Heartless City; 20 episode KTV drama from 2013. It can mostly be described as a crime-drama love story told via typical Korean melodramatic means.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
Story: A female detective is killed while tracking a drug cartel. This detective's partner/fiancé, along with her younger sister, vow to destroy the cartel and avenge her death. Along the way, the partner/fiancé uncovers a complex web of corruption within the police force, and the younger sister has conflicting feelings for the crime boss she's sent to get closer to on an undercover mission.
This show is appropriately named, as there are a considerable amount of darker themes that permeate the entire proceedings; prostitution, drugs, murder, rape, and general violence & despair are rampant. I can't recall what its recommended age rating was, but this show is clearly not for someone too young to be watching. So, some "viewer discretion" is probably in order here. It is a K-drama though, so don't expect too much gore or any nudity.
There are a lot of characters to be introduced and fleshed out in this show, so you'll have to pay attention. The show plays more like an ensemble piece compared to the standard format for Korean TV. As the show begins, you're introduced to the main players on both the law & criminal element sides; basically, they consist of the crime task force leader and his fiancé detective, the main crime boss, a hostess bar owner, and a few other characters of varying significance.
The detective's younger sister is soon thrust into the limelight as well. She too is part of this ensemble cast, but it takes a while before she even becomes an integral figure. She is rushed into the proceedings haphazardly though once called upon; she goes from aimless part time convenience store worker, to police academy prospect, to undercover agent, seemingly in the matter of a few days. This character is completely unprepared and ill-suited for this task, and it seems rather absurd that sister's fiancé/main task force leader would want, or allow, her to do this. Nevertheless, off she goes to seek justice, and/or become too enamored with the people she meets in the underworld, and/or fall in love with crime boss that may or may not have murdered her loved ones. Follow along to see how it all plays out for her and everyone else involved from there.
This show does some things really well, and others not so much. The writers did a real nice job with the detective and younger sister plot point in regards to story building, and a lot of K-dramas could learn a thing or two regarding how to implement this scenario from Heartless City. Basically, the detective/older sister (SUPER SPOILERS) is killed and the younger sister takes her place. However, the detective/older sister is the main character on this show for a number of episodes, as opposed to the usual approach of a character who gets a brief 10 minute intro &/or whose story is told solely via flashbacks. You actually get to know this character before she's unexpectedly killed, so it's much easier for the viewer to sympathize & identify with the motives of the loved ones she's left behind going forward. Additionally, the ensemble storytelling approach was a welcome change from the standard format, and so too was the way the "love story" between the young sister and crime boss played out in an unusually reserved method I was not anticipating. Plus, (SPOILERS AGAIN) multiple important characters actually die on this show, and that's a good thing, because if there's no risk to any of the characters in a story like this, there's no tension or suspense either.
On the down side, this story is much more convoluted than is necessary. There's a wealth of characters that aren't who they seem to be and/or change sides & allegiances throughout. Additionally, the action and fight choreography scenes often leave a lot to be desired. This is a KTV drama show though, so you can't regularly expect too much from this department (i.e. there's lots of "cap guns" and "people flailing around" type of action). Production values are mostly adequate, but just barely. It's a nominal K-drama shot on the fly with a sparse budget, so they do the best they can with the limited resources at hand.
Writing is sometimes hit & miss, but it's mostly above average concerning both dialogue and storytelling, particularly when considering the time constraints inherent to this genre. And the director and production crew keep the show moving along at a nice clip. The acting is mostly satisfactory, but that's about as far as I'm willing to give praise in regards to this department. There's no real current star power involved and no one was worthy of any awards. There are a couple of recognizable faces, and a few decent performances, but the cast is rife with a few fading stars and some young &/or middling actors trying to improve upon their craft, breakout, &/or just make a living. I'm not going to insult anyone involved in particular because they most all got the job done, but some performances were clearly better than others.
Summary: I am going to recommend this show if you're old enough and looking for a somewhat grittier K-drama that's often quite sad. It's certainly not without problems and could have been better, but given the 20-episode block it had to fill with a crime/action/love story KTV melodrama, it ain't half bad. All in all, it's fairly effective for what it's trying to accomplish in this genre. As usual though with many K-dramas, you'll have to take the good with the not that good and overlook a few flaws here and there to enjoy it.
Bottom Line: A respectable 7 out of 10 stars on the K-drama scale.
