TV Review: City Hunter

                                                             City Hunter Review

City Hunter is a K-drama that is about a young man Lee Yoon Sung who has been trained since he was a child by a man, Lee Jin Pyo to carry out revenge against the people responsible for killing his father and twenty other loyal South Korean soldiers twenty-eight years ago. There are five people that Yoon Sung and Jin Pyo plan to take down and since all of them are high ranking government officials this is something that the two have devoted their lives to Jin Pyo more than Yoon Sung who actually plans to have a life after revenge. Yoon Sung and Jin Pyo's ideas of revenge differ with Yoon Sung wanting to  destroy their marks by exposing  their corruptions and Jin Pyo wanting to destroy them by killing them, the difference in methods in revenge leads this two become enemies rather than allies for most of the series but since Jin Pyo is the only father Yoon Sung as ever known there is still a bond between the two that keeps them from destroying each other.

Another one of the main plot threads in the series is the romance that develops between Yoon Sung and Kim Nana who works as a bodyguard for several of the people that where involved in the cover up 28 years ago. The relationship between Yoon Sung and Nana is one that starts off feeling like quite a few rom-coms with the two of them not really getting along at the beginning but they keep running into each other and she thinks he's a jerk until he helps her pay for a surgery that keeps her comatose father alive although even after that it takes awhile for them to truly understand each other. At the beginning there is something that's pretty fun and light about the relationship between the two but as time goes on and the two are put into situations where they find themselves on opposite sides and in dangerous situation things get darker and angstier. Yoon Sung falls for Nana despite being warned against falling in love and therefore spends a lot of time pulling away from Nana even though he clearly wants to be with her. Their relationship is one that a lot of tension is built up with Yoon Sung not knowing how Nana would react to discovery his true identity and that even if she did accept him is it safe for her to be around him while being near him could put her in danger.

Another important thread in the series involves the prosecutor Kim Young Joo who spent the series looking into both Yoon Sung/Jin Pyo who were named City Hunter by the media as well as the corrupt government officials that the two were taking down. Young Joo is someone who believes in up holding the law and finding the truth above all else and this is something that makes him both a worthy and admirable opponent for Yoon Sung through out the series. Young Joo is told and threatened many times through out the series to stop digging into something and he never does and this costs him dearly in the end.

Overall City Hunter is a series has many well down plot threads that made the series a joy to watch and kept me on the edge of my seat. I thought that all of the major characters throughout the series were compelling and well written and I loved the romance between Yoon Sung and Nana an incredible amount. I also really enjoyed the actions sequences and the music that went along with them because it just really got me excited for whatever was happening. I though that the way in which this series discussed vengeance was well done. Overall I love this series and I really really think that you should give it a try. Please tell me your thoughts about this series in the comment section below.

Book Review: Rebel Belle: Miss Mayhem

                                                           Miss Mayhem Review

Miss Mayhem is the second book in the Rebel Belle and it starts off several months after the first book and shows how Harper is dealing with both dating and protecting David and how sometimes those two things don't work as well together as she hopes they would. Harper also as to deal with the add weirdness of her ex-boyfriend Ryan being the new mage and being her partner in keeping the oracle, David safe. Early on in the book Harper is told that she would have to go through trials to prove that she is the one that is best suited for the job of protecting David and most of the book seems to be leading up to those trials.

This book is one that I didn't enjoy as much as the first one it felt a lot less fun and interesting than the first book did which is a problem for me. In this book I felt like Harper was a bit too controlling of what she thought David's life should be and I thought that she crossed a pretty big line of trust in their relationship so when her and David broke up I side with him rather than her which is something that took away from my enjoyment of the book. I also felt like Harper seemed to resent David being the oracle and the role she was assigned with being his protector because he made her life less normal and this just bothered me because when you really think about it David as a lot less people in his life than Harper does her not wanting to be around him because he's the oracle doesn't really endear me to her. I just felt like while both Harper and David's life were turned upside in the last book David ended up with less than Harper. Harper still has her parents and her aunts while David now lives alone because the only parental figure he had ever owned was murdered last book; Harper has a best friend and an ex-boyfriend who she seems to be friends with that now about the supernatural while David's friends are completely clueless. In general I didn't like how Harper and David's relationship was portrayed from Harper's side for most of the book and I also felt like there wasn't enough David in general.

Overall I thought the book was good but that the first one was much better although I really do hope that this isn't the last book in the series because I feel like there's a lot more story left to tell and I hope that story will remind me more of the first book in the series. Please tell me your thoughts on this book in the comment section.

