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A TOTAL GARBAGE (with a caveat)
How can a show turn from a fairly great show to a total garbage in a matter of seconds. And it's all to do with one of the most forced romance in history of K-Drama.Song Yoon Ah as Choi Yoo Jin just steals the show and we are literally forced into liking this pathetic excuse of a woman that is Im Yoon Ah as Go An Na. Zero depth, paper thin, whiny, pathetic, oh-look-at-me-I-had-a-hard-life-so-you-should-feel-sorry-for-me. One of the things I hate the most is forcing onto me a zero charm/chemistry pathetic character romance under a pretense of their hard past wanna be damsel in distress. And on top of that a really bad actress.
When you literally have on of the best female acting/character combinations in all of the K Dramas, Choi Yoo Jin.
Like they literally can't get it right. It's either a good strong female lead (Why Her) and they make the ML pathetic as hell or here, a good strong female AND male lead and then they bring a pathetic damsel in distress as the ML's romance. FACEPALM.
Biggest sin in screenwriting. Whoever commits that should be forever banned from ever working again. SHAME ON YOU!
By EP 13 even ML turns from a cool guy into the same kind of pathetic looser servicing this spoiled child and makes stupid decisions in the name of this utter obnoxious and forced romance.
I really don't get this. The chemistry between K2 and Choi Yoo Jin was mesmerizing and effortless from the beginning. Whether by design or not. But either way it highlights what a total garbage this script and execution is. If it's by design then they absolutely failed to capitalize on it. If it's not by design then it's a damn good sign just how forced everything else is.
Evey scene them two had they were trying so hard for K2 to treat Choi Yoo Jin with the most uninterested demeanor. Yet when he had scenes with Anna they (or maybe even him) were trying sooooo hard to make it lovey-dovey that it was borderline vomit inducing. Like when he was watching her on the cameras. That was straight up creepy.
Yet when Choi Yoo Jin was literally professing her love to him in the most profound subtle way .... they were trying so hard to curb the chemistry. Really pathetic. But hey he had the writers agenda. I guess nobody expected that Song Yoon Ah would steal the show. Bunch of CLOWNS.
Really it's laughable at the end and show is left with absolutely no redeemable qualities. Shows like these really make me question my love and dedications towards K-Dramas.
However .... this is the caveat ...
If you're a bit of an cinephile/acting consoeur you should definitely not miss one of the best if not the best female characters in recent K Dramas. But be sure to manage your general expectations from the start.
.... Otherwise avoid like a plague.
EDIT: Did some research and totally make sense why FL's acting was so bad. She's a goddamn idol. If she was at least cute. I wish they would stop with this stupid practice of stuffing dancers, singers and models into these shows. They can't act for shit. There are some rare exceptions but not everyone can be IU.
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K2 started out really promising with a good pace and intense plot, but I think for me, the drama started to fall apart when they introduced the romance between the 2 MCs. I personally don't feel that the female MC, Anna, should really be considered a main character - we barely know anything substantial about her and she doesn't even have that much screen time in comparison to other "main" characters. Which leads me to my main issue with the romance - Anna and K2 really don't know anything about each other. Their romance is only occurring because of human nature's instincts - he likes her because she's a damsel-in-distress and she likes him because he is protecting her from her foes, NOT because they actually know anything about each other that could cause them to realize they like each other. It's not really love. Perhaps infatuation or lust would be a better term to describe their relationship?....These feelings between Anna and K2 are used to drive the entire plot once their "romance" is introduced. And I'm just not a fan of their poorly and shallowly developed romance. I actually saw a lot of parallels between the K2 and Healer, but I think Healer was WAY better, having true depth and well-rounded characters established and explored.
Aside from the weakly written romance, I *did* enjoy Ji Chang Wook's performance and his character dynamics with Choi Yoo Jin. Song Yoon Ah did a phenomenal job portraying a character who was not simply bad or good, but instead had so much gray due to all of her experiences. I actually found myself sympathizing for her and not actually hating her.
The OST was wonderful and so well placed in scenes! I loved just about every OST song (some of the romantic slow songs got a bit old....but that might just be because I wasn't a fan of the romance lol).
Anyways, I would not particularly recommend this drama, and instead, if you are intrigued by the K2 and you haven't watched Healer, you really should go there instead. Healer offers a similar story with politics, a wonderfully developed romance, and mystery without plot holes/convenient plot devices.
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Don't know why people hate this drama so much but I enjoyed it a lot.
I like political-based dramas with twists & turns. I know many people may not like this kind of plot because they find it boring, but I enjoy it a lot.Kim Je Ha is a mercenary soldier on the run. He has a lot of pride, doesn't care about rules & regulations. I love his attitude. His crying scene broke my heart. Ji Chang Wook wearing a tank top & showing his muscles uffff. Did he get injured during filming? Because his face has a scar which stayed for a few episodes.
Go An Na lost her mother at a very young age, which leads to her PTSD. Her father is a scumbag. She is afraid of her surroundings, looking for a way to escape. I can understand why she is so scared, innocent, foolish & trusts someone easily because of the way she grew up.
Choi Yoo Jin is someone who presents herself to the public as innocent & a saint, but she is the one in control, manipulating the scene, making decisions, draining behind everything. I loved Song Yoon Ah acting. She played the character so well.
Loved Kim Je Ha & Choi Yoo Jin first meet, the way he comes in front of her, her getting scared was about to be scored him but ended up praising Kim Je Ha for being handsome.
Love Master Song. His reaction after seeing Kim Je Ha's fighting skills & the defense he taught Go An Na were funny.
Uff the shower scene, I just loved it. It's a pity it were blurred ??
Love Kim Je Ha & Go An Na camera interaction. The happy & innocent dance she watched seeing the ramen & Kim Je Ha mesmerizingly watching her. His frustration with her for giving up. Love their catch me if can moment.
