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[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Two Weeks" Episode 7

The drama takes a dynamic turn as several main characters are forced into a multi-layered confrontation. It's very effective stuff, and exemplifies the very best in dramatic tension for this kind of genre fiction. We've always known that the stakes were high, but this is the first episode where the situation is dangerous enough that it's genuinely difficult to see how anyone is going to get out of it alive.

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For that matter, it's difficult to see why characters aren't already dead. Tae-san immediately makes that connection, and a lot of fun is had here watching his mind work a mile a minute trying to process the new information fast enough. From the very beginning this drama has been very deliberate about information management, and it's always fun to watch someone accidentally give up valuable intelligence under the assumption that the other person already knows all this stuff.

This episode made me appreciate Jo Min-ki's performance as gangster Il-seok a bit more. Il-Seok isn't an idiot- while he has a bad temper and acts impulsively, these are, in certain circumstances, appropriate gangster skills. The guy is just smart enough to be able to keep the situation under control, and be cautious, but he lacks the genius element necessary to anticipate other characters' counter-moves, and this is his clear weakness. It's easy to see why he needs the backing of Seo-hee. It's not clear whether she would approve the current direction he's taking the operation.

Action sequences this episode run the whole gamut. We've got car chases, standoffs, ambushes, and fistfights, all with a wide variety of characters, all playing for keeps. It's rare to see action sequences and fight scenes so well-integrated into the larger story. None of them overstay their welcome, and the serious question always lingers- how the heck is the drama supposed to proceed from here? How can anyone escape from a situation this bad?

The preview for the next episode gives us a spoiler in that, no, the consequences of this episode aren't going to be quite so permanent as they may look in context. But a genre-savvy viewer could already guess that much. The joy to be had in "Two Weeks" is not in the next step being surprising, but trying to figure out how the characters are going to get from one seemingly impossible cliffhanger to the next. I already have my guess about what was really happening in the final shot of this episode- and right or wrong, I look forward to seeing the follow-through.

Review by William Schwartz

"Two Weeks" is directed by Son Hyeong-seok, written by So Hyeon-kyeong and features Lee Joon-gi, Kim So-yeon, Ryu Soo-young and Park Ha-sun.

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