TV Review: I Hear Your Voice

                                                   I Hear Your Voice Review

I Hear Your Voice is a k-drama that is a lot of different things, the best way I can think to describe the series is a legal drama, noona romance(older woman, younger guy) and it deals with the theme of vengeance. This drama is one that is a bit hard to summarize but it is a very good drama that has an engaging plot and characters that you can't help but get invested in.

The series starts off with Jang Hye-sung deciding to become a public defender solely because of the fact that they make more money then the kind of lawyer that she is now. Hye-sung starts the series off as someone who is pretty selfish, immature and doesn't really care about her clients(this trait is especially apparent in how they showed a series of closing statements she made when she basically said the same thing in the same bored tone as to why her client shouldn't go to jail)but despite this I still loved watching her and I was still very entertain by her and that's before we even get to her backstory.

It is really Hye-sung's backstory that gets you invested in the character in a meaningful way and it shows you that she's more than the person that she represents herself as in the beginning. It is made clear in the backstory that Hye-sung is someone who has a very clear sense of what justice is and that to her has a lot to do with the truth coming out and this sense of justice is something she regains as she starts working as a public defender.Ten years before the story starts Hye-sung witness a man named Min Joon-gook murder a man with a pipe and attempt to kill the man's son as well. Later on after Min Joon-gook had threaten to kill her if she came forward as a witness after much debate Hye-sung does come forward as a witness against Min Joon-gook and this is something that lead to two things first that Min Joon-gook has now vowed to kill her so she lives in fear of what will happen once he's released and two that the man's eight year old son Park Soo-ha has vowed to protect Hye-sung once Min Joon-gook is released and he has developed a crush on her.

Soo-ha is now a senior in high school and he has been looking for Hye-sung for the past ten years both because of his crush on her and because of the desire to protect her. Soo-ha has the ability to read minds and this is something that keeps him distant from the people around him which is one of the reasons that Hye-sung is someone who's so important to him. When Soo-ha first really re-meets Hye-Sung is disappointed that she has become cynical and doesn't seem to care about the truth of what happens and this is one of the reasons why Soo-ha tells Hye-sung that he can read minds and makes sure that she believes it and how he starts letting her use his ability to help her win her cases.

Through the first part of the series Hye-sung starts to regain her sense of justice by working as a public defender and becomes someone who once again both cares about the truth and even her clients. There are many people that help inspire this change in Hye-sung's character but one that really sticks out is Cha Gwan-woo an idealistic public defender who started at the same time as Hye-sung but takes a very different approach to being a public defender with him caring about his clients to the point of stupidity and Hye-sung not really care much at all. Throughout the series the two of them make each other better by picking up some of each other's skills.

Another plot thread that made the series so great was the rivalry and complicated past that Hye-sung and Seo Do-yeon share with how Hye-sung was kicked out of high school because of a lie that Do-yeon told and how the two of them never really got past what happened between them. I liked seeing how Hye-sung and Do-yeon went up against each other in their court cases and I liked that their past conflict made the court room conflict more personal for both the characters and the audience. I liked that there was a lot more to Do-yeon's character than I originally thought there was and I liked how their relationship improved throughout the series.

Soo-ha spends the first half of the series doing his best to insure that Min Joon-gook doesn't get the chance to make good on his threat to Hye-sung. The task of protecting Hye-sung is one that requires the two of them to live together for most of the series and through living together they get to know each other in ways they never would have been able to if they haven't which leads to them developing a very strong bond and only increases Soo-ha's desire to protect Hye-sung even if the ways he plans to go about aren't something that she would like. Through the first part of the series Soo-ha soon learns that Min Joon-gook has the cops fooled so he can't relay on them for help so he believes that he'll have to take matters into his own hands. Let's just say that Soo-ha told a ton of people during the first half of the series that he was going to kill Min Joon-gook and this is something that he had every intention of doing at the time because he thought of his own life as already lost and was perfectly fine with throwing his future a way so that Hye-sung may live.

This series is one that has great characters that develop over the course of the series in ways that I felt were believable and it was a series that gave characters more depth than you would have expected from those type of characters and can make you feel for and understand people you'd rather you didn't. This series does a great job with the relationship between the characters as well rather it be the romantic couple or the mother-daughter relationship between Hye-sung and her mom each relationship is given importance and it adds something to the series as a whole. Both the acting and the writing in this series is fantastic and I think that if your only going to watch one K-drama in your life this should be the one because it's just really great. Please tell me your thoughts about the series in the comment section below because I think I could say a lot more about this series.

