The Manipulated Episodes 1-4 recap: The masterful manipulation and Tae-joong's pursuit of the truth

An intense storyline depicting a man’s strive for vengeance, The Manipulated, with its four episodes, is already making quite the noise in the world of entertainment. With the multitalented combination of Ji Chang-wook, who brings every character he takes on with a distinct level of authenticity, and the very talented singer and actor Doh Kyung-soo, The Manipulated is truly worth watching. Besides the main intriguing aspect of this series, which is the cast, the storyline is also a contributing factor in making the show such a hit.

The masterful manipulation and Tae-joong's pursuit of the truth in The Manipulated

The first episode of The Manipulated begins with a description of how Ji Chang-wook’s character, Park Tae-joong, actually is. A flashback scene depicts how dedicated he was as a person. Helping others whenever needed. Even working as a deliveryman, he seems to be a happy person.

However, his life changes completely when he comes across a phone and decides to pick up the call. This call changes his life forever. The woman on the other side of the call tells Tae-joong to return the phone at a particular location in exchange for a hefty sum of money. Tae-joong does not get suspicious of the situation and decides to return the phone. The location that the woman chose for the delivery was quite questionable.

However, right after this, Tae-joong is arrested by the police for murder. He does not understand why he was falsely accused when he did not do anything. His life completely changed because of the one phone call. In the second episode of The Manipulated, Tae-joong’s trouble continues. He is given a public defender, Kim Sang-rak; however, it can soon be understood that he is not working in his favor. Evidence further incriminating Tae-joong is found at the crime scene, and he is sent to prison for a crime he did not even commit.

Days in prison begin to eat away at all the hope Tae-joong had. He begins to struggle. The torture that he has to continuously suffer inside prison begins to impact him. Tae-joong’s life gets further complicated in prison when the public defender he was appointed, Kim Sang-rak, informs him that his brother ended his life, also on live stream.

Seeing his brother’s death shatters Tae-joong completely. He loses all hope of living and decides to end his life as well. However, before he is able to end his life, a prison inmate helps him get through the trauma and mentally prepares him for the further challenges that are yet to come his way. Tae-joong’s behavior in prison leads him to gain friends. He plants gardens, and his days go by without any further hassles.

However, soon, the arrival of a new prison inmate changes everything. Tae-joong finds out that this new inmate comes with the same story as him. He was also wrongly imprisoned. Later, Tae-joong finds that this new inmate ended his life. Tae-joong also finds that the inmate was also connected with the public defender he had. He attacks Kim Sang-rak to find out more about the truth. The episode ends with Sang-rak visiting his boss and informing him that Tae-jooong is aware of the truth.

In the third episode of The Manipulated, we are finally able to see who the mastermind behind it all actually is. The mastermind is none other than Doh Kyung-soo’s An Yohan. Now that Yohan is aware of the fact that Tae-joong is seeking revenge, he begins to unfold a new plan to attack Tae-joong in prison. Tae-joong initially did not want to attack anyone. However, at the end of this episode in The Manipulated, he fights back, and this scene in The Manipulated is truly worth appreciating for its intense nature.

Tae-joong is now all set to begin his plan of escaping the prison. He is also prepared with replicas of the keys that are needed to escape the prison. However, before Tae-joong is able to make his final escape, yet another obstacle comes his way. A doctor begins a vaccination drive in the prison. This vaccination is a poison, and this whole plan is orchestrated by An Yohan. The doctor injects Tae-joong with the vaccination. The episode ends with Tae-joong watching the clock, pondering the time limit he has before he can escape the prison.

The fourth episode of The Manipulated begins with Tae-joong finally beginning his plan of escaping the prison. Just as he had planned, he disrupts the power supply of the prison, which further clears his path to freedom. However, a constant obstacle in Tae-joong’s path of escape is the poison that the doctor injected into him in the third episode of The Manipulated.

The effect of the poison has already begun. While he is escaping through the ventilation duct, the poison begins to affect him further. Before he is finally able to escape the prison, he collapses and finds himself back in the prison. At the end of the episode, we finally see Yohan bringing all the prisoners in front of him so that he can choose which one he can give a ticket to freedom. The episode ends with a disheveled Tae-joong, confused and finally seeing Yohan for the first time.

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