This is the first South Korean soap opera I watch, A Man in a Veil, which broadcast between 2020 and 2021.
About
After an accident during childhood, Tae Poong had a learning disability and was looked after by his Mother. His life is caught in between two sisters, one who is kind-hearted and the other who is…very evil with visions of grandeur. The show consisted of 105 x 35-minute episodes.
Crew
The show has a huge cast but generally revolves around 4 characters played by the following actors:
Kang Eun Tak (강은탁) plays Lee Tae Poong / Yoo Min Hyeok
He won an award for his performance of Tae Poong which I would say was very justified. Kang Eun Tak is a doyen of South Korean soaps having been in 7 different ones with a total of 936 episodes.
Lee Shi Kang (이시강) plays Cha Seo Joon
He has previously been in another soap called Happy Sisters. Earlier in 2020, he appeared in the Taiwanese LGBTQ drama Because of You, this is where I heard of him first and followed the trail to find A Man in a Veil. He reprises his role of Yuan Jun Cheng in Because of You season 2 soon, airdate not fixed.
Uhm Hyun Kyung (엄현경) plays Han Yoo Jung
She has appeared in many TV dramas as well as 4 other soaps. She will be appearing in the upcoming soap Second Husband which starts airing in August 2021.
Lee Chae-young (이채영) plays Han Yoo Ra
She is a very popular in-demand actress too also being appearing in 5 other soaps. I see she is an upcoming movie called Tomb of the River but don’t know any details apart from that.
Review
Some spoilers ahead
I absolutely loved this show and couldn’t wait until the next episode. 105 episodes seemed a bit daunting at first but it wasn’t a trial to get through them due to the exciting script.
The pace of the first 20 episodes was exciting, a lot happened. Some side stories never developed throughout the series but contained important messages, especially about disabled people. I had never seen Kang Eun Tak in any other shows but his performance as Lee Tae Pong in these 20 episodes was extremely convincing. As I saw the actor in other shows the role of playing someone with a learning disability wasn’t a role he normally gets.
I was slightly disappointed that they knocked off a couple of characters in the first 20 episodes, from 21 the script was a much slower pace. However, as the series developed the pace sped up again. There were some “edge of the seat” moments in the final episodes with a few twists and turns. There were a couple of surprises in the final episode and I thought “she’s got what”!!
Summary
Brilliant show. I rated it 5/5, a top score is unusual for me but they deserved it.
The show can be watched on Viki but you will need a subscription. KBS TV in Korea sometimes puts in soaps on YouTube so you never know it might appear there one day.