Kim Je Ha's help & care for Choi Yoo Jin is something nobody else has done.
Loved bodyguard sheet mask scene & the way they follow someone ??
The FL Go An Na wasn't shown much in the beginning episodes & most importantly, the story was centered around Choi Yoo Jin & Kim Je Ha. Most because people were drawn to them & also for their chemistry. If the story were centered around Go An Na & Kim Je Ha then maybe people would like it. Or if Go An Na was made a strong, brave, intelligent woman who wants to take revenge no matter what, then people may also like it.
But I liked the story because of the twists & turns.
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Good action-dramatic kdrama :)
First of all I'd like to highlight how AMAZING Ji Chang-wook is as an actor! I've already watched him a couple of times on another k-dramas and he never disappoints! One of the best, indeed. :) Yoona also did a good job (not as good as him tho but that's understandable) and I think overall the acting was good. The production oh damn, I also loved it! They did a great job with those dramatic scenes, classical music is not my cup of tea but I still could feel what they were trying to convey (although they may have exaggerated sometimes, but that was exactly what they wanted, right?). About the plot & story, I'll be honest, I found myself lost as F a lot of times, but that could be just me being dumb because despite of that, there were times when things truly surprised me and got interesting and I was caught up wanting to know what would come next! I'll give it an 8.0, because despite some flaws it was a great action k-drama and I recommend it to everyone who likes action with a lot of drama mixed. :)note: English isn't my first language so I apologize in advance just in case of eventual mistakes.
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With that being said, Anna felt like an afterthought. She barely showed up in the first few episodes and never really had an active role in the plot (No, K2 watching her cook ramen badly through the CCTV doesn't count). All that fashion show stuff and the Barcelona Angel stuff...it felt unnecessary.
A lot of the political terminology went over my head (STONKS?) and I honestly felt like the reason for "revenge" really wasn't strong enough. I never felt connected or cared about the girlfriend that was killed, and I think all the Kumar-gate talk was confusing. It probably could've been stronger it had been connected with CYJ/Anna's backstory.
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‘Twas a bit dry for me
I knew it was going to be a struggle getting through this drama when I fell asleep on the last 20 minutes of the first episode. Basically, all of the points I give this drama are for the action. It’s a solid action drama but the storyline and FL are DRY! Most boring FL ever! By the end of episode 13, Anna was on my nerves and I was over whatever Ms. Choi’s issues were. The remaining episodes felt like the longest 3 hours of my life! Took me way too long to get through this drama but I couldn’t let this be the first one I dropped. I’m very disappointed that I didn’t care for this drama because it seemed to be a crowd favorite. Bummer.Was this review helpful to you?
Two words
shaky cameras. maybe i'm prone to dizziness, but I could not keep up in normal scenes, let alone fight scenes. i squinted through the episodes solely for ji chang wook lolllll yoona's acting was subpar but she has the looks, which in a lot of people's minds makes up for the lack of emotional depth in her character. the real acting is in the evil stepmother, her character had so much potential like heck, she could have ended up with the male lead. but anyhow, really shaky cameras. i watched all episodes on my phone when it first came out and barely made it through them, now that I have a gigantic monitor, absolute nightmare to keep up with.Was this review helpful to you?
La serie è stata realizzata molto bene, mi piace l'azione in un film ma molto di più in una serie, perchè si può sviluppare molto di più la storia.
Parlando del personaggio K2 è stato a mio parere fantastico, il suo ruolo lo rende credibile e lo fa veramente bene, e così che il protagonista se scelto bene ti può appassionare a tal punto di emozionarti e così capita anche per il cattivo, che qui naturalmente c'è ne sono troppi.
Corrotti, burattini e guerre con traffici illeciti, e aggiungiamo omicidi a sangue fresco. Questi tipi di Drama koerani mi piacciono molto e non tutti i produttori riescono a colpirmi; tante volte preferisco un film d'azione a quello d'amore mi annoiano dopo un pò qui infatti ce ne sono talmente poche che potrebbero tenerle per staccare da una sparatoria e combattimenti a mani nude.
Come avete bene capito dal mio voto gli ho dato quasi il massimo
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Watch It
To be very honest this is a drama which you should go into without reading any reviews whatsoever, as this is a drama in which sometimes the villain is sympathetic or a straight-up bitch, the FL is either a sweet, naive girl or an annoying character.I personally loved the show - the acting, the fights, the romance. Most of it due to JCW but the other FL and SFL also did a very nice job. To those who felt that Anna was annoying - she was supposed to be a naive girl , she was forced to be alone after a traumatic incident and if that doesn't make you a little weird, I dont know what does.
Reading reviews ruins your whole perception of the drama and will make you a little hesitant to watch it, but I will tell you to watch it, beacause this personally was one of the dramas that I loved.
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Watch it because of Ji chang wook & action
Just because of Ji chang wook this drama is Worth watching,his strong and badass character is the best part of this drama, Because the storyline was bit too dramatic and Didn't written well after 8 episodes. If we talk about Romance it was great , heart fluttering moments in starting 8 episodes but too short ,I wanted to see more scenes of both leads but it was so disappointing that they didn't get proper screentime,that would be best part of this drama if they had showed more romance. But still I loved it.Music is the second best thing of this drama.. OSTs and background score was so amazing.At last ,Female lead didn't get proper characterization, her role was fragile but the writers shouldn't ruined her role by ignoring her presence , because in whole drama she was just puppet,at last they should gave her proper screentime.n the end some things remained unexplained . . As for Acting, Everyone did their job perfectly, specially Choi yoo jin , Because according to screentime and character she looked female lead.
I'll say watch it for ji chang wook and amazing action.
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