Taejoong is fueled by an uncontrollable rage over everything he lost in The Manipulated. This drama will trigger your dopamine levels due to its action sequences and level of anxiety.

Driven and compassionate, Taejoong (played by Ji Changwook) is a model citizen who worked tirelessly to make his dream a reality. Arrested for rape and murder of a woman he claimed to have never met, Taejoong’s life changed when he was sentenced to life in prison. 

Four episodes have premiered on Disney+ and I must say, it is heartbreaking to watch an innocent person wrongly accused of a crime. Changwook portrays Taejoong, a mentally resilient prison inmate with remarkable depth in this twelve-part series. He later learnt that others have also been through the same ordeal by the notorious mastermind An Yohan (played by Do Kyung-soo). Yohan, a sadistic villain, recreated crime scenes for his high-profile clients with chilling precision.

This marks Kyung-soo’s first-ever role as a villain. He went the extra mile for a complete transformation, dyeing his hair black and getting a perm that took nearly four hours. Though initially nervous, he honed his acting skills by drawing inspiration from movies and documentaries, channeling that research to bring authenticity to the intense rivalry between Yohan and Taejoong.

An interesting fact I had not known is that the series is actually an adaptation of the 2017 Korean film Fabricated City, which also starred Changwook as the lead role. Director Park Shin-woo clarified that it is not a direct remake but rather a more in-depth reimagining that took advantage of the series format. This approach allowed him to build suspense and satisfy viewers’ curiosity through bite-sized episodes. Changwook was reportedly interested in the project from the very beginning, even before the scripts were finalized.

New episodes of The Manipulated is now streaming on Disney+!