The K2

The K2: A Missed Opportunity That Fumbled Its Potential Due to One Character's Existence...

***Major Spoilers***

I try to give thorough reviews, normally of higher quality and good writing/pacing, but this will be a more scattered review. I just want to start by saying I watched it for the first time and I have to say, this show aged too poorly. Korean production has significantly improved in recent years, both in terms of quality and narrative depth. Society has developed in a different direction with its portrayals. So now, watching in 2024 (and as an adult) I have to say that the drama shows its age. This wasn't an enjoyable watch due to the poor plotline, the ridiculous level of disbelief I'm expected to suspend, and outdated character portrayals. What started as a strong political thriller quickly devolved into a frustratingly poor viewing experience.
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A Promising Start That Went Off the Rails

Like many others, I feel that this show was a missed opportunity. This show started out soo good. It truly had so much potential—an action-packed story centered on a framed mercenary navigating political intrigue while battling his own trauma. This premise alone could have carried the entire series. Sadly, the writers derailed this promising narrative by forcing a romance that felt unnecessary and contrived. The transition from gripping political drama to sappy love story was jarring and destroyed the show’s cohesion. From that point the romance was introduced and on, everything in the show became little more than a stepping stone to prop up the most forced romance known to man. So many interesting side characters that likely got their content cut due to the heavy focus on the needless romance that the show could have gone without.
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The Utterly Needless and Forced Romance

The romance between K2 and Anna was one of the most forced I’ve ever seen -- actually, I have to say if my memory serves me right... the WORST I've seen. I'm not being hyperbolic. I have been watching dramas since I was 10, so it's been 16 years now. And in all my time, this has been the most forced. I’m supposed to believe K2 started falling for Anna because she danced with ramen and looked 'pure'? Really? 😂 Give me a break. Watching K2 gush about her while he basically creeped on her through the camera felt more like a blooper and Ji Chang Wook playing himself rather than his character. I think he's a good actor and in that moment, I doubted his skills and thought maybe he isn't so great. I know he is, but those scenes really did him no favors as his lines did seem adlibbed there. Perhaps people think I am nitpicking but I disagree, the show took itself seriously, it wasn't meant to be silly and unserious so such a moment can't really be excused. Moments of comedy do not equal complete lapses of character. Even if you ignore the ridiculousness of that, it's still ridiculous. It was meant to be cute that he made the ramen for her, honestly it was all kind of creepy, voyeuristic and one sided. I get it was his job, but what separates him from stalkers that "bond" with their targets by watching them? If Ji Chang wasn't a hottie it'd honestly be creepy and disturbing, and she should not have any good memories of him at that point. But nevertheless, it was a ridiculous scene that showed his reasons for falling for her were so forced and contrived. Someone argued there's more bonding that happens offscreen, and that time is just likely condensed...fine, and I agree with that. But then don't expect the audience to buy the romance that you failed to sell. That goes for the bodyguard romance too. They all seemed to come out of nowhere. I know the writers are capable, because they portrayed Choi's feelings just fine. Yet they completely failed to sell me on the relationship between the two leads due to the lack of (and delayed) screen time Anna got with him. When you have to show a moment of bonding as a flashback that was an ad for Subway that never even happened onscreen, you've completely failed! I can't blame Anna's actor for this but the writers and maybe editing choices if this footage was cut out or they created too many scenes to cram into the show.
Ignoring the forced weirdness of the romance, the pacing of their relationship was horrible. For a man haunted by the trauma of watching his RECENTLY BETROTHED die before his eyes—a trauma that supposedly defines him and drives his revenge, his reason to wake up in the morning!—he sure moved on quickly. Other than a fleeting nightmare scene and a conversation on the roof, his grief and guilt are barely even paid any mind, making his sudden infatuation with Anna feel wildly inconsistent. This man is willing to live his life for the sole purpose of revenge, no way he should be moving on happily and NOT wary of getting close to people again.

The romance wasn’t just forced—it actively undermined the story and other characters. K2, a supposed ingenious mercenary capable of evading international authorities, suddenly devolves into a fool who makes reckless choices for Anna. He also survives and fights through mortal wounds somehow in order to save her. And Anna is the epitome of a plot-device damsel in distress. Watching her get kidnapped over and over again was both predictable and exhausting. And the incnsistencies in his character due to her existence in the story -- they say he's the guy who can't pull the trigger to kill and yet is fine pulling the trigger (or knife) to harm sometimes or indirectly be the reason for someone's death (the very end scenes, and pulling off some guy's poison gas mask). His character went from bada*s to complete simp that acted senselessly and completely lost interest in getting revenge for the death of his loved one. This all happens due to Anna's existence in the story.

