“The K2” is a 2016 South Korean television series starring Ji Chang-wook and Im Yoon-ah. It premiered on tvN every Friday and Saturday from September 23 to November 12, 2016 for 16 episodes.
The drama received favorable reviews, topping cable channel viewership ratings throughout its 8-week broadcast. It was praised by viewers for good performances. It has been broadcast in Vietnam, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, China, Thailand, Israel, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Greece. (Wikipedia)
How I wrote these episode summaries with no spoilers
1. I assumed that you will be reading these summaries and watching the videos chronologically.
2. I narrated some of the main actions in each episode without revealing the plot’s twists and turns.
3. At the beginning of each summary starting with Episode 2, I placed in a table a recap of the major twists and turns of the previous episode. But because you have already watched the video of the previous episode, they aren’t spoilers anymore.
Episode 1
A young woman named Anna escapes from a convent in Madrid, Spain where she has been kept since she was a young girl. As she tries to elude the men chasing her, she reaches the subway where she meets Kim Je-ha.
Six months later ... Je-ha works for an outdoor advertising company. One night, his boss orders him to fix the giant banner of Congressman Jang Se-joon that hangs outside a building that’s guarded by JSS, a private security firm. He gets past the strict security when an old cleaning woman helps him.
Congressman Jang Se-joon, a presidential candidate, meets his paramour in a private room in the building; meanwhile, his wife Choi Yoo-jin is being interviewed on TV.
As Je-ha is working on securing the giant banner, masked men attack the building.The men work their way up to the room where Congressman Jang Se-joon and his paramour are, and a vicious fight takes place between them and the building’s security team. Seeing one of the masked men about to attack the old cleaning woman, Je-ha tries to help her by crashing through the tempered glass windows.
Episode 2
| Ep. 1 recap: Anna is Congressman Jang Se-joon’s daughter. After witnessing her mother’s death when she was a child, she has been kept in a convent in Madrid, Spain. Je-ha is a former member of the South Korean Special Forces; Chief Joo, the man who trained him, is now a JSS officer. |
In Korea, Yoo-jin berates the CEO of JSS for allowing Je-ha to escape. But Chief Joo defends JSS, saying that Je-ha is a highly skilled and experienced mercenary.
After the fashion designer posts Anna’s picture on social media, Secretary Kim advises Yoo-jin that Anna must be killed. But fearing how Se-joon would react, Yoo-jin orders that Anna be brought back to Korea.
Je-ha has found refuge with an elderly couple in a farm. But JSS has found out his location, and while he’s out on an errand, a JSS man hostages the elderly farm couple and pours a flammable liquid on them.
Episode 3
| Ep. 2 recap: Je-ha sneaks into Yoo-jin’s mansion and warns her to stay away from and not hurt the elderly farm couple. After escaping from the JSS men, Je-ha goes back to the mansion. As he holds a gun to Yoo-jin’s temple, Anna shouts at him to kill Yoo-jin. |
In the hospital, Je-ha remembers how, as a mercenary, he met and fell in love with Nania in Iraq; he proposed to her, and they planned to live in Korea. Later on, he meets Chief Joo who tries to convince him to join JSS as a bodyguard so that they can both get the revenge they want.
Se-joon has found out that his daughter has returned to Korea and is in Yoo-jin’s mansion. Later on, after visiting Yoo-jin in the hospital, he announces before all the reporters that he is stopping all of his election campaign activities because of his disgust for politically motivated violence.
Episode 4
| Ep. 3 recap: Yoo-jin secretly keeps her shares in JB Group through her half-brother, Sung-won. Se-joon manipulates the crowd with his feigned disgust of politically motivated violence, and they proclaim that they will change Korean politics. After recognizing Congressman Park Kwan-soo, Je-ha takes a gun away from a security escort, shoots the other escorts, and then aims it at Congressman Park. |
Je-ha escapes from Congressman Park’s men with the help of Yoo-jin and Chief Joo. Later, he accepts their offer to join JSS, but, in the headquarters, he runs into the agents whom he previously beat up.
Chief Joo takes Je-ha to his first assignment — to stand guard over Anna who has been moved by Yoo-jin to a secluded house. Meanwhile, a JSS technical expert finds the chip that enabled the motorcycle-riding men to take control of Yoo-jin’s car.
Episode 5
| Ep. 4 recap: Je-ha fails to detonate the bomb that could have killed Congressman Park. |
When her aunt dies, Yoo-jin anticipates that her aunt’s shares will help her take over the JB Group. At the wake, the security men refuse to allow her JSS escorts to enter.
During the meeting at the wake where her aunt’s last will is read, Yoo-jin is surprised when Sung-won (her half-brother) and his father-in-law offer to buy all her shares at double the book price. They say that the purchase price will be enough to fund Se-joon’s ambition to become the next president of Korea.
Sensing that Yoo-jin is in trouble, Je-ha tries to get into the secure meeting room, but he’s met in the hallway by the security men.
