[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Switch - Change the World" Episodes 13-14

The investigation has stalled here, mostly as a result of mutual disinterest. Ha-ra already has enough high-level crooks that there's not really much impetus to go chasing after any more right this minute. Meanwhile, Tae-woong has been so spooked by recent reversals he's decided to hold back. Well, not really. It turns out that Tae-woong has been running a pretty long con on Jeong-pil, which somewhat awkwardly puts the more publicly powerful man in the position of technical victim.

I'm not really sure how "Switch - Change The World" is going to thread that needle. Tae-woong, while obviously evil, has always been at least kind of charming, save for his memorable role in the cliffhanger, and besides Tae-woong was always just a thug. Jeong-pil, by contrast, has willingly enabled Tae-woong's generally vile stratagems from a position of serious respectable authority. Jeong-pil's patronage is the only reason why Tae-woong is such a big threat in the first place.

Of course, even in context, the issue is less what Tae-woong did to Jeong-pil and rather what he did to Do-chan. Now there's an elaborate coincidence. I couldn't help but feel a little miffed about how Mister Ppeong abruptly went from hanging out with Ha-ra's mom to engaging in his own stakeout. Because really, Mister Ppeong has a better reason to be on Tae-woong's case than Do-chan does, to the point that Mister Ppeong would be the more logical protagonist.

From the perpsective of the script, I mean. Obviously the reason we're all here is to watch Jang Keun-suk flash a devilish grin while coming up with increasingly convoluted schemes to acquire information. I was not a fan of the fumigation sequence- because really, the bodyguards should have at least been watching over the more secure parts of the house. The infiltration method for the temple was a lot better on account of it being so painstakingly plausible.

Well, there's that, and there's also how the ceremony at the temple was not strictly speaking a secret. The prosecutor's office already mostly knew about that particular relationship. Which reminds me. While the premise of "Switch - Change The World" is that a prosecutor teams up with a con artist, for the most part we only ever see the con artists actually do anything useful. Ha-ra's main flashy contribution here is to just draw a portrait. Even when we learn why, Ha-ra's role comes off as awfully superfluous when contrasted with Do-chan's activities.

Review by William Schwartz

"Switch - Change The World" is directed by Nam Tae-jin, written by Baek Woon-cheol and Kim Ryoo-hyun, and features Jang Keun-suk, Han Ye-ri, Jung Woong-in, and Jo Hee-bong

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