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Anna’s Weak Character

What gets me is the people defending this poor writing by saying it's expected that a girl hidden away from the world is naive. Obviously I don't expect a girl in her circumstances to NOT be naive and weak, or to fight against trained operatives. But just bc it makes sense for her to be weak doesn't make for a fun viewing experience for the audience. Watching this is the same reason why we don't want to watch characters sleeping, taking their transport home, going to the bathroom and all the dull yet realistic things between scenes. None of those things are particularly fun to see on screen. Her portrayal as a helpless damsel dragged down the more interesting parts of the plot. It's not a fun watch but it's also not fair to a character, because she only exists for the sake of showing how great K2 is. It's problematic and the worthless damsel in distress is a painful watch in 2024. I recognize this is hindsight, but I'm finding old comments from when this show first aired of people making the same complaints. It seemed outdated then so it's definitely outdated now.

But worse, her character wasn’t even consistent. I'll bite and accept that excuse, but then you'd better have a good explanation for why a girl with a panic disorder who's been locked away from the world suddenly has great social skills and is giving speeches in front of crowds and at fashion shows filmed for the world to see! If we are chalking her portrayal up to her naivete then it's all or nothing, and this must be criticized as well. She is only a useless damsel when the plot needs her to be. If we are speaking of realism, she probably wouldn't even be able to step outside. Someone essentially imprisoned and isolated since childhood would have severe mental impairment that affects their ability to function normally, learn normally, or even communicate with words...she'd be unable to take care of herself let alone deal with a crowd. if we are speaking of realism, this entire show wouldn't exist as Anna would be mentally fried. You can't pick and choose when to use the realism argument. If we’re leaning on realism to defend her weaknesses, then we should also critique the lack of realism in her sudden competence (and everyone else's subsequent incompetence to give her plot armor.)

Anna’s arc was supposed to be about reclaiming her agency, but we never saw her actually overcoming anything. We never saw her overcome her phobias, or even what happened in that random one-day addiction on anxiety pills. We never saw the conclusion or any closure with the dude who ended up killing her mom. We never saw her character really grow or develop. She was static in the end, despite clearly the writers wanting to portray her as having grown. To the very end, it was K2 doing everything and never her taking fate into her own hands. We never really saw her bond with anyone to the point where her care for them made sense. Like the female bodyguard who spent years talking badly about her, and the "uncle" who she completely trusts for no reason in favor of K2 in a frustrating sequence of events. Perhaps they filmed too much and had to cram, but I have doubt it when in later episodes, they were desperately padding out runtime with long flashbacks of previous episodes. Poor plotting, plain and simple. She drags the rest of the plot down with her as it becomes about saving her over anything else.
A moment fresh for me where this really sticks out is the ending deaths of her father and Choi (not to mention the poor writing to allow the utter foolishness of even bringing Anna there around her "Uncle" and turning their backs to an enemy without subduing him). Characters seem to survive fatal gunshots, the father and Choi could have escaped at the end with Choi able to survive with medical attention. When he put the bomb inside the glass, Choi told him to save himself. But since he already gave the heroic dad speech, even though he had time to spare and get back, he was like..nahhh ima just die here it'd be awk to go back now after I sounded like a cool dad. He decided to stay and die for no reason. He also could have carried Choi and saved them both, and she could have still commanded Mirror to close the glass. What a silly scene with preventable deaths that only happened for the sake of poeticism and plot. I understand the way it wraps their characters up but the writing was poor and didn't convince me that the father and Choi Yoo-Jin's choices here were really any redemption or sacrifice. They were needless deaths, them dying served no sacrifice because they could have escaped with their lives as well and it wouldn't have changed anything. So it, in my opinion, failed to have any narrative payoff or redemption that these characters deserved.

