January Review Wednesday

WEDNESDAY HUMP DAY! 

"Manhole"

Number of Episodes: 16

Network: KBS2

Aired Date: Aug. 9-Sept. 27 2017

Where can you watch: Viki 

Bong pil is a slacker who has been studying to become a civil servant for 3 years or a lack of trying to where he failed the test several times. Pil spent his life mooching off his parents and trying to confess his feelings to his long-time crush (28 yrs), Soo-jin. Due to a small misunderstanding between Pil and Soo-jin in 3rd grade, things have been an awkward set of misunderstandings throughout their friendship. Even though he still remains friends with his crush, his attempts to confess were unsuccessful (due to his lack of being honest and forward) follow by hilarious mishaps and failures. Pil learns his crush is getting married and on the night before Soo jin's wedding fate jumps in and teleport Pil through a manhole that sends him back in time giving him a chance to stop the wedding and confess his feelings. Staring Kim Jae Joong, UEE, & Baro.

Cast: Kim Jae Joong as Bong Pil. (Kim Jae Joong is a member of JYJ and former member of TVXQ)

Bong Pil. Well, what can you say? He is a genuine slacker who couldn't confess to his crush. He did try; however, bad luck followed him each time. Instead of just taking the reins, he just let it be until his crush announced her marriage. That is when his determination somehow appeared, but he received the divine intervention or help in terms of a manhole. This manhole was able to send him back in time for him to change events of his crush's upcoming marriage. 

Uee (Former member of girl group Afterschool) as Kang Soo-jin

Uee plays Bong Pil's crush, Kang Soo-jin. She is a quiet girl who at first didn't understand Bong Pil due to a misunderstanding in the third grade. But as the years went on, and chance events, they became good friends. Kang Soo-jin did care for Bong Pil but then again for some reason did not confess her feelings. She fell in love with her fiance and is ready to move on or is she?

Baro (a member of B1A4) 

Baro plays Jo Suk-tae a friend of Bong Pil and Soo-jin. He is also studying for the civil service exam. He tries to be a friend to Bong Pil but he normally just stays neutral. He is focusing on his career and aims to be the best he can be even if he is lacking. 

Jung Hye-sung as Oh Jin-suk 

Jung Hye-sung plays a fisty blunt friend, Oh Jin-suk. She runs a juice food truck. She is honest with Bong Pil about his lack of effort and can tell how much he cares for Soo-jin. She also is the one person in the group to give insight into each situation among the group of friends. She is the closest to Bong Pil out of all the friends and has always been behind him. But she has a small secret that gets revealed in the most hurtful way. 

Review and Synopsis

As stated above, this drama focuses on a young man who has not put effort into his life or anything to that matter.  The only small amount of effort was him trying to express how he feels to his crush. But his lack of delivery and nerves causes him to fail each and every time. Now at the age of 28, his crush is getting married. SN: His crush is in love with him and secretly wants to be with Pil. 

This sends him into a heartbroken state that will become his downfall until outsiders from the sky help. That help is in the form of a manhole. A time machine manhole. One night Pil falls through this time machine manhole and travels back to specific times in his life to express how he feels. Each time he goes through the manhole it brings him to specific events when Pil was going to confess his feelings. These are specific events that help Pil and Soo-jin fall in love. 

However, after each time he returns back to the present, things have changed but not in favor of Pil. His time traveling affects his current present to where it causes more harm to Pil and Soo-jin's relationship. Will Bong Pil FINALLY make something of himself and be with the girl he has loved most of his life?  The answer will be revealed if you watch "Manhole."

Here are a few points of this drama to know: SPOILERS

1. Jin-suk has had a crush on Bong Pil since she met him. She evens gets a chance at love with Pil; however, she tries to be a good friend to Soo-jin even though it is hard for her to watch. 

2. There are the side stories. The side stories consist of three specific people: Jung-Ae, Goo-Gil, and Dal-soo. 

Jung-ae is head of heels in love with Dal-soo. They are sort of dating but not. They even live together in Dal-soo shop. It seems their relationship is staled more so on Dal-soo's part. Dal-soo also has a big secret which plays into why he hasn't moved forward with Jung-ae. 

Goo-gil is head of heels in love with Jung-ae. But Jung-ae is so infatuated with Dal-soo she does not even notice it. Goo-gil gives Jung-ae the attention she is not receiving from Dal-soo. 

3. The last side story is Soo-jin's fiance, Park Jae-hyun played by Jang Mi Kwon. Park Jae-hyun is not who he appears to be and the only person who knows is Pil. There is a dark side to Jae-hyun that is not only evil but dangerous. 

This drama is a funny one that I enjoyed. I think Jae Joong's acting brought life to the character Bong Pil. Now, this drama wasn't the best I have seen when it comes to supernatural, comedy romance dramas. But it had its strong points. The main point you receive from this drama is opening up. As people, it is hard to express how you feel. But, if we do not express ourselves, then we cannot complain when things do not go our way or sulk. In Bong Pil case he did not express his emotions to Soo-jin. This caused more problems overtime to which both just kept how they felt bottled up. 

The one thing that was great about this drama was how the writers made sure the viewers understood this love was not one side. Soo-jin was just as bad as Bong Pil. She let misunderstanding stand in her way of expressing how she felt. The writers showed through different events how Soo-jin became jealous at Bong Pil or how she lacked confidence in her self.   The only person who knew about how both of them felt was Jin-suk. 

In terms of the story, the writers did include that awkward teenage phase people go through when they are starting to like the opposite sex or same-sex, or begin intimate relationships. That was done very well. Now the one part that I did not like, even though this was the main backdrop of the story, the manhole. Yes, that dang manhole. 

The manhole time machine wasn't the worst idea. The bad part was how and why it was put there. The lovely aliens saw the issues between Pil and Soo-jin that they want to help them. Or they wanted to make sure people on earth can find love. So these aliens were matchmakers or cupid. That just dumb down the whole drama in my opinion. The manhole was like their entertainment which wasn't the best part of the drama.

The story did move along smoothy but at times you can get frustrated. It seems the writers added more situations to just drag out the drama. It seems unnecessary. Then they decided to add an extra flavor to the drama that just sent it way left. The backstory of Soo-jin's fiance, Park Jae-hyun.

Now, this wasn't a smart move on the writers' part. When I say they went far left..they went all the way left. It seems like the drama was moving along to get Pil and Soo-jin together this storyline comes in. This dark side left a bad taste in my mouth. Plus this takes away from the love story of Pil and Soo-jin. I think this part of the drama should have not even been written. 

The last issue I had with this drama was the side stories. The Jin-sook story was wrapped up nicely and clean. Even though it was predictable, it was a great way to end her storyline. But the three-way love story between Jung-ae, Dal-soo, and Goo-gil was left a mess. This storyline was given a magic fix but it was not a good one. It left us guessing when the drama took the time to get the viewers invested in those characters.

Overall, the drama is not too bad. It is a good drama, but the extra storyline could have been left out. Jae Joong plays his part well and is expressions make the drama worthwhile. The drama gives us adults a way to reminisce about high school crushes, life after high school and college. This drama focuses on young friendships, the decisions people make in their twenties and young love. 

I give this drama a 7 out of 10. It loses points due to the alien plot and the fiance side story. 

Enjoy! ~MJ~

Here are a few clips from the show. These clips do contain spoilers. 

The official Trailer 

Friends find out about Pil's ability.