I Have Notes…for The K2

You may be sensing a theme, and that’s Ji Chang-wook. I’ll admit it—he’s so pretty and talented that it annoys me when a show he’s in doesn’t rise to his level. But truthfully, I get annoyed whenever a story draws me in and then lets me down, whether the particular actors in it happen to give me heart-eyes or not. So here we go… (as always, SPOILERS).

TL;DR I would lean into the darker tone of the first couple of episodes and the electric attraction between the hero and the villain to create a tenser romantic triangle and higher stakes for the show’s stellar action sequences. Ji Chang-wook can fight and smolder with the best of them, so it makes no sense to throw off the political-thriller vibe of The K2 with dissonant rom-com notes.

Synopsis: The K2 is basically a mash-up of The Bodyguard and Snow White and the Huntsman with a garnish of Bourne Identity. Ji Chang-wook plays Kim Je-ha, a former Korean special forces operative turned mercenary who’s framed for some Iraqi war crimes against civilians that a consortium of Korean power brokers (literally called the Consortium) commission to cover up their illegal arms deal. Veeeeery long story short, his former CO (Chief Joo) offers him a new identity and immunity from his alleged former war crimes in exchange for joining Joo’s security company, JSS, and guarding the unstable illegitimate daughter of a presidential candidate, Jang Se-joon, so she doesn’t reveal herself and ruin his campaign. Surprise, surprise, this turns out to be a tricky assignment because (a) the daughter, Anna, suspects her wicked stepmother, Se-joon’s wife Choi Yoo-jin, of killing her mom (spoiler alert: yep); (b) Yoo-Jin owns JSS (complete with an AI in the basement called The Mirror that she talks to, as in “Mirror, tell me where Kim Je-ha is right now,” so here come the Snow White memes) and becomes obsessed with Je-ha; and (c) Je-ha and Anna fall in love. Cue a whole lot of political cloak-and-dagger, several legitimately GREAT fight scenes (seriously, Google “K2 umbrella scene”), and some white-hot chemistry between Je-ha and the scenery-chewing Yoo-jin (played by Song Yoon-ah, who also gave Stranger/Stranger 2 a truly compelling antagonist/anti-hero). The villains are the best part of The K2, hands down: Lee Jung-jin does a stellar turn as Yoo-jin’s brother and rival for the control of their father’s chaebol; and Kim Kap-soo plays Park Kwan-soo, the opposition candidate for the presidency, with a cheerfully oily leer. Sadly, they all get what they deserve, which leaves us only the weak-tea aftertaste of Je-ha and Anna’s romance in our mouths at the finale—plus a few obligatory platitudes about reforming governmental and industrial corruption.

What I would keep:

• K2’s basic character: framed mercenary who ends up being a bodyguard for a political chaebol and gets sucked into their intrigues. Respects CYJ and is attracted to her but obviously isn’t going to end up with her.
• CYJ: she’s the best and best-acted character in the show. Her brother, Chairman Choi (CSW) as well—charming and sociopathic.
• Anna’s character sketch was OK but they filled it out all wrong. She should be unlikeable, especially at first. You shouldn’t know her whole backstory; you should just think she’s a spoiled, unstable brat that her rich family has shuffled off to European boarding school/sanatorium. A drug addiction would be a reasonable addition—lets say she uses pills to self-medicate her PTSD from witnessing her mom’s murder.
• PKS was the second-greatest character (and actor) in the whole thing. Realistic and fun. He should have more of that connection to the working class and construction unions in spite of his sliminess; would make a nice contrast to the upper-crusty JB Group folks.
• The umbrella scene was great, and the JSS locker-room fight. Most of the fights were fantastic, actually. I have no notes here.
• I liked the old couple at the orchard. The first couple episodes were really pretty good, actually.
• Chief Kim is pretty cool as CYJ’s jealous and conniving chief of staff who will go to any length to get rid of K2 once she sees CYJ is in love with him.

