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[Alternate Endings] The badass noona romance that The K2 could’ve been

By Lily

What’s the one thing dramas and trains have in common? They can both run off the rails halfway through to their destination. Many dramas start off strong, but lose plot logic and heart half a dozen episodes into their run. The fluctuation in quality could be caused by many things like the hectic live-shoot schedule, or perhaps by the creators’ assumption that once a certain audience has been hooked into watching through a strong first couple of episodes, most of the audience would stay around to witness the promised happy ending regardless of how convoluted and artificial the plot became. The end result of all this is that, sadly, my drama list is filled with dramas that I dropped around the halfway mark.

All the dramas in that pile put together, however, couldn’t manage to cause me as much heartache as The K2 caused me during one bad episode. When the series started, I was the biggest Ji Chang-wook fan ever, and I was extra pumped to see him in another action role. All I had wanted from the show going in was a slickly directed series that had a marginally intelligent plotline with some non-cookie-cutter characters woven into the narrative, since I was rather sure Wookie’s amazing abs would smooth everything else over for me.

And boy, did the show manage to deliver for the first few episodes (regardless of the show’s overuse of dramatic Gregorian chant music; seriously, what was up with that?), interspersing the raw, beautifully choreographed action scenes with complicated characters and fast-paced direction that made me want just a couple of minutes more when every episode ended. There was enough darkness and mystery to make me cautiously optimistic that perhaps, just maybe, I had stumbled upon the next City Hunter or even better, the next Healer.

The show had all the components, which, put together, could create the kind of magic that K-dramas are popular for: a dark, brooding hero with a legit backstory that keeps him cold and emotionally distant; a complicated, tragic Cinderella-type heroine who needs protection; strongly cast parents played by talented actors who would serve as our primary antagonists; and just enough of a hint that fate was bringing our OTP together without it feeling like the drama was hitting us in the face with it.

With the first few episodes under my belt, I was genuinely curious to see how the writers would justify an experienced man like Kim Je-ha falling in love with a cloistered, naive girl like Go Anna who has had no experience of the real world. How would they do this, I wondered. As it turned out, one of my biggest disappointments with this show was that they didn’t justify it at all.

Now, I’m easy when it comes to K-drama logic; I accept it with reasonable suspension of disbelief. One of the leads falls for the other after having met them at a crucial point in time, either in their childhood or later on in life? Perfect reason for love, especially a lifelong yearning. Drama lead falls in love with the one person who stayed with them at the lowest point, maybe the loss of supernatural powers, while everyone else left? Human and real. Leads with clashing personalities fall in love after many many meet-cutes and fights? Not my favorite, but I’ll take it.

My point here is that while it would make perfect sense for the sheltered Anna to fall in love with the first strong person she has seen around her who cares for her without wanting anything in return, the drama never gives us a real reason why the jaded Je-ha would return those feelings. It does manage to, however, convey to us that Je-ha constantly stalks Anna around the house by watching her through CCTV cameras.

It was an invasion of privacy that ruined my enjoyment of the scene in which Je-ha watched Anna make ramyun for the first time, a moment that the show tried for weeks to market as cute. If, as the show kept trying to convince us, the reason for his love was Anna’s innocence and purity, she loses much of that by the show’s second half, as Anna conspires to win against her stepmother.

Speaking of the stepmother, the show was not helped by the fact that in any given scene, Ji Chang-wook had scorching chemistry with the wrong Yoon-ah. In addition, Song Yoon-ah elevated the writing to a level above the script by breathing life into the character she was given. Cracks, moral pitfalls and all, Choi Yoo-jin was much more multidimensional, and thereby more likable and infinitely more interesting than Go Anna. Je-ha would declare his love for Anna one week, and his loyalty to Yoo-jin the next, and effectively managed to give the viewers emotional whiplash.

My version of The K2 would go thus: It would ditch all pretense that Go Anna was the female lead of the show, the spot going to Choi Yoo-jin. The show would thrive as the noona romance to end all badass noona romances, a show that plays on its complicated leads, and Choi Yoo-jin will be absolved of her status as the big bad in the show (a status which she never really deserved anyway, seeing as she never killed Anna’s mother, and her husband was a total douche who deserved what he got), and will be the tragically misunderstood heroine who wins the love of the mysterious Kim Je-ha. She will still retain her pride though, along with her inability to admit defeat.

There are plenty of scenes that can be recycled for this plotline, such as the scene where he heroically saves her from a car crash and carries her unconscious body in his arms, or the swoon-worthy way in which he holds an umbrella over her after he helps her take down a room full of her greedy family members. All these scenes would go from being uncomfortable and confusing to being genuinely romantic. Je-ha would learn to trust in another person again, and value loyalty, especially after having been betrayed brutally in the past, while Yoo-jin would shed her loneliness and realize that there exist at least a few people that she can depend upon.

