Man to Man tells the story of a mysterious and skilled secret agent who becomes the bodyguard (Park Hae Jin) to a top star (Park Sung Woong) who has made a name for himself playing villainous characters.
Park Hae Jin plays our secret agent Kim Seol Woo also known as Agent K. He’s handsome and charming and can go undercover as just about anyone and do whatever is necessary for a mission.
Park Sung Woong is our popular actor Yeo Woon Gwang. He’s a big personality that has the mix of a being a spoiled star who has a good heart. This is exactly the kind of character I like seeing Park Sung Woong play as he is just so much fun when he gets to be lively and animated.
Kim Min Jung plays Woon Gwang’s number one fan and manger Cha Do Ha. Her life revolves around him to an obsessive level. But when the new bodyguard gets in the mix and turns his charms on her, she is left quite confused by her newly developing feelings for him.
Full disclosure, I wasn’t feeling well when I watched the bulk of Man to Man, so that definitely may have influenced my enjoyment of the drama. It’s one of those dramas that seems fine enough as a whole, but I just really didn’t care for it. I wasn’t that into it while I was sick, and then it never really clicked after that. I think by the time I was feeling better, I was so far into the drama that I just really didn’t care at that point.
The drama does have a really nice story that mixes secret agent spy action with romance and comedic elements. The actors all nailed their roles, and the drama looked sharp with pretty good cinematography.
My favorite thing was the fun bromance between Seol Woo and Woon Gwang. They provide some very humorous moments because of the situation and their opposite personalities. Plus, I really enjoyed watching them grow closer in that brotherly sort of way.
I also really enjoy stories where an agent falls for his mark, which ends up being Do Ha. It always creates a fun dynamic as he leads her on and she falls for him, but then he in turn develops feelings for her. Which always presents multiple issues from compromising the mission to when the lies are discovered.
As much as I enjoyed that, I didn’t really feel the romance itself though. Park Hae Jin was quite sauve and charming, but I found Do Ha’s character to be a bit much. I just didn’t really like her. She does improve as the drama goes on, but I just never really felt any chemistry between the pair.
So while on paper Man to Man seems to have all the makings of a great drama, it just felt kind of meh. The story had plenty of developments, but it was presented in a sort of confusing way. The pacing also felt slow. And since I didn’t love the main couple, obviously the romance portion of the drama felt weak. Mostly I was just bored though.
The drama does have plenty of positive elements to tune in for, so it’s definitely worth a look to see if it clicks with you. For me, this drama may have just suffered from being a bit average combined with bad timing.
My Rating: 4/10
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