The Manipulated is an action thriller about an ordinary man (Ji Chang Wook) who is sent to prison for a crime he didn’t commit and then sets out for revenge on the man (D.O.) who orchestrated it all.
Ji Chang Wook plays Park Tae Jung. He’s a normal, kind-hearted man whose life is turned upside down when he is framed for murder. He ends up in prison where he faces all sorts of hardships before he makes plans for revenge.
D.O. is An Yo Han. He is a mysterious wealthy man who orchestrates everything that happened to Tae Jung. He has a flair for the dramatic and has a lot of crazy plans in store.
The Manipulated is a mostly fun action drama. The pacing was fast and quickly moved from one thing to the next. It’s meant to be one intense event after another. It’s pretty over-the-top in terms of some of the action as well as the crazy situations the characters face.
The show has two distinct halves with the first part more focused on Tae Jung being framed and his time in prison with the second half focusing more on the revenge plot. The production is slick and polished with a Hollywood feel and plenty of fun action scenes.
On the negative side, we don’t spend much time developing the characters or the world. The drama tells me who the characters are, but I never felt like I really knew who they were. It all felt very surface level until towards the last couple episodes where we get a little more back story for our characters and draw out more emotion.
Everyone also felt very one note, and there wasn’t much complexity. This is really a shame since there was a lot to explore with some of the supporting characters and definitely with our main villain.
Ji Chang Wook does give a solid performance, and you definitely feel for his character and all of the hardships he is put through. Tae Jung really takes a beating both mentally and physically throughout the drama. He goes through some pretty extreme situations, and you can’t help but root for him.
The drama is very violent throughout. Mostly it’s intense PG-13 style, but there are some more graphic moments scattered about. It definitely has a dark and disturbing vibe to it. This type of drama is leans more violent than I tend to prefer.
All that being said, The Manipulated is a fun, fast paced thriller with lots of crazy, over the top shenanigans. It’s great if you want a popcorn action drama with lots of chaos and thrills but not much depth. If you just want to turn off your brain and go for a while ride, it’s pretty decent.
My Rating: 6/10
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