TV Review: Teen Wolf: The Beast of Beacon Hills(5.19)

                                   Teen Wolf: The Beast of Beacon Hills(5.19)Review

• I liked that Mason had a hard time accepting that he could possibly be the beast because that seems only natural that would be something that one would take awhile to accept.
• I liked that Cory made sure to keep Mason save from everyone who could try to hurt him but sadly by hiding him from Scott and the rest of the pack he made it easier for the dread doctors to find and take him.
• I liked that Josh refused to put on the mask to find out who the beast was because he didn't want to risk dying and the fact that both Theo and Tracy refused to put on the mask is something that makes him believe that it will kill him since they aren't willing to put it on.
• I liked that Lydia and the Sheriff worked together to stop Parrish from leaving town and convince him to stay and help them defeat the beast.
• I liked that even though Scott was injured he was still thinking about how they had to find Mason and figure out how to save him.
• I liked that after Malia told Stiles that her mom wants to kill him as well as her that he told her and Braeden that he should have a gun and when Braeden finally throw one to him he dropped and agreed that him having a gun is a bad idea.
• I liked that when Liam lost Mason scent that Hayden promised him that they would re-find his scent together.
• I liked that the McCall pack gathered together to come up with a plan on how to find Mason and I liked that when Liam nervously asked Scott what they were going to do once they found him that Scott answered save him.
• I liked that Scott figured out that Cory was in the room even though he was invisible and I liked that Cory told them that Mason was taken by the dread doctors and that he started working with them after that.
• I liked that Deucalion noticed that both Hayden and Cory have abandoned Theo's pack and I liked that Josh also almost abandoned Theo but I'm sad that he didn't leave before it was too late.
• I liked that it was revealed that Deucalion wasn't Theo's prisoner but only pretending to be one in order to gain Theo's trust.
• I liked that when Kira told her dad that she was going to get her sword put back together that he told her that this was a risk move for her since she has yet to learn balance and I also like that he said it was a risky move not to tell her mom about all of this.
• I was sad that Theo killed Josh in order to get his power but I'm not really surprised that he was willing to do so.
• I liked that when Scott and Liam went to Theo for help that Scott said that they were only doing so because they are desperate. I also liked that when Theo said they were on the same side now that Liam told him that he would punch him in the balls to remind him that they're not on the same side.
• I liked that when Theo said that what they both want is to find Mason that Scott pointed out that the difference was that Scott and his pack wants Mason back alive.
• I like that it seems like Tracy seems to be loosing a little bit of the confidence that she has in Theo.
• I liked that when the Sheriff asked if it was a good idea to be working with Theo that Stiles said that they weren't working with Theo they were using Theo and that they already assume that Theo is using them to.
• I liked that Malia told Lydia that she thinks that she should be the one looking after Stiles and making sure that he was safe.
• I liked that when Liam caught Mason's scent he was reluctant to tell Theo were it was because he knows that Theo wants to kill Mason but in the end he didn't have much of a choice if he wants to have a chance at saving Mason.
• I really enjoyed the long rambling voicemail that Kira left for Scott and I liked that she had to leave two of them.
• I liked that Mason could somewhat tell that he wasn't going to leave the dread doctors place as himself so he kept telling Liam and Scott to leave him so that they would be safe.
• I liked that when the dread doctors were calling Theo a failure and he was getting mad about this that Scott tried to calm Theo down since he could tell that this was all part of the dread doctors plan.
• I liked that the dread doctors called Theo an ordinary evil and that they said that they learn that the best way to get something truly evil is to corrupt something truly good.
• I'm worried about Malia being trapped inside the McCall house with her mother that wants to kill her.
• I'm worried about Kira since the skinwalkers have agreed to help her but they also warned her that their help comes at a price and I wonder what that price is.
• I'm really worried about Mason since the beast has taken over him and he seems to have been erased since the man who was the originally beast appeared instead of Mason when the beast disappeared.

Please tell me your thoughts on this episode.

Book Review: Traffick

                                                               Traffick Review

Traffick is by Ellen Hopkins and is the sequel to Tricks and it follows the same five characters as they deal with the fallout of the first book and try their best to recover and move forward with their lives which is easier said than done. Cody who's life hang in the balance at the end of the last book is alive but paralyzed from the waist down which is something that understandably makes him feel like things are hopeless and that everyone should just give up on him because maybe he deserves what he got. Ginger is in a sort of halfway house for teen girls forced into child sex trafficking while she waits for her grandmother to take her back home which will be considerably safer now that her mother can no longer work as a hooker since she's dying of HIV. Seth has now found a new man to be a kept man for but one that allows him more freedom and this time he's playing things safer than he was before and he's thinking about a future outside of sex work. Whitney is trying to beat her addiction to heroin as well as Bryan as she deals with the PTSD that she got from what Bryan put her through. Eden is staying and working at a safe haven for teens who got involved in sex work as well as deciding to contact the people from her life before and figuring out what to do about the people at the camp she was sent to.