Anna would then, ironically, become the main antagonist as her need for vengeance overtakes her. She and her ineffectual, dishonest father would die together at the end of the series instead of Yoo-jin and her husband, which would lead to Yoo-jin getting the sympathy vote to become the next president. She and Je-ha would proceed to live happily ever after while she runs the country, and he protects her from all sorts of dangers, known and unknown.

See how great the show could’ve been? If only it had committed to its darkness, and reveled in its moral ambiguity, it could have told a smart revenge story upending established notions about right and wrong all while Wook flashed us naked shower fight scenes. In a year like 2016, which was a great year for experimental dramas, The K2 had all the ingredients for brilliance, yet chose run of the mill mediocrity. Sigh.

 
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I think most of not allof Anna scenes she was crying it was kinda annoying

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Oh yes!

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I don't agree. It was a mistake of the writer to build what so called chemistry between Yoojin and Jeha (though it was one sided from Yoojin). If they ended up together then it would have been a scandalous drama in Korea and people in Korea would have criticized it HARD. Yoojin is old enough to be his mother! They should have built more chemistry between the 2 leads instead. And Jeha, to a Korean audience, obviously had no interest in Yoojin but just Yoojin to him which made it look like they had chemistry.

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Yes i think that's the problem with the Korean mindset (even in today's times) which is why none of the dramas dare to go beyond or against what is the common accepted notion of goodness and purity. Sad but true.

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I think Korean society also likes pushing boundaries .. There is enough space that has been created to experiment with unconventional story lines.

Look at this link:

https://www.kdramastars.com/articles/118682/20200817/here-are-the-20-best-k-drama-couples-voted-by-netizens.htm

Kim Je Ha and Choi Yoo Jin of "The K2" come out at Number 12!!!
It actually registers as a one off in a list with 20 actual OTP couples. Even though Je Ha and Yoo Jin are NOT couples they are voted into significance.

BTW that above is the other thing that dialled up my happy mood meter

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Ah finally!!! 
I found you all. K2 Bad-Ass lovers!! (in the comments section).

The place where I can drop off the smelly, ugh bag of K2 irritants / bad mood / frustration that I have been lugging around all of last 1 week.

I have found you .. K2 Script proposer for an alternate universe where this show goes where it was destined to go but was hijacked. YESSSS!! This is it.
Can you do a fanfic script? This was so like how I wished the show would have gone.
Thank you Guest Beanie!!

And now I am going to talk until am emptied out :-) of this bad feeling and smell.

I boarded the Wookie wagon with Healer. After weeks and weeks of riding the Hyun Bin Wagon (that was one magnificent route in itself); until almost all the train rides on the H.B. route were done (and redone too).

I was ready to browse and find the next fluttery, heaving thing.

I'd seen the Healer trailer on Netflix while surfing for dramas of high interest and breakthrough ratings ..  and marked it to My Watch List (MWL).

But that was 2 months ago when I was just a-month-old-Kdrama Newbie; predictably like all KDrama newbies I was hooked to rom-coms and romance dramas in the early days.

(You see while Covid Dystopia was taking over the real world I crossed the border and escaped into this magic land. I am a less than 3 months old resident in this parallel universe and thanks to the fellow refugee who pointed me to it, I realize it's saved my sanity too).

SO soon as the Hyun Bin drama and movies were over I browsed through MWL (My Watch List) .. considered the choices and testily queued HEALER .. 

My thought stream at that moment was:
- did I really want to watch a Thriller - Suspense KDrama? 
- Haven't I seen the best in that genre racing up on the Hollywood / Beebs Lanes ..  
- Cool! I can always quit if the first episode doesn't grab my eyeballs and drum up the heart beat into a tizzy very very fast ..
I refused to waste valuable Kdrama time waiting for the show to look better.

PHEW!! What did I know! Wookie Wagon roared off for one of the best thriller rides with a hot drama and romance wind blowing in the face  .. LOVE .. LOVED IT.

I was like: Who is THIS GUY!!! Dang!!
Hit Youtube, Hit Google 
He'd swung me hard off the H.B. rails and fixed me firmly on the Ji Chang Wook line!! Wookie / JCW / Super Wook the Net was crackling with him.

Then post-Healer Syndrome; as predictably as all JCW Healer Train addicts I too stumbled off onto the platform looking for the next JCWhizz ride ..

I follow Lady Divine's blog page at 
https://subtitledreams.com/

My Kdrama Taste buds click click click in unison with her more often than not; in fact I am trying to divert lovers of quality-review on KDrama to her blog by putting link here - her writing is superlative. Trust me.