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Choi Yoo-jin: The Star of the Show

In contrast to my critiques, Choi Yoo-jin was an absolute powerhouse. I ONLY, ONLY watched this show really for her. I arrived for Ji Chang but left for Song Yoon. The actress...WOW. Just WOW. Not only was her acting beyond just..AMAZING, but I do have to give it to the writers for creating such a character. I don't consider her a villain but she's the top of my list as favorite kdrama "villain" ever, and one of the best characters overall I've come across. What a beautiful character. Her duality as a ruthless political player and a deeply human character made her the most compelling figure in the series. The tension between her and K2 was far more interesting than anything involving Anna. Some folks might get mad that people liked the romantic tension between Choi and K2, but the show itself is to blame for setting it up. Anna wasn’t introduced until much later, and the original focus was on Choi and K2’s dynamic. Naturally, the audience will become invested based on when and HOW characters are showni. If the director wanted to be more balanced with character's liking Anna, then it was their total failure because checkov's gun is one of the most basic rules of cinema. I see people fussing in comments, but blame the director for the mixed signals, not the audience who only take in what they are shown.

But regardless, even without the romantic tension, Choi Yoo-jin carried the show. Her complexity, ambition, and vulnerability were brilliantly portrayed, making her a character you couldn’t take your eyes off. Her moral ambiguity—doing whatever it takes to survive in a cutthroat world—was more realistic and relatable than Anna’s one-dimensional purity. People who dismiss Choi as a villain probably view the world with tinted glasses that they are the heroes of their own story. But human beings are morally gray; they operate under moral ambiguity and have justifications for their behaviors all the same. Choi often saw herself as a victim. Now, I don't think her having people killed that are trying to kill her makes her a villain, but her using others and targeting innocents isn't okay. My point isn't to glamorize her actions but to point out that it isn't so simple to see her as some wicked villain. (And the comments that sound like this tend to be from younger viewers/ e.g. minors) The context of the world she has been brought up in of corruption and betrayal shouldn't be understated. Her character is a beautiful study on human nature and all its complexities. But yeah I found this character carried the show.

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Conclusion

The K2 might have been groundbreaking in its time, but watching it in 2024 highlights how poorly it has aged. Its outdated tropes and inconsistent writing make it a frustrating experience, especially when compared to the more nuanced and polished K-dramas of today. While it had a few redeeming qualities—primarily Choi Yoo-jin’s character, and small moments of humor or bromance; Ji Chang's good looking self; I liked the music well enough—they weren’t enough to save it from its own poor decisions. What could have been a gripping political thriller turned into a forgettable melodrama weighed down by an unnecessary and poorly executed romance. That's not even getting into the silly (but still entertaining enough) fight choreography. There ARE sweet moments between the leads but in order to enjoy them, I had to think of them as in a vacuum and ignore the rest of the story. For anyone considering this show, be prepared for a lot of missed opportunities. Healer with Ji Chang was much better, I loved it a lot when I watched it long ago (and he kisses better there and has actual chemistry with the FL.) For now, I'm off to find a drama that hopefully gives me what this drama COULD have been.

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I loved this drama. In terms of the story it was one of these best kdramas I've ever scene. The story was well developed with enough back story so you know whats going on but not so much that it distracts from the story itself. The story allowed you to get to know the characters in a way no other drama for me has in the past. The casting in this drama was amazing. Everyone played their roles perfectly, each line was so precise. The music, for me, was one of the best features of this drama. There was an eeriness but beauty to it which complemented this drama really well. I would definitely watch it again as it was so good to watch.

Watch this drama if you like romance with action, it will not disappoint!