This novel is one that I think was a very good and much needed sequel to Tricks since this book mainly dealt with getting out of and recovery from sex work which I think is something that people need to see is possible even if it's hard and sometimes dangerous to do. This book was still plenty gritty and raw like the first one was but it had a more optimistic feel then the first one because it shows that even if you went through Hell or you're damaged you can still find ways to move forward with your life in a positive way.

In this novel I found that the characters who's stories I was most invested in were Cody, Whitney and Seth. It surprised me a little bit who my favorites were in this book because in the first book Cody and Whitney annoyed me to no end but seeing them own up to their mistakes and struggle to move forward with their lives changed my opinions on them. Overall I really loved this novel and I would like to know what you thought of this novel or the first.

TV Review: How To Get Away With Murder: I Want You to Die(2.07)

                      How To Get Away With Murder: I Want You to Die(2.07)Review

• I find it interesting that in the flash forward that Connor and Michaela are leaving the Hapstall house to talk to someone about Annalise or something but seems unrelated to the reason why Wes and Laurel are there. I also find it interesting that Wes is the one that brought the gun that night.
• I was a bit surprised when Wes found Levi's gun because I had forgotten that Levi said that he stashed it there a few episodes ago.
• I liked that scenes of Annalise asking a student in her class about what known facts about Mother Thersea could make her look guilty intercut with scenes of Laurel, Connor, Michaela and Wes coming up with arguments about why the unknown Hapstall cousin is the real murderer of the Hapstall parents.
• I'm worried for Nate since it seems like he might be charged for helping his wife commit suicide.
• I like that Eve came back to help defend both Nate and Annalise for the charges that could come from Nate's wife's death.
• I was glad to learn that Asher's involvement with the gang rape is only that it happened at a party that he was throwing but I still understand why Bonnie doesn't want anything to do with him right now.
• The case that Annalise takes this episode is with a client that has been harassing a woman and the last three of her spouses until the most recent one committed suicide likely because of said harassment. Honestly I completely understand why the woman wants this man in jail because he is both creepy and delusional and very fixated on her.
• I liked that Wes considers making 85,000 dollars a year to be a lot and that Asher thinks it's cute that Wes thinks that because it shows how different their backgrounds are.
• I liked that Annalise made use of the fact that the victim was an alcoholic as a reason why he might've committed suicide and made the victim's wife confirm that in court for her.
• I found it a bit disturbing to listen to the victim's call to 911 right before he committed suicide where he says it's all because of him.
• I felt bad for Laurel when Annalise told her that she couldn't come up with her own ideas which isn't even true considering that she's the one that came up with the alcoholic angle earlier this episode.
• I was surprised to learn that Frank asked Oliver on his own to work on the hacking angle to figure out if the hapstall cousin was in town on the night of the Hapstall parents murders which he was. I liked that Connor was upset that Frank got Oliver more involved in things and I like that this anger clearly comes from a place of concern for Oliver's well being.
• I liked that Annalise and Eve fantasied about a life together away from everything that makes it too complicated for them to ever truly be together.
• I liked that Asher did originally want to help the girl rather than cover things up but in the end that's what his dad decided to do and he never did anything to make things better for her and I can understand that is reason enough for Bonnie to be mad at him.
• I liked that Oliver finds everything that seems to go on in the Keating house more interesting than his own job and that's a big part of the reason he's so willing to help even though Connor has been very clear about how he doesn't want him there because it he knows it's not safe for him.
• I liked that Michaela found out that there was DNA found at the Hapstall crime scene that didn't match anyone that lived or work in the house.
• I liked that Annalise actually thanked Oliver for all the work he has done for her despite not actually working for her and I like that Oliver said that she seems much nicer than Connor said she was.
• I liked that it looked like Even through Nate's case but that she actually has a plan to get him off but it would take more time to get the win.
• I liked that Laurel figured out that the DA and the woman who's husband had just died were sleeping together. I liked that this piece of information is what helps Annalise win her case.
• I liked that Annalise told her client that the woman he's obsessed with hates him, he has no chance with her and he's pathetic and she's done with him.
• I liked that Laurel pointed out that she's the one that keeps everyone else in the house in line so that Annalise doesn't have to and I like that Annalise tells her that she knows and that she doesn't pay much attention to Laurel because she knows she doesn't have to.
• I liked that Eve and Nate got the blood sample switched out somehow with the help of the nurse.
• I liked that Wes asked Even why she helps Annalise even though she can get in trouble for helping her and I like that Wes told Eve that he doesn't get a choice about whether or not he helps Annalise.
• I liked that Eve figured out that Wes was the one that really killed Sam and it seems like she has a connection with Wes that existed pre-show.
• I liked that when Oliver decided to lure the Hapstall cousin out using a dating website and used Connor's picture instead of his own that Connor told him to stop with the low self-esteem and got mad at him for him behaving so recklessly.
• I liked that Connor went along with the plan to legally get the Hapstall cousin DNA mainly to protect Oliver and I liked that even though Michaela and Frank thought the plan was good that Laurel clearly has her doubts and calls to tell Annalise about them although she doesn't answer.
• I felt really bad for Bonnie when she was confronting Annalise about how she had no right to show Asher what she did about Bonnie's childhood and I can understand why Bonnie wishes at this moment that Annalise would die because having that kind of secret revealed is terribly violating.
• I liked that Annalise told Frank to shut down the mission because it is a terrible idea.
• I'm really worried about Oliver since the Hapstall cousin snuck into his apartment.

