[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Switch - Change The World" Episodes 19-20

Joon-soo doesn't do anything all that helpful in regards to Do-chan's big egg heist. Do-chan's big egg heist doesn't really do much either, though. Do-chan just gets yet another opportunity to act really smug. There's a very episodic feel to the schemes lately. There aren't any long-term consequences, so it's difficult to feel very invested in the endings. Tae-woong's criminal enterprise still doesn't seem to be suffering very much in terms of structural consequences, considering how many of his underlings end up in jail.

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Which I suppose is probably why Tae-woong was willing to take Joon-soo in solely on the basis of a loyalty pledge. Tae-woong does not have great expectations for any of his other flunkies just so long as they can orders. Of course if so many of Tae-woong's allies are disposable that just begs the question of why Do-chan's crew dedicates so much energy to going after such minor players.

We do kind of get an answer for that in the form of a flashback, that depicts the early days when Do-chan first met Director Bong (played by Jo Hee-bong), the old hand of the crew. Yet even as we learn that Director Bong has a direct personal connection to the latest suit-wearing crook, this means surprisingly little in the context of the blood we see unfold. The backstory explains Director Bong's nervousness as of late, and it climaxes with a pretty sunset, and that's about it.

For the sake of completion I should also note Eun-ji (played by Shin Do-hyun) and In-tae (played by Ahn Seung-hwan), the younger two members of Do-chan's entourage. Not that they do very much that's important. Like Director Bong, Eun-ji and In-tae are largely tools intended to explain how Do-chan is able to do stuff like get cameras into weird places. They don't have much personality, although that's mostly because they don't get much screentime.

I do like what "Switch - Change The World" does with Ha-ra here, which is to explain that she has had a much larger background role than has previously been implied. The problem with that is that we never really get to see Ha-ra do cool stuff, since her actions are being obscured, like those of so many other characters, for the sake of plot twists. For a plot twist to really work it has to change the character relationship dynamics. That's not possible when those relationships are intentionally kept vague in the first place.

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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