Man to Man

Man to Man

4/10

Man to Man

Genre:                                 Episodes: 16                          Year: 2017

Romance

Comedy

Mystery

Synopsis:

Kim Seol Woo is an undercover agent for Korea. His most recent mission leads him to take on a bodyguard identity where he must guard Yeo Woon Gwang, one of Korea’s best action stars. 

Cast:

Park Hae Jin (Kim Seol Woo/K)

Park Sung Woong (Yeo Woon Kwang)

Kim Min Jung (Cha Do Ha)

Yeo Jung Hoon (Mo Sung Jae)

Chae Jung Ahn (Song Mi Eun)

Jung Man Shik (Lee Dong Hyun)

Jang Hyun Sung (Jang Tae Ho)

Chun Ho Jin (Baek In Soo)

General Thoughts:

This drama frustrated me on so many levels. It totally should have been good, and then just wasn’t. Like, it had this awesome premise and a pretty solid cast backing it up and then just…did nothing with it.

I guess making a secret spy show boring is a skill in its own way...

The show’s biggest stumbling block (at least for me) is that it didn’t blend its genres well at all. Not in the slightest. Sometimes it was a hard action/mystery, sometimes it was a comedy, and sometimes it was a romance. And none too convincingly. It was genre whiplash. There were no moments where a scene had one major tone that was undercut by a different emotion it was just HUMOUR-ACTION-ROMANCE-ACTION-ROMANCE-HUMOUR etc.

It's kinda awkward

It made the series feel like it had a whole bunch of people working on it and each one wanted to take the drama in a different direction, so in the end they just ended up ripping the show apart. Sure, there were some pretty cool action sequences and some pretty funny moments, but they just never jelled together to form one cohesive, harmonious story. And the romance was just never really that convincing. I was expecting a love-line more like ‘Healer’, so it was really disappointing when the romance tanked so bad. Park Hae Jin was cool and swoony when called for, but I never felt the romance from Kim Min Jung. It didn’t help that Do Ha was just a straight up annoying heroine- the scene where Seol Woo was ripping her to pieces during their breakup didn’t actually make me feel bad for her at all…I was just like yep, that’s exactly what you’re like and it totally gives me the sh*ts, why would this dude be interested in you? Which of course meant I didn’t really get it when Seol Woo did become interested in her. It just felt so forced. Early on the show was dropping such heavy hints that Seol Woo was going to fall for Do Ha. He’d get all confused as to why he was feeling a certain way about her, but I was just as confused. I completely failed to see what was so different and/or captivating about Do Ha that this secret agent would want to totally change up his life for her. It really felt like Seol Woo was only interested in Do Ha because the script called for it.

About as thrilling as this romance got

On the other hand, the relationship between Do Ha and Woon Kwang was so delightfully natural. I loved that the show didn’t try to force any romantic feelings between the two of them, and that they could simply be two people who had come to support and rely on one another. Woon Kwang really was just like a well-meaning, adorable big brother. Platonic male-female relationships don’t often come around in K-Drama- even less than the rare female friendships, so I enjoyed that the show gave Do Ha and Woon Kwang a relaxed and uncomplicated friendship.

This I'm totally on board with

Beyond our main trio there weren’t actually a lot of characters that got much screen time or development. The villains were remarkably shallow and poorly written, and even some of the characters on Team K were rather underdeveloped. And the side characters were basically of no importance whatsoever.

Why oh why didn't they introduce you earlier?

When the show brought in Dong Hyun’s wife after his accident, I was actually kind of annoyed that she wasn’t brought in sooner. Her character and her relationship with Dong Hyun and those around him actually added a whole lot of humour and heart to the show. Like, this woman has known all along that Dong Hyun was still getting involved in dangerous activities for the good of country, but pretends she doesn’t know because she’s well aware that it’s part of what makes her husband him. It would have been so interesting and fun to have her make more appearances throughout the series rather than just at the end. I also didn’t really see the importance of Sharon at all. It was hinted at the the baddies were going to use her to manipulate Tae Ho, but that never really happened, and her character just disappeared for a while instead. Mi Eun was quite an intriguing character, and probably one of the most well developed on the show. Her motivations were unclear, and you could never be quite sure which team she was batting for. However, by the end of the show, her progression made complete sense and all her actions were understandable. I do wish that the writers had spent a bit more effort on the relationship between Mi Eun and Sung Jae though. While it was understandable why she chose to stay married to him, it could have been a much more emotional moment if we’d witnessed how the two had grown closer together over the course of her mission.

There's so much story here that just got ignored

As it was, it was kind of hard to forget what a prick he was to her at the start of the series- I mean, he threatened to take her child away from her for goodness sake! And while we had a whole bunch of characters getting basically no screen time or development, we also had Do Ha’s Dad getting about as much screen time as the three leads.

For reals tho- get off my TV 

He’s the only side character that really gets that much screen time and he is literally the WORST character in the whole show. Seriously, he’s so annoying. He’s a terrible father and basically just a terrible human being. Was there any scene where he was an enjoyable character? No, not really, there were just moments when he wasn’t painfully infuriating. Just goes to show how shoddy the division of screen time was. Acting-wise there were a few who really nailed their roles and a few who…didn’t. Park Hae Jin was excellent as the cold hero who could do whatever was needed for the country before disappearing completely, but he could also show Seol Woo’s insecurities well. The gradual softening of Seol Woo towards Do Ha and Woon Kwang was done remarkably well and Park Hae Jin made it easy to understand and cheer for our hero. Park Sung Woong was excellent next to Park Hae Jin, and there really wasn’t a single moment I didn’t enjoy his performance. He was dorky and fun, but also gave off the sense that he could get dangerously protective of those he cared about. He was just delightful all-round.