What I would change: So, so much. If you’ve read this far, buckle up; you’re not even halfway through….

First, I would definitely work in more backstory on CYJ: what her father did to her, why she became the villain she is today. I’d have her reveal this to K2 so that she earns his sympathy to some extent: they’re obviously attracted to each other and have the best chemistry out of anyone in the show. I’d get rid of the ridiculous Mirror: I get they’re trying to push the Snow White thing, but it’s really not working

K2’s PTSD needs to come out more and be a bigger risk factor for him. His whole “I can’t kill people” thing is not a convincing effect of PTSD. It’s a moral decision that he’s made, which is fine, like if he’s sworn not to kill anyone else but PKS and then himself. It also makes ZERO sense that he would fall for Anna so quickly. He could be dedicated to saving her life to make up for what happened with Raniya (his Iraqi girlfriend who got taken out in the cover-up), but it’s unbelievable that he would be making moony eyes at Anna w/in two episodes of meeting her. The whole thing with Raniya was really badly scripted as well BTW. That needed to be handled way more subtly: it’s fine they were in love and she got knocked off by PKS (supposedly)—that’s very Airwolf, and we all know I’m there for that. But their romance needs to be handled more low key. And PKS needed to do something way worse for K2 to end up with PTSD and on Interpol’s most wanted list: maybe I’d have Blackstone (his mercenary outfit) sent in to take out a terrorist cell, but it turns out to be Raniya’s family. So, he gets triggered when he sees blood or flashing lights, or hears explosions, or something like that. And someone has got to make better use of that information…. We need more background on K2 as well, how he got into the military, into Blackstone, etc.

Anna needs to be more of a mess as well. The Angel of Barcelona thing is OK, I guess (she gets discovered by a designer while on one of her escape attempts from the convent in Spain, and her image is plastered all over the Internet, which is the catalyst for bringing her back to Korea and putting her under house arrest). Everything up to the church scene is pretty much OK with her character (they just needed a better actress). But what happens after that gets less and less believable, and so her character gets less and less compelling.

The tone needs to be darker and sharper, like episode 1. It’s OK if there’s some black humor later as K2 and Anna start to connect through their disorders, but that can’t happen so quickly—and the other comedic/slapstick bits need to GO (e.g., Mi-ran, Master Song). JSS needs to be a darker organization.

Basically K2 and Anna need to help each other find the way out of their PTSD. But that needs to be a slower road for Anna to be believable. And K2 needs to be more sorely tempted by CYJ because she’s so sure of herself and confident in him, ahe desperately needs someone to believe in him. And he should probably be betrayed by Chief Joo, who should use K2’s PTSD to control him. They did the whole “chaebols are behind EVERYTHING” thing again, which is so very tired. The Consortium has to GO. de

The nonsense at the end with the Mirror and the Kumargate (arms deal) flash drive has to go: it’s so contrived and ridiculous. Oh look, CYJ has the upper hand; oh wait, now PKS has it; oh wait…. And Anna is the *worst* through all of that. All she does is run around and make herself even more useless, if such a thing is possible.

Rewrite (outline):

Ep. 1 Spain: Pretty much the same as the show—Anna breaks out from the convent and the security guards are trying to bring her back and she runs into K2 and asks him for help and he does but ultimately has to escape b/c he’s wanted by the police. We get flashbacks from Iraq.

Ep. 2 Korea: Pretty much the same—K2 works for the sign-painting company and inadvertently witnesses something involving one of JB group’s shady deals; CYJ sends her guys after him at the orchard with the old couple (even though Joo tells he not to—we’ll keep that scene), and he takes her hostage in her car in retaliation, but PKS has sabotaged the brakes, and K2 has to save CYJ to save himself—except at the end she could drop off a guardrail over the ocean but he pulls her back. She is so impressed (and turned on) she tries to hire him to keep her safe from PKS. He says no, but she sends Joo to tell him Interpol is sniffing around after him (she’s used her connections to do a background check) and JSS promises him a clean ID and a place to hide out until the search for him dies down.

