[Kdrama] Manny (2011)

Manny

Korean Drama - 2011

16 Episodes

Romantic Comedy/Family

Plot/Synopsis:

Lee Han (Seo Ji-Suk) is a single man who becomes a nanny on a whim. He also happens to live with divorced single mom Do-Young (Choi Jung-Yoon) and her 2 kids. Janice (Pyeon Jung-Su) is a rich single woman who does not want to get married. They all end up living together.

Click below for review. may contain spoilers. Sorry.

My Review:

For this drama, I must begin with the casting and characters! Manny contained such an amazing character cast. The lead male, Lee Han, was really lovable and I'm not just saying that because he's pretty (even though he is). The actor, Seo Ji Suk (who I've never seen before) played an exceptional role as a professional male nanny.

This leads us to the kids. Oh, god! I really love dramas with adorable children. Children add a whole new dimension to a series. They can amp up the angst or provide hilarious comic relief. In Manny, the kids do a bit of both. You can't help but cry, when they cry and they were freaking adorable! Any interactions between Lee Han and the kids was bound to put a tear in your eye or a smile on your face.

The two lead females were nicely cast as well. I really liked the idea of two sisters falling for the same man, who was living with them and technically their employee. Even more fascinating was the dynamic between the two sisters. Do Young and Janice couldn't have been more different. Personally, I think Janice was the more interesting characters, the one with more depth. I found Do Young a little annoying, though there were plenty of instances where she was pretty cute.

The plot of Manny was interesting. I mean, a male nanny is a bit orginial and it was a fun watch. However, what irked me about this series was that every episode introduced and solved a new crisis. While each episode did lead up to a major crisis, there were mini crises sprinkled throughout the series. Some were interesting and important, others were highly insignificant and seemed to waste airtime.

THE VERDICT: I would have Loved this drama if not for the ending. As far as I am concerned, the ending is THE most important part of any series. it's what viewers are left with; it can strongly color their feelings towards the film/series. I often find that I can LOVE an average drama if the ending is amazing and vice versa. I can dislike an amazing series if the ending sucks.

Unfortunately, Manny suffered from the latter. The series was fairly great, until it decided to introduce yet another crisis! It simply frustrated me as a viewer and the actual ending was disappointing. I felt a little cheated by the producers. That's never a good thing.

I still recommend watching Manny despite the ending. It was such a fun drama and I don't think my fellow kdrama-nerds should miss out on it.


Watch Here: http://www.viki.com/channels/3474-manny