TV Review: Falling for Innocence

                                                     Falling for Innocence Review

Falling for Innocence is a K-drama(Korean drama) about a ruthless businessman Kang Min-ho who is dead set on destroying his father's company that was stolen from his family shortly after his father's death and because of the actions of those who betrayed his father he ended up loosing both of his parents at a young age. Min-ho has made it so that his only purpose in life is to destroy that one company and he believes that everyone who is part of that company to be his enemy including a secretary named Kim Soon-jung.

Kim Soon-jung is a dedicated and good hearted secretary that has great love for the company that Min-ho is so determined to destroy, the primary reason why she sees the company as a force for good is because of the jobs it has given the factory works who she is close both because she went to school with many of the factory works children when she was young and because father of fiancé works there. At the beginning of the series Soon-jung is in a happy relationship with her fiancé Ma Dong-wook who is sadly killed a few episodes into the series.

A big part of the reason for Min-ho's ruthlessness is trying to destroy the company comes from the fact that he is dying of a heart condition and things start to change for his character when he gets a heart transplant fairly earlier on. After the heart transplant and spending more time with Soon-jung, Min-ho slowly starts to change his ways partially because he's no longer dying but mostly because of the influence that Soon-jung has on him that makes him want to be someone that she would actually like to spend time with.

The part of the series that I probably found most enjoyable was Min-ho and Soon-jung's relationship because it was one that developed gradually over time, it drove a lot of the plot and character development of the series and when they started getting along they were really cute together which is always fun to watch. One the things that was most enjoyable about the relationship was the fact that Min-ho didn't seem to understand what he was feeling at all and he act like an awkward dork whenever he was trying to impress Soon-jung because he was completely out of his element.

A big part of this series had to do with the business of trying to destroy or save the company with Min-Ho trying to destroy the company in the first half of the series before deciding to save the company in second half of the series and discovering that running a company is a lot harder than taking one down. For the later half the series Lee Joon-hee who is also a childhood friend of Soon-jung and a romantic rival is also a business rival for Min-ho who pays back to him what he had done to others in the past.

The character of Joon-hee is one that was a bit hard to figure out at first because he kept a lot of his true self hidden from everyone even his closest friends who have known him since he was in elementary school. Joon-hee is someone who is willing to do absolutely anything to get ahead and that is something that made him pretty dangerous but that is also one of the main reasons why Soon-jung would never even consider being with him, the other reason is of course that she's only ever seen him as a friend and no matter what he demands of her that's not going to change. There were times when I did feel bad for Joon-hee such as when it was revealed that he was always looked down upon because he comes from a low-class background but in the end he did too many bad things and showed pretty much no remorse so in the end he was a character I didn't really like but was well-written and important to the story.

Overall I thought that the story and writing were enjoyable although I did think that the romantic and comedic aspect of this drama worked better than the more dramatic elements that were involved in the business and police investigation storylines. I thought that the acting was overall pretty good if at times a bit over the top but I think it was suppose to be so I guess that's okay. In the end I enjoyed this drama mostly for the romantic bits and I would recommend even though I know it's not the best one out there it was still really fun and enjoyable. Please tell me your thoughts on this series.