Ep. 3 Spain/Korea: Anna runs away again and has the Angel of Barcelona moment with the media, and CYJ decides to bring her back from Spain to keep her from going rogue and messing up the election. She and K2 recognize each other, and CYJ tasks K2 with keeping watch over Anna. CSW shows up to greet Anna and Joo acts weird around him and K2. JSJ continues his campaign against PKS for president and is a philandering jerk. Anna escapes and K2 brings her back; they really hate each other at this point.

Ep. 4 Korea: We learn more about Kumargate and the involvement of JB Group and CSW from a side conversation between Joo and CSW about how they’re going to keep K2 from finding out what happened; Joo still has some loyalty and affection for K2 and wants to use his skills, so he talks CSW into leaving him alone and tells him he will make sure K2 stays in the dark about Kumargate. Various PKS shenanigans to try to force JSJ to drop out of the race; various return shenanigans by CYJ to expose PKS’s connections to corrupt construction deals. In an attempt to get her dad to pay attention to her, Anna escapes and goes to a debate (not the church—that was dumb) and PKS sees her and really stares at her; the media also sees her and starts the Angel of Barcelona thing up again. She’s kind of grateful to K2 for getting her out of that scene, and he has some sympathy for her, particularly when the flashing lights trigger his PTSD, and she kind of helps him get out of there. Back at JSS the guys try to haze K2 (Seo is JSJ’s head bodyguard). Shower fight scene.

Ep. 5 Korea: PKS tries to recruit K2. In PKS’s office, K2 sees a picture of PKS’s daughter, who looks a heck of a lot like Anna. CSW starts his machinations against CYJ to try to wrest control of JB Group from her. Umbrella scene. CYJ is now in love with K2. She panics about him going over to PKS and tells him she’s gotten some leads on who framed him: she’s looked into has background and knows about CSW and Joo and the PTSD (flashing lights—from the explosion that killed the civilians including Raniya, whom K2 had a crush on but hadn’t told her); but, she’s planning to frame PKS for Kumargate to trick K2 into taking him out for her. JSJ continues his jerky ways, and PKS enacts his entrapment scheme. K2 helps Seo mop up the situation, and Seo’s reluctantly grateful.

Ep 6 Korea: PKS tries to kidnap Anna and fails. Anna starts to trust K2 a little more and opens up to him a bit about the murder and her getting shuffled off to the convent. K2 tells her he’ll help her figure it out if she’ll quit trying to escape. He starts taking her on outings, both to interview people who knew her mom and to the park, etc. Things ramp up with CYJ as well: she starts pointing him toward PKS and opening up to him about her abusive dad. He has to protect her from another assassination attempt, this time by CSW, and it’s clear they’re attracted to each other. Chief Kim starts flipping out and figuring out how to get rid of K2. She talks to Joo about reassigning him, but no luck. Joo warns her to leave him alone, but it’s clear she ain’t gonna listen.

Ep. 7 Korea: Chief Kim makes her move at a campaign rally, paying some PKS union guys to start something and trying to take K2 out in the melee. It doesn’t work, but he doesn’t figure out who’s after him, either. JSJ spins the situation to garner public sympathy, and PKS is pissed. He starts seriously plotting to take out JSJ/CYJ and sniffs around for a JB employee to get on his payroll as well as a higher-up he can bribe to bring charges against JSJ. Meanwhile, K2 and Anna find out some details that confusingly seem to point toward JB Group as the antagonist in her mother’s murder even though the intel that CYJ is feeding K2 points toward PKS. Chief Kim conspires with CSW to misdirect K2 by appearing to kidnap Anna (he really just gets her to agree to go meet some fashion industry reps), drawing him away from an assignment guarding CYJ for a volunteer gig; CSW is just supposed to scare CYJ so that Chief Kim can get K2 killed/fired for dereliction, but CYJ ends up in the hospital. CYJ tells K2 that he’s assigned to her full time now and someone else from JSS will watch Anna. Chief Kim is spitting absolute nails, but CYJ suspects her, so she has to play it cool.

