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[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Two Weeks" Episode 11

A new dynamic appears this episode as our heroes decide to take on radically different tactics in order to bring the villains to justice. A lot of this drama is just hand-wringing on the part of the lead characters as to the choices they've made in the past and whether these were good and smart choices. Having established that, no, they probably weren't, a full-fledged plan now comes into focus that has genuine legs.

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Metaphorically, nothing has actually changed. Tae-san is still on the run, and the drama establishes that, for all the character groth the heroes have been going through, the villains are the same cold, vicious people they were at the start. There's an especially chilling scene between Il-seok and Seo-hee where, given the choice between quitting while they're ahead and continuing to charge into full-on evil territory, they decide on evil territory.

This dynamic does a lot to justify Tae-san's actions, since we in the audience know that Tae-san's actions are the appropriate ones, even if it certainly may not seem that way to the other characters. What's important to remember is that Tae-san is the only character who is intimately familiar with how and why the gang operates- which is why it's up to Chae-kyeong to figure out that there's a reason her plans keep failing. And for Tae-san to realize that he needs more, better allies than his ex-girlfriend who can only barely even help him out in a fistfight.

The episode at large is this great transitional moment of clarity. Most of the focus in the series so far has been on the camera, and while the camera is certainly important, there's way more going on here than just some inconvenient pictures. This is a full-fledged criminal conspiracy. And this drama does an excellent job going full-on into all the action and plotwork necessary to fully realize the extent of this kind of battle between cops and gangsters.

The human element is displayed in excellent effect here, too. Soo-jin isn't just the reason why Tae-san needs to stay alive. She's the reason why he should stay alive. A long-established conflict regarding Soo-jin's character is dealt with head-on here, and while I was nearly disappointed to see it apparently fixed so easily, I realized that near-death situations are like this. They're these moments where excuses just aren't good enough, and we don't want to be caught being horrible, selfish people before having the chance to make things right. It's this basic heart underlining "Two Weeks" that makes it such great viewing.

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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