The K2 (2016)

Personally enjoyable but very bad elements

If someone were to ask me if I enjoyed The K2 - I would emphatically say YES .Unreservedly. Here's why :

1.Great fight scenes
2.Great political angst and villainy
3.Great supporting cast
4.Great intrigue and conspiracy
5. Great melodrama

Wars in the Middle East , espionage , fighting , commentary on AI and surveillance plus political puppets really made The K2 so interesting in a tenacious way. It really tried its darnedest to adhere to the 5 values I stated above . Moreover , the villain Choi Yoo Jin was incredibly exceptionally portrayed and her story arc was super enduring.Including her husband.

So why the 7.5 and not an emphatic 9 ? Here's why :

1. Weak male and female leads ( Ji Chang Wook and Im Yoon Ah)
2.Gormless romance
3. Not taking advantage of opportunities for an enduring story line
4. The character of Annan and her presentation was so UNNECESSARY
5. Loose story weaving

Not gonna sugar coat it but Ji Chang Wook and his insufferable inability to be comedically on point was terribly off putting . He did not do any justice to his character and everything of his just had off timing especially the comedic elements inserted into his character.

Im Yoon Ah was actually more insufferable to be fair , however , I will not persecute her too much because her character was ill conceived and written terribly . The K2 could have really saved itself if it focused on the bodyguard element decisively which is to say that there was no need for a romantic interest in the form of Anna and perhaps she should have been a child that he protects and have more of a ''hyung/brother'' element instead of a romance because THAT was disgustingly flat.

This now brings me to my point of ''loose story weaving.'' Why have romantic tensions between the male lead and the female villain only for it to culminate to nothing? Viewers did not deserve such possibly exciting ambiguity only for it to be thrown out. There are many other instances of loose story weaving but I will be spoiling.

The music was unremarkable and so is the rewatch value and quite possibly , this should score a 6.5 at best but I really enjoyed it and consider it to be a gem despite its flaws and all..

This drama is testament to a mantra I personally subscribe to and that is '' a drama does not have to be good in order for it to be good."

I highly recommend !

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I knew I had to review this drama after I had finished it, but boy has it taken me some time to collect my thoughts and do so. None-the-less here it is in all of it’s glory, and I hope you found this somewhat helpful.

This drama was my literal everything after I had completed it. I had such high expectations for action dramas afterwards that none of them satisfied my craving for something that was like The K2. Now, a lot of people say that they were really disappointed in the drama, and lost interest but I don’t understand how. I binge watched the crap out of this, and finished the drama within the span of 3 days because that’s how invested I was. Every episode left me wanting more, and this is the true definition of an action drama. There was constant back to back action which is something you don’t typically see in Korean dramas, and the scenes were so well executed that it was hard to believe that you weren’t watching a normal action based American film (like Captain America, Kingsman, etc. you get my gist).

1. Story
Politics plays a pretty major role in this drama, and is the main focal point of it. I guess the right genre for this would be a political action. Although, it can be a pretty boring subject to cover, if you add in the whole backstabbing and scheming, it’s not all that bad. Now, most political based dramas share one thing in common and it’s the whole backstabbing and running for presidency kind of thing. The dad’s are usually class A a-holes, and the kids are really messed up. This drama followed that exact stereotype, but because there was a lot of action involved it made the whole concept more interesting to watch and follow.

I will say though, there were scenes that were really overplayed and at one point I was really sick and tired of Yoona’s character Anna. Something about the whole denial, and continuous screaming got to me and I was frustrated to the point of wanting to punch a wall. Of course it got better as we progressed, but it would’ve been nicer to see her character catch on and develop at the same pace as the others, although it could be the negative side affects of PTSD I suppose.

Overall the story wasn’t all that bad as people make it out to be, but it also has to do with perspective. Personally speaking I really enjoyed the way the story was played out, and found it to be quite interesting. There was a lot of action, and the way in which the characters developed left me very happy. I got to see the majority of them grow, and I got to watch some comedy unfold in this intense drama as well which was a plus. If you’re looking for something that’ll fill that craving for a good action film then watch this, if not then I would still give it a try just to see but I know a lot of people ended up not liking this drama.

2. Acting/Cast
The casting for this drama was perfect! There are 4 main characters that we focus on, and each of them executed their role perfectly. Everyone did an amazing job at bringing the characters to life, and I would like to give a round of applause to Ji Chang Wook. The fact that he practically did all of his stunts by himself is absolutely amazing! I can’t even describe the amount of awe I’m in because of it. Also, watch out for Song Yoon Ah because she completely blew me away with her acting in this drama. I cried so many times because of her, and I felt so many emotions because of her which made this drama an emotional rollercoaster. The feelings that you get for her character through this drama is amazing, I can’t even put it to words. Her character had so many layers that it was insane, and she was by far my most favorite “villain”.

