So I thought Lee Jun Ki could not possibly get more beaten up in a drama than he did in Time Between Time and Wolf. By episode 7 of Two Weeks, Tae San has pretty much exceeded Soo Hyun’s threshold of pain, and Tae San has 9 more episodes to go! This episode was a nice taut one that upped the ante from both the law enforcement and the baddies side. Tae San’s connection with Soo Jin (and In Hye) is now open knowledge for his pursuers and so far neither is in danger (yet). But Tae San’s luck for the last 4 episodes finally runs out and he’s captured first by the cops and then snatched away by Killer Kim to deliver into the clutches of Moon Il Suk. It’s high time both sides on the tail of Tae San actually catch him, because I keep thinking to myself that Tae San isn’t some trained expert who can keep one step ahead of capture. What Tae San lacks in skills he makes up for with raw determination and a newly discovered sense of purpose. I acknowledge that this drama’s realism and logic is so lacking but it makes up for it with a sincerity of proceedings and lots of great energy and intensity. Conversely one of the issues that I had with Jun Ki’s last drama Arang and the Magistrate was that it was lovingly crafted but bogged down by the mythology and oh so somnambulant.

I do wish Jae Kyung would stop freaking out about every little roadblock and then run off on her own independent missions, because suddenly hot-headed Seung Woo seems to have become the sole rational member of the law enforcement team. Seung Woo won some points from me in this episode with his patience and caring towards both In Hye (not pushing her on anything related to her past or Tae San) and Soo Jin (being such a eager father-to-be). Operation Busan was a giant headdesk for the cops but it did finally let Tae San and Jae Kyung meet. Hopefully now the cops will finally understand that there is a greater conspiracy out there beyond capturing fugitive Jang Tae San. I did laugh quite a lot at the absurdity of Jae Kyung figuring out where Il Suk took Tae San and then her sudden kung fu ability to hold her own against the minions, but why have Kim So Yeon as the lead and not use her kick-ass skills a bit. My gut tells me the camera might not even be the smoking gun in the end and what will eventually take down Moon Il Suk and Jo Seo Hee is them being hoisted by their own petard when they try to destroy Tae San and Jae Kyung, both of whom have everything on the line.

Episode 7 recap:

Moon Il Suk learns of the existence of Soo Jin and beelines his way to the hospital to find out more about her. He easily disarms an innocent kid and talks with her via the phone in her clean room. He gets confirmation that Tae San is her father. Soo Jin wonders if he’s her dad’s friend, but then why is he so much older than her dad. Ha. Il Suk asks if she resembles her dad and Soo Jin thinks she looks more like mom. Il Suk asks where her mom is and hears that mom is with the doctor.

Soo Jin remembers Tae San telling her to keep quiet about him and tells Il Suk that he can’t let her mom know that she’s seen her dad. Il Suk finds out that Soo Jin even saw Tae San today at the hospital. D’oh! Soo Jin asks if her dad sent him here? Il Suk skedaddles before In Hye gets back.

In Hye sits outside the hospital after the call with Tae San, which is quite a lot for her to absorb.

Il Suk leaves with his minion and happens upon Seung Woo and In Hye talking in the lobby and susses out her identity. What is this hospital with no security or privacy!

In Hye and Seung Woo move their conversation to a coffee shop and he knows that Tae San is the father of Soo Jin and the marrow donor, and she knows that he knows, but neither comes straight out and says it. She doesn’t tell him that Tae San is trying to leave the country, and he says that he’s going to capture Tae San. She grabs him hand and thanks him for not asking her about “that person”.

Moon Il Suk and his minion are sitting on the second floor of the coffee shop eavesdropping. Either he’s got super-hearing, lip-reading skills, or else the noise control is that coffee shop majorly sucks.

Seung Woo comes to visit Soo Jin and they chat on the phone. Soo Jin asks if Seung Woo is sure that he wants to marry her mom? Does he really like her mom? Seung Woo says no which makes Soo Jin happy thinking of course that her mom and dad have a chance to get back together. But Seung Woo meant that he wants to hear Soo Jin call him dad as soon as possible, because she promised to call him dad when he married her mom. Awwww.

Tae San leaves Seoul and doesn’t forget to take his antibiotics in the truck. He takes out the instructions for the smuggling contact from Chairman Han.