More like the BEST there is

Chae Jung Ahn acted the ambiguity of her character with subtle nuance. She was excellent at keeping her allegiance a mystery until the show revealed it, and then it became clear which face was her real one, and which was her ghost agent persona. On the not-so-good side of the acting we had our heroine.

He looks chronically tired and not the least bit villainous

It’s not that I believe Kim Min Jung is a particularly bad actress, I just don’t think her and the character fit together all that well. Kim Min Jung was never able to make me really like Do Ha, and her reactions never came across as all that genuine. She felt cheesy and kind of fake, and I wasn’t really ever onboard with the emotions she was trying to convey. And then there’s poor Yeon Jung Hoon, who I’m sure did his best with the worst villain ever written. Sung Jae was a big ol’ nothing. He did nothing. He was nothing. All he ever really seemed to do was give money to people in a secret room. And that’s not very scary. Yeon Jung Hoon didn’t really give off a very threatening vibe, even in scenes he was supposed to be frightening in. He just sort of seemed like a bumbling fool who had no idea how to accomplish his goals. The character was bland on paper and Yeon Jung Hoon wasn’t exactly all that successful in breathing any life into him.

What Was Great:

Men:

Hands down the best part of the series was Seol Woo and Woon Kwang. No competition. They were adorable and hilarious all in one.

Why did we even need a romance?

It was fun in the period of time before Woon Kwang liked Seol Woo as the show kind of ran with a mock romantic vibe between them with long looks and slow-mo moments. It was like Seol Woo was doing all the swoony things heroes usually do to heroines, only Woon Kwang was the recipient. So of course all of that was hilarious. Then after Woon Kwang warmed to his bodyguard a lot of heart was added. I felt Woon Kwang was more responsible for breaking down Seol Woo’s walls than Do Ha was. Woon Kwang’s complete acceptance and firm desire to remain friends with Seol Woo was really sweet to watch. It was clear that Seol Woo had never really experienced that kind of unconditional love before, and it was immensely enjoyable to watch Seol Woo come to accept, and even rely on that love.

My OTP for sure

Sure, his romance with Do Ha was supposed to be the main point (and actually caused Woon Kwang to get less and less screen time as the plot progressed), but it was moments between the two men that I found funniest, mose touching, and most enjoyable.

What Wasn’t:

What is Happening?:

Seriously though, what the hell is even happening in this drama. Nothing makes sense. This is quite possibly the most poorly written action drama I’ve come across (so far). So Seol Woo is a secret agent. Cool. Does this ever really get explained properly?

I don't think I've ever met a hero with less backstory 

No, not really. Beyond the opening of the first episode where we see Seol Woo getting recruited we never resist why he acme a secret agent. I don't think we ever even learned his real name- wasn't the name Kim Seol Woo just a cover? Also, where’s his family at? What led to this man wanting to become someone who doesn’t exist? Well, we’ll never know because it seems the writers couldn’t be bothered going that far into the main character's background. He’s just a secret agent. He just is. And why is Sung Jae a villain? He just is. On that note, why the hell does Korea’s secret service really care so much about this company’s slush fund anyway? The writers never really grasped the whole idea of set-up and pay-off. We’re thrust into the middle of this mission that has already been going on for quite some time because Mi Eun married the guy and has a child with him so that quite a few years there. Then Agent Y gets killed off and we spend the whole series gathering information that Agent Y already had. Which seems real stupid. The idea of a traitor in the NIS only really got brought in towards the second half of the series so it made little sense as to why Y didn’t just give all his information to the NIS. And even if he knew  there was a traitor, why didn’t he give all his information to Mi Eun who he trusted and was a mentor for? The whole premise really made very little sense.

I have no idea why anyone did anything

The plot was so poorly constructed that I really just couldn’t bring myself to care about the company or the slush fund or the tapes. The missions to actually acquire the wood carvings were pretty fun, but didn’t last very long. And each mission had a buttload of sitting around talking and planning leading up to the mission that was really quite boring. Then after aaaaaaaaaall this time getting the first two wood carvings and Sung Jae basically being a bumbling fool and messing up beating Team K,

Poor Sung Jae...we never get to see you be competent 

suddenly somehow he just has the third carving. The only time our villain actually pulls something off and we don’t get to see it on screen. Then after all this Tae Ho seems to jump teams but doesn’t really (the whole thing was rather confusing and not at all convincing), and then the NIS leader is the traitor. It’s kind of lame to have the idea of a traitor then only introduce the character who IS the traitor like an episode before he’s revealed as the traitor. That’s some cruddy storytelling right there. And while all this is going on we are also subjected to the WORST ROMANCE OF ALL TIME. Okay, possibly an exaggeration, but the romance did suck. The leads were on and off and then lovers tactic (wtf) and then Do Ha’s totally not putting her life on hold and waiting for K while he’s off doing missions except that she totally is. There were very few moments where the leads connected to each other on an emotional level, and because the writers essentially gave K no past, there’s no opportunity for the two to have D and Ms and really get to know each other. They just kind of hang about each other saying how they kinda like each other and that Do Ha is K’s weakness. Ugggghhhhhh so lame. So super duper lame. I would very nearly prefer to watch Park Hae Jin romance a rock.

I just don't caaaaareeeee

The series as a whole just didn’t seem very well planned out. It’s like the writers went in with a very basic idea of what was going to happen and then just had no idea how to fill the 16 episodes required. Events just seemed so random and poorly thought out and made the whole drama seem sloppy.

Recommend?

Nope. This show really doesn’t do anything quite well enough so it kind of doesn’t really earn a recommendation from any point of view- romance, mystery or comedy.

The men were about the only thing the show got right