The K2 (2016)

Note to self, whenever a drama gets you super excited with its first couple of episodes, rest assured you will be dissapointed! Bittersweet taste, this drama; mostly because of my expectations, nothing else. It started with the most amazing potential, but it never lived up to it. It was not a bad drama, it's just that... it could have been so much more...

Story
The K2 is ambitious, it wants to be intriguing and captivating but too much pressure has underwhelming results. The drama is a weird combo of action, political drama and romance that doesn't really work. There are 4 main characters, all of them perfectly demonstrated and completely 3-D, each of them has a story of revenge or ambition about the future and all their stories get entangled to set the plot. The characterization is the best part of the drama.

The base story is there and it's quite well-thought-out once you get to grasp it (takes a few episodes - or more than a few), however the K2 was one of those dramas that even though you enjoy it, only drawbacks come to mind when you think of it, sadly.

The drama felt 50% superman, 30% boring political talk and no act and 20% forced romance.

Most surprising thing about this drama is that the biggest and most critical asset of it, the action scenes, ended up working against the whole thing. Ji Chang Wook was immaculate in them, it's not his fault that after 2-3 episodes my initial enthusiasm turned into yawning. It was certainly not his fault. The directing and editing is to blame here. They overplayed the scenes so much, they quickly lose their spark and interest; unnecessary slow-motion, gratuitous weird angles and more made them look overly cheesy. What's more, it quickly felt that the drama pays too much attention in CJW doing his thing than to the plot itself which made the drama feel increasingly superficial and shallow.

Furthermore, what is the korean obsession with making their male leads look like superman? As the episodes continue CJW's character felt more and more unreal. Humans have their limits, that's their charm. Striping them of that feature makes them look fake. I didn't sign up for a hero film, sorry.

Another really awkward thing is that each episode is packed with action, or scheming, plotting, romance, so many things going on, but when i stopped to think what had actually happened after the end of every episode, how the episode contributed to the overall story, i came up always with nothing. In retrospect, nothing actually had happened. Amazing isn't it? The story is there but there is no real development until the end. Dissapointing, what a letdown.

Continuing, the drama is defined by its political aspect. I'm not into political dramas, so once this part kicked in i was inevitably bored. However, I'm usually very much into scheming evil characters and backstabbing and this drama has plenty of it, but the build up to all this was lenghty and quite tiresome to watch.

Additionally, i'd like to talk about the dissapointing romance. CJW is paired with Yoona here, and while they do look good together, their romance felt thorougly forced and wasn't given adequate time to grow and develop. On the contrary CJW and Choi Yoo Na's chemistry was effortless and off the charts. I think i can safely speak on behalf of almost every viewer when i express my dissapointment in the writer's persistence to shove the former couple down our throats when the latter was there and was spotless since the very first moment.

Drawing my rant to a conclusion i'd want to talk about the misuse of Yoona (Anna) as a character. She was either running, crying screaming or taken hostage throughout the whole thing, while she barely appeared in the first half. She basically made CJW's character look like super mario trying to save his girlfriend, unrealistic and cringy.

At this point i feel inclined to mention and stress the significance of Song Yoon Ah's character who probably makes the drama worth watching on her own. Finding characters that are 3D and not carricature versions of real life people is difficult in kdramas. Here, all the character were well-created but Choi Yoo Jin was the perfect villain or more like the anti-hero. There are several layers of her character that go deep and are visible little by little. She was the perfect villain who everyone grew fond of quickly and she deserved better from start to finish. You'll love her believe me.

Acting
The acting was dazzling.
Yoona who is seemigly the weakest link of the main cast was way better than expected. She suited the character perfectly and was completely satisfying in her every scene even though severely misused.

Ji Chang Wook executed his action scenes spotlessly, and to be honest that was his character's main goal. I have nothing else to add, he was manly and a worthy main lead, but he deserves better as an actor.

Jo Sung Ha was also spectacular in his twisted role, but the real queen of the drama was Song Yoon Ah, hands down. Her character was disturbed, easy to misunderstand, but she made us all care for her and see beyond her evil mask. Loved her completely. Star quality actor.

Recommend/Rewatch
Overall, the drama wasn't bad, it is one of those dramas that blow up in the beginning but never come up with the goods. It was enjoyable for the most part (let's exclude the boring political talk), and entertaining. If you are into hot guys playing superman in fight scenes, like evil characters scheming and double-crossing as well as some kind of romance in the sidetracks, do give this a chance. Having low expectations will surely result in higher pleasure. My 8 is kind of a stretch, consider this a 7.5 + 0.5 for the perfect poetic ending! I will never rewatch this.

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An objectively bad guilty pleasure drama that’s perfect for a cosy weekend watch

I'm perfectly well aware of the fact that I've given this show a much higher rating than it deserves. However, as it happens sometimes, this is one of those reviews that are based solely on personal enjoyment rather than merit.

