The Secret Man (2020)

A Laughable and a Hare-Brained Makjang...

“A Man in a veil” is the epitome of the infamously coined “ Makjang” by South-Koreans ( used to describe plot concepts which are equivalent to the reputation of telenovelas - so ridiculous, cliche and unrealistic that they often fall into the “ so bad, it’s good” category). From ‘ pseudoscience’, ‘ revenge’ to ‘ lost family’ cliches, “ A Man in a veil” throws in all the towels to be a ridiculous hundred and five-episode extravaganza of wooden acting , fairly one-dimensional characters and tropes.

“ A Man in a Veil ” takes on the typical revenge cliche of a man with an intellectual disability called Tae Poong ( Kang Eun Tak) whose destiny is gradually torn apart by two sisters; the intrinsically “selfish” Yu Ra ( Lee Chae Young) who begins to manipulate and blackmail him throughout the series, and the “ kind-hearted” sister Yu Jung ( Uhm Hyun Kyung) who holds strong feelings towards him. His life changes forever, however, when a tragedy causes a second chance for Tae Poong to extract his revenge on everyone who has wronged him.

Whilst the revenge cliche was possibly the most intriguing of the show, “ A Man in a Veil” didn’t truly use this to either flesh-out nor deepen the characters, with Tae Poong often feeling more like a “ stock male lead” with little interest for viewers or emotional depth behind his actions. ( Apart from Eun Tak’s random screaming matches and “pained “ facial expressions when it was necessary for the “ plot”). Arguably, Yu Jung did have a little more depth than Tae Poong, due to her complicated feelings for both him and the second male lead Seo Jun ( Lee Shi Kang), her later tragedy and motivation towards getting back at her sister and a family revelation as well. On the other hand, considering the emotional and traumatic depth in reality towards this tragic event which took place in the series, Yu Jung not mentioning this again after it was necessary for the “ story” felt both lacklustre and poorly- written in the grand scheme of character- writing.

Ironically , one of the worst-written characters in the show must go towards Yu Ra as both an individual and an antagonist . It was evident from the get-go that screenwriter Lee Jung Dae wasn’t attending to make Yu Ra a “ sympathetic villain”” - she’s inherently a selfish and despicable character who later becomes deluded by her own abilities to outwit others. On the other hand, it’s hard to really understand what makes Yu Ra actually tick or the actual motives behind her thoughts, apart from not wanting to “ be in poverty” and “ survive”. To make matters worse, we very rarely got to see Yu Ra as an actual human being. The several moments which could have offered genuine intrigue into Yu Ra as a character ( such as her past and later events) were entirely written-off to make Yu Ra’s schemes more and more unbelievably ridiculous by each episode. ( Counterpart to the other antagonistic character played by Kim Hee Jung as Joo Hwa Yeon.)

This certainly leads the storyline to take on a dragging and lacklustre focus between the three primary storylines; Tae Poong and his revenge, Yu Ra’s attempt to climb-up the social ladder and the dirty secrets of their associates ( including Yu Jung and Yu Ra’s parents as well as Seo Jun’s mother and father). Whilst arguably each storyline did have some attraction in how they played out, before even the halfway point, the show began to draw itself too much away from the main protagonist’s own ventures into other characters’ lacklustre storylines, which took away many of the twists which were supposed to be “ emotional” and “ shocking” for viewers with little delivering impact for viewers .

Consequently the plot inconsistencies of the show were beyond incoherent - CCTV cameras, criminal investigations and actual forensics are nonexistent , the characters are ridiculously dumb enough to make the same mistakes over and over in favour of “ plot motivation” and later “relevant twists” completely contradict earlier statements made in the show.

Perhaps it is due to the fact that the show is so detached from coherent plot line , or, the fact that the stylist’s choices are so outdated ( including product placement) helps the show to seem older , but, “A Man In A Veil” is a perfect example of a show more than a decade behind recent trends - the characters have no depth or actual intrigue for viewers , the storyline is filled to the brim with more and more ridiculous cliches, and even the ending felt a little lacklustre. ( In particular after building more than 80 episodes of Tae Poong seeking revenge only to be “ miraculously solved” with little sense of conflict or poetic justice for our main lead . )It’s fair to say that “ A Man in a veil” is a typical makjang- certainly not worth watching if you’re looking for something deep, but so laughable, it keeps you watching to see what hare-brained scheme the scriptwriter tried to come up with next.

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Great Soap Drama

I haven't watched a drama this long for a very long time. I normally didn't want to touch it. Mostly because of lack of time in my part.

I accidentally came across episode 94 few days ago. It was so interesting that I went back to episode 1, through episode 97, within less than 4 days. It means I barely have slept in the last few nights. But it's so addictive, that I can't help not to hit the next episode button.

The plot is the usual Korean drama: accident, hospital scene, switched at birth, memory lost, childhood sweetheart kind of thing. Which I usually sneer at haha. But the storyline seemed to put all those plots together so nicely. And the acting are amazing (By the way, I didn't know any of the actors/actress in this drama to begin with).

