Made in Korea Season 2 Episode 1-2 Review
Director: Woo Min-ho
Date Created: 2026-09-10 03:15
3.5
Made in Korea Season 2 Episode 1-2 Review: Directed by Woo Min-ho, the Disney+ and Hulu K-drama 메이드 인 코리아 시즌2 stars Hyun Bin as Baek Ki-tae, Jung Woo-sung as Jang Geon-young, Woo Do-hwan as Baek Ki-hyun, Seo Eun-soo as Oh Ye-jin, Won Ji-an as Ikeda Yuji, Jung Sung-il as Cheon Seok-jung and Roh Jae-won as Pyo Hak-su, alongside others.
Made in Korea Season 2 Episode 1 Recap
Episode 1 of Made in Korea Season 2 takes place nine years after the end of the first season, with South Korea now experiencing increasing resistance against the Yushin dictatorship. Demonstrations have taken place in Busan and Masan, and even though President Park is still maintaining power, having been president for more than two decades, the internal environment within the government is as chaotic as ever. The director of KCIA, Mr Cho, wants to confront the protests in a non-violent manner, thus creating conflicts with the head of PSS, Chief Gwak.
President Park is using Baek Ki-tae for his political game as well. He instructs the KCIA Deputy Director to watch over Cho and gives him a chance to become the next KCIA director. Meanwhile, Major General Hwang Dae-sik of the Military Security Command is creating his own political network, since he wishes to oppose Cheon. In response, Cheon tells Ki-tae to put Hwang in his place. Cheon then pressures Ki-tae to boost political campaign money since he is unsatisfied with the outcome of the most recent elections. In the course of their discussion, Cheon hints that President Park’s rule will not last forever.
Ki-tae’s criminal empire has grown by leaps and bounds, though he still resists the idea proposed by Ki-hyun about selling meth across all of South Korea. Ki-tae sees himself as a patriot despite everything he does and doesn’t want to breach that boundary. However, his business is flourishing as Chang-bae helps him run the lab, and there is an unexpected new character running the whole show. Ki-tae’s sister So-yeong has gotten into the business as well, and she definitely looks like something straight out of a gangster movie, and yet at the same time she is a mother.
As for Ki-tae’s younger brother Ki-hyun, he has climbed the military ladder and reached the rank of a lieutenant colonel. He is known to be highly principled and disciplined, except when the name of Ki-tae is mentioned. Then the narrative moves to Japan, where Ikeda, who is the ageing leader of a yakuza gang, is about to retire. There are two contenders for his leadership position: Kimura, a dedicated follower for a long and Yuji, Ikeda’s adopted Zainichi daughter. But Yuji knows that mere succession will not suffice for her; hence, she seeks out Harimoto, an influential Zainichi member of the gang.
She tells Harimoto that she will use Ki-tae’s connections to get his brother, the imprisoned Professor Jang Gyeong-sik, released from prison in Busan, where he was detained for espionage. In the meantime, at home, Pyo Hak-su makes Ki-tae aware that KCIA had been overplaying the communist angle to distract President Park from the MSC. Although he sympathises with the protesters and wants President Park to be toppled, he has been informed that somebody is selling Ki-tae’s meth in Busan. And the culprit behind it is none other than Prosecutor Oh Ye-jin.
Ye-jin is already showing herself to be more than willing to get her hands dirty. Disguised, she interrogates a drug dealer into telling her the name of Chang-bae, but Ki-tae manages to get to Chang-bae before Ye-jin does. Following a Russian roulette-type game, Chang-bae ends up dead. A meeting for the Baek family takes place to mourn their father, but So-yeong tries to help patch things up between her brothers. Ki-tae asks Ki-hyun to keep an eye on Major General Hwang.
Yuji moves in on her adoptive father in Japan. Ikeda rejects her as his successor, so Yuji takes care of him in this way. Ki-tae keeps his word and brings Professor Jang to Japan before Ikeda’s funeral. Then there is an election of the Kumicho of the clan. It looks like Yuji is not going to win, because Harimoto decides to support Kimura, and thus Yuji lacks just one vote. However, Yuji does not give up and takes advantage of her husband: Ki-tae breaks into the hall and eliminates all the guards, and Yuji kills Kimura and Harimoto.
In South Korea, however, October 26 is the day when everything changes. President Park, Chief Cheon, Director Cho, and Chief Gwak gather for a dinner amid increasing tension. Cho openly backs the demonstrators, making Park angry. Cheon feels something is amiss and calls Ki-tae, requesting his immediate presence at the scene. At the end of Made in Korea Season 2 Episode 1, after Ki-tae arrives at the safe house, gunfire breaks out. Cho goes out and takes the gun from Ki-tae before going back inside. Shooting continues. Suddenly, Ki-tae realises that the impossible has taken place – President Park was assassinated.
Made in Korea Season 2 Episode 2 Recap
Made in Korea Season 2 Episode 2 of the K-drama starts right from where the assassination ends. President Park and Chief Gwak are dead now, leaving Ki-tae and Cheon in a completely new political environment. It is not known who will take charge of the country next, and soon it leads to a competition for power.
Major General Hwang sends Ki-hyun to investigate the assassination case, where he finds himself in an awkward situation of interrogating his own brother. As expected, Ki-tae makes the process difficult for his brother through his noncooperativeness and provocation in all ways possible. Before things could get out of hand, General Jang Mu-jin steps in and releases Ki-tae because he had arrested Director Cho.
A flashback shows what transpired shortly after the shooting incident. Cho called on Jang and thought of including him in his plans; however, Ki-tae was able to convince Cho to proceed to the Army headquarters. Meanwhile, Ki-tae informed the police that Cho was behind the assassination of the President.