You see, K2 is like this beautiful vase; it has intricately exotic designs on the outside but its inside is completely hollow and littered with cobwebs. Now, it's up to you whether you want to put it on a shelf and admire its surface beauty or you want to break it into a billion pieces and consequently end up being utterly disappointed by its stark reality. If you're a person who can momentarily cast aside rationale in the face of glitz and glamour, K2 and you would get along just fine but the moment you stop, tilt your head to the side and think; "wait a minute" all possibilities of friendship are out the door.

K2 is almost reckless in its execution, as if it reached a point where logic just didn't matter anymore. It took blatantly unrealistic happenings, a gigantic cluster of plotholes and downright ridiculous notions and attempted to create a story out of them. It's almost like the creators are poking fun at the audience as if they were idiots blanketed in foolish naivete. Events transpire without any build up, there is little to no attention to detail and honestly, it's a huge fast-paced mess.

This drama is like an arrogant brat who does whatever the fuck it wants, confident that it would be successful, still.
A woman in Iraq who's completely covered in a gown and headscarf at all times, without any second thought decides to cast aside her veil and liplock with her hero just because he suggested they should marry. The same woman is somehow extremely fluent in Korean language (even though she has lived all her life in Iraq) and Korean pop culture (even though she's in the middle of nowhere) and conveniently is killed to produce a motive for our male lead to enter the action.
A girl who's had extreme Sociophobia all her life, is suddenly very confidently striking poses with groups of people in the next second. A man who essentially hates power hungry murderers is shown to sympathize with a woman who is exactly that, if not more. There are so many handy plot devices just waiting to pop out from all sides at the very last moment in order to somehow save and prolong the show and it's all quite satirical.

But ofcourse, the smartarse that K2 is; it's completely in the know of all of its flaws and has the audacity to give justifications. The woman could speak Korean so well because she had been taught to be a translator. The girl never had Sociophobia, she just pretended because she didn't want to interact with people. The man didn't feel anything for the murderer, nope, that was just means to an end. And so, K2 commits many crimes and yet, makes sure to cover all the evidence.

The flow of the story, with all of its nonsensical and out of the blue events, is stroppy at best. Many things are left unanswered and this is the kind of production that will have you shake your head with amused exasperation at every second of its antics.
However, despite all this, for me this was a classic case of "it's so bad that it's good" and I somehow ended up thoroughly enjoying myself.

Jee Chang Wook has proved his excellent acting skills numerous of times and here too, he delivered impeccably. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't given much substance to deliver in the first place. His character is unbelievably overpowered, able to survive situations where even a super human ninja would've been obliterated. He has a butter heart, a hero complex and is very motivated to save the world one distressed damsel at a time. Combine that with JCW's natural mixture of masculinity and boyish arrogance and you get a specimen that is too good to be true. And when things are too good to be true, they mostly take a turn for the worse.
It's painfully obvious that the show is highly monetizing on his looks and name; for most of the show is him being either shirtless, flaunting his abs or doing something similarly badass to establish his "coolness". So if you're here to judge JCW's acting this is the last drama you should go to.

As far as I am concerned though, I really didn't care either way. For me, simply watching him is a pleasure, he's my ultimate bias killer and hey, if the producers want to shove mindless fanservice (involving him) down my throat, I ain't complaining.

Yoona turned out to be a pleasant surprise. She's built to play the helpless heroine who always needs saving, who trusts way too easily, cries even easier and basically creates hindrances for everyone around her. The show really tried to suppress her in every possibly way, they didn't give her character a single moment to shine and did everything they could to make her appear helpless and pathetic. However, somehow Yoona managed to turn the tables. Instead of pity, Anna garners sympathy and I would be lying if I said I wasn't rooting for her. There's an intelligence in her eyes that no matter how much of a putz she was portrayed to be, she still succeeded in speaking with the viewers and maintaining a likable character throughout.

And now comes Song Yoon ah- the heart and soul of the show. What an absolutely brilliant actress. She's one of the best k-drama antagonists; utterly ruthless and cruel and yet harboring deep vulnerabilities. She's a viciously dangerous woman and yet, pitiful at times. She's the most layered character of the show and even though she insists upon it, it's almost impossible to truly hate her.

As far as the romance is concerned, even though it's rushed and underdeveloped, there's no denying that Ji- Chang Wook can create chemistry with a garbage bag, if you let him. And if I'm being completely honest, I enjoyed the lovey dovey bits to the fullest. (Aww-ing and Ooh-ing was involved.)

So finally the question arises: If K2 on the whole, has so many shortcomings, why give it an 8.5 rating? Well, in answer to that I'll say, that I just had too much fun watching it. Plain and simple. For me, it was unadulterated amusement- sometimes at its ridiculousness and sometimes at its unabashed negligence. I anticipated every episode and was fully immersed from start to finish.

The K2 is like greasy junk food, you know it can't possibly amount to anything good but you still can't help devouring. With brilliant action scenes, beautiful visuals, entrancing music and a gorgeous cast that actually knows how to act, it is the perfect cheat meal.

Hate it or love it, you'd still end up watching it to the last episode and as far as the drama is concerned- that's a mission well accomplished.

A delectable guilty pleasure, so why not indulge?

Enjoy!

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