The captain is driving with Seung Hoon, Jae Kyung’s colleague, and talks about how Jae Kyung had him tap In Hye’s cell phone a few days earlier. That was how he heard Tae San say he was smuggling himself out of the country. Jae Kyung gets this tip and gets the chief prosecutor to okay a police surveillance operation.

Jae Kyung takes the police team along to head to Busan to intercept him. Girl means business and gets into the driver’s seat barrels down the highway. Seung Woo gets back to the empty precinct and wonders where everyone went?

Too bad Moon Il Suk has sources in the police station and hear that the cops are headed to Busan.

As Tae San arrives in Busan, he passes by the old dance studio where In Hye worked and flashbacks to how he started to get to know In Hye. Since running into her at the dance studio, he would sometimes drive by and one day she couldn’t get a cab and flagged him down to give her a ride. He acted all cool but then handed her the helmet. Once he dropped her off, she takes off with his helmet still on her head.

The present day Tae San chides himself for thinking about these useless memories. He remembers that In Hye is getting married soon and hopes that it’s to a good man. He goes to the bathroom and washes off the cream that gives him hives.

Tae San arrives at the port and meets up with his contact. Too bad the cops and Jae Kyung already have the place under surveillance and spot him.

Tae San gets into the hold of the smuggling ship and is handed supplies for the duration that he has to stay hidden. Tae San asks for help changing his wound bandage but the smuggler leaves so he does it himself.

As Tae San settles in and takes out Soo Jin’s toy to look at it, suddenly the cops burst through the door and after a brief tussle Tae San is apprehended and read his rights.

In the hospital, In Hye tells a thinly veiled story about how the Sun fell in love with the Mountain but couldn’t be together. The Sun loved the Mountain so much that it stayed by its side all the time, causing all the animals on the Mountain to complain because it was never dark so they couldn’t rest. The Mountain also felt pressure from not being able to sleep and yelled at the Sun to leave. But the Sun thinks that if the animals didn’t complaint, the Mountain actually didn’t mind not being able to sleep and wanted to be with the Sun.

Tae San is led out to the police cars to be transported back to Seoul. The captain tells Jae Kyung to play the good cop role with Tae San and garner his trust. Jae Kyung’s first mission is to find out where the camera is so when she gets back and she get the evidence to arrest Moon Il Suk and Jo Seo Hee. The captain says to tell Tae San that she believes in his innocence and will help him to the surgery for his daughter.

Seung Woo learns that everyone went to Busan to catch Jang Tae San and he was left behind. He then gets a call from Il Do that the team captured Tae San and is on their way back. Even worse, Il Do admits that the captain specifically said to not tell Seung Woo about this mission. Seung Woo is furious and gets in his car and drives off to meet them.

During the drive back to Seoul, Tae San is wedged in the middle of the backseat between Jae Kyung and the captain. He asks how they knew he was taking that smuggling ship. Jae Kyung tells him to be quiet. Tae San suspects Chairman Han turned him in. He worries about what to do next, whereas Jae Kyung is relieved that it’s all over.

The police convoy runs into a major traffic jam caused by an accident further up. As the car is trying to go an alternate route, of course Killer Kim and the rest of Moon Il Suk’s minions are right there since they staged the accident to cause the traffic jam. After a brief chase, the police car Tae San is riding in is wedged between two cars and can’t get out, and then a smoke bomb is tossed inside to incapacitate everyone.

The captain and Seung Hoon are dragged out and beaten unconscious. Jae Kyung and Tae San manage to climb out the trunk but then Jae Kyung takes just one blow to the head. Tae San tries to run for it but is subdued and dragged off.

Jae Kyung manages to get up and takes off alone and jumps into some poor dude’s car and drives off. Girlfriend, you need to chillax.

After the bad guys get away with Tae San, the cops stand around arguing over how this all happened, wondering if there is a mole in their ranks or someone is being bugged.

Seung Woo arrives and is even pissier to learn that Tae San has been taken by another group and no one got a good look at their faces. They go to pull all the surveillance cameras mounted nearby, and Il Do notices that Jae Kyung is gone and wonders where she went?

As Jae Kyung is driving, she knows Tae San was taken by Moon Il Suk and goes through all the information she’s gathered on him and tries to think of a place he would take Tae San that is out of the way and isolated.

