I think the craving for instant gratification proliferates in dramaland more and more, so the screenwriters are trading off telling a complete story for a slew of gotcha moments interspersed with filler material in between. It’s telling that an increasing number of dramas don’t withstand the test of time beyond looking outdated, the storyline just doesn’t stand up to rewatch. Two Weeks is one of those dramas that has a chance to cement itself in a select group of dramas that are cohesively mapped out and the bumps and flights of fancy don’t upend the overarching narrative. As the drama heads into its final week, I’m loving how everything is coming together even if there are lots of lucky breaks for the good guys and questionable calls made by the bad guys. This isn’t a tightly written story with more logic than entertainment, it’s one that delivers the emotional bang even if it takes our rational buck. The acting is a stellar effort by the entire cast, with Lee Jun Ki stepping up yet again to show us that he’s one of the best all-around actors of his age-group and more than deserving of his popular fame and critical acclaim. Banged up and beaten down, he’s still gorgeous inside and out, and Jang Tae San does down as one of his best characters to date.

I loved that episode 14 quickly plucked In Hye and Soo Jin out of danger, because ultimately Soo Jin is always in danger and if she or Tae San dies then In Hye is probably going to have a meltdown anyways. Jae Kyung appears to have permanently turned on her smart button and put away her shrieking switch, and now she’s just a solid ally for Tae San all around. I can’t say Lee Jun Ki has any chemistry with Kim So Yeon, but I do love watching this functional working partnership. I can’t hazard a guess as to whether Tae San will survive this ordeal but I’ve becoming ungodly invested in wanting him to have a long and happy future being a daddy to Soo Jin. Two Weeks delivers every single daddy-daughter moment perfectly in this drama, and their conversation in episode 14 takes the cake of cuteness and poignancy. This drama is about justice and survival, and Tae San’s journey is so well crafted that it doesn’t matter how crazy the situation is around him, he’s will to survive grounds this drama into something real and meaningful. I like to think Tae San and Jae Kyung have their final salvo all mapped out, because I hate to see Tae San make a deal with one devil to catch another.

Episode 14 recap:

Moon Il Suk has In Hye kidnapped as a diversion to lure Tae San away, but his real purpose is to kidnap Soo Jin and use her health as the threat. Tae San realizes something is wrong as he’s following directions to go meet Killer Kim. He does an about turn and heads to the hospital.

Seung Woo has tracked down a photography studio based on Killer Kim’s license plate captured by the garbage truck and he heads there now. Jae Kyung refuses to be cowed and she heads down and pays off the food delivery guy keeping tabs on her and asks to borrow his motorcycle.

Soo Jin realizes something is off once her excitement wears down and remembers her dad specifically saying he can’t see her until the surgery when he will come to the hospital. Soo Jin drops a slipper to create a diversion for Moon Il Suk and then she darts into the elevator and runs back upstairs.

All the nurses are out cold so Soo Jin looks around or a place to hide. She settles into a cabinet and Moon Il Suk arrives to find her. He looks around everyone but doesn’t see her. Just as he’s about to leave, he spots her in the cabinet and leans down to grab her.

Suddenly Tae San arrives and starts pounding on the locked door to the unit. Soo Jin darts out of the cabinet upon seeing her dad. Moon Il Suk hides knowing that his chance to grab Soo Jin has passed. Tae San worriedly yells at Soo Jin to get back into the antiseptic room now. Soo Jin sadly complies.

Tae San looks PISSED. He opens another door and storms into the unit. He sees Moon Il Suk darted into a stairwell and he runs after him.

Tae San runs into Jae Kyung arriving to check on Soo Jin. He tells her to take care of things here and he’s going after Moon Il Suk.

Tae San chases Moon Il Suk out of the hospital and corners him on a rooftop. Tae San angrily asks why Moon Il Suk is being so vicious – all Tae San asked for was to save Soo Jin. Even if he died, he wanted her to have the surgery first. And yet Moon Il Suk was willing to let her die to get rid of Tae San.

Tae San starts wailing on Moon Il Suk and HOMG this scene is totally satisfying. Tae San manages to push Moon Il Suk over the ledge and remarks that he’s gotten much weaker. He could make it so it looks like Moon Il Suk committed suicide, but he won’t.

Tae San lets Moon Il Suk go and he thinks Tae San is still a weakling who can’t kill. Tae San admits he can’t kill a person but he can kill an animal and that is all Moon Il Suk is. But he still won’t kill him, because he wants him to rot in jail for Mi Sook and Man Suk’s murders. Moon Il Suk smirks that Tae San will never catch kim. He tells Tae San to remember today, because a year from today will be In Hye’s one year death anniversary. Tae San says Moon Il Suk will never be able to hurt In Hye and Soo Jin.