3. Music
The soundtrack was great in my opinion. The songs fit each scene perfectly, and I’ve even added them into my drama soundtrack playlist because I really enjoyed them. Most dramas have songs that aren’t really rememberable, but I feel like the soundtrack for this was different. I thoroughly enjoyed each song, and the song that they used for the action scenes has got to be my favorite. It was the perfect fit, and I recommend checking out the soundtrack if you haven’t already.

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This drama is a master piece.  The STORY was a heart breaking one.  At some points,  it will make you sad,  others mad and even angry.  This drama will give you a lot of strong emotions.  Nevertheless, this drama is not for everyone.  It depends on your personality and taste. There's a lot of political issues,  family issues and people with mental disorders, this show is sensitive with the things that appear and say on it.  So be aware of that. 

The ACTING was incredible amazing.  But the one who did the best was the villain (Song Yoon-Ah)  best known in the series as Choi Yoo-Jin,  a cold and heartless woman but beautiful in the inside. She was the best character in the whole series. Lee Jung-Jin,  better know as Chairman Choi was incredible amazing too.  Ji Chang Wook did a beautiful job despite of Yoona's character,  my less favorite.  Don't get me wrong,  I did love some things about her,  and I can relate to her in some cases but I wish she was able to do more instead of crying and letting others lie to her.    

The music is OKAY and it goes with the story.   When it comes to rewatch value,  it all depends on the person,  I love this series but I won't probably watch it again because I'm not the type of person who repeats series, but maybe in ten years it would be the perfect time. It depends on the person. 

Overall: 10 stars.  It deserves it for being sucy a great drama and amazing acting.  Give it a try. 

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Love Action Thriller, With Really A Real Definition Of Handsome & Manly Male Lead? K2 is for you!!

I personally didn't watch this drama for months just watching it's trailer or some short videos of it on YouTube.
But I wasn't able to move on from Healer, So I decided to give it a chance, and then fell totally in love with JeChangWook's action/thriller genre of acting.. Since then, I only watched "kill it", Vincenzo and "My Name" to be coming near to it's standards...Don't listen to the Trashy comments up there I am already disappointed a lot in people's taste when it comes to overhyping stupid romcoms and lovey-doveys, sugar-boys etc. etc... If you want some sweet love.. go watch "True Beauty", "Revenge Note" ,"Suspicious Partner", "Backstreet Rookie", "Love020", "King's Avatar" … These are all under-rated but deserved to be on top of list followed by action/thriller genre K2, Healer, Vincenzo, Kill It, Zombie Detective, Fabricated City(Movie) etc...
Since topic was K2, It's totally yes drama, Worth Watching with cool dashy scenes, if you ask a 21 year old how he feels about it, It's a one in a 100 dramas! Don't worry I am not among those people who just watch everything in blind queue.. I have keen thirst for Well-Made, Well-Directed, Well-Acted Dramas.. Hope this helps!

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i thought that this drama was all about killing and spy and action so i didnt watch it but one of my friend told me to watch just the first episode and see if i like it i watched it and i was so suprised by how good it was this drama was so good i do highly recommend watching it and i really like the actors ji chang wook and yoona their acting is so good yoona was so into the character i give this drama a 10 on everything i cant really describe how good it is i really ship ji chang wook and yoona
you can watch it on kissasian, ondramanice, dramacool and alot other websites.

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OK, so I'm late getting in this review. I seen this I believe sometime last year and never got around to writing a review for it.

I'm being generous with my scores because this drama was all over the place. The fight scenes were awesome but the plot as I mentioned was truly all over the place.

The ML couldn't figure out if he was for or against the main FL which had me scratching my head a few times.

The second FL-Anna-was annoying as f****!!! Oh...my...friggin'....gosh she cried too doggone much for me. OMG!!! I don't know how she had the stamina to shed that many tears in every episode!!! This was one of the Korean dramas that started turning me off as far as cliche romances are concerned. Ugh...it became lovey dovey real quick and I'm no longer a hopeless romantic teenage girl!!!

There was one scene in particular that had me rewinding over and over and I'm pretty sure people who seen this drama know what I'm talking about. It was the epitome of the whole series but again, it shifted to 'is he for' or 'is he against'.

In the end it led me to wanting to watch other action Kdramas sans the romance.

Since the male lead will no longer be fighting in anything else he'll be playing in I had to move on to other awesome fighting Korean actors.

I would rewatch this but all that crying left me seething.