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We are all in lockdown in our countries, because of covid-19. So I decided to kill my time by watching k-dramas. At first I started with Healer. I fell in love with Ji Chang Wook, so I decided to watch The K2. You just can’t resist JCW.
At first I was not sure, because I thought that Anna girl will mess everything up, because I thought that her character was not enough good.
I loved this drama because of two people Kim Je Ha and Choi Yoo Jin. Especially Choi Yoo Jin. In first episodes, I was like “ kill her”, I felt bad for Anna, but when Je Ha saved Yoo Jin in car crash. I started to ship them.
I think it was my first time to actually truly like villian. I felt pity for her , so I couldn’t see the bad things that she had done. I wanted her to slowly give up the dream about power and be happy. Yoo Jin was this k-drama, she was like soul of the drama. She was beautiful, sad and tragic character, because of her, I’m happy that I’m not born in family like hers.
Je Ha. I think I’m in love with him. THAT UMBRELLA SCENA WAS SO F*UCING TOUCHING, that I cried. I’m not going to talk about ending, my heart is still broken.Actually I wanted more of Je Ha and Yoo Jin friendship. I shipped them so hard! About JCW, he is master of action scenes and of course his acting skills just like Song Yoon Ah are phenomenal. At first when I saw Je Ha, I couldn’t imagine that he will became cute person because of Anna. The rooftop scene was hilarious. My Je Ha. He is cute, sexy, smart and strong. I very liked this character.
Anna. The were moments where I liked her, but I did not like how her character was written or Yoona just couldn’t bring the Anna that I wanted. I’m not saying that Yoona is ugly or something, but for me she was not Anna. I know that Anna have gone through the hard life, but I think script writers wrote her too weak. I wanted her to be more stronger and smarter and I wanted see more of her story just like Je Ha. That’s one of the things that I did not like about show.
Overall, I LOVED THIS DRAMA SO F*CKING MUCH THAT IT NOW WILL BE ONE OF MY FAVOURITE DRAMAS and it broke my heart. My poor Choi Yoo Jin.
But, there is always “but”. I’m so disappointed that it was not actually Je Ha and Yoo Jin romance and friendship story, Because Anna was too weak and naive for Je Ha. I think Je Ha needed someone who is similar to him and strong just like him, so he don’t have to always protect someone else, but THAT someone else can’t actually save him too when he is in danger, like Yoo Jin. Yeah I know that she was bad and killed people, but a lot of people here were killing each other, so why not happy ending for her?
(SORRY FOR MY ENGLISH, I TRIED MY BEST)

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First and foremost, I enjoyed this drama. It started off strong but soon as K2 and An Na relationship kicked off—it suddenly became that type of drama. It does have some very slow parts.

Apparently, An Na is main FL, but she seems more like a second lead damsel in distress character. I don’t feel like she added much depth to the story. I don’t miss her when she’s absent. In fact, the drama atmosphere appears more mature when An Na is not present.

> Choi Yoo Jin & K2 <
Both are phenomenal, especially Choi Yoo. She is probably the most raw and interesting one of all.

I must say – The thought sharing between Madam Choi and k2 … What are they —Soulmate? It’s apparent every time they look at each other you can feel everything that's transmitting through their eyes. Their relationship is twisted, but even so, they understand each other quite well. K2 knows the way she's program. If Madam Choi said she didn't do something—K2 will believe her.

They would have been freaking HOT as a couple. Damn the writers. They could have put them together (clearly, they had more chemistry. Their interaction feels real and raw) K2 affection for Madam Choi could have been her redemption. But no! They had to take the CLASSIC APPROACH. (Sigh!)

Madam Choi is so gorgeous! I dare say more than An Na, who is also good-looking. But Madam Choi (even with age) is just –wow!

I couldn't stand Madam Choi in the beginning. She is ridiculously crazy, but she grew on me. (Hahahaha) This is the first time I love a villain more than someone who is supposed to be our FL

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My opinion about The K2
Despite a scenario filled with countless stupidities, I really loved this drama. One of my favorite to watch

NEGATIVE POINTS
It's hard to believe that a script so poorly written was produced. The way things are turned make the drama not natural at all. The basic idea and events that occur throughout the drama are absolutely simple. The screenwriter seems to be a beginner. Stakes are big but basic, and all things that take place in the story seem to have arisen from a simple idea, without the screenwriter having taken time to let them mature. However, this is the most important thing to do when writing a screenplay.

Some scenes are a bit long, and some moments are too explained, giving the impression that the screenwriter took the spectators for fools. It's a beginner's mistake again

The action scenes are for the most part forced, and some almost unjustified. Obviously, the screenwriter has forced himself to make an action drama

Everything that happens in the last 10 minutes is totally ridiculous. And Choi Sung Won (Lee Jung Jin) deserved something grander, given his character
(This role is purely Lee Jung Jin !)

