[Drama Review] 'Man to Man' -- Episode 11

AKP STAFF

MAN TO MAN -- EPISODE 11

Do Ha and Seol Woo decide to head out for ramen, confounding the agent tailing them. Mr. Jang accepts the deal with Seung Jae, in return for Congressman Baek and the Baek Infantry, then tells Seol Woo that he intends to recover the third carving. After sussing out when Robert Yoon went, Seol Woo pumps Do Ha's dad (with liquor) for info on where he went. Mr. Jang releases info on Congressman Baek. Seol Woo and Do Ha head to a cathedral, using the Bible verse as a code word to get the priest to open up about Yoon. He figures out that Mr. Jang and Dong Hyun are the traitors. Our agent also uses the QR code on the package he picked up, a secret message telling him that Chairman Victor obtained the Myanmar statue�and that Songsan Group is behind all of this. Mr. Jang meets with Seol Woo, and decides to retire the agent with bullets to his chest. He plunges into the river, his fate unknown...

Except that it is known. The drama's not over, and he's the main character. So he can't die. He's got what they call "script immunity." Now, he could get shot in the end, or die from some terminal disease or a car crash, but not this way. Not yet. He has to figure out what's going on and take down the bad guys. Then, and only then, can he ~~die~~ settle down and have a normal life. Mr. Seo did that, so maybe, just maybe, there's hope.

Do Ha is starting to annoy me again. She totally did what I was hoping she wouldn't do -- began acting like a lovestruck teen. Argh. So the fact that she was just starting to deal with his distant nature and realize that what was going on was just part of his cover, she totally does a 180. I mean we still have strong characters in other dramas who had a guy to go home to, so it's not like this is some revolutionary concept. So this begs the question: what happened to the strong, stubborn, take no poo girl we met in the opening episodes?

Mr. Jang disappointed me. I know it seems like Seung Jae had him over a barrel career-wise, but what happened to the man of honor that that so attracted his girlfriend to him? What happened to integrity? And why get rid of Agent K that way? Was he complicit in Agent Y's murder, as well? I was hoping he would manage to turn things around and get the upper hand, but no -- he's seduced and jaded by material things as much as any chaebol.

Seol Woo needs to lighten up. Seriously. When you have a girlfriend (and that really seems to be where this is going) spontaneity will go a long way. His stoicism made for good comedy in the beginning, but they're starting to humanize him and make him realize that his agent shtick is a shell, and he does have feelings underneath. I'm hoping that we can see him smiling and holding hands and doing all the couple things that we normally see.

So they figured out there's a traitor in their midst, but why did they figure that it was the prosecutor�unless everything Seol Woo was wrong? Since Mr. Jang seems to be the mole, then this is a foregone conclusion. I'm not sure if we'll see the prosecutor again, but I'm hoping that they're wrong and he's not complicit. He always seemed pleasantly grumpy, and he made me laugh most times. He also knows Seol Woo in a way that few others can.

This was better than the last episode, mainly because we're finally getting somewhere. The plot kept stalling the�last episode, and not in a good way. I can understand that you want to make room for the romance, but also you want people to keep watching. At least this time around we had some tension, and the ending blew me away (along with our ghost agent). So looking forward to the next one!