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The best Korean Thriller

I absolutely love K2. From the action scenes to romance to politics. The opening is intense. Martial arts fighting scenes are awesome. Like Korean Version of John Wick! Ji Chang Wook is always the best , most handsome, best acting , so great at all stunts he did himself! What a talent. JCW character is adorable, he is brave and kind , tough and loving and giving, smart and cunning ! The FL is playing her role exceptionally well. Their chemistry is so sweet and just beautiful each moment they are together. The story is bitter and sweet , very interesting, despite many sad moments. Acting is top class across the board from main to supporting characters. Music is amazing. I love the music so much that I bought the full OST to add to my favourite play list. However, the best take away message from K2 is that this drama revealed the ugly truth of the dark force and deep state power that manipulates each and every single aspect of the government, not only in a particular country but perhaps across the world. If we pay attention we will find all lies and schemes they play to control people and nation , election is an example. Like it’s stated in the show ; they create wars , they sell weapons to both sides , they finance both sides of the war . It is a very brave and truthful message that K2 has successfully delivered. Well done and Thank you for your great work making this wonderful K2

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This drama is inevitably going to be compared to Healer. Similar plot setup with the same lead actor playing a character living outside the law, highly trained in the art of fighting and espionage, finding himself wrapped up in a massive conspiracy centered around a traumatized young woman, etc. etc. etc. There’s obviously a lot there to compare.

But the #1 complaint about this drama I heard the most from other viewers was about who the male lead chose to be with. By and large, everyone liked the idea of a passionate (albeit reckless) romance between Jae Ha and Yoo Jin and utterly disdained the pairing of Jae Ha and Anna. They loved how meaty and well-written Yoo Jin is (not to mention the strong chemistry she has with Jae Ha) while they hated Anna passionately, how innocent and helpless she was, how she wasn’t a ‘strong female lead’, how the relationship between Jae Ha and Anna was tame and boring, so on and so forth. The consensus seemed to be pretty unanimous.

But these complaints sounded like quibbles rather than drama-breaking issues to me, so I dismissed them. I don’t consider innocence a character flaw, I don’t automatically consider helplessness a character flaw, and I quite enjoy my sweet and innocent romances, thank you very much. On top of that, I wasn’t seeing any of these critiques going any further and really examining why Anna was supposedly such a poorly written and acted character, just that she didn’t fit everyone else’s personal preferences for a female lead.

I now have to admit that I was wrong to dismiss everyone's critiques so quickly

Having now seen a sizable portion of the drama, I understand the criticisms, and even have to agree with them somewhat. Yoo Jin is simply a much better character. She has personality presence, the actress does an amazing job making her interesting and intriguing and impossible to look away from, and yes, she has crazy good chemistry with Jae Ha.

But she’s also a terrible person, and there's no getting around that.

She's manipulative and selfish, willing to hurt others for what she wants; she uses Anna as a pawn, keeping her separated from her father basically her entire life, more than happy to make her life miserable and allow her to believe she's not loved or wanted, probably even willing to drive Anna to losing her mind. Yoo Jin is a b****. She may be a fascinating, intriguing, mesmerizing b****, but she's still a b****, and I don't stan that sort of romantic relationship.

Unfortunately, Anna is not a good character, and there's very little about her that will make most viewers root for her relationship with Jae Ha. It's not that she's so terribly written. She certainly could have been beefed up a bit more once you really got into the story, but a good actress would have been able to make the character work and even feel sympathetic and interesting to the audience. But, and I'm sorry to crush any biases here, Im Yoon Ah is a terrible actress. She has her moments, but every time she speaks in sentences longer than 2-3 words, it's a cringefest. And that's why everyone wanted Jae Ha with Yoo Jin. Not because Yoo Jin was worthy of his love, but because she's a better character.

For my part, I did still want Jae Ha and Anna together as I quite liked their innocent romance, and I like stories with knights in shining armor, and Jae Ha very much is one. But as you can see by the dropped tag in this review, their romance was obviously not enough to keep me watching, and that's due to the other major complaint people have had about this drama.

The story is all flash and no substance.

The first few episodes provide great set up with a clear trajectory. We’re treated to a number of impressive fight scenes early on that really wet your appetite for more. But that's where the compliments end. The fight scenes become fairly generic 6 or so episodes in, and it quickly becomes obvious that there's very little story to back them up. Yoo Jin's complex character motivations and Jae Ha's innate bad-a**ness and their obvious chemistry become the only things in the drama giving it reason or purpose. Even poor Anna's complicated and sad relationship with her father doesn't inspire you to feel much.

Ultimately, the drama set itself up for success before finding itself floundering in it's own story.

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Worst thing I’ve ever watched in my life

(SPOILERS. AND RANT AHEAD)

This show is forcing us to sympathise with a mistress who knowingly fucked and dated a high-profile married man, and their secret daughter who grew up despising said married man’s legal wife. The show is also forcing us to hate and see the villain in an ambitious woman who’s just trying to survive day by day being married to a fucking lecher who thinks with his dick, a disgusting old pervert who fucked every single young woman within a 2 meter radius, all while regretting her past choices that led her into marrying this man.