Episode 6
| Ep. 5 recap: Sung-won and his father-in-law threaten to kick Yoo-jin out of the board of directors of the scholarship foundation that holds Yoo-jin’s shares in JB Group. Je-ha turns on the fire alarm and manages to get Yoo-jin out of the meeting room. While continuing to watch over Anna in the safehouse, Je-ha is called to report to the JSS headquarters and report to “Cloud Nine,” a top-secret project. |
After the meeting, Yoo-jin entices Je-ha to tell her his story by saying that she will soon go after Congressman Park. She also allows Je-ha to use the JSS supercomputer in the Cloud Nine office.
Anna escapes from the safehouse and later goes back to her childhood home. Through a photo in a neighborhood studio, she traces her mother’s friend in a sanatorium. There, she’s warned by her mother’s friend that Yoo-jin will kill her. But the JSS agents have already tracked her down and are on the way to the sanatorium.
Episode 7
| Ep. 6 recap: Congressman Park framed Je-ha for killing Nania in Iraq. Anna shows herself to her father and to Yoo-jin during the church service. In the park, Je-ha assures Anna that her father sent him. During their conversation, Anna loses consciousness. |
Yoo-jin meets with the President’s chief of staff, offering him a deal that will benefit Se-joon’s presidential ambitions.
During Se-joon’s campaign rally, Je-ha alerts the JSS team leader about some suspicious men in the audience, but the team leader disregards his warning. Later, police officers arrive, intending to arrest Se-joon on charges of sexual harassment. While Chief Joo and the JSS agents confront the police officers, Je-ha helps Se-joon to escape.
Episode 8
| Ep. 7 recap: Yoo-jin mocks Anna’s belief that her father Se-joon loves her. The make-up artist and one of the JSS agents tried to frame Se-joon for sexual assault. But Je-ha breaks up their plan. Je-ha forces Se-joon to see Anna at the infirmary. But Anna comes to believe Yoo-jin’s words when Se-joon tells her to forget about her mother’s death. |
Congressman Park learns about how he’s being abandoned by his political allies.
Je-ha takes Anna back to the safehouse, but a guy who has seen the “Barcelona Angel” photo by the European fashion designer catches a glimpse of Anna in the car. He follows the car and takes a photo of Anna; later, he uploads the photo to the Internet and publishes the address of the safehouse.
Reporters, photographers, and fans of Anna’s mother besiege the safehouse. Upon learning about it, Yoo-jin orders CEO Gook and his team to kill Anna.
Episode 9
| Ep. 8 recap: Je-ha takes out the JSS snipers and agents. Yoo-jin arrives at the safehouse where she’s stunned by the swarm of reporters and photographers. When Anna tells everyone who her father is, the frenzied photographers begin taking her pictures, using their camera flash. Anna collapses, and Yoo-jin pretends to care for her in a motherly way. Yoo-jin tells Secretary Kim that she isn’t fooled by Je-ha’s reason for acting the way that he did with Anna. Meanwhile, Congressman Park finds out about Je-ha’s background as a mercenary in Iraq. |
On an impulsive visit to the JSS headquarters to flaunt her new found freedom, Anna meets Master Song and the other JSS staff. Sung-won arrives later on and threatens Yoo-jin that he will reveal to everyone who Anna really is.
Sung-won takes Anna to meet a psychiatrist in a hospital. While Anna and the psychiatrist talk in the office, Sung-won takes Je-ha aside and tries to convince him to abandon Yoo-jin and switch to his side. Unknown to Je-ha, Sung-won’s men have kidnapped Anna.
Yoo-jin finds out that Sung-won and Anna have disappeared. She mobilizes all the JSS agents to look for them, but when CEO Gook tries to get help, the police commissioner turns him down. Je-ha tracks down Sung-won’s car, but it’s empty.
Episode 10
| Ep. 9 recap: Sung-won takes Anna and the safehouse staff to an isolated beach house. Later, through Je-ha, he tells Yoo-jin that he’s keeping Anna as his insurance against her plans to take over JB Group. Congressman Park tries to make a deal with Sung-won’s father-in-law about taking over JB Group. At the beach house, the emotional bond between Je-ha and Anna begins to grow. |
Angered by the results of the interview, Secretary Kim sends a team of assassins to kill Anna.
To Yoo-jin and Se-joon’s surprise, the prosecutor’s office refuses to release Se-joon as it prepares to investigate him over a new case. Yoo-jin tries to call the President’s chief of staff, but Congressman Park has already made a deal with the chief of staff.
Episode 11
| Ep. 10 recap: Anna makes a surprise appearance in the TV show interview and appeals to the public for any information about her mother’s death. Je-ha foils the assassination attempt against Anna; later, he accepts Yoo-jin’s plan to kill Congressman Park that night. But Secretary Kim tells the JSS agents to kill Je-ha no matter what happens in their mission against Congressman Park. |
After being released, Se-joon confronts Yoo-jin about her threats against Anna’s life. On the other hand, Sung-won continues to gain Anna’s trust by arranging a fashion show tribute to her mother.
