Manny (2011)

I'm pretty conflicted on how I feel about Manny. It felt to me like it lost its way about 3/4 of the way through, and it's difficult to prevent my view of the drama as a whole from being tainted by my distain for the last handful of episodes.

In any case, I'll start with the positives. Manny, more than anything, is a comedy. It's light and funny, with many laugh-out-loud moments, and most "conflicts" tend to be resolved in the space of a single episode, at least in the beginning. The main couple in Yi Han and Do Young are obvious from the start, but they fail to steal the show in favour of cutesy Jung Min, his divaish older sister Eun Mi and they're even more divaish aunt, Janice. I'm a fan of secondary characters being developed individuals in their own right, so this worked for me. I especially enjoyed that the kids weren't just plot devices, but had strong personalities of their own.

However, this is where the strong personalities end. Yi Han and Do Young, our main leads, are hollow archetypes at best. Yi Han is a Superman-type figure who can fix ANYTHING. One of the basics about any conflict in a story is that it should be believable to the audience that things really won't turn out for the best. This isn't true at all in Manny, because Yi Han is interminably capable and you're never in doubt he can solve anything with some wise words and perhaps a flashback to his old baseball friend in America. With Do Young, our female lead, it feels like there were efforts at development of her character, but to the point where there's two competing sides in her that make her confusing to watch and difficult to empathize with. She switches between stressed out single mother, still not having bounced back from what can be assumed to have been a messy divorce, and love-sick, infatuated teenager, complete with doodling her crush's name in her notebook. Needless to say, put Yi Han and Do Young together and the chemistry is far from sizzling.

As I mentioned at the beginning, the percentage of this drama is good. It never reaches any startling heights, but then that's not what it was aiming for. The drama seemed to know its place as a standard comedy. But then towards the end, it's like the it's been told to grow up and act its age because suddenly there's a barrage of seriousness and an emotional overflow that is so unfitting with the ambiance established up until this point. The characters haven't been built to be people you care deeply about, which is fine in a comedy, but tedious when these same characters are thrown into situations where emotional investment is a prerequisite if you're not going to lose the audience entirely. Without this sudden turn in tone, the drama would have been a solid watch. With it, the experience was, if not ruined, at least soured.

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At first, I really liked this drama, but it started to get boring really fast. It was too familyish for me. I really enjoy romantic comedies, and this was not one. The actors were pretty good, but it seemed like the manny was acting the whole time. it did not seem natural at all. It is a pretty good drama if you have nothing else to watch. it is sort of cute, but it gets annoying fast. the only reason i finished watching it and watched every episode was because i watched it as soon as the episodes came out. but, if i had watched it after all the ep. were out, i would have totally skipped around.

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THIS. I never found a drama so addictive from the beginning. Every single part was addictive, it was amazing. Usually even my favorite dramas have some boring moments and this one didn't have it until the 13th, 14th episode for me.
It's a good drama. Yet, it can be somehow surrealist in a way. The manny seems an angel who came to help them and nothing more. He seems not to have any flaws and that bothers me a bit.
In comparison, the mom is totally irresponsible and one of the kids is really rude. If you're finding a way to educate your kids, don't follow it. Aside from him, those characters have a lot of flaws. I'm still 18 but I have the perfect notion how we shouldn't educate a child. And I deal with them every week so I know what I'm talking about.
Back to the drama, watch it. I honestly watched because I'm a sucker for dramas with children but this kept me watching from other reasons other than the children.
Just one thing i'm unhappy about are the latest episodes. It seems they condensed all the drama parts in the last one and the ending was not even satisfactory. It seems to have a season two, I hope so, I really do.

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I'm not quite sure how this review will turn out once I'm done, because I'm not 100% sure what I feel about the drama. I liked the idea of the male nanny, so that was what made me watch this. The first episodes are funny and entertaining, but stuff get a little messy after that (or at least as messy as this drama can get - it doesn't play any of the situations out at all). The drama has a serious case of split personalities. The first story is cute and family based. It's about the male nanny coming into a family and taking care of the children and the hardships that brings. The other story is about a modeling agency, run by the children's aunt, and it has absolutely nothing to do with the original story. It's a world of it's own with characters and affairs that doesn't relate to each other what so ever. Only in a few scenes do characters from the two worlds (except the aunt) meet so that the audience won't remember it as two different dramas.



The music is okayish. None of the songs made me open my eyes and think 'Oh, I need this song!', but it wasn't annoying either. At most times it just fit well with the scenes, but it wasn't remarkable.



Although the story got a little flat near the end, it was never really boring. It was just... there. It's not the most entertaining drama to watch, but it doesn't in any way require effort. It's a typical laid-back drama.



I was originally gonna give this drama a 5, but I'm a sucker for cute endings.



6/10

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I have similar feelings as the review before me. The show started out decent and I was getting into it then about 3/4 of the way through I could barely get through it any more and had to force myself to finish it. I wasn't invested in it at all. There were cute moments in the beginning and then it fizzled for me. The whole time I wanted to throttle eun bi kid. That she could get away with behavior like that just didn't set well at all but then I guess I never knew kids that could or would behave like that when I was growing up. The mom also bothered me as being a bit to childish and simple and I just didn't see her a very cute. I know her behavior as supposed to be cute and innocent but it just didn't seem right or something was off. The Manny was cute though and had a cute smile. I also liked the sister Janice. I think she is beautiful and I have seen the actress in a few other shows and I just like her "I'll kick you butt" attitude. It had funny parts and it had some cute parts I guess and it started out ok but it just completely fizzled. I also just thought the end was stupid but that's just me and I like my well rounded and finished happy endings and though it was meant to be a happy ending I just didn't feel it at all.

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I'm not quite sure how to review this show. It's so airy and fluffy that it could be carried away by the softest breeze. If you drop it in a pool of water, it wouldn't make a single ripple. It's the most drama-less drama I've ever seen. Does that make this a bad watch? No, not really. It just is what it is: a light family comedy with an extremely bland romance. The acting isn't stellar. The Manny himself is such a nice piece of eye candy that you almost forget that his character is flatter than a sheet of paper. The children were adorable, and have me slightly convinced that having one or two wouldn't be so bad, if only for the free labor (What? I don't like doing chores.). This drama was basically set on cruise control, and while many might not find much excitement here, I enjoyed letting my mind kick back while watching this.



If there's one thing that frustrated me, it's that Manny had the elements of a much meatier drama should the writer have chosen to exploit them. A man taking on a traditionally feminine occupation? Hit me with some gender discourse! A good looking younger man living with not one, but two older women? I'm aching for some sexual tension! A deadbeat father trying to nudge his way back into his ex-wife's life? Let's connect the dots for this love triangle! Unfortunately, the drama consistently took the path of least resistance, opting to neatly resolve and put away the problem of the day by the end of each episode and imparting Mary Poppins-esque pearls of parenting wisdom. No, seriously... The writers even had the Manny answer viewer-submitted parenting questions at the end of each episode.



In short: This is the first drama I've watched so passively. However, at the end of a stressful week filled with work and classes, I looked forward to unwinding with this show, and I have to admit that there's value in that.

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