It’s fucking horrible. Stopped watching midway thru ep 12 bc I can’t fucking stand the world treating Anna like the second coming of Christ.

I’m gonna talk about the good parts first. Choi Yoojin is a decent character with a solid backstory and interesting personality. I understood her motivations behind what she does.

That’s it; that’s the only redeeming part of the story. Hence the 2 rating on the acting part instead of 1.

The rest is horseshit.

Anna is the most annoying FL in any kdrama I’ve ever seen in my entire life. She doesn’t have agency, doesn’t have a personality, exists only to cry her lungs out and make me suffer. Good lord I fucking despise her. She doesn’t have any single lovable trait. She’s a plain whiny bitch with zero intelligence and a knack of getting into trouble. Like, cmon girl, your mom was a literal MISTRESS, she fucked your dad and dated him fully knowing that he was a married man, and you still have the nerve to worship her to kingdom come??? Why do you despise Choi Yoojin but not your own dad?? Your own fucking dad was the one who cheated on his wife with another woman, and ended up having a kid with that woman through an illicit affair, oh right, YOU are that kid, and YOUR MOM was the mistress. For fuck’s sake I’m sick of her acting all high and mighty, believing her mom deserved everything in the world including her dad and getting batshit crazy over her dad’s legal wife (Choi Yoojin) despising her husband’s mistress. Like, no. Instead of Choi Yoojin, go hate on your dad. Your dad’s a fucking asshole and deserve to die. Get the fuck outta here.

The writers made Jeha and Anna the protagonists, and Choi Yoojin the villain. But no. With how poorly and horribly written this shitshow of a kdrama was, Choi Yoojin became the sole protagonist. Her story touched me in the ways Anna ‘s can’t ever possibly compare. The writers failed so horribly they made me DESPISE Anna instead. I repeat, Anna has no single likeable trait: she’s full of rage and contempt, her entire existence she wasted on despising Choi Yoojin and trying to get revenge on her, and being the stupidest little shit on the planet.

Weirdest romance ever between Anna and Jeha, absolutely zero buildup, zero chemistry, zero feelings. It makes zero sense. I cringe at every second of their romance on screen. It personally hurt my eyes and my brain. I feel like I lost 30% of my intelligence seeing them with each other. Laziest fucking writing ever.

Choi Yoojin’s husband. Idk that son of a bitch’s name. He’s a fucking disgusting human being. As i stated before, a lecher, an old pervert, a disgusting piece of shit who tricked Yoojin into marrying him just so he could take her money to become a politician, only to end up cheating on her left and right sticking his dick in anything that moves. Also, that piece of shit had a kid with his mistress, and proceeded to mock his wife’s apparent infertility. But no, the writers are trying to make us sympathise with him only because it seems like he loves his poor little daughter Anna very much. Yeah, no, fuck that, he and Anna can both get the fuck out and die.

The dialogues in this drama are fucking boring and take AGES to finish with barely any substance on it. Fight scenes are corny as hell — definitely made very very VERY long and dramatic, overcompensating for the lack of plot. The characters make very questionable choices, and it’s soooooo unrealistic like come the fuck on. Cba to list all of them but believe me when I say it’s fucking horrible.

Choi Yoojin died in this drama, I saw the comments even tho i dropped this drama before i could get to that scene. Fuck that shit right? How is she the villain when Anna is disgusting enough to be one?

In other words, fuck this drama. Fuck Yoojin’s husband in particular, worst character. Fuck Anna for being a gross bitch. Fuck Anna’s mom for being an entitled bitch even tho she’s just a fucking mistress lmao. Fuck the general public for worshipping Anna’s ass for practically.......NOTHING. Idk maybe fuck Jeha too for having a humongous saviour complex which makes him only able to get attracted to women who need him, women who must be protected at all costs. Choi Yoojin is the only character that matters, and the writers killed her off. Fuck that. Choi Yoojin supremacy.

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It’s a bad sign when I’m laughing at the wrong things, like the leading lady running duck-footed in her nightie through the streets of Barcelona demented Wee Willie Winkie-style, past a score of oblivious Spaniards. And WHERE do they find all of those non-Korean actors? Is there a special bad acting school for foreigners that rents actors out for free? Ji Chang Wook’s character is a shade too similar to his role in the Healer to make me think that I’m watching something new and interesting. I might continue to watch if there were a chance that Mr. Healer 2.0 character and Evil Witch might end up falling for each other, which would at least be fun to see. But I assume that he and Wee Willie Winkie are destined for each other. My primary beef with most Korean dramas is that the romance is too conventional and predictable and I’m afraid that this drama will follow the same trajectory. I wonder whether better actors could have redeemed the show. But then I remember inane scenes such as Dancing With Ramen and realize that there is no excuse for this drama.

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