Season 1 of the K-drama Made in Korea left us with Baek Gi Tae (Hyun Bin) clawing his way up through 1970s ambition and betrayal, and prosecutor Jang Gun Yeong (Jung Woo Sung) sacrificing basically everything to try to stop him. It was messy, it was tense, and it ended on exactly the kind of note that makes a sequel feel inevitable.
Now Season 2 has landed on Disney+ (premiered September 9).
The setup, nine years later
So, we start with a significant time jump. Now, Gi Tae isn’t clawing his way up anymore—he’s at the top. Season 1 was about the climb; Season 2 is about what a person like him does once there’s nothing left to claw toward. Power for its own sake tends to get uglier, not calmer.
Meanwhile, Jang Gun Yeong has spent nine years preparing for exactly this moment. This isn’t a guy who moved on. This is a guy who’s been quietly loading the gun the entire time skip.
And then there’s the new wrinkle: Gi Tae’s younger brother, Gi Hyun (Woo Do Hwan), is carving out his own path to power, and suddenly the central conflict isn’t just “hero vs. villain” anymore. It’s a three-way collision of ambition that’s about to get very messy, very fast.
Does it still hit like Season 1?
Based on the episodes released so far, yes! Season 1 had to spend a lot of runtime establishing our characters and what 1970s Korea’s power structures looked like. Season 2 skips that groundwork entirely and goes straight for the throat, which is exactly what a good sequel should do.
The chemistry between Hyun Bin and Jung Woo Sung , two actors who know exactly how to play “quiet menace” and “quiet devastation” respectively is doing a lot of heavy lifting here, and it shows.
Where to watch
- Platform: Disney+
- Schedule: Wednesday
- Also airing on: tvN, starting September 14
Did you like the Season 1 better, or Season 2. Share in the comments.
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