Seung Woo arrives at the photo studio and over powers the two minions outside. He runs inside to find the tied up In Hye. He unties her and gives her a hug to assure her that she’s fine. She realizes that Tae San got her signal to go save Soo Jin which is why Seung Woo is here to save her. Seung Woo confirms that is what Tae San realized as well, he thinks the same way as In Hye.

Tae San calls Jae Kyung and hears that Seung Woo saved In Hye and they are on their way to the hospital. He asks about Soo Jin and Jae Kyung tells him to come see Soo Jin herself. She’ll cover for him as Soo Jin has been asking for her dad.

Tae San nervously waits for Soo Jin to pull open the blinds. She does so and she’s wearing the giant pink clip on her beanie and flashes him a mega-watt smile. Awwwww.

They greet each other and he worries that she’s been frightened. Soo Jin is proud that she listened to her dad and knew the bad man was lying when he said he was going to take her to see her dad. She learned in kindergarten to stay away from bad people – those who hurt others and lie. Tae San is proud that In Hye taught her well.

Soo Jin says she’s not very smart and her grades aren’t so good. Tae San assures her that when she’s all better and goes back to school, she’ll do well because he did well in school. That perks up Soo Jin. She then wishes her dad a happy birthday and reveals that her mom made her dad seaweed soup which Soo Jin drank for him since he doesn’t like it.

They celebrated her dad’s birthday for him and she then shows him a birthday card she drew for him. Tae San is fairly choking back his tears. Soo Jin thanks him for giving her life. Tae San tells her that he’s so happy and Soo Jin reminds him to smile if he’s happy. They smile at each other and hold their hands up to touch through the glass.

Moon Il Suk orders In Hye killed only to learn that she’s escaped with help of Im Seung Woo. His secretary tells him to hurry elsewhere to create an alibi for himself.

Tae San waits in the lobby of the hospital and sees In Hye and Seung Woo darting into the elevators. He looks relieved and notes that In Hye doesn’t look hurt so Seung Woo is pretty competent.

In Hye rushes into the clean room to check on Soo Jin and is relieved to find her unharmed. She apologizes to Soo Jin for not being there to protect her. Soo Jin is thrilled that her dad showed up suddenly like Superman and called her name and the bad guy pretending to be her dad’s friend got scared and ran away. Soo Jin wonders where her mom went today and how the bad guy knew her mom wasn’t around? Soo Jin then throws up and lays down because she’s tired. Seung Woo looks on worriedly.

Jae Kyung and Seung Woo thank each other nothing bad happened today. Seung Woo knows Tae San is working with Jae Kyung and asks to know what they have planned next. The surgery is in a few days and they have to catch Moon Il Suk before then. In Hye comes out and Seung Woo excuses himself. In Hye asks Jae Kyung where Tae San is right now?

Tae San is waiting for Jae Kyung when it’s In Hye who arrives. They smile at each other and she thanks him for saving Soo Jin. He apologizes for getting them involved in the first face, he’s so ashamed he can’t even apologize properly. In Hye thanks him for remembering her coded message about the reflection in the eyes.

Even though she wanted to save Soo Jin, in truth she also doesn’t want to die. But she desperately hoped oppa would remember the reflection message. Tae San ruefully says that she should have forgotten all about him, the type of person he is. In Hye says that today they both saved Soo Jin, she wants the last 8 years to be washed away. The surgery is in 2 days, and by then she wants all their past 8 years of ill feelings to be thrown away.

Tae San doesn’t think it’s so easy but In Hye wants to do it, she wants to forgive herself so that she can forgive oppa as well. She’ll see him in two days and he promises to be there. He knows she had a hard day and she knows oppa did as well.

Seung Woo goes to the hospital surveillance room and sees that the wires have been cut so no video was recorded. He wants to find the video of the lady who delivered the drinks.

Tae San and Jae Kyung are eating and discussing their next steps. Jae Kyung wants to just arrest Moon Il Suk since Soo Jin is an eyewitness but this time Tae San says to calm down and they need to arrest Jo Seo Hee as well otherwise she’d just bust him out. He shows her the recording of the minions confessing, though Jae Kyung says this is just circumstantial evidence that can exonerate Tae San but can’t prove Moon Il Suk is there real killer.

They think Moon Il Suk will act if he learns that his right hand man Dae Joon made such a stupid confession of sorts. Jae Kyung reveals that she found out more about the home next to Jo Seo Hee’s small pad. Tae San wants to get a move on to catch her, he can’t rest easy to go in for surgery unless she’s behind bars.

Tae San goes to Jo Seo Hee’s house and climbs the wall of the compound. He sees her dancing merrily in the garden dressed in some frou-frou white dress with a glass of wine in hand. This is pretty LOL random. He surreptitiously takes pictures of her.

Tae San goes back to Chairman Han’s place and the Chairman is impressed with how energetic Tae San is after what he went through the night before. Tae San hands him the background search on Killer Kim conducted by Jae Kyung, and turns out he’s a Colombian citizen born in 1985. Tae San asks why Chairman Han thinks Killer Kim could be his son?

