A Gentleman's Dignity (Korean Drama)

Actually, I was first a bit reluctant to watch this drama as the characters are a bit older, and I prefer a younger group of mail leads. But when I started watching 'A Gentleman's Dignity', I have to say that there is nothing more youthful than this drama. It's filled with the spirit of youth and fun and excitement... And I really loved this drama.

The story is about four friends in their 40s. Each of their love stories are really different and lovable...

'A Gentleman's Dignity' was a huge hit maybe because it's feel is different from any other drama. And also maybe because of it's fun filled prologue scenes in front of every episode. The Prologues were ROFL humorous, and a spunky new idea.

The romance aspect is really a deep and different from anything we have watched so far. Although the soft of main lead 'Kim Do Jin' is given the classic arrogant guy character there is a lot of difference in him that sets him aside from the usual arrogant male leads. For example the way he declare that Yi Soo is the girl he has one-side love interest, and tell that even in front of anyone, even the girl he slept with, that is just plainly daring and a bit killer attitude.
The romantic scenes were simply capturing, especially the one where Yi Soo falls down on Kim Do Jin and he says, "Ah... this woman is really such a stress"...
Totally romantic and unlike anything ever made... I really don't have words to describe the fineness of romance in this drama. The plot of Kim Do Jin and Seo Yi Soo is actually really good and one of the best romances I have ever seen.

I also liked how the relationship of the married couple Lee Jung Rok and Park Min Sook is shown. It shows how a relationship revives after the romance in a marriage has worn away. It seemed to hold a deep meaning... Somehow show us the point of a marriage, or maybe makes us believe in love again. Because there are a lot of marriages that lose romance after a few years... but this story shows that maybe there is still love left at some where deep down and it could be revived.
The part where Min Sook tells Lee Jung Rok to just pat her to sleep and that was all she ever wanted from him, it actually brought tears to my eyes...

And although Hong Se Ra's character is a bit irritating and grey shaded, I actually liked her in the end. She had a strength to be an independent strong woman, and have the guts to say anything and wear anything and do anything. That is commendable.... Hong Se Ra and Im Tae San's story line was kind of the least interesting in whole for me. But I laughed at the end where Se Ra is in hospital and the doctor says 'she over worked herself when she is pregnant', and Tae San says 'why did you overwork when you are pregnant...what? Pregnant??'

Yoon and Meari's story is a bit difficult to digest. You have to get over the big age gap of 17 years with a lot of effort, but once you get over the age gap, it's actually a really cute love story. Well, people say that age is not a matter of importance in love, but still 17 was a bit too much... Still Meari is too cute, and energetic... The way she calls, "Oppa...Yooni oