"Switch - Change The World" Episodes 1-2 recap

Joon-soo (played by Jang Geun-suk) is a high profile prosecutor in the thick of a huge investigation. Joon-soo is so in the thick of the investigation that "Switch - Change The World" doesn't even bother to explain what exactly it is that he's been doing. So we're mostly on the same page as prosecutor Ha-ra (played by Han Ye-ri), who understands what Joon-soo was trying to do in broad strokes, but is in a bit of a fix when a mysterious car crash incapacitates Joon-soo indefinitely.
Meanwhile Do-chan (also played by Jang Geun-suk) is a professional con artist who looks indistinguishable from Joon-soo. The dual role trope is played a bit differently here than usual- Do-chan doesn't stumble into Joon-soo's case by accident, but rather, Ha-ra just uses the latest state of the art technology to find a suitable temporary body double for the next phase of Joon-soo's plan. And that's when things start to get messy.
That's also where the second episode leaves off, unfortunately. Although really, I'm actually kind of grateful that "Switch - Change The World" dispenses with the usual exposition to jump right into the plot. Do-chan is constantly trying to run an elaborate new con, and high intelligence notwtihstanding, it's never totally clear how much control Do-chan really has over any given situation. Sometimes it seems like he creates impossible problems solely so he can enjoy trying to solve them.
By making a conscious decision to drag Do-chan into an explicitly dangerous investigation, Ha-ra is herself attempting to con the con artist for her own ends. So on top of everything else the ethical situation is rather iffy. The two leads in "Switch - Change The World" are smart, but not as smart as they think they are. Even more alarmingly Do-chan and Ha-ra tend to create huge loud messes everywhere they go, so subtlety is not a strong point in an investigation where Tae-woong (played by Jung Woong-in) is trying to be the sneakiest, quietest villain possible.
So far the main weak point in "Switch - Change The World" is just a lack of motivation. Ha-ra and Do-chan show such questionable judgment in choosing to cooperate with each other that their various sidekicks openly dissent against the joint enterprise of con artists and prosecutors working together. The main selling point to "Switch - Change The World" is just in trying to guess in what precipitous direction the next turnabout will fall. Curiousity, more than emotional engagement, is the watchword here.
Review by William Schwartz
"Switch - Change The World" is directed by Nam Tae-jin, written by Baek Woon-cheol and Kim Ryoo-hyun, and features Jang Geun-suk, Han Ye-ri, Jung Woong-in, and Jo Hee-bong

Copy & paste guideline for this article
Always put a link back to the source and HanCinema permalink