The K2 (2016) [+]
Jul 30 2025
The K2 is a South Korean television series running 16 episodes.
In the midst of a presidential race between two corrupt politicians former mercenary Kim Je-ha (Ji Chang-wook, Backstreet Rookie, Welcome to Samdal-ri, Lovestruck in the City) returns to Korea for vengeance. But he's a wanted man and yet somehow because his old commander Joo Chul-ho (Jeon Bae-soo, who I've seen playing the dad character several times) is a top man in security firm JSS Kim finds himself hired to protect Go An-na (Im Yoon-ah), daughter of one of the presidential candidates.
Anna is kept under guard and mostly drugged because she is the illegitimate daughter and also believes her step-mom Choi Yoo-jin (Song Yoon-ah) murdered her mom. Choi Yoo-jin also uses Anna as a hostage against her husband, presidential candidate Jang Se-joon (Jo Sung-ha) as the married couple kind of hate each other. Anyway Anna's plight endears herself to Kim Je-ha partly because his love in Iraq was murdered, it turns out on the orders of the other presidential candidate Park Kwan-so (Kim Kap-soo)…
This is more action drama than romance. Lots of fairly good action scenes and Ji Chang-wook did a lot of his own stunts. This show kind of reminds me a bit of Vagabond which I've watched halfway through so far. Vagabond though is more enamored with its elaborate action scenes maybe to the detriment of a good story. In The K2 we have multiple characters with their own well-defined goals and Kim Je-ha trying to somehow navigate a safe way through for everyone — even though Choi Yoo-jin is a somewhat bad guy character Kim Je-ha still tries to make sure she doesn't die.
And actually I did like Choi Yoo-jin the most. She grew up in a rich family and was denied becoming head of the family conglomerate because she married for love but that husband turned out to have used her for his political career. She does what she does because she's learned not to trust anyone and that being ruthless (to the point of blithely ordering JSS to murder potential witnesses) is the way to survive in her world. And then Kim Je-ha shows up at one point threatening her life and then saving her life and his integrity is appealing and her frozen heart starts thawing but unfortunately in the end there is no happy ending for her.
I like this series and it's above average. Not quite my favorite genre but still good.
In the midst of a presidential race between two corrupt politicians former mercenary Kim Je-ha (Ji Chang-wook, Backstreet Rookie, Welcome to Samdal-ri, Lovestruck in the City) returns to Korea for vengeance. But he's a wanted man and yet somehow because his old commander Joo Chul-ho (Jeon Bae-soo, who I've seen playing the dad character several times) is a top man in security firm JSS Kim finds himself hired to protect Go An-na (Im Yoon-ah), daughter of one of the presidential candidates.
Anna is kept under guard and mostly drugged because she is the illegitimate daughter and also believes her step-mom Choi Yoo-jin (Song Yoon-ah) murdered her mom. Choi Yoo-jin also uses Anna as a hostage against her husband, presidential candidate Jang Se-joon (Jo Sung-ha) as the married couple kind of hate each other. Anyway Anna's plight endears herself to Kim Je-ha partly because his love in Iraq was murdered, it turns out on the orders of the other presidential candidate Park Kwan-so (Kim Kap-soo)…
This is more action drama than romance. Lots of fairly good action scenes and Ji Chang-wook did a lot of his own stunts. This show kind of reminds me a bit of Vagabond which I've watched halfway through so far. Vagabond though is more enamored with its elaborate action scenes maybe to the detriment of a good story. In The K2 we have multiple characters with their own well-defined goals and Kim Je-ha trying to somehow navigate a safe way through for everyone — even though Choi Yoo-jin is a somewhat bad guy character Kim Je-ha still tries to make sure she doesn't die.
And actually I did like Choi Yoo-jin the most. She grew up in a rich family and was denied becoming head of the family conglomerate because she married for love but that husband turned out to have used her for his political career. She does what she does because she's learned not to trust anyone and that being ruthless (to the point of blithely ordering JSS to murder potential witnesses) is the way to survive in her world. And then Kim Je-ha shows up at one point threatening her life and then saving her life and his integrity is appealing and her frozen heart starts thawing but unfortunately in the end there is no happy ending for her.
I like this series and it's above average. Not quite my favorite genre but still good.