The K2 (2016)

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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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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I can not believe I watched like six whole episodes of this show. What could possibly happen in the next 10??? I'm sorry but Yoona is so miscast it's not even funny. It's kind of sad, like another actress in her role probably would've made her character a lot more compelling and interesting to watch and root for. Go Anna is a character who rarely speaks and we as the viewers are expected to pick up things about her and her personality through her movements, actions, and facial expressions but Yoona unfortunately isn't giving any of that so I really don't know what to make of Anna as a characters shes just. really flat and boring. Also Ji Changwook and Yoona really don't have any chemistry and Ji Changwook did try his best but I wasn't a big fan of his character. Both leads felt like shells of human beings rather than actual living people, and I know they were both traumatized but the writing behind their characters was so lifeless. There was also more chemistry between the female antagonist and Ji Changwook than Ji Changwook and Yoona. Which that being said, I did really enjoy the villain, but that's about it.

I do have to give this drama credit for giving me the funniest kdrama scene Ive ever seen. Nothing will ever beat Yoona dancing around with a pack of ramen and Ji Changwook trying his best to act like hes into it like HUH??? WHAT WAS THAT SCENE? It was hilarious though she really gave us nothing.

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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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I really was looking forward to this drama, but I got bored of it. The story line was just not cutting it for me, but personally the acting wasn’t good for me either. I know Yoona is well beloved, but her acting made me not want to watch the show anymore and the plot got boring. I just didn’t enjoy it. In the beginning it was really interesting, but as I kept watching it just wasn’t living up to what I was expecting. I only watched the drama because of Ji Chang Wook, and I’m sad that I did not like this drama. I could just not sit through anymore episodes to finish it.

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Beautiful music and action sequences.

Action packed. The fight sequences are so solid and breath taking. They are long but still I invest in them because it's truly some beautiful fight choreography. Song Yoon Ah in my humble opinion outshines all of the actors— not because they’re not amazing themselves but she’s incredible. The emotions that she is able to portray on screen are complex and feel real. I plan on watching everything that she’s in. The music is quality and I find myself listening to the The Witch and The Girl while studying or playing games. If you enjoy intense action, knight in shining armor like protag, relatable antagonist, and complex relationships then this drama is worth checking out.

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Great action. Disappointing romance. Disappointing editing and story

I watched this show because I just finished healer and I wanted to watch Ji Chang-wook in another action romance. But I was disappointed with the show because the story was not told well.The motivations of ja he was not convincing or made much sense. The relationship between ja he and Anna didn't make sense. Why did they fall for each other. Anna is a traumatized girl who has lived in isolation for most of her life. She was child like and mentally unstable. I could understand having a protective feeling toward her, but to fall in love, I don't agree.I thought there was a stronger pull between ja he and yoo jinThe best character was yoo jin. The action scenes are great. The acting of ja he and yoo jin was good as well as others. The acting was good but the story was choppy. Plus to many actors laughed too much for no reason. The music tried to be too dramatic.I couldn't finish it

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I did not like this story, I like k-dramas cos you can see the main characters fall in love with each other while they are getting to know each other, but here he falls in love with her cos she dances to ramen? really??
His background story is really good, although muslim woman don't take their hijab to kiss a guy, it would have been more realistic if at least she only unveiled her mouth... anyways, his story and his acting is really good.
Her background story is sooo plain and boring, and her acting sucks. Btw when and how did she learn to cook? and how does she know about ramen? is not a common meal in Spain, where she supposedly lived locked up in a convent...
The stepmother is a bitch at the same time you are suppose to relate to her... how can you? she is the main bitch! not a good story line there either.
So disappointed with this drama, all the actions parts are really good, but the whole plot has mayor issues, he is defending someone that kidnapped a girl, at the same time he is trying to kill the person who murder his girlfriend, it's never really clear who's the good and the bad guy...
Don't recommend it at all.

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This drama is honestly so so good. I dig these kind of action dramas so I might be quite biased, but I read through the other reviews before posting mines so I think this is pretty accurate.

Story- 8/10 This drama started off so good and promising. I was hooked and the story was so good. This drama is a mix between romance, politics and revenge. Although I do have to admit, they didn't blend well together. It felt like there were 3 different settings in the same story. It didn't blend as well as the genres in DOTS blended. Anyways, as the drama started to progress around ep 12 or so I felt like the story was getting repetitive, none of my questions were answered and K2 was just a confusing mess at certain times. I completely agree with one of the reviews in the episode aspect---- after I finished an episode I would only find one thing that was new... the rest of the hour and 15 mins was .... idk... during the episode though I'm hooked and like oh yea!! This is so good but afterwards nothing really happened if I reflected on it lol. Nonetheless it's a pretty good story and well written. Not the strongest part of K2 though. Also, the ending for the villains were not good enough... I was not satisfied. After all that they did that's all they get???????? Korean dramas really need to step up their ending game. I know I say this in every review but oh my goodness I have yet to watch a kdramas w a satisfying ending.

Acting/cast: 10/10 THE REASON I FINISHED K2 is the cast! The cast is quite strong besides Yoona, I expected her to act badly but I was surprised. Her acting as Anna is very good compared to her previous performances---- she has improved a lot and fits the role well. But ofc compared to the excellent actresses she's quite average. Nothing special. I am an sone btw. Anyways, Chang wook was amazing as always. Ok and now *drumroll please* SONG YOON AH. Oh. My. Gosh. She is the best Korean actress I've ever watched! Usually, Korean actresses have a tendency to act in similar ways to each other but she acted in her own way and her portrayal as Choi yoo Jin was excellent. Also, for her age she's STUNNING. She's a beauty and a rare talent. Love her. Sung Won was awesome at acting too. Loved his portrayal. His smirks made me want to kick him off the face of this planet.

Music: 10/10 search up K2 ost on YouTube. Enjoy. You're welcome.

Rewatch: 3/10 I don't rewatch dramas I just finished.

Overall: 9/10 I recommend. Great great great acting!

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