GOOD POINTS
What really made me love this drama is the character of Choi Yoo Jin (Song Yoon Ah). She's an incredible actress, she acts perfectly the kind, sweet and adorable woman as well as the merciless ultra devilish witch. She's the best actress I've seen so far. I totally feel all of her emotions, especially the despair and loneliness she feels. She's a strong person but very frail at the same time. I really understand her character, that's why I've always been on her side, without doubting her until the end. I never really considered her to be the "bad one". What I also really appreciated was her story with Kim Je Ha (Ji Chang Wook). We feel that she's attracted to him although we don't really know what she feels, it's really a shame. I would have liked this side to be more highlighted. I loved this "romance". One of my favorite parts
I didn't find Jo Sung Ha (Jang Se Joon) extraordinary, but I could feel during all the drama that there remained a bit of love between him and Choi Yoo Jin. So I bet they are both amazing.

I liked the romances, but it's a shame that it's too fast. But that's one of the best things for me in this drama. I really loved when Je Ha observed Anna (YoonA) through the cameras !

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Here for Ji Chang Wook

I have been putting watching it off for a while mostly because I wasn't that attracted to the lead pairing. And I also read a comment once that the the ML had a better chemistry with the FL's stepmother, which just solidified my opinion on the pairing so I avoided it. I just finished watching "Healer", which was another drama of Ji Chang Wook that I have been putting off. It was kinda meh for me. I liked Park Min Young's character better than Ji Chang Wook's in that one. Anyways so I'm here finally.

Ep 1 to Ep 4: I skipped most of the parts that didn't have K2, Anna, & the team chief. I'm not a fan of J4, she was sitting there in the kitchen bemoaning about the fact that she won't be getting any promotion or would not get the chance to meet a guy and talking shit about Anna, while not even realizing or caring that Anna wouldn't get to experience any of those because of her captivity. The shower scene was so funny. They wouldn't even let him get the soap out of his eyes.
My personal favorite is "Dora the explorer scene", where K2 becomes the child giving instruction to Anna through the scene and is disappointed when she doesn't follow his instructions. That was most of us when Dora acted blind.

Ep 5 to 10: I saw what the commenter was saying with the chemistry with the ML & FL's step mother. She is clearly very attracted to him when he is just probably doing his job. But the ML has this intense look on his face even with Yoo Jin, so its hard to know what he is thinking. But you can clearly see the difference between how he feels with the FL. He is always so excited when he watches the FL. (Seems stalkerish but since he is bodyguard...) I didn't much like him for the FL in the beginning because he left her behind when she was begging him to save her. But seeing that he was also in a predicament at the time, it is understandable. How many times have we gone out of our way to help others? Wow, Yoo Jin is really very pitiful, to be so vile inside to take out your frustration on Anna who she should have treated with care. The poor girl was so damn depressed she didn't need another round of mental beatings from her vile step-mother or so called "father". Yoo Jin & Se Joon both deserve each other.

Ep 11 to 16: A time or two I wondered if Jae Ha was being ignorant of Yoo Jin's feelings for him. But he was very aware, you would have to be blind to not notice, & its hard not to be aware of them when she let so many things slide for him. He pegged her right, she wanted to own him like a slave. I have long gotten over the prejudice I once had about Noona romances. So, I did see that there was indeed chemistry between them, if only Yoo Jin was another person with at least a little empathy I would have shipped them. This could have been a whole other drama. But she acted like a jealous youth even knowing that K2 had feelings for Anna as well. She has continuously mistreated, misused, and abused Anna. Her verbal abuse only increased once K2 came into their life. It was sometimes quite sad and pitiful to watch her make one mistake after another having nary a regret. Even when K2 was injured she went out of way to humiliate Anna. But she was such a complex character, I have to give kudos to the writer for this one. That women had beautiful brain. Liked how it ended. Didn't skip a lot of scenes because things got very intense and interesting.

This was definitely a good watch.

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A Decent Production Heavily Weighed Down by Its Script

This drama has a typical, good production that leads to high quality visuals and music, but unfortunately the show also leans heavily on its script, which is by far its weakest point. Taken together, I thought it was a decidedly average series.

Let's start with the good. This is Ji Chang Wook at everyone's favorite: he plays the suave, caring, handsome action lead that everyone loves him as since his capstone role as the titular character in Healer. The production team was definitely very aware of this fact and there was definitely fan service in the form of shirtless moments and shower scenes. The K2 also highlights what I think is Yoona's greatest strength: since I was a teenage boy, during the time when she first came out in Girls Generation, I've thought that she is one of the prettiest, if not one of the most beautiful girl-next-door-type celebrities. I think the show was also aware of this as they made her character, Anna become a literal runway model, who is always impeccably dressed even when in every day wear.

