMMENTS

YAY! You learned how to do cliffhangers right! I’m so proud! These last two episodes had amazing endings, finally the kind that drives this sort of series and keeps me wound up and on the edge of my seat, dying for more. Pitch-perfect.

I love our first glimpse at a vulnerable Yoon-sung in this episode. It’s always in these moments that the hero feels most like us—not quite so perfect, not fully prepared, not bulletproof. He was already plenty relatable through his personal relationships, but seeing him spend a whole episode not at peak physical shape, having to rely on other people, makes him more human and highlights the fact that he really puts his life on the line to do what he thinks is right.

It might not be so heroic if he were just hell-bent on revenge at any cost like his father, but he’s on his way to becoming a champion for the people, which is exactly what all these politicians claim to do, but lose sight of on their rise to power.

And we’ve learned now that Nana is one of those people, too young and too powerless to have stopped the cover-up that tarnished her good father’s name, and that she carries that massive chip on her shoulder because of that experience. It makes a little more sense for her character—why she’s so rash and brave, often times overcompensating and trying to appear so strong.

I love that their growing attraction is mutual, and all the built-in complications keeping them apart. It’s actually something that I liked about Prosecutor Princess too, so maybe the reference wasn’t so random, though this show is much more effective because the stakes are life-and-death. The bigger the stakes, the better the conflict. That’s just the way it goes.

And the final moment of choice, highlighting the vast difference between Yoon-sung and Young-ju? Gold. Why so cool, Show? Just hand me a spoon. I’ll eat it up.

 
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