The betrayal by Ki-tae bears fruit almost instantly, as General Jang rewards him by appointing him as the new KCIA director. Jang and Ki-tae forge a connection as both require the removal of Major General Hwang from the scene. But Hwang has no plans to wait. He seeks the Blue House, and he has Colonel Ahn on his side, as Ahn is a superior of Ki-hyun and has been providing him information regarding the connection between Ki-tae and General Jang. Apart from Ahn, there is some other unknown entity who has been giving Hwang information and has some interests in the fortune of Cheon.
Next, Hwang launches a public attack against Director Cho and the KCIA, threatening to bring down the entire organisation. Among the crowd who are cheering on Hwang’s move is Ki-hyun, marking yet another emotional rift in the relationship of the two brothers. Ki-tae, on the other hand, moves Cheon closer to becoming the president. He says that it is possible for Cheon to become President, but only after defeating Hwang. Ki-tae’s plan is to win General Jang over using military power to get rid of Hwang. But Cheon is not convinced and decides that the officials from Joint Investigation Headquarters could also be influenced.
Cheon complicates matters further by appointing Pyo as the Deputy Director without seeking the approval of Ki-tae. Pyo attempts to rile up his new boss, but Ki-tae does not respond as expected. Hwang launches another attack by having the Chief Prosecutor launch an inquiry against Ki-tae for his meth business. It falls on Ye-jin to investigate the matter, but to her surprise, the advisor at the Joint Investigation Headquarters turns out to be her old teacher, Jang Geon-young. Thus, it can be clearly seen who the enigmatic player in the game is.
The assignment for Ki-hyun is to investigate the secret money that Cheon has. It becomes clear very soon for Ki-hyun that it was not by accident that Ki-tae got into both of these situations. Hwang uses Ki-tae to create tension between the brothers. A flashback from nine years ago demonstrates how Ki-tae warns Ki-hyun about the Saigon bombing and tells him that he has protected their family in so many different ways and that So-yeong is connected with his crime syndicate. Now Ki-hyun keeps informing Ki-tae about Hwang and Ahn but does not want to spy on the Joint Investigation Headquarters at his brother’s request.
Episode 2 of Made in Korea Season 2 then takes a turn and becomes a game of espionage. Ahn organises a meeting between Ki-hyun and Geon-young, but Ye-jin finds out that Yuji will arrive with the material for the procedure. Pyo, angered by Ki-tae’s humiliation, secretly makes a call. Meanwhile, So-yeong helps in the transportation of the material, and Ye-jin observes this in secrecy. In another part, Yuji and Ki-tae meet to discuss how to continue their operation under martial law. They are then interrupted by Joint Investigation Headquarters, who surprise them. Afterwards, Geon-young arrives and greets Ki-tae.
Made in Korea Season 2 Episode 1-2 Review
Made in Korea 2 is a bit challenging for me, since I have to say that the first episode surprised me because I liked it more than I anticipated. As for the plot development, after the nine-year gap, there are no unnecessary details to explain to the viewers before starting to talk about political conflicts. From the very beginning, I became involved in the struggle between Cheon, Hwang, Ki-tae and other characters, as it seems that all of them think several steps ahead.
Another important aspect which I liked a lot was the introduction of Yuji’s story. I found it very ruthless when she tried to take the clan from Ikeda, who wanted to recognise her talent. The death of President Park turned out to be the turning point of the episode. Hyun Bin keeps on making Ki-tae intriguing since Ki-tae is always trying to think of ways in which he benefits from all the situations he finds himself in. The aspect which really impressed me about the recent episodes is the fact that there are clear differences between Ki-tae and Ki-hyun.
The way Woo Do-hwan presents Ki-hyun is far more controlled than that of Ki-tae, and it makes it quite interesting given the fact that Ki-hyun has gained a reputation for being a military officer with a lot of ethics. Any encounter between the two brothers always seems to be filled with tension regardless of whether they are talking or not. One other character which I like is Seo Eun-soo’s Ye-jin, who seems to become more aggressive each day as she seeks to uncover Ki-tae’s criminal activities. It was quite surprising to find that her mentor, Geon-young, is actually part of the big political scheme.
Probably one of my favourites in Made in Korea Season 2 Ep 1 would be Won Ji-an’s Yuji character. It is easy to make this character independent of the ongoing Korean political crisis, but the bond between this character and Ki-tae makes it relevant to the bigger picture of the power struggle. It is nice to see how Yuji learns to accept the fact that waiting to be acknowledged as a worthy successor will not get her anywhere. Her killing of Ikeda and her actions after she lost the clan’s vote show that she is ready to make her own way.
Another character I find intriguing is Jung Sung-il’s Cheon, who keeps on positioning himself as an advocate of stability, but his actions show that he is making plans to climb to power. Lastly, Jung Woo-sung’s Geon-young has only been introduced to the central plot in Episode 2, but his appearance in the ending scene intrigues me and makes me wonder about his real allegiances. While Made in Korea Season 2 Ep 2 is less focused on the shock of the assassination and more on its consequences, I appreciate the difference. Every character tries to find the best strategy for survival and to get some benefits out of all the mess.
Ki-tae wants Cheon to become President, Hwang wants to be in charge of the Blue House, Cheon wants to control the Joint Investigation Headquarters by paying money, and Geon-young seems to have a totally different plan. Even Ki-hyun is involved in all those plans as a tool for achieving the goal. Thus, the plot resembles some kind of chess game where each move can be the one that will win the game. The only thing why I do not rate these episodes higher is that they can be really confusing due to so many factors.
