Image result for the k2 poster

Title: The K2 더 케이투

Language: Korean

Episodes: 16

Release Date: September 23-November 12 2016

Starring: Ji Chang-Wook, Yoona, Song Yoon-A

If you are a Kdrama skeptic, or new to the genre, we highly recommend this drama. The show leans away from the cutesy romance and focuses heavily on its political plot and is filled with action scenes.

Watch our video for a quick version of our Reaction and Review

Synopsis

The plot follows the story of a former soldier (Kim Je-Ha) who is dishonorably discharged from the military. Wanted for committing a military crime, he is constantly in hiding and on the run, until he is caught at the wrong place and the wrong time and becomes a witness that needs to be eliminated. Je-Ha becomes involved with powerful political candidates for whom he becomes a bodyguard. Things become complicated when Je-Ha learns he is the body guard of the presidential candidate’s love child. He becomes conflicted when he struggles to understand whether he is safeguarding or holding the young woman hostage, especially after falling in love with her.

The Trailer

The Plot

I found the plot a little to politically heavy. Without an understanding of Korean government structure, it was difficult to follow what was going on and why certain developments were a big deal.

The politics got boring when the candidates continued to play a back and forth game, each trying to damaged their rival’s public appearance. While it made sense, it just got repetitive after a while.

However, I enjoyed the suspense and mystery aspect (though it was not as compelling as other dramas) as it kept you guessing.

The drama was full of action shots featuring Ji Chang Wook that was full of fantastic stunts. It was nice to see some fights that did not look pathetic (such as the PATHETIC fight between the boys at the amusement park in Accidentally in Love)

The Characters

Related image

http://en.yibada.com/articles/174864/20161122/girls-generation-yoona-k2-ji-chang-wook-recounts.htm

Kim Je-Ha: Great character development. We get a backstory early on in the drama which helps the viewer to get a good sense of his head space. Je-Ha is badass but cute, serious but funny, fighter but gentle, is suffering from PTSD.

Everything he does makes sense. His character is complex and interesting and while he embodies many contradictions- they all make sense. We know where he’s coming from, and we love him.

Image result for the k2 ko anna

http://www.juliaandtania.com/blog/?p=4368

Ko An-Na: Is not a believable character. She is incredibly weak and feeble, except in some rare moments where she shows courage and resourcefulness- but this is rare and only lasts a few minutes. Her character was not well thought through, not consistent and not really well acted. She didn’t deserve Je-Ha though we can see why he fell for her.

http://www.dramabeans.com/2016/10/the-k2-episode-11/

Choi Yoo-Jin: Is absolutely psychotic. Her character is overacted- her fits are overplayed and ridiculous. Just when the viewer starts to/ wants to respect her, she falls into her psycho personality (like she is schizophrenic or something) one can’t take her seriously. We liked her strong personality that although ruthless and selfish showed a strong woman. Taking this into consideration, we were extremely disappointed that she didn’t actually persue the one thing she wanted- Je-Ha – even though it would have complicated the plot and morally been wrong, she should have expressed her desires.

Overall

I enjoyed the show, and it was really refreshing to get away from the cutesy, cliche packed, over sweet dramas.

I have to compare this drama to Healer, since they are in the same genre and have the same leading actor (Ji Chang-Wook).

While I strongly prefer the character of Je-Ha to that of Healer’s, I found the plot and supporting cast more compelling in Healer.

This Drama makes it to my top 5, but is a FAR cry from top 3 due to its weak characters and plot.

What do you think of The K2?

Do you disagree with our review?

What is your favorite Kdrama with Ji Chang-Wook?

let us know in the comments below! We’d love to hear from you!

How Did It Start?

If we are completely honest, we once started watching a drama at 3am. We can’t remember what it was, but we do remember being unable to get through the first episode.

After this random introduction, we had no interest in exploring the genre any further. ever.

But a prank war with our housemates would turn this all around.

For efficiency’s sake, there was one housemate who payed for the Netflix and in order to get back at us, he did the most annoying thing ever: he put a parental lock on our Netflix account.

That was when we decided to turn the tables and absolutely ruin the settings on his personal account. We demolished his suggestions and currently watching lists by running children’s programs in the background while we studied. Barbie’s Dreamhouse, Peppa Pig, you name it. As we scrolled through, we noticed an Asian drama section and noting the incredibly cheesy titles and thumbnails, turned them on.

and this is where we got hooked. Before we knew it, our laptops screensavers were shining back at us- but we didn’t notice, cause our eyes were fixed on the TV.

Our First Drama

YUP! we had fallen right into our own trap. We accidentally fell right into the genre and have to this day, never recovered.

So what was it that caught our attention?

The South Korean Drama Noble My Love staring Sung Hoon and Kim Jae-kyung.

https://www.koreandrama.org/noble-my-love/

You can watch the trailer here:

Pretty cheesy right?

Why Did We Watch It?

So if we thought it was so cheesy, why on earthy did we watch it?

Short Episodes

One definite perk to this TV show is its length. With 15 minute episodes, we had watched several before we could decide whether we liked it or not.

We were slowly drawn into the drama with the many cliffhangers- just when we were starting to get interested, the episode would end which quickly prompted us to continue watching.

We felt less guilty since time was going by slowly- by increments of 15 minutes- and suddenly before we knew it, our afternoon was gone, and we had binged the entire thing.

New Experience

Noble My Love gave us a peak into a new culture which is different from our own.

The style of the show, its plot and filming- even the kdrama cliches (which we all know too well) were new to us and we were fascinated.

While Noble My Love is definately not the best drama out there, we’ve got to give it credit of its own OST sung by Sung Hoon.

Tag: drama fever

Drama Drop: The K2 Review 더 케이투