But unfortunately, visuals and fan service only get us so far. The script is a complete mess -- allies easily turn into enemies and enemies easily turn into allies in the blink of an eye. An epic revenge plot line could be setup as background for a particular character, only for that character to perform a 180 for dubious reasons. The plot is also too convoluted and shows that the showrunners didn't know exactly what they wanted this series to be, so they mixed everything together in an unsatisfying way: sometimes it's a sweet romance. Sometimes it's a thriller. Sometimes it's a Makjang-like revenge story. Sometimes it's an action series. Sometimes, it's trying to be an analogy to Snow White. It doesn't do any of this particularly well, so it just feels jarring and bad. The dialog does not fare much better. I remember one character trying to order another character's death and it went roughly like this: "kill him! And after he's dead, bring me his cell phone!" It's clear that most of the dramatic tension setup is only done to enable action scenes.

Regarding the fight sequences, I thought they were poorly done, due mostly to bad cinematography. A lot of the hand-to-hand brawls look and feel very fake as you see then punching at air at abnormal speeds. I don't know what it is, but I think is very characteristic of action scenes done for Kdramas. If you compare their cohorts, such as beloved Thai action movies, American Hollywood action movies, or even revered Korean movies like Old Boy, you'll find a much higher level of mastery at shooting action sequences. Since the K2 was so heavily focused on action, and in my opinion it was of low quality, this also knocked the show down several pegs in my rating.

I thought the acting was OK, but overshadowed by the poor script. I don't think Im Yoona as an actress is particularly skilled at portraying complex emotions, but at the same time, her character wasn't terribly complex. Anna was a stereotypical sheltered, innocent, and pretty girl. Many praise Song Yoon Ah for her acting, and I can definitely see the skill, but I found her character unlikeable and sometimes inconsistent. At the end of the day, I think the bad script overpowers anything that anyone else involved in the production could have countered.

The OST deserves a special shout out because "Love You" is the most kdrama-y kdrama power ballad I've ever heard. If you have ever seen the Family Guy episode that explores and makes fun of Korean pop culture, then you have seen the part where they call attention to how at the end of many Kdramas, they put on the chorus of some dramatic song. And Love You sounds EXACTLY like a stereotypical song. Don't get me wrong, it's great. It's just so...typical.

I only got through watching the K2 because I really like Yoona and I mostly enjoyed the show Yong Pal, which was penned by the same scriptwriter. But I can't say that this show was anything special. It might help you kill 16 hours of time, but I don't think it's anything to write home about. It is easily skipped in favor of better done action series like Healer or better Makjang/Thriller type stories.

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An innocent grill meets Dae Kay Teu in a forest

The K2 is a story that is gated by budget. It was simply ahead of its time. As a result, the action scenes and cuts suffered greatly. However, these can still be enjoyed in a comedic sense. In general, it was quite solid and enjoyable though.

Good Parts
The acting was quite solid from all the cast, minus some moments such as the mum throwing tantrums. Perhaps they didnt fully know what direction they were going with in the story when making that scene. Most of the side characters were fairly memorable. Not their names but like their general role in the story/world. I only know the main characters names, Anna and Kay Teu.

Music was lowkey kinda peak, with the lyrics being like actually plot heavy and epic. The ost and soundtrack fit really well in general. Some of them being really memorable and hype as well. Theres a song that sounds like they are just chanting Ah Shit. Ah Ah Ah Shit. Ah Ah. which is peak.

K2 had a suspenseful story that was really fun to follow. Although some parts were relatively predictable, there were definitely moments where my expectations were subverted. Very well written. All the budget went into this clearly.
Cuz the action scenes were abit shit

Problems
K2 has a lot of shots/quick cuts and disorienting moments. Sometimes I could get a little dizzy from watching some of those scenes. I imagine that in a perfect world, these cuts wouldnt exist. I really hope that it wasnt some really experienced editor or something like that cuz mfs should really not be editing shows like this in 2016.

Some scenes, there'd be like person A doing something, and then the next scene when we return to it, they'd be doing something else entirely, which is a bit weird once you notice it. And they definitely did it a lot. Probably just cut out a bunch of content from the final edits.

