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[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Two Weeks" Episode 8

There have been a lot of flashbacks lately going back to how the relationship between Tae-san and In-hye started out. I haven't been sure what to make of these cute romantic interludes. It's difficult to imagine the two getting back together over the course of the series, if only because Tae-san is spending every waking moment just trying to stay alive. A daily schedule like that doesn't leave much room for rekindling a romance with a basically hostile ex.

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In this episode, we get a clue behind why these flashbacks keep coming up- they're context for Tae-san's survival instinct, which to date has sometimes felt inconsistent. In these early interactions with In-hye, though, we see that Tae-san's strategy for dealing with In-hye, if we can even call it that, involves almost no concern for his immediate safety. Tae-san takes dangerous risks under the assumption that as long as it doesn't kill him, there's no real long-term damage.

This is, in many ways, a completely insane philosophy and flashback In-hye calls him out on it. But in the present term, when Tae-san's opponents are violent gangsters, it does him a lot of good. Tae-san has carefully taken stock of everything he's learned since his capture and developed a plan that, while immediately pissing a lot of people off and guaranteeing there will be no kid gloves next time, at least keeps him alive until the next episode, where it looks like he'll be going on the offensive again.

The action choreography is fun, like always, though I wouldn't call it perfect this time around. In the final strike of this episode's final setpiece, I'm not entirely sure what happened. Granted, I'm no expert on water physics, and it's clear just from watching the episode that someone must have done something deliberate to cause something to happen. I'm just not at all sure what.

Regardless, this episode hits all the right notes- we're focusing less on Tae-san now, and a lot more attention is being spread to the broader cast of characters. Their schemes may not be particularly as elaborate or exciting as Tae-san's, and they benefit a great deal from not having to agonize over the painful injuries they keep sustaining, but all of them keep the action tense and thrilling. The cliffhanger this time is not a particularly exciting one. It's not really necessary, honestly. Just knowing that we're halfway through the series, and still only barely closer to an actual resolution, is a pretty strong enticement to keep coming back for more.

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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