[HanCinema's Drama Review] "The Man In My House" Episode 11

The extended context for last episode's cliffhanger teases hope that perhaps Nan-gil and Na-ri actually discussed what she would do at trial directly. Unfortunately, that moment never comes. Nan-gil and Na-ri dance around the question of what their long-term future is going to look like, then proceed to spend the rest of the episode pretending not to care about each other while other characters try and pick up the slack.

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While "The Man In My House" is still not yet at the point of explicitly terrible, the production team seems to be making a special effort to render the drama difficult to watch just in terms of lousy pacing and general boredom. There's surprisingly little tension about a vicious gangster conspiracy that's willing to use physical, emotional, and legal coercion to get whatever it wants. Part of this has to do with how we still don't really know what the big deal is with this land, and writer Kim Eun-jeong is in no hurry to give us any clear hints.

The main vague hint we get is that Deok-bong and Deok-sim's generally awful family is involved with this somehow. But they're too busy pining after Na-ri and Nan-gil to be all that invested in their own plotlines. Not that this stops Yeo-joo from dominating their screentime, as she uncovers secrets about Deok-bong's past that are far, far less interesting than his family's involvement with Na-ri's ancestral property.

I've also been wondering lately why exactly it was necessary for Nan-gil to marry Na-ri's mom in the first place, since it seems like power of attorney would have been enough for him to protect the property. Discussing such matters in advance could have warded off the ambiguity of Nan-gil's motives, rendering the trial completely unnecessary. But then, we would be left without the obviously comical premise of Na-ri having no clue who Nan-gil is only to suddenly learn that he's her stepfather.

The more I see of "The Man In My House" the harder it is to be engaged with the story. While the drama is fairly strong from a conceptual level there's too little emphasis on the mysteries and too much on the romance. Earlier on the balance was decently well-done, but increasingly it feels like the characters are just running around in circles and stalling for time. A concise holistic explanation could solve so many of the problems here, and it's straining the willing suspension of disbelief that no one tries to get one.

Review by William Schwartz

"The Man In My House" is directed by Kim Jung-min-XII, written by Kim Eun-jeong, and features Soo Ae, Kim Young-kwang, Lee Soo-hyuk, Jo Bo-ah, Kim Ji-hoon-I and Kim Mi-sook.

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