First Impression: The K2

tvN's latest action drama "The K2" stars Ji Chang Wook as Kim Je Ha, a former soldier for hire and Girls' Generation's Yoona as Ko An Na, the secret daughter of a politician who lives in seclusion. An Na's father is Jang Se Joon (Cho Seong Ha), a presidential hopeful who is controlled by his ambitious wife Choi Yoo Jin (Song Yoon Ah). 

I am going to be honest, I had very low expectations going into this drama. Yes there's Ji Chang Wook and Yoona, but I pay a lot of attention to the writer and this one has disappointed me enough to want to boycott her future work. However, I gave in because I like to at least give things a chance. The set up did what it was suppose to, give us an introduction to the main characters and show us what they're up against. As of now, An Na is the most pitiful out of them all; losing her mother at a young age and being coerced into thinking it was somehow her fault. It's a traumatic experience that Yoo Jin took advantage of and managed to hide her away from the world for much of her life, never really helping with her social anxiety and phobia with flashing lights. I guess this is where Je Ha comes in, he did have encounter with her in Spain, but as he was a random stranger; he had no obligation to actually help her. We also saw later on that he's been on the run for a while so him not helping her past beating up the minion made sense, she would have slowed him down. Several flashbacks showed us some type of mission went wrong, so I am assuming this is why he's wanted by some secret government organization, but we weren't really given a definitive reason behind him always being on the go. All in due time, I suppose. 

Now onto Se Joon, an assemblyman who has his sights set on being president. He allows his wife to control nearly every aspect of his life which includes his daughter, but does he know how bad she has it and just allows it or is he totally clueless about her life up until now? He obviously cares about her enough to threaten Yoo Jin to do right by her or else her dreams are gone and employed his most trusted bodyguard to keep an eye on her, but how deep is his love for An Na? Is he really just a cheater who's riding the coattails of his in-laws or is there a deeper plan going on? Is he doing all of this for An Na's safety, his own, or maybe both? 

The show did a god job at setting up Yoo Jin as our main villain, she's smart and powerful enough to manipulate situations, but the only question is why and I hope that there is a reason to all of her madness. I love a good villain like the next drama watcher, but in this context I would love to see why she's so driven to want power and why on earth she married someone who never had the power she could have had as head of her family's company. 

While the character set up was good, I can't say the same for much else. Episode 1 looks as if they put too many eggs into one basket and hoped it didn't fall. What do I mean? The pacing was fast (which I typically like), but also didn't offer much of the plot and honestly left me wondering what I was watching. While episode 2 fared much better, I still feel the same and that it's like the team only focused on trying to make us "ooh" and "aww" with the elaborate chase and fight scenes instead of properly giving us a story. This is not to say it was horrible because I am intrigued and will continue to see how the story plays out, but the first episodes left much to be desired and I wasn't thoroughly impressed with any of the writing. 

While the lack in plot was disappointing, the acting by the cast was not and I do have to say that Yoona has improved a lot. So far she has conveyed An Na's emotional instability and anxiety very well and as someone who has seen most of her acting projects, it's nice to see her playing a different type of character. The rest of the cast is also doing a wonderful job and Song Yoon Ah is really making a huge impression with her portrayal of Choi Yoo Jin. The way she can look confident then vulnerable in a matter of seconds is a testament to Ms. Song's acting skills. I will keep an eye on "The K2" and hope the coming episodes don't disappoint.