Tae San is woken up by a splash of water on his face. He’s in an empty dingy warehouse tied up to a chair and Moon Il Suk is sitting across from him. His minions are all standing guard. Il Suk greets Tae San with a long time no see, and then asks where the camera is? Tae San thinks to himself that Il Suk killed Man Seok so of course he has the camera. Il Suk asks again where Tae San put Mi Sook’s camera?

Tae San is about to say he doesn’t know but Il Suk warns that he’ll cut off Tae San’s tongue if he dares to say he doesn’t know. He wonders who is helping Tae San that he managed to try and smuggle himself out of the country. Tae San asks why Il Suk did this to him, for the third time! The first time he agreed, the second time he failed but served his time, so why this time again?

Il Suk laughs and says it’s because Tae San never said no the first two times. Tae San reminds Il Suk that he threatened In Hye’s life the first time. Il Suk smirks that he never did harm her. Tae San asks what Il Suk would have done then if he said no? Il Suk shrugs and says he would’ve killed In Hye. Tae San growls that Il Suk needs to stop with the bullshit then.

Il Suk says that Tae San came to him because he was angry about his mother abandoning him. Except Il Suk is someone with no conscience that he would even steal food out of his own siblings hands. So it was Tae San’s own stupidity for choosing to follow him. Tae San asks why Il Suk didn’t bother to ask him this third time if he was willing to take the fall?

Il Suk laughs and says it’s because Tae San will never say no, he is a piece of trash that doesn’t even live like a human. It doesn’t even matter if he dies because no one cares. So why even give Tae San a choice? Does Tae San have anymore questions now? Tae San asks if Il Suk will let him live in exchange for the camera? If he agrees, then Tae San will give him the camera.

Il Suk is impressed that Tae San seems to have developed some balls since getting shot. He pulls down Tae San’s shirt to look at the wound and says it’s healing well. He wonders where Tae San got the medicine and antibiotics? Tae San claims he got it himself, he’s been on the run for six days and managed to even sneak into the hospital today, of course he can get antibiotics.

Il Suk orders his minions to ask around the pharmacies in the areas where Tae San got shot. He beats Tae San up a bit and thinks that Tae San handed the camera to whomever helped him.

Jae Kyung arrives at the abandoned warehouse but doesn’t see any cars around. She’s discovered by Il Suk’s minions and she actually holds her own in a bit before getting captured.

Jo Seo Hee is in a meeting with some politicians being her usual fake ass nice humble self. They want to nominate her for another office. Though she initially wanted to quit politics after the charity auction, this time she considers staying.

She goes out to take a call from Il Suk and finds out that Jang Tae San is alive and captured, but Park Jae Kyung unfortunately found them as well. Il Suk asks the brains of the operation what to do and Seo Hee screeches that he needs to kill Jae Kyung. Il Suk is a little leery since she’s a prosecutor and all. Seo Hee says even prosecutors can die in an accident doing an investigation.

Jae Kyung is dragged before Il Suk and a totally beaten up Tae San. She warns him that he just kidnapped a prosecutor and wants to know how his minions learned that she was headed to Busan? Il Suk isn’t telling and is amused by all this. Il Suk re-introduces Jae Kyung and Tae San to each other, and then reveals that Jae Kyung is the daughter of the man Tae San went to prison for beating up that first time.

Flashback to the court scene where Tae San gets a reduced sentence for stabbing Jae Kyung’s father out of self-defense during their brawl. Turns out Tae San got the scar on his back as dummied up evidence so he could take the fall for Il Suk by claiming that wound was inflicted by Jae Kyung’s dad. Jae Kyung watches this in dismay and screams out that Tae San is not the culprit, it was Moon Il Suk who stabbed her father!

Moon Il Suk tells Tae San that Jae Kyung is doggedly on his tail because of the past crime. If Tae San shoots Jae Kyung right now, then Il Suk will let him live. He will let Tae San take the first ship out of the country to wherever he wants to do. This is the last chance Il Suk is giving Tae San – kill Jae Kyung and give him the camera, or they both die today.

Tae San takes the gun and says that he will kill the girl and bring him the camera. Il Suk says deal. Tae San points the gun towards Jae Kyung who tries to scream but cannot as her mouth is taped shut. She shakes her head furiously in fear but Tae San fires. Soo Jin crosses off another day on her calendar.