Ep. 8 Korea: CYJ is using K2 to go after PKS, and Chief Kim sees her opportunity. She tips off PKS and asks him to ambush K2 and take him out in exchange for information about his daughter’s murder. At first it seems like K2 is on to the ambush, but then PKS brings out Anna (with a hood on). But when PKS takes off the hood and sees Anna (his dudes just snatched her for him), he is overcome with memories of his daughter and can’t go through with the threat. He asks her what her mother’s name is, and she tells him: sure enough, it was his estranged, murdered daughter. There’s a tense standoff in which Chief Kim’s treachery comes to light. PKS tells K2 he’s barking up the wrong tree with Kumargate—that CSW is the one who did the deal and ordered the village wiped out and K2’s unit framed for it. K2 comes back and tells CYJ that he knows she set him up to go after PKS and about Chief Kim’s treachery and that he quits. She tells him that if he does, Anna is dead. “Your best chance of saving your princess now is to stay loyal to your queen.” CYJ tells Chief Kim that if she touches K2, she’s dead.

Ep. 9: CSW and CYJ have a Mexican standoff in which he threatens to reveal that Anna is PKS’s grandaughter, and she threatens to reveal his involvement in Kumargate. PKS announces Anna is his long-lost granddaughter anyway and that JSJ and CYJ killed her mother (b/c she threatened to reveal CSW’s involvement in Kumargate if JSJ didn’t leave CYJ for her) and are holding Anna hostage. CYJ makes Anna go on a talk show and rebut those claims; if she doesn’t, CYJ says she will kill K2. Anna does it, but CYJ has decided to get rid of Anna anyway and make it look like she committed suicide from the shame of PKS’s accusations. She tells K2 that PKS is right and CSW is the one who burned him in Iraq. K2 goes after CSW. However, Chief Kim tips off CSW about that plus K2’s flashing-light PTSD reaction. Meanwhile, CYJ sends Chief Joo to kill Anna; when he gets to the safe house, Anna remembers that he was the one CYJ sent to kill her mother.

Ep. 10: Korea. Anna manages to call K2 while she’s trying to get Joo to change his mind. Joo doesn’t want to kill Anna, but CYJ is threatening him by telling him she’ll reveal everything he’s done—his involvement in Kumargate, his betrayal of K2, etc. Meanwhile, in spite of the fact CSW knows K2 is coming, K2 manages to get the upper hand, but then CSW strobes his phone flashlight in K2’s eyes. K2 is incapacitated, and CSW escapes. K2’s phone rings, and Anna being in danger snaps him out of the PTSD. He gets to the safe house too late: Joo has already injected Anna. The men have each other at gunpoint, but Joo caves: He apologizes for setting up K2 and tells him CSW ordered him to do it. He gives K2 his phone, with all the evidence needed to incriminate JB Group and ruin CSW, and then he turns his gun on himself and shoots: “I’m dead anyway.” K2 rushes Anna to the hospital, and it’s clear he has feelings for her. She wakes up, and they look at each other, and it’s clear they love each other but aren’t quite ready to trust it.

Finale: A year later: a press conference for JB Group, and Anna steps up to the podium. Flashback: K2 and Anna take the phone and info on her mother’s murder to PKS, on the condition that he leaves them alone—which he’s already more than ready to, especially since he’s so chuffed to have his granddaughter back. PKS reveals everything on Kumargate and Anna’s mother’s murder, and JSJ, CYJ, and CSW go to jail and forfeit their JB Group holdings. PKS wins the election and is as corrupt as ever. Anna, as JSJ’s sole heir, becomes the majority shareholder of JB Group, and even though everyone divests and the stocks tank, she starts rebuilding the organization. Flashforward: Anna’s press conference on new JB group aid initiatives in Iraq; behind her is K2, standing watch.