Brief Story Line
Mr. Kim (So Ji-sub - Mercy For None mini series, Confession etc) was a single father who had to take care of his only daughter Kim Min-ji (Seo Su-min) all by himself. He worked at a small bank with one of his colleague Ms. Jung (Son Na-eun - The Wrath, The Tale of Lady Ok TV series etc) who seemed to know his characteristics. Mr. Kim loved to hang out with his two old friends Han-soo (Choi Dae-hoon - The Wonderfools mini series, Lucid Dream etc) the former Taekwondo champion and Jin-cheol (Yoon Kyung-ho - My Daughter is a Zombie, Vigilante TV series etc) the school zone traffic volunteer.
As a teenager, Min-ji was being bullied by her high school friends and got into altercation with the daughter of dirty businessman & president of Juhak construction, Ju Gang-chan (Joo Sang-wook - Days of Wrath, Buried Hearts TV series etc). Unfortunately despite the matter seemed to have been closed, Min-ji was somehow taken by people indirectly linked with Juhak. When Mr. Kim realized his daughter had been missing, he did whatever he could to find her using his extensive experience in the past as secret agent with the help from his two friends. Things gotten complicated when Mr. Kim started on a path of destruction which led the Special Missions Directorate (SMD) and the North Korean agency to capture him.
So what would happen to Mr. Kim and his daughter? You could find out in this series.
End of Brief Story Line
Just like my wife predicted, this was a series that I enjoyed a lot. She knew exactly the kind of things that I like in a movie/series and this one tick a lot of the boxes. From the interesting story, fascinating characters, plenty of humor (that seemingly never changed clothing of Mr. Kim's friends was just hilarious), but most importantly the awesome action sequence. During the time she watched the series, she frequently exclaimed her satisfaction and sigh of relief & burst into laughters and repeatedly told me to watch it as she was really entertained.
I believed the series was really enjoyable because of the action scenes that were well executed. Although there were car chasing scene in the early episodes which looked rather obviously CGI (after further reading, I found out those were fully created using AI), the rest were still greatly done. I had no doubt about So Ji-sub's action quality as I had seen him before but I was quite surprised with the agility of his two co-stars. Even though there were times when they used stunt double but I was sure they did perform some of the fight scenes. Only thing that would have made me more satisfied would be if the main villain was a much better adversary. However my wife gave a valid point that it was the sly, cunning & tricks that made him such a dirty & worthy enemy instead of just a simple brute.
The story started pretty simple with the plot of father trying to find his daughter and had to fight many enemies from various fronts (no wonder people said it's a combination of Taken and John Wick). And to be honest it was during this part where I thought the series was at its best. Hence I was caught of guard when they shifted its direction after episode 7. Good thing that after an unusually sub-par 8th episode, it became interesting again with a wonderful finale. The climax was smartly done with plenty of emotions and truly satisfying for me and my wife. That ending though seemed to be giving opportunity for a second season should they chose to renew it. For now though, Netflix still categorized it as Limited Series. Btw, this is not a Netflix original and aired on SBS TV which would explain the various products placements.
I noticed during the opening intro that it was based on Naver Webtoon titled Manager Kim by Jeong Jong-taek and Toy. Meanwhile the ending usually had some teaser scene for subsequent episode which was the reason for me to just skip. However there was an epilogue scene in episode 3 and also a bonus scene in the final 10th episode which was just for fun. In almost all episodes there would be flashback scenes in the start to give some kind of context on the story which were pretty useful. The series itself was written by Nam Dae-joong and directed by Yi Seung-young and Lee So-eun. It was also well received by both critics and audience becoming number one in many countries including Indonesia.
The cast in general did great job in here, even including newcomer Seo Su-min. Aside from the main cast above, there were a lot of important support cast such as Won Hyun-jun (The Devil's Deal, Hyper Knife TV series etc) as director of SMD, Park Jin-woo (Miss Fortune, My Royal Nemesis TV series etc) as Im Ho-won owner of laundrette & Mr. Kim's neighbor, Kim Sung-kyu (Kingdom TV series, Noryang: Deadly Sea etc) as North Korean agent trying to kill Mr. Kim, Lee Jae-yong (About Family, The Murky Stream TV series etc) as Ri Eung-ryeong the Director of Intelligence bureau of North Korea, Yu Ji-ahn as Ju Gang-chan's daughter Hye-ri, Lee Dong-ha (The Night Shift, Doctor Lawyer TV series etc) as Juhak's secretary Nam, Jo Bok-rae (The Cursed, The Practical Guide to Love TV series etc) as the thug known as Gold Teeth and plenty others including special appearances by few well known stars whom my wife was familiar with.
Overall this was a series that was entertaining for both of us. Despite the change of main plot starting from 8th episode that I was not totally delighted with in the beginning, it did have a really satisfying conclusion. Plus the ending was something that both of us and viewers were happy with. So if you like watching a father who would do anything to save his daughter with the help from two other middle aged men with plenty of humor, wonderful action, engaging story & satisfying conclusion, then you would definitely enjoy this one.
Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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