The K2

The K2
Promotional poster
Genre	Political drama, Melodrama, Action
Written by	Jang Hyuk-rin
Directed by	Kwak Jung-hwan
Starring	Ji Chang-wook Im Yoon-ah Song Yoon-ah Jo Sung-ha
Country of origin	South Korea
Original language(s)	Korean
No. of episodes	16
Production
Producer(s)	Kwak Jung-hwan
Location(s)	Seoul, South Korea Barcelona, Spain
Running time	60 min.
Production company(s)	HB Entertainment
Distributor	tvN
Release
Original network	tvN
Picture format	1080i (HDTV)
First shown in	South Korea
Original release	September 23 (2016-09-23) – November 12, 2016 (2016-11-12)
External links
Website

The K2 (Hangul: 더 케이투; RR: Deo Keitu) is a 2016 South Korean television series starring Ji Chang-wook, Song Yoon-ah, Im Yoon-ah and Jo Sung-ha. It began airing on tvN every Friday and Saturday at 20:00 (KST) on September 23, 2016.^[1] It premiered to positive reviews, receiving praise for its action sequences and performances.^[2][3]

Synopsis

Kim Je-ha is a former mercenary soldier for the PMC Blackstone. While in Iraq, he gets framed for the murder of his lover, a civilian. As a result, he runs away and becomes a fugitive. He returns to South Korea and by chance, gets offered to work as a bodyguard by Choi Yoo-jin, the owner of JSS Security Company and wife of the presidential candidate, Jang Se-joon. He accepts the job in exchange of the resources that he needs in order to get his revenge on another presidential candidate, Park Kwan-soo, who previously ordered the killing of his lover. In the meantime, Je-ha gets assigned to guard Go An-na, the hidden daughter of Jang Se-joon, whose life is always threatened because of Yoo-jin, her stepmother. An-na, who has been reclused and lonely all her life, starts relying on Je-ha, who shows concern for her and protects her at all costs. They slowly fall in love with each other, which makes Je-ha torn between having to work with his ally, Yoo-jin in order to get his revenge and protecting his new-found love, Anna, against his own ally.

Cast

Main characters

• Ji Chang-wook as Kim Je-ha (aka K2)^[4][5]

An employee under the JSS Security. He is a skilled soldier but becomes a fugitive and changes to be cold and cynical. He gets noticed by Yoo-jin, who hires him to guard her husband's secret illegitimate daughter, Go An-na.

• Im Yoon-ah as Go An-na^[6]
  • Lee Yoo-joo as young Go An-na

An illegitimate daughter of a presidential candidate and a former famous star. Growing up surrounded by public interest, An-na suffers from social phobia and experiences panic when exposed to flashing lights. She returns to Korea from Spain by chance, and becomes a pawn in her father’s race to become the president.

• Song Yoon-ah as Choi Yoo-jin ^[7]

The wife of the presidential candidate and eldest daughter of a chaebol family. She is ambitious and merciless, and has her sights set on becoming the First Lady.

• Jo Sung-ha as Jang Se-joon

A presidential candidate and An-na's father. He cares for An-na, but is unable to show it in order to protect her from his wife, Choi Yoo-jin.

Supporting characters

• Kim Kap-soo as Park Kwan-soo, Se-joon's political rival and leader of the current ruling party
• Lee Jung-jin as Choi Sung-won, Yoo-jin's brother and CEO of JB Group^[8]
• Shin Dong-mi as Kim Shil-jang,^[9] the right-hand woman and chief secretary of Yoo-jin
• Lee Ye-eun as Mi-ran (aka J4),^[10] An-na's bodyguard
• Lee Jae-woo as Sung-gyu (aka K1), An-na's bodyguard
• Lee Chul-min as Park Kwan-soo's aide
• Song Kyung-chul as Song Yeol-chun^[11]
• So Hee-jung Head of JSS medical team

Others

Special appearances

• Joo Sae-Byeok as Woman having affair with Jang Se-joon (Ep.1)

• Son Tae-young as Uhm Hye-rin, An-na's mother and a former famous star
• Yoo Seung-mok
• Jo Hee-bong as police officer
• Sung Dong-il as police officer (Ep. 3)
• Yoo Seung-mok as Congressman Kim
• Lee Han-wi as The President's Secretary (Ep. 10)
• Jo Dong-hyuk as JSS Special Ops Captain (Ep. 8) ^[14]
• Choi Jung-min
• Park Jung-sang

Production

The K2 is written by scriptwriter Jang Hyuk-rin (Reset, 2014 and Yong-pal, 2015) and directed by producer Kwak Jung-hwan (The Slave Hunters, 2010 and Neighborhood Hero, 2016).^[15][16] The drama is depicted with a bodyguard action theme and utilized various fighting techniques including systema, taekwondo, aikido, and jujutsu for its action scenes. It became the first Korean television drama to introduce the Bullet Time effect.^[17][18] The first script reading was held in August 2016 at the CJ E&M Center in Seoul, South Korea.^[19] Filming began in September; some scenes of the drama were filmed in Spain.^[20]

The male lead Ji Chang-wook, due to his casting, became the highest-paid actor for a tvN drama.^[21] He had special training and will be performing the action stunts in the drama by himself, without a body double.^[22] At the press conference, director Kwak expressed "On top of Ji's splendid action, the drama will tell the story of insatiable desire and political fights between people holding secrets of their own."^[18]

Reception

The drama received favorable reviews, topping cable channel viewership ratings throughout its 8-week broadcast.^[23] The drama was received too much praised from the viewers about the main actors and actress acting.^[24]

Original soundtrack

Ratings

In the table below, the blue numbers represent the lowest ratings and the red numbers represent the highest ratings.^[25]

Note: This drama airs on a cable channel/pay TV which normally has a relatively smaller audience compared to free-to-air TV/public broadcasters (KBS, SBS & MBC & EBS).

International broadcast

The drama's broadcasting rights were sold to streaming site DramaFever as well as various countries including Vietnam, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, and Indonesia.^{[23][28][29][30][31]}

Awards and nominations

References

External links

• Official website
• The K2 on Facebook
• The K2 at HanCinema
• The K2 at the Internet Movie Database
• The K2 at Daum (Korean)
• The K2 at Naver Movies (Korean)