Actor Im Cheol-hyeong vividly portrays the bare face of a corrupt power holder in the SBS Friday-Saturday drama Manager Kim, drawing both viewers' anger and immersion at the same time.
In the drama, Im Cheol-hyeong plays Im Do-hyeon, the vice minister of security who colludes with Joo Gang-chan (Joo Sang-Wook) to pursue private gain, projecting a cold charisma based on his weighty acting skills. In the sixth episode broadcast, his vicious abuse of power reached its peak. Manager Kim (So Jisub)'s daughter Kim Min-ji (Seo Sumin) was noticed to be at Joo Gang-chan's villa, and he directly called the special missions bureau agent Ddanggangaji (Won Hyun-joon), who had entered, fiercely pressuring him by saying "Withdraw immediately."
Then Im Do-hyeon visited the special missions bureau in person and threatened the agent, saying, "What are you doing breaking into private property? Do you want your neck cut off right now?", showing an arrogant attitude as he demanded the handover of Kim Min-ji. The tense standoff scene with Ddanggangaji, who countered, "If you hand over Manager Kim's daughter, both Joo Gang-chan and you are finished," starkly exposed the corrupt power holder's arrogance who seeks to reign above law and justice, bringing the drama's tension to a climax.
But toward the end of the episode, the fate of the once swaggering vice minister of security was reversed in an instant. A reversal unfolded in which he was taken hostage by Manager Kim and had a thin rope wrapped around his neck, threatening his life. In this scene Im Cheol-hyeong completely controlled even the faint breaths trying to maintain composure, the trembling eyes and tightened expression that left no trace of his former authoritative demeanor, delicately conveying the character's stark emotional shift. His densely layered performance persuasively depicted the absolute ruler's arrogance collapsing into a desperate survival instinct, decorating the drama's climax and overwhelming living-room audiences.
Im Cheol-hyeong's passionate performance, which completes the three-dimensional character Im Do-hyeon by freely moving between a chilly charisma and raw, bottom-level fear, is receiving praise. Viewers' expectations are gathering about what ripple effects his heavy presence, which controls and shakes the flow of the drama, will bring to future developments.
Meanwhile, the SBS Friday-Saturday drama Manager Kim, which is drawing attention with developments that are unpredictable even a moment ahead, airs every Friday and Saturday at 9:50 p.m.
[Photo] SBS "Manager Kim"
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