Chairman Han explains that he had a son when he still a cruel and vicious mob boss and all were scared of him but his son. He was the one who gave him the special pen. One day, his son disappeared while playing outside. He thought it was a ransom kidnapping and kept waiting for a demand which never came.

Tae San asks if this is the reason Chairman Han helped him, his desire to save his daughter reminding him of his son? Chairman Han gruffly says its human nature to want to help. Tae San promises to help him find his son after the surgery is done. Chairman Han says to worry about himself first since he’s in constant danger.

Moon Il Suk decides to bide his time and kill Tae San when he shows up for the surgery. He orders tails on Jae Kyung, Seung Woo, and In Hye. His secretary suggests Moon Il Suk give up on killing Tae San since there is still no evidence Moon Il Suk killed Mi Sook. That doesn’t fly and Moon Il Suk tells him to be prepared to kill Tae San on the day of the surgery.

Tae San calls Moon Il Suk and plays the recording made by Dae Joon where he said he would never kill a person. Moon Il Suk doesn’t fall for it and says to turn it into the prosecutor’s office if it was solid evidence. Tae San says this is useful, Dae Joon might not want to shoulder the crime.

Tae San calls Dae Joon and asks if he’s made the arrangements to go to jail. The knife used to kill Mi Soon belonged to Dae Joon, the house where she died was purchased in Dae Joon’s wife’s name. He needs to be ready to die in jail for Moon Il Suk’s crime.

Moon Il Suk calls Dae Joon in to go find another scapegoat with an easy to frame background like Jang Tae San. Moon Il Suk reminds them all that Tae San needs to be killed still. Dae Joon gets a call from his wife and rushes home.

Seung Woo is waiting to talk with him. He tells Dae Joon that his wife claims to know nothing and tells him to bring the house documentation to see him at the police station.

Tae San goes to see Dae Joon and punches him in the face. He tells him to call the cops if he dares. He correctly points out that Moon Il Suk must want Dae Joon to find another scapegoat, and then plays his recording for him.

Jae Kyung’s boss calls Sang Hoon in to see if he knows what Jae Kyung has been up to since she took time off from work. Sang Hoon says he has no idea, covering for Jae Kyung.

Jae Kyung goes to see the reporter who suspects Jo Seo Hee isn’t all that upstanding. He confirms she’s the one who has been investigating Jo Seo Hee and arrested Moon Il Suk. She gives him a tip that Jo Seo Hee alibi’d Moon Il Suk. The reporter says he actually went to see Jo Seo Hee before Moon Il Suk was released and she called him on his bluff and told him to publish it. If he dares to publish something without proof, then he’ll see what could happen. Through that chilling confrontation, he realized that Congresswoman Jo had completed changed.

The captain is talking with his team and they’ve narrowed down the knife used to kill Man Seok to one manufacturer. The captain tells his team to take turns keeping watch at the hospital because it’s Seung Woo’s family there. Seung Woo goes to the nightclub to ask if anyone there has seen Dae Joon carrying that special knife but no one has.

Jo Seo Hee and Moon Il Suk go to have a pow-wow at the river banks and she demands to know why he made a copy of the camera contents. He asks why she bought a ticket to leave the country after the auction and didn’t tell him? He’s a big mob boss and has been cleaning up after her for the last ten years, so she needs to stay put until she takes care of Park Jae Kyung and Jang Tae San.

Jo Seo Hee chews him out for being the first to do something before telling her, i.e. killing Oh Mi Sook in a fit of rage. Moon Il Suk calls her bluff and says they can abort the charity auction, he doesn’t need that money. But she does, so if she wants to leave the country then she needs to take care of his problem first. Jo Seo Hee asks if he’s withholding the money from her and he reminds her that she thinks this country is Hell and she’s become to survive to leave it behind. She shouldn’t be surprised now.

Jae Kyung meets with Tae San to prepare their items for the next move. We see Killer Kim in the forest checking his gun in the car trunk.

Tae San dons a disguise and goes to see Jo Seo Hee. He outs himself and then asks to cut a deal with her. He shows her the pictures he took of her swanning around her fancy mansion last night, threatening to release it to the press if she calls the cops. All he wants is to have Moon Il Suk arrested and to save his daughter’s life. He doesn’t care about Jo Seo Hee.

If she helps keep him safe, then once Moon Il Suk is arrested he’ll make sure she’s not implicated. He knows that if he betrays her, then she would never let him get away with it. He’s actually quite scared of her and know she can destroy him at anytime. She asks if he has all the evidence against Moon Il Suk on hand. Tae San does and he’ll take care of catching Moon Il Suk. All he asks is that she doesn’t save him afterwards.

Jo Seo Hee accepts him deal and the two of them shake on it. Jae Kyung is positioned at a rooftop across the way and takes pictures of this deal going down.