The new Disney+ crime drama series The Manipulated is a glossy yet brutal thriller about an everyman, Park Tae-joong (Ji Chang-wook), who is framed for a horrible crime by an insanely wealthy fixer, An Yo-han (Doh Kyung-soo). Catching the first four episodes of the show, the series feels more like a movie cut into parts, with a large continuing narrative that only really follows Tae-joong and how he survives in prison while Yo-han is inadvertently making his life more difficult. The Manipulated is fast paced, pulls no punches, and is setting us up for a big showdown between its two leads.
Tae-joong is a hardworking man with big dreams. He is constantly working, mostly as a delivery rider, trying to raise money to open a cafe while paying for the studies of his younger brother, Tae-jin. He is also knowledgeable with plants, a gift he has learned from his late mother. But one night, one phone call and a diversion from his usual routine finds him as the suspect of a brutal murder and some hard evidence has turned up that puts him in prison. There, the gentle hardworking man must turn into a warrior if he is going to survive.
The crux of the show’s first four episodes is centered on how this genuinely good person, wonderfully portrayed by Ji Chang-wook, turns into a fighter when his back is pushed against the wall. When binge watching the first four episodes, all the things that could go wrong for Tae-joong happens to Tae-joong bringing him to his darkest place only to be reborn as a strong-willed, very capable man. Surprisingly, the issue of his incarceration – what we, as the audience, known as false evidence because we witness what truly transpired – is hardly touched upon and the series seems more focused on Tae-joong’s transformation.
When the case is brought up again, that’s the only time An Yo-han is revealed. Doh Kyung-soo portrays Yo-han as a psychopath, completely devoid of empathy and humanity, he plays him like a child who always gets what he wants. He’s portrayed as unbelievably wealthy, definitely supported by his work as a fixer, and unbelievably bored. We still know quite little at the start, but we know he’s the cause of Tae-joong’s suffering and so far, the series has made it that he’s going to be a character we are going to want to see suffer.
Structurally, the series isn’t built like a regular show. This is Tae-joong’s story, and most probably Yo-han’s too, once Tae-joong finds out his role in all of this, and the narrative rests entirely on Tae-joong’s journey. The first four episodes are set to break him, rebuild him, and then break him again, in order for him to take matters into his own hands.
The Manipulated continues the portrayal of a rough prison system that is filled with corruption and illegal activities. Some inmates, like Yeo Deok-su (Yang Dong-geun), are vile and evil and they find Tae-joong’s presence a wrench in their system of control within the prison.
The inner politics and territorial disputes among the inmates in the prison serve to play an important role here while there’s some shred of goodness left in the setting in the form of an inmate, No Yong-sik (Kim Jong-soo), who has found peace as an assistant to the prison priest, and one warden who stands as the only one in the whole prison who seems to have his humanity intact.
Directors Park Shin-woo and Kim Chang-ju are unafraid to go all in on the violence and brutality. The action scenes in the series are intense and make full use of Ji Chan-wook’s very capable physicality. Ji Chan-wook is charming as Tae-joong. He captures the goodness and the everyman quality that the character needs but can also bring out the darkness in him when his world starts crashing down. And Ji Chan-wook is no stranger to action. His past shows have shown that he’s very capable at making the fight scenes look good.
The Manipulated is off to a great start. It has powerful lead actors and a narrative that’s shaping up for a face off that we’d be excited to see play out. The ending of episode four also hints at a certain death match, not unlike The Hunger Games. If it does, it will bring another layer into the show that may be a little too unrealistic for its rather grounded first four episodes, but it may amplify our need to see Tae-joong get his justice. I’m excited to find out.
My Rating:
Ready to see how far one man will go for justice? The Manipulated is streaming exclusively on Disney+. Catch the tension build with every episode.
