[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Man-hole" Episode 9

What "Man-Hole" lacks is depth. We are told that the characters are sincere in their feelings, but those feelings are conveyed well to the audience. Jae-hyun is the most effective character and that is only because he is a menacing figure.

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Storywise, Bong Pil is discovering that the manhole never delivers what he expects. He has jumped back in time to where he has been discharged from his military duty and finds Soo-jin just as angry as ever before. There are small occurences that being to fall in place in his mind due to his time travels. There are so many missed chances for the relationship between him and Soo-jin to develop that it has hardened her against the idea of being with him. Foremost, her relationship with Jin-sook. They are best friends and she isn't willing to risk friendship for love. Until Pil can work things out with Jin-sook, I don't think he has a chance with Soo-jin. I am still not really feeling their chemistry or the draw between them. It's a paper romance.

Then we have Jin-sook who is as hopelessly in love with Pil as he is with Soo-jin. Both she and Pil suffer from loving someone they can't have because of reciprocity. It would be interesting if she, too, were given manhole powers with the supposed power of her love. The same holds true for Seok-tae who has just really come forth with his feelings for Jin-soo. We've seen hints of his feelings throughout the drama, but this is really when Cha Sun-woo and the writing have made me react and empathize with his feelings. Cha Sun-woo is given his chance to shine and I do appreciate that.

We are briefly shown Goo-gil's father in his last stages of cancer before his 2014 death, but nothing else. It's baffling. If they have that juicy plot stuffs, why wouldn't they develop it and beef up Goo-gil as a character?

There is a lot of missed opportunity in "Man-Hole". It has seven episodes left to grab onto it.

Written by: Lisa Espinosa AKA Raine from 'Raine's Dichotomy'

"Man-Hole" is directed by Park Man-yeong, written by Lee Jae-gon and features Kim Jae-joong, UEE, Jung Hye-sung and 'Cha Sun-woo'.

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