I'll never understand why Disney+ feels the need to release four episodes of a K-drama all at once. Who asked for this, and who approved this system? Just be normal and release two a week or release them all at once; we'll happily watch them. Anyway, my beloved Ji Chang-Wook has finally returned in a series that lives up to his talent. This actor is, honestly, my favorite of all the actors currently appearing in K-dramas, and it pains me to see him hampered by a platform that is so annoying as a streaming service (especially for K-dramas).
Although I'm quite happy with how "The Manipulated" is going so far (thankfully, it's not a disaster like that series with a huge cast that I couldn't even bear to watch), I'm going to remain a little skeptical until we get closer to the end, because often these series fizzle out like dead batteries. That being said, let's get to the recap of episodes 1-3 of "The Manipulated."
Stars: Ji Chang-wook, Do Kyung-soo, Lee Kwang-soo
Episode 1 of "The Manipulated" opens with Taejoong cycling at full speed, even along the side of a tunnel, showing us how desperate he is for revenge. The episode then takes us back in time, the reason why all of this is happening. Five years earlier, Park Taejoong was an honest and hardworking delivery man and gardener. But we already know he has a lot of drive, because when a customer tries to leave without paying him, he chases after him at full speed and even catches up to him despite the customer driving a sports car.
One day, while making his deliveries, he comes across a plant that seems to be dying from too much sun, so he moves it into the shade, which makes him a little late for his next stop, but he still leaves a note to take care of the plant. Every step he takes is really important, because it will end up being useful later on. He then ends up helping an old woman with a blue suitcase before going into a convenience store to buy something for dinner and banana milk. It is then that he hears a phone ringing in the bushes where he is sitting and decides to answer it (a big mistake).
The caller is a woman, so it's easy to trust her, right? Anyway, she needs him to deliver this phone to a specific location, and Taejoong agrees after hearing that she will pay him 300,000 won because her mother has been injured and can't leave the house. The location is the entrance to a dark tunnel where he is supposed to leave the phone and pick up the money, because she doesn't want to give her address to a stranger, specifically a man. Taejoong doesn't think much of it and does as he's told. When he returns to his scooter, a truck that was parked behind him turns on its lights and speeds away.
Suddenly, Taejoong is arrested for murder, and everything he has done that day has become major evidence against him. Taejoong has a long-time girlfriend and a younger brother he takes care of. It seems his mother has passed away, as they hold a memorial service in her honor, but nothing is known about the father; perhaps he abandoned them a long time ago. Taejoong doesn't realize the seriousness of the situation when he's arrested because he hasn't done anything, but his friends show up and tell him that all his personal information has been shared on social media.
When his girlfriend visits him, she asks if he has anything to tell her, and he tells her that he didn't do this and that she needs to believe him. For the moment, she believes him. But when the trial comes, it's all too easy for the prosecutor to prove that he is the killer. To make matters worse, the couple's bracelet he shares with his girlfriend appears in a photo from the crime scene. After learning that, she decides to leave him, because she no longer knows what to believe, and so the innocent Taejoong ends up in jail.
At the beginning of episode 2, Taejoong meets a public defender named Kim Sangrak. From the start, it's clear that he's not going to help our protagonist. But things get worse when Taejoong starts being tortured in prison. So much so that, after only a few days there, he is completely devastated both inside and out. The final straw comes when his lawyer tells him that his brother committed suicide in a live broadcast, but it is then that one begins to suspect this man, as he only shows Taejoong a pair of legs hanging in a live YouTube stream. Taejoong decides that there is no point in continuing to live and attempts suicide three times before the warden's servant, a fellow inmate, encourages him to be strong and keep going.
At the beginning of episode 2, Taejoong meets a public defender named Kim Sangrak. From the start, it's clear that he's not going to help him. But things get worse when Taejoong begins to be tortured in prison. So much so that he is completely broken, both physically and mentally, after only a few days there. The last straw comes when his lawyer tells him that his brother committed suicide on a live broadcast, but that's when one immediately suspects the man, because he only shows Taejoong a pair of legs hanging in a live YouTube stream. Taejoong decides that there's no point in living anymore and attempts suicide three times before the prison chaplain, a fellow inmate, encourages him to be strong and keep going.
For 5 years, Taejoong strengthens himself and works hard to become the best version of himself. He even plants an entire garden in the prison, impressing some of the guards, one of whom becomes his friend. After years of friendship with the chaplain's assistant, Noh Yongsik, the latter is released from prison, leaving Taejoong as the new assistant. That's when a young inmate arrives to confess something, and this leaves Taejoong completely shocked. It turns out that this man went through the exact same thing as Taejoong and was wrongly accused of a murder he never committed. The connection between them? The public defender is the same, a man named Kim Sangrak. The young man is found dead the next day with a piece of the Bible with which he apparently suffocated himself.
Taejoong immediately tries to get the truth out of Kim, but this leads to the latter casually admitting that he might have killed Taejoong's brother. Taejoong immediately attacks him, but there's nothing he can do at that moment, but this gives him an idea. On the other hand, Sangrak informs his boss that they have been discovered and that the matter needs to be cleaned up.
Episode 3 finally reveals the villain of this series, and it's a man named An Yohan (the adorable D.O. from Exo). The episode begins with him convincing an old man to buy a fancy piece of art for his strange collection of artistic busts. When the man spends all his money and finally gets it, Yohan tells him that his job is done and that his son is safe. The young man who revealed the truth about his imprisonment to Taejoong was the victim in this case.
At that moment, a new gang appears in the prison, leaving two rival gangs and Taejoong caught in the middle. Now, the new gang wants to win Taejoong over, because the enemy of my enemy is my friend; however, Taejoong has a new plan: to escape from prison to get revenge. Until now, Taejoong had always let himself be attacked, but this time he doesn't hold back and becomes truly violent. He also tells Yongshik that he plans to escape through the front gate. I guess he'll be the one to help him when he gets out. Taejoong even makes replica keys to escape, but there seem to be some minor flaws in this plan that I'm not interested in going into. The important thing is that he escapes, right?
At the end of episode 3 of The Manipulated, Yohan sends a doctor to the prison with a vial of poison during a vaccination campaign. A random man takes Taejoong's place, while Taejoong has prepared an entire escape plan and knows that this man is going to harm him. Finally, the guard realizes that Taejoong is avoiding the vaccination and forces him to get vaccinated in front of him. Taejoong only has thirty minutes before the poison starts to take effect, although I'm not sure how he'll survive.
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