The story never gets boring. I'm on episode 97 now. The end is near and I'm so going to miss this!

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No On-screen chemistry between the main leading roles

In the beginning "A Man in a Veil" has an interesting story line, however, it gets flat after a mentally challenged character Lee Tae Pung becomes Yoo Min Hyeok, a lawyer with a Savant Syndrome condition. Actor Kang Eun Tak does well portraying a mentally challenged Lee Tae Pung, however, the lead characters Yoo Min Hyeok and his love interest Han Yoo Jung cannot develop lovable on-screen chemistry. They look like a puppet and a beautiful doll when they are on-screen together. Also lawyer Yoo Min Hyeok loses his focus and he lets Han Yoo Ra character portrayed by Actress Lee Chae Young takes over with her tantrum. Actress Lee Chae Young has all the facial features of an evil Han Yoo Ra, also her facial expressions tell the story of her evil intentions. Actor Lee Shi Kang steals the show as a spoil rich son and also as a lovable Director Cha Seo Joon that is able to convey his fondness and love to Han Yoo Jung.

The story gets interesting again after the Chairman Cha Woo Seok meets his former fiancee Yoon Su Hee / Seo Ji Sook. These two veteran supporting characters help catalyzing the events and make the story growing in intensity again. The two young supporting couples Kang Ye Jin and Han Yoo Myung portrayed by Chae Bin and Jang Tae Hoon are memorable; they are able to develop good on-screen chemistry that the leading characters fail to achieve. The appearances of supporting characters, Chairman Cha Woo Seok & Yoon Su Hee/Seo Ji Sook and also Kang Ye jin & Han Yoo Myung are appealing.

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Spicy ahh drama ???

I hate cliche dramas but this one is a bit different since the second male lead turns out to be the main female lead's half brother and he still has feelings for her. The writers were feeling kinky?
His other movie, he sleeps with and marries his half brother. (It is a very good BL, I recommend it.) ? He has a luck of being in relationships with his half siblings I guess. ?
In all seriousness, it is cute, sometimes serious, sometimes funny, but worth watching once since it's interesting.

I can definetely sense BL aroma from the two male leads. I cried a little when the FL's half brother was sad about her being his half sister and asked to have one last meal with her before she left, but she didn't even go and then her half brother died in the ML's arms after a car crashed on him.
The driver was his ex wife.

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Spaghetti

The whole pregnancy thing was a complete joke. How did the writer ever thought this would be passable for human consumption? I bet you if you asked ChatGPT to re-write that part it would come up with infinitely better scenario. At least it gave me a good chuckle. The story changes randomly to suit the writer without meaningful justification/resolution and some are just cut off without a mention. Like how Tae Pung's mother never hired a lawyer despite having millions? Anyway, the drama is the usual infinite loop of corporate hell until it reaches the end. Most of the revelations felt weak after a long build up. The drama was completely unhinged, you need to shut down every neuron in your brain to endure it.

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Entertaining but too cliche

You name it and this drama has every cliche of daily soap makjangn such as amnesia,birth secret,hidden identity.but script does it in such an entertaining way so that one gets addicted. Drama has two villainesses.some things which i hated abt this dramas 2nd ML took too much screen time that at one point i started rooting for 2nd ML .i hate this type of feeling while watching drama.2nd ML had more chemistry with FL than ML..they gave 2nd ML very bad ending .why did writers treat 2nd ML in whole drama good if they had to give such crapy ending .abt FL hyun kung ,i am becoming fan of her after watching 2nd husband. She did very good acting of a mother whos son sucuumbs to death.i never watched FL turning to 2nd ML like shown in 2nd half of drama

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DONNO WHY MOST DRAMAS IS FULL OF EVIL PPL , NO USE ASKING WHY , WHY, WHY , THE GOOD HAVE TO MEET THE EVIL PPL WHO LIES, CHEAT, ROB N KILL TO GET WHAT THEY WANT SACRIFICING THE GOOD PPL. ALL THE EVIL PPL WHO TRIES TO SCAM N CHEAT PPL TO GET THE RICHES THEY DONT DESERVED.

DONNO WHY MOST DRAMAS IS FULL OF EVIL PPL , NO USE ASKING WHY , WHY, WHY , THE GOOD HAVE TO MEET THE EVIL PPL WHO LIES, CHEAT, ROB N KILL TO GET WHAT THEY WANT SACRIFICING THE GOOD PPL. ALL THE EVIL PPL WHO TRIES TO SCAM N CHEAT PPL TO GET THE RICHES THEY DONT DESERVED.

DONNO WHY MOST DRAMAS IS FULL OF EVIL PPL , NO USE ASKING WHY , WHY, WHY , THE GOOD HAVE TO MEET THE EVIL PPL WHO LIES, CHEAT, ROB N KILL TO GET WHAT THEY WANT SACRIFICING THE GOOD PPL. ALL THE EVIL PPL WHO TRIES TO SCAM N CHEAT PPL TO GET THE RICHES THEY DONT DESERVED.

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