Episode 4 of The Manipulated focuses on Taejoong’s escape from prison. The show has been quite intense right from the start, but now that we’ve watched the 4th episode, we have to wait an entire week for the next 4 episodes. With such a release plan, I wonder how the story gets split to make us feel curious and still satisfied with 4 episodes. Ji Chang-Wook is definitely going to be stealing hearts again in this role, which is clearly written for him. It’s reminding me of Healer. But of course, the shocking part is seeing Do Kyung-Soo in the role of a villain. Though I definitely think he always had the vibes. Love how he laughs as an evil man. I’m waiting to see the duo interact as the show progresses. Also, watching Ji Chang-Wook in action again feels really good.
Spoiler Alert
How Does the Poison Affect Taejoong?
The episode opens with the fake doctor injecting Taejoong with the poison he drew out of the vial, all while Taejoong impatiently checks the clock, which shows it’s already past 3:30, meaning his escape window has already started and he has to be out the front door before 4:00. As the doctor walks away, he makes a call and says the poison will take effect in half an hour. Though it initially seems like Guard Yang might be in on this, events later in the episode make that seem unlikely.
Meanwhile, as soon as Taejoong’s out the door, he rushes into action, grabbing everything he’d prepped after breaking into the cleaning supply closet and disrupting the power supply by jamming two nails into a power socket. This means the cameras are down, giving him the perfect window to escape, which he uses to sneak into Cell Block B, which is much closer to the visitor section. From here, after a close call with a guard, he sneaks into a ventilation duct, where he has a very Die Hard moment, with the guard poking at the duct with a broom until he gives up and assumes it’s rats. By this point, the poison is definitely acting on Taejoong’s system, and he’s coughing and wheezing, and his vision’s going all blurry. While in the duct, he pulls off his prison uniform, which he’d worn on top of the civilian clothes he had on, and puts on a cap to conceal his face. When he ends up in the visitor section, he makes a commotion by making an old lady spill the food she’d brought with her and then uses the distraction to walk out the front door, like he’d promised Noh he’d do. Sadly, this is when the poison kicks in for real, and he collapses to the floor, alarming everyone around him. When he later wakes up in the infirmary, the doctor tells him how strange it is that he’d eaten rat poison.
What Else Does the Psychopath Yohan Get Up To?
We don’t know very much about Yohan beyond his sadistic tendencies and the fact that he’s filthy rich, but those two sure come into play this episode. We see Yohan being bored by the racing team he sponsors, which doesn’t want to risk accidents; he doesn’t want to see cars go fast, he wants to see them crash and burn, so he pulls his sponsorship. What’s the point if no one is willing to die, eh? We later see him chucking model cars at a Lego city he’d built and giggling with glee as it falls apart. He also lets his “nanny” in on some grand plan he’s making, and they both throw their heads back in creepy laughter in response before she says she’ll get the ministry of justice and a foreign agency on board. We see her look a little uncomfortable at this moment, though she hides it. Is it possible she’s all that’s left of his “family,” and learned how to play along with him to survive?
We later see Yohan meet the warden of the prison Taejoong was trying to break out of and bribe him with gold bars to let his most violent and criminally insane offenders out on “community service” missions. The warden’s just been implicated in an embezzlement scandal and had his home office raided, and Yohan promises to make all of that go away, so the warden practically throws himself at his feet. Later in the episode, we see the warden paying off a bunch of guards to let them in on the scheme, with 12 inmates being kidnapped and thrown into a van towards the end of the episode, but more on that later.
How Does The Infirmary Assassination Attempt End?
As soon as it was evening, Deoksu, who’d been let out of solitary confinement by the warden, got his gang together and started a march on the infirmary. Taejoong noticed how everyone else in the area cleared out and prepped himself, setting it up to look like he was in a hospital bed while it was really just a bunch of sheets. This meant he could ambush Deoksu’s men when they tried to stab him to death in bed, but he was still massively outnumbered.
He ended up beating up Deoksu’s men with whatever he could get his hands on; fire extinguishers, scalpels, surgical tweezers, and even beds came into play. Meanwhile, Guard Yang noticed a doctor standing around smoking outside, and when he walked up to him, the doctor just said he didn’t know anything about it, even though nothing had happened yet. This sets off Yang’s suspicions, and he rushes for the infirmary, only to find it being guarded by a bunch of inmates who won’t let him through, prompting him to launch an alarm and get a squad of guards to attack the doors.
Just after Taejoong beats the last of the thugs, Deoksu walks up to him and casually offers him a cigarette before stabbing him with a blade. Then proceeds a back-and-forth judo match until Taejoong gains the upper hand but refuses to kill Deoksu, even though he says the only way he’ll leave Taejoong alone is if he slits his throat. This is when the guards finally break through to the infirmary, and Taejoong puts the blade down, though he looks like a walking nightmare by this point, all covered in blood.
Do Yohan and Taejoong Meet?
At the end of The Manipulated episode 4, Taejoong, along with everyone from the two gangs in prison, all the worst criminals of the lot, convicted for unthinkable things, ends up getting dragged by guards in the middle of the night with their faces covered. What they don’t realize is that they’re the ones freshly picked out by Yohan to get a free get-out card, i.e., community service under Yohan. The episode ends with the man telling the prisoners, including Taejoong, Deoksu, and Gangjae, that they’re currently in the land of opportunity. I think this means he’s going to get them to do work for him and then possibly recruit them?
The thing is, Yohan knows who Taejoong is, which means he might want to torture him more rather than just killing him off, because he did manage to stay alive so long. I’m waiting for Taejoong to find out who Yohan really is, but I wonder how long it might take. Additionally, will he team up with the second gang now? It might be even harder to get out of this arrangement. I don’t know if you think this is a big deal, but Taejoong’s ex-girlfriend is kind of missing, too, and I don’t think Pyo Ye-Jin is an actress who could be so underutilized in a show like this, so I have a feeling she’ll come back.
