"God's Gift - 14 Days" Episode 2

"God's Gift - 14 Days"is still going strong in episode 2 and the quality hasn't flagged. It's beautifully shot, well-acted, and the mystery and suspense is driving the entire show forward at breakneck speed. There is also something that is so genuine in each of the main characters that speaks to the nature of being human and relationships. Plus, this show is exciting. Really exciting.

The beauty of this show lies in the fact that every aspect blends together and flows forward. The camera work is clean and transitions well between depicting story elements and actual camera storytelling. The way the shots are cut together reveals clues and creates tension without being glaringly obvious. Also, the action scenes aren't so blurry that they are difficult to follow. There are quite a few foot chase scenes in this episode and they were artfully done.

Lee Bo-yeongmust be mentioned because she is absolutely stellar. She's thrown herself into this role wholeheartedly. This role requires a lot of tears, angst, and physical endurance and she pulls it all off with finesse. It's difficult to embody the myriad of emotions required of her character because so many of those emotions are conflicting. Actually, all of the roles in this drama require a lot of emotional finesses because each character has a well-developed story. Dong-chan lives the life of a hoodlum, but he carries the guilt of putting his brother, Dong-ho, in jail. Dong-ho's son, Young-gyu, smiles a lot, but he suffers from ridicule and the inability to understand a lot of what's going on around him.

What this second episode did so well was build the tension up to losing little Saet-byeol and then show the fallout the family suffers. By reading her daughter's diaries, Soo-hyeon realizes how much her words, both positive and negative, affected her daughter. Her husband, Ji-hoon, can't help but blame her for their child's death. In times of serious distress, reflection and guilt and blame come to the foreground and that's exactly what happens. The entire process is heartbreaking and the show takes us along the sad journey with the characters and let's us share their fears and their pain.

"God's Gift - 14 Days"also has a few themes running through it that it will definitely continue to explore. Life, death and water are the three most prevalent. The president elected during the first episode declared a war against violent crime and in the second he brings back the death penalty. He gives the government the right to decide life and death. The criminal who took Saet-byeol and who killed the other women gave himself the right to choose between their lives and their deaths. The end of this episode showed three different paths to death that will certainly be altered once Soo-hyeon receives her fourteen day gift.

The common thread through all of these deaths is water and falling into water. The woman who warned Soo-hyeon she would lose something dear also warned her to beware of water. The lake from the beginning of the first episode cropped up in the second as did the shoe. This show makes it clear what elements are important, so I'm guessing that shoe and that lake will come back again to further the story.

This show makes wonderful use of coincidental connections in a way that I wish other shows would. Soo-hyeon interviewed Dong-ho who is in turn related to both Dong-chan and Young-gyu, and Young-gyu is connected to Saet-byeol through friendship; Dong-ho is connected to the president through the death penalty. Woo-jin is Soo-hyeon's first love and someone Ji-hoon feels antagonism towards. It's an intricate web that is going to be crucial for when Soo-hyeon travels back into the past to save her daughter. It's a finely woven web of relationships that is detailed, well-explained and easy enough to understand.

There is so much potential in this show that I'm really excited to see how it follows through. It has everything I look for in a drama: intrigue, good actors, great writing, clean directing, sharp editing, complimentary background music. On to episode 3!

Written by Raine fromRaine's Dichotomy

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"God's Gift - 14 Days"is directed byLee Dong-hun, written byChoi Ran-Iand featuresLee Bo-yeong,Jo Seung-woo,Kim Tae-wooandJeong Kyeo-woon.