Cruel City - eps 7-13
Short version: OMFG.
I am catching up on Cruel City properly, and I ship Shi Hyun and Soo Min like there is no tomorrow. They are both so utterly broken, so failed by everyone who should have looked out for them, but together - sparks of insane chemistry, here you are. The bit that really gets me during this scene is the look on his face when he asks her: “aren’t you afraid of me?" Ohhhhhhh.
Oh, and another thing I ship is the epic bromance between SH and Soo - I mean, SH walked into the den of his enemies and almost died just on the chance he could rescue Soo. OMFG. Mobster love etc.
Hyperventilating here! When he saved her life and told her his name and and and - but it’s the hands that get me.
Every time Shi Hyun puts on his Doctor’s Son persona and goes all psycho, I swoon. That should be troubling. But I am too busy swooning to care.
This scene OMFG! Nam Gyuri is acting her socks off and Jung Kyung Ho has never been better but together they are on fire. When she sees he is hurt and starts checking him for other wounds and the way he shies away but can’t help but prolong their interaction given the slightest chance - if you think about it, his life is utterly falling apart and Soo Min must be the sole spark of warmth. But then of course she asks about Doctor’s Son and this isn’t going to go well, is it? The odds would be massively stacked up against them if they were merely the hooker and gangster they appear, but seeing that she is working to bring down Doctor’s Son without knowing Shi Hyun is him, and that Shi Hyun is undercover, with the most untrustworthy handler ever, this is going to end up in a pile of bodies.
You know, the reason Shi Hyun and Soo Min work so well for me is that there is both a synchronicity in their experiences and personality (both orphans abandoned by those they love, both carry a load of guilt, both are not what they seem, both very strong survivors of some horrible stuff) and utter necessary difference - Soo Min is emotionally fearless and like an open book about her loves and hates (yet another reason Sexy Cop is an idiot for sending her undercover). While Shi Hyun represses and controls to an insane degree, probably because he needs to fight the chaos and trauma of his life somehow. So they so complement each other. The fact that the actors’ chemistry is out of this world also helps to sell the love story - the drama is not primarily a romance but due to the complexity and sizzle, they feel more fleshed out romantically than many a couple of a romcom which devotes 90% of its running time to shmoopiness.
This scene - with all her anger and his shock and how they cannot resist each other, not even now - my heart!
Holy Fuck, the way Shi Hyun’s face changes when the Chairman finds out about Soo Min being “the one you love" (because the psycho has decided to pay back for the death of his equally psycho son by killing the person SH loves the most in front of him). OHHHHH I I I I am literally screaming, luckily there is nobody to see me. Somebody, give the man the Baeksang stat. Give him all of them. Oh, and how do I love that her number is saved as a question mark in his phone.
The whole sequence - Shi Hyun going from badass and deadly to defiant to terrified and pleading - but he is never terrified and pleading for himself, just for those he loves (as with Soo earlier, now with Soo Min) - incredible.
You know, on a very shallow note, with every episode that passes, Jung Kyung Ho is making me more and more hormonal. I have never found him in the least attractive - he is mainly known for his goofy beta males and that type is about as far from my fictional crush as it gets. I confess I always wondered what his fangirls saw in him. The character of his prior to this I liked the most was his tormented, morally ambiguous Hodong in the sinfully underrated Ja Myung Go - he was excellent but even with that, I didn’t swoon for him. But now, I am utterly and completely smitten. He doesn’t look much different (though those post-army abs are nice to look at :P), it’s the sheer intensity and strength of the character. Shi Hyun is smart, complicated, screwed-up, passionately loyal, tortured beyond belief, and hanging to his sanity by his fingernails. And in part it’s the writing that makes Shi Hyun compelling, but in large part it’s JKH’s balls-to-the-wall portrayal. I never knew he was capable of the tenth of nuance, magnetism and skill he brings to this. It’s as if he relishes the challenge of playing a character so far outside his normal repertoire and really sank his soul into it. I keep thinking of the excellent Time Between Dog and Wolf, another undercover cop drama - it starred Lee Jun Ki (swoon) as the protagonist and JKH was there playing LJK’s worshipful younger brother. It’s as if JKH and the drama are designed to show that TBDAW was good but it can be done even better. And oh yes, yes, it can. TBDAW was great but CC is pretty damn perfect.
No caption needed…
"Look just at me" Holy…This drama is hitting my shippy kinks so hard, they are ringing. My favorite bit during this whole sequence was that he closes his eyes when the mobsters hit her. He has his masks so firmly in place all the time - that is the only way he can survive - and he rarely allows himself even a twitch of emotion in front of his enemies - yet he cannot stop himself here.
The looks on their faces…I am having trouble breathing…Oh, and I am utterly terrified for them - Shi Hyun wants Soo Min out of this life and game and is trying to push her out of his life to protect her but it’s too late - the psycho gang boss pretty much tells him to try his best to protect Soo Min because he is going to kill her as a lesson. Oh God, this story is going nowhere good, is it? And I gotta admire Soo Min - she tells Shi Hyun she likes him even after seeing firsthand how dangerous his life is and how his life almost got her killed. (But then who could resist a man who would throw away his life to save you? Especially when, like Soo Min, you have such abandonment issues.)
