THE MANIPULATED: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Stream It — If You Like Tense, Thrilling Revenge Drama
Opening Shot
A man explodes out of a building, leaps onto a motorcycle and chases a yellow car through a tunnel — then rides up the tunnel wall, stares down the driver and snarls, “I’ll drag you down to hell.”
The Gist
Park Tae-jung (Ji Chang-wook) is a hardworking deliveryman with a gentler passion: horticulture. When he moves a potted tree out of direct sun and leaves care notes in a stairwell, you see the kind of person he is — helpful, quietly proud, determined. Tae-jung hustles to support his younger brother Tae-jin (Ahn Ji-ho) after their mother’s death, dreams of opening a nursery/bar, and leans on his girlfriend Song Su-ji (Pyo Ye-jin) and friends for support.
One routine delivery turns into a nightmare: after following a mysterious caller’s instructions to pick up an envelope with 300,000 won, Tae-jung wakes up the next day to police bursting into his shop and accusing him of murdering and dismembering a woman in her 20s. He insists he’s innocent. Tae-jin, Su-ji and his friends gather receipts and a lawyer to build an alibi — but the prosecutor unveils evidence that unravels everything.
What It Reminds You Of
Tonally, The Manipulated lands in the same wheelhouse as other “wrongly accused” thrillers — think The Fugitive — but it leans harder into methodical revenge and the procedural muscle of modern Korean thrillers.
Our Take
The Manipulated is a solid, competent thriller that smartly pushes the “falsely accused” trope beyond the usual tropes. Tae-jung isn’t reduced to endlessly proclaiming his innocence or hiding out as a fugitive. He discovers who orchestrated his downfall and decides to take the fight to them — which is where the show becomes genuinely watchable.
The show wisely avoids dragging the first season into a repetitive cycle of courtroom pleas and circular doubt. Instead, the narrative directs energy toward uncovering the conspiracy: who set him up, how they did it, and why. That mystery — and the promise of Tae-jung’s reckoning — is the engine that keeps the episodes moving.
The main risk is pacing. Once the setup proves Tae-jung can’t have committed the crime, prolonged misdirection can test viewers’ patience. The series works best when it uses those moments to reveal new threads or sharpen stakes rather than grind the same points again and again.
Performances
Ji Chang-wook anchors the series with layered intensity — the quiet, furious energy of a man pushed beyond endurance. Pyo Ye-jin’s Su-ji is a standout in the pilot: she’s forced to cry, waver and believe against evidence, and she makes all of it feel earned. The supporting cast gives the drama necessary emotional heft and credibility.
Sex & Skin
Tae-jung and Su-ji sleep together in one episode, but the show keeps things modest — no explicit nudity.
Sleeper Star
Pyo Ye-jin — her emotional truth in the pilot grounds the audience’s empathy and elevates stakes at moments when the plot could otherwise feel abstract.
Most “Pilot-y” Moment
During the trial the prosecutor opens by claiming he believes Tae-jung’s alibi and then systematically dismantles it. It reads as a TV-legal dramatic beat more than a courtroom reality — but it’s effective and propulsive.
Parting Shot
The episode closes with Tae-jung walking a dim prison corridor as lights click off in sections — a small visual that underlines how isolated, manipulated and dangerous his world has become.
Verdict
Stream it if you enjoy revenge-driven, tightly plotted Korean thrillers with strong central performances and a lean focus on uncovering conspiracies. The show’s momentum and Ji Chang-wook’s magnetic presence make it a compelling watch — just hope the series doesn’t linger too long on the obfuscations that set the plot in motion.
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![The Manipulated [Hindi]](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w342/nOj4nsomFyAVJgpp68L0xq3cREc.jpg)