Episode 12
| Ep. 11 recap: Je-ha fails to kill Congressman Park because of his PTSD. Later, after compromising with Yoo-jin about Se-joon’s membership in his party, Congressman Park offers Je-ha money and a chance to work for him. |
Anna begins to become dependent on the pills that Sung-won provides to her. Later on, after a reporter has published a story of Anna actually being Yoo-jin’s daughter, Sung-won takes Anna to meet the police commissioner.
Yoo-jin faints and is hospitalized; while there, she’s visited by Master Song who pleads that she stop threatening Anna. Later, she gives Je-ha complete access to the JSS super computer in the Cloud Nine office.
From the hospital, Yoo-jin goes to the police headquarters to submit to an investigation on the death of Anna’s mother.
Episode 13
| Ep. 12 recap: The convicted burglar tells Anna that the person who killed her mother was Yoo-ji. Sung-won pays off a reporter to publish the story of Anna being Yoo-jin’s daughter. At the police station, Yoo-jin stuns everyone by saying that Se-joon is Anna’s biological father. |
After the convicted burglar refuses to categorically state that Yoo-jin killed Anna’s mother, the police commissioner orders that Yoo-jin be released.
At the grave site, Anna meets Yoo-jin, who offers to adopt her and later leave JSS and JB Group to her. Meanwhile, Je-ha,and Se-joon come to an understanding about Anna’s welfare and exposing Congressman Park’s large scale corruption.
Through the JSS supercomputer, Je-ha,and Yoo-jin learn about the President’s son who worked as a volunteer doctor in Iraq. Je-ha and the JSS agents rush to the hospital to monitor the doctor’s movements, but Congressman Park’s men are already there.
Episode 14
| Ep. 13 recap: The convicted burglar turns out to be an actor who was paid to discredit Sung-won and Anna. Despite Yoo-jin’s offers, Anna vows to continue searching for the truth about her mother’s death. Congressman Park warns the doctor about the USB drive that holds the evidence against him. On the other hand, Sung-won and his father-in-law hold a secret meeting about what to do if the USB drive turns up in the wrong hands. Je-ha finds out where the doctor is hiding the USB drive. |
Je-ha is rushed to the Cloud Nine office in the JSS headquarters. Later, Yoo-jin pretends that she has gotten hold of the USB drive and gets the allies of Sung-won’s father-in-law to switch their allegiance to her.
But Sung-won relentlessly pursues the advantage, asking Congressman Park and someone inside JSS to join his side. With the police commissioner’s help, the police enter the JSS headquarters and ransack its computer servers.
Episode 15
| Ep. 14 recap: Je-ha gets the USB drive from the President’s son and hides it. The police fail to access the Cloud Nine supercomputer. After Yoo-jin promises to protect Je-ha, Anna agrees to leave Korea and start a new life abroad. CEO Gook switches his loyalty and leads Sung-won and Congressman Park’s men to the Cloud Nine sublevel. |
Je-ha leaves Cloud Nine to retrieve the USB drive. Meanwhile, as Anna prepares to leave Korea, Secretary Kim finds out what’s happening in the JSS headquarters; she orders all available agents to rush to the headquarters.
After being forced by Se-joon and Chief Joo to give the USB drive to them, Je-ha sets off to kill Congressman Park in his safe house. But unknown to him, Congressman Park has taken Anna as a hostage.
Episode 16 (Finale)
| Ep. 15 recap: When Yoo-jin threatens his grandchildren, CEO Gook kills himself. Je-ha fails to kill Congressman Park, but Master Song manages to rescue Anna. After Congressman Park threatens to kill Anna, Se-joon agrees to meet him in the JSS headquarters. Time left before the bomb explodes — 38 minutes. |
Se-joon enters the conference room but tells Yoo-jin that he cannot give her the USB drive because he needs it to protect Anna.
With Anna as a hostage, Sung-won forces Yoo-jin to let him into the conference room. He shoots Yoo-jin in the leg before Se-joon gives up the USB drive. After finding out that he cannot defuse the bomb, he escapes from the Cloud Nine sublevel.
Se-joon drags the bomb into the conference room. As Je-ha and Anna brace themselves inside the free falling elevator, the bomb explodes.
Lessons in photography from “The K2”
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| Bokeh (aesthetic quality of the blurred areas of a photograph) |
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| Low angle shot |
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| High angle shot |
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| Sidelighting, lead room |
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| Foreground and background blur |
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| Sinister diagonal (Dynamic symmetry) |
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| Shallow depth of field |
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| High angle shot |
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| Converging lines, vanishng point |
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| Balance and symmetry |
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| Low angle shot |
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| Background blur |
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