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Pretty much yeah, it's happy ending for protagonists. There are almost no cliffhangers, they finished the case and start to discuss a new one which may or may not be connected with the main storyline of seaon 1. In the mid-credit scene the FL says the show is going to return. But there is at least one loose end in the drama the writers tried to show viewers, so they could continue the main storyline in season 2. Or they could just drop it and move on. It depends.

I wouldn't say this show is great, let alone among the greatest K-dramas I've ever seen, probably it's not even very good. But it has a lot of funny and cute moments and has been generally enjoyable.

Pros.
In my opinion. James is the best Park Hee Soon's character. The man was able to play a lot of different personas in one show, and they were very extravagant and uplifting instead of his usual morally grey or straight up bad people in other shows.
Chemistry between protagonists was amazing.

Contras.
They leaned toward comedy too much. And that's the issue for me, because South Korean comedies are often concentrated on slapstick humor. I guess it's cultural specific. But I would like to see less farcic comedies. There might be comedy elemenst in dramas, and they often work for some reason (but I had to drop Vincenzo after episode 1, for example). That's why I watch a few-to-none South Korean comedies and many dramas. I don't know, Taxi Driver also has comedy relief, escpecially season 2, they also have a team of tricksters with golden hearts, but they did it just better (and I hope season 3 will be doing it too).

Actors often overact. Especially Park Ming Young and especially in the 1st half of the show. I don't have anything against the main actress and blame writing and directing. They cooled it down in 2nd half though and it did make the show better, but, IMO, still not enough.

Writing was imperfect in general There were many loose ends. For example, how were all cases connected to each other? I expected something like Again My Life with the protagonist(s) destroying foundations of the antagontist's criminal empire, his sources of income and power, before confront him personally. But they have never really explained it, except the picture.

Why did the antagonist play with the FL in her childhood, what were those masked people, how did he organize it, how did he get the helper inside (the guy who was eventually killed)? It was way too suspicious, sophisticated and complex for the explanation we got, and I expected some huge conspiracy with many participants and global goels. Will that story continue in season 2?

I also want to see more internal mechanic of their scams with more attention to logistic, details, problems and challenges. It generally looks like some magic just happening.

I could have write more, but that's it.

I beg to disagree. I mean the end is pretty much happy for the entire trio. But I wouldn't say there was no problem at all.

The main antagonist vanished, we haven't seen his body. It was specifically said the police hadn't found him. In some genres, like this (or comic book adaptations) it may or may not mean the character is alive. Or dead. It depends of contract negotiations, schedules, writers' ideas and so on.

They definitely set things up for season 2. The FL literally said they would return in the mid-credit scene. I'm not sure if it's true, because ratings weren't impressive. On other hand, the show wasn't lucky with its release time, so Amazon suits might give them a second chance. Especially if it gets attention after its release in a next month or two. If so, I could see the antagonist returning in next season.

I don't remember whether it was episode 1 or 2. but the FL did come to the mom and returned her money (maybe with some bonus, it wasn't told, but it was a huge amount of cash), then she met the daughter privately and adviced to stop faking her illness because of her panic.

Actually protagonists try to help victims in every case of this show.

Nope.

The Manipulated ends on December 3. I can see Made in Korea is being released on December 10, 17 and 24 two episodes per week.

So we have the release date for The Manipulated, but still nothing for Made in Korea.

Now we're sucking diesel! It's like the show has gone from 0 to 100 for two episodes.

I mean first three episodes made an impression writers didn't have anything meaningful to say. Yes, they had good story-wise and character-wise moments here and there (for example with the mother-in-law and the president), but sometimes the show seemed to be writtern by ChatGPT. Again I mean writing, not performances or production value.

These two episodes have just changed everything. I know MDL isn't the best place to discuss it, however the show has sent some very right and powerful messages, but also hinted on some interesting things about South Korean society, politics and government, Interesting for foreigners, of course, I think Koreans themselves won't see it as news.

Will it be a Korean version of "Taken," but on TV?

"I don't have any money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you."

Is it a remake of Danish-Sweden Bron (i. e. The Bridge)?

When have Disney's K-dramas been promoted well?

I saw statements it would be released in November several days ago. I mean it's just 6 episodes, Disney+ could handle them in 2 or 3 weeks. Like, set the release date for Wednesday, November 5, the finale is going to be release on November 19 at latest, then it's The Manipulated's turn since November 26.

Allegedly "Made in Korea," but it would be on Disney+ too, so I guess, not in the same time. "As You Stood By" on Netflix. Maybe Netflix's "The Price of Confession" too.

I don't think it's season 2 in the Western sense, it's probably a part 2. Disney+ had already done it with Shadow Detective. Season 1 was released in October and November 2022, and season 2 was released in July 2023. But it was basically the same storyline about the same antagonist divided in two parts.

I would expect season 2 of "Made in Korea" in Summer 2026. Moreover. Disney+ has some other projects, such as season 2 of A Shop for Killers, Gold Land (for April 2026), Delusion starring Suzy, and whatnot.

I think the answer about both actresses is "yes and yes." I would prefer the former one, but I can see why people would choose the latter.

Another two options are Chun Woo Hee and Pyo Ye Jin who have played similar characters in Delightfully Deceitful and Taxi Driver respectively. Both of them were able to add some depth to their characters and make them sympathetic. Pyo Ye Jin literally stole my heart in season 1 of Taxi Driver and I still remember her musical number from season 2 occasionally. I can't wait to see the entire team in season 3 in a few months.

So you literally confirmed what I wrote. There were some obvious issues with pre-production or production, so they finished three months behind schedule. It's a long time. I know American shows usually spend about 10-14 days to film one 1-hour episode. so filming of the entire show like The Manipulated would take 4-6 months, and they finished 3 months later. Either the cast and crew worked 1.5-2 times slower, or they started months behind schedule.

Anyway, those hypothetical issues definitely are not connected with Knock Off and that scandal.

What's the source?

I can't imagine this show being released in August, because they finished filiming in May. Even Knock Off being cancelled/postponed wouldn't matter, because it happened in April as they were still filming The Manipulated. There had to be some serious issues with production or script.

Because some people miss her and she is being polite?

What if Sul Kyung Gu takes the main role instead Song Kang Ho in this drama? It would be great. I also would look forward to his scenes with Lee Sung Min.

The commentary is inspired by Sul Kyung Gu's new Netflix movie with him playing the mysterious fixer, a man behind curtains which fits this show.