Wook Trains had Empress Ki - which she rated 9/10 - as well as K2 - which she rated 10/10.
Hmm.
Empress Ki also had VERY impressive Nielsen ratings and reviews...

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(CONTINUING FROM ABOVE - the comment section has a word limit so the full comment didn't load).
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~ The other Blog I follow (the first superb blog I found as my Journey in K Drama land took off) is of Fangirl at

https://thefangirlverdict.com

Fangirl did not have Empress Ki in her review list, BUT she had K2 .. on her "dropped shows" list ;-O Ga!!

My decision was made: - let's get off the Wook on a speed train mode and slow down for a Saeguk .. 51 episodes and all .. 

JCW?? In a saeguk?? Ga! It better grab my eyeballs asap - Ha Ji Won do your thing!

Post-Empress Ki .. as I lay drenched in rolls of wet tissue .. weak and gone to sad but aching heaven .. 
Emperor Wookie Long Live .. 51 episodes of Wookie!! Heaven sent saeguk glory.

These Wook rides were proving to be at par with the H.B. rides .. Dashing! Emo-twisting strong plots, haunting OSTs, character arcs .. Soon I was baying for more Wook .. 

Enter K2. 
Diffident heart and mind. Lady Divine rates it 10/10 .. Fangirl DROPS it??
Midway! My brain was fracturing ..
But Wook was calling from those hot-bod, heart stopping trailers.
Maybe I could do the first episode test thingy again??

I do the TEST THINGY .. Yoona stumbling, simpering, running on platform bare feet .. hot Wook hobo running also .. I felt a dead stop coming up for me .. a brain freeze shooting pain ..  
NOOOOO!!
I can't take THIS overacting, stringy, mousy damsel in distress wimp thing one second longer!! Not with Hot and Heavy Action Wook. 

It was already feeling imbalanced acting prowess wise. 
So honestly speaking I quit within the first episode .. Barely took me past Wook on sofa with beer and kitty, at car mechanic's .. a dead halt.
I could exit with grace - with Wook beautiful man image in my head .. erasing the earlier horror-ugh sequence.

I told myself I'd fight another day .. another time .. when I was able to see past this .. What if my premonition that this "church"- mouse in a white-night dress is the Wook's Love Interest is ALL wrong .. 

Why would Lady Diving give it a 10/10?? Should I trust her and dive right in .. nose held tight until I surfaced to the essence of the show.

So I veered off for a while - rewatched Empress Ki .. LOL .. yes I was planning to anyway .. needed to savour superlative Emperor JCW Paeha, the story elegance, Ha Ji Won's Seung Nyangi again.

And BACK I was with more momentum and pressure .. I'll plough through; JCW can make you do that just with his full on screen presence, and in K2 he's Healer Amped up and chest bared ..
My eyes! Save them from the blaze!

I pulled in up to Episode 7 .. Hayishh!! 
I DROPPED IT!!
That Church Mouse in nightie was scuttling in the background .. and the sizzling Hot Madam & Wook steamy collision was by then looking doomed for derailment, a train wreck in slo-mo progression I couldnt take the torture any more. I jumped off .. (after...

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https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/bodyguard/s01

Am leaving the link of a superlative show that I watched last year on Netflix.

I was almost lulled into believing that this would be a turn along similar Protector- Power Lady Noona line - Korean Version!!

SIGH.

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YESSS UGH I NEED FANFIC OF THIS HAHAHA AMEN

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Yes yes yes!!!!!! This is the ending we all wanted!

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Completely agree.

Jeha ended up seemimg like such a desperate dummy falling for noodle girl.

The only thing that stopped me from dropping it was Yoojin. Her character was the best thing about the show.

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I will never, and I mean it, never, understand how viewers of the show like and symphatize with a woman who killed, abused and manipulated people for her own gain without feeling any remorse whatsoever. And no, no sob story is able to justify what she did through the series, especially to An Na. And speaking of An Na, the girl also was found right in the middle of political war and while many tried to use her, she managed to not become like her step-mother. True, her "uncle" managed to manipulate her using her own desire to avenge her Mother but in the end she was able to stay true to herself. She didn't let power and money to consume her. Which is what Choi Yoo Jin did. She's her own person and her own actions led her to where she ended up being. She was cruel, manipulative woman who wanted people to adore and worship her. Sure, later show tried to make her a less of a villain but it couldn't erase what she did before.
The most Innocent in all of this is An Na and for some reason viewers hate her while at the same time sympathize with a freaking abusive Yoo Jin? You're messed up. Thankfully Je Ha wasn't that stupid and his heart chose the better woman.

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I do not agree, to me je-ha never showed her that kind of love.I only seen respect for yoo Jin from him.

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