I dont think I could rewatch the entire show, maybe like 60% of it. A good chunk of it might give me a headache from the poor editing and the last few episodes may be kinda tilting to rewatch.

Overall, the ending was pretty fitting. Although some parts felt a bit contrived, it was still pretty solid and much better than I expected it to be. Some parts made alot of sense, some parts didnt, but cant have em all. Majority of the scenes acheive what they set out to do. Some action scenes dont really make sense or some moments in general are abit silly and kinda frustrating. But the show is still enjoyable and I reckon at least a 7.5 if not an 8. Quite enjoyable.

Really enjoyed the subway add right at the end for their happy ending.

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action politicle thriller with a lil bit romance

I really enjoyed this drama for the most part. There was a bit too much politics and scheming for my taste, but it fit the drama and genre perfectly since it's a political thriller with a romance undertone as others have said. I wished that the romance was developed better ....

Pros:

-Ji Chang Wook was perfect as always. The fight scenes were amazing. His warm, intelligent, and naughty eyes were also noted:) His physique was ofc also something to look forward to. I liked his character well (save some minor details)

-Choi Yoo jin (aka stepmom) was a very layered character, honestly probably the most interesting one as well but i just didn't like her at all. Nor did I ever sympathize with her. I understood her pain but that doesn't justify all the heartless things she did especially to an innocent child, aka Anna.

-The catholic Spain aesthetic was also AMAZING since it's rare to see smth like that in drama.

-Anna's cute side and the scenes she had with Jae Ha were also very sweet.

-The casting and acting were great. Everyone acted their character perfectly, if some character didn't stand out as much as others, then it's the writing but the actors really did an exceptional job.

-Jae ha's improving relationship with the guards (bc he deserved it since he is the best and he showed them many times just who's boss, You Go JCW!!)

-the ending! everyone got what they deserved and Jae ha and Anna were so sweet!

cons
- often I thought that the evil stepmom was kinda in love w Jae Ha which immediately made me disgusted for some reason.

-Jae Ha and Anna didn't spend enough time with each other or got to know each other so well to love each other -_-

-Anna's (weak) character, while I understand why she was like this (bc of her upbringing and trauma). I would have preferred if she was a stronger more intelligent person bc she felt more like a side character and a BIG DAMSEL IN DISTRESS. She always cried and trusted everyone way too easily. But I liked her and rooted for her from the start ofc

-The men's loud ass obnoxious laugh. Every time the father or Mr. Park or chairman Choi laughed that annoying af laugh, I had the urge to slap them I mean it was amusing but still showed how bad they are as human beings

-The freaking assistant, need I say more?

-I wanted to know what Jae Ha's freaking REAL NAME is, but they didn't even give up that -____-

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A Drama about Revenge, Politics and a one sided Love.

STORY

A story about a former mercenary soldier (Ji Chang Wook) who is on a run after he is falsely accused of his girlfriend murder when he returns to South Korea his life gets entangled with two women one is the wife of a politician Choi YooJin (Song Yoon -ah) and the illegitimate daughter of the politician Go Anna (Lim Yoona) He Kim Jeha/K2 (Ji Chang Wook) joins hands with Choi YooJin when he sees the person who is responsible for his girlfriend's murder to get his revenge and is appointed as the bodyguard of Go Anna.
A Drama about Kim Jeha revenge and his relationship with those two women.

The best part about this Drama are
~ The Action Scenes
~ Acting of Actors
~ Ji Chang Wook and Song Yoon ah Chemistry
~ Kim Jeha pure and kind heart and his desire to protect.

ACTING
All the Actor and Actress played their role perfectly.
Specially Ji Chang Wook and Song Yoon ah

MUSIC
The Songs and bgm of this Drama was also really good.

CINEMATOGRAPHY
It is Good

Re watch
If you like it I am sure you will want to watch it again.

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I am not a fan of thrillers and do not like to watch violence on screen as entertainment . Too much gore in this film for me and yet I was compelled to watch all of it because of Ji Chang Wook as K2 , knowing that it will come good at the end whatever the story twists and turns of which there are plenty .
As an action film , it is not as good as Healer ( also with Ji Chang Wook in the main role ) . There are fewer bits when you can relax a bit and the romance is not as good either although sweet and moving in parts.
But there are worse and if you are a fan of Ji Chang Wook as I am then it will not be a waste of time to watch the series.

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