D.P. Season 2 (2023)

Discipline, Punishment, Morality and Art

What do I even say cause I am left speechless by the brilliance behind season 2. While season 1's entire premise is moral chastatization of the individual and their place within a systemic cycle of abuse and revenge, season 2 does the brilliant thing of not brow beating it's audience into submission and cutting all that sanctimonious nonsense. It **BRILLIANTLY** highlights that the issue ***IS SYSTEMIC*** and not individual. Such an sentiment I'd like to say in retrospect was undergirding the brilliance of season 1 with season 2 bringing it forth and flourishing it into existence.
DP's artistic direction is another thing worth noting. Too often I feel like K-dramas are retreading old ground and it's easy to feel like you've seen every plot line and every trope and every character archetype but goddamn do I have an immense respect for the directors and writers direction with this. An actual critique of the pejorative system facilitating the our society and the military industrial complex. From the Anton Chekhov story line to the gothic horror of EP 4 every single thing is a breath of fresh air. Artistically wonderful with a narrative that is spiritually animating.
This isn't a shallow over exaggerated look at things. From the opening soundtrack and film that shows the gradual fall into disillusionment and nihilism of the world as Jun Ho looks at you dead inside to Nina's determination, hopes, and dreams being crushed by the system just like how a seagull is shot down in Anton Chekhov's play, it's all wonderful. An interplay of art, politics, love, morality, and responsibility.

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not as good as the first season, but still worth watching

This season of D.P. felt like a completely different show from the first season. Suddenly, we have a Big Bad and a looming conspiracy that the good guys are dealing with. Suddenly, Junho feels like a different person and is apparently Jason Bourne in the last two episodes. I still loved Junho (and the rest of the gang), but he just felt different in this season. It was like he had a ton of development that the audience didn't get to see and was more confidant than the last time we'd seen him. Though, I should mention I have only seen the first season once and it was when it first came out, so I might be forgetting things.
This season also seemed less grounded in reality than the first season, which felt gritty and very real and knew exactly what kind of story it wanted to tell. This season seemed a little more out there in terms of reality and like I said the whole train/Jason Bourne thing was kinda wild.
All of that to say: I still watched the whole thing and was interested to see how it would all turn out. Plus it was nice to see all of the characters back on my screen (all of the actors were fantastic). I just think this season was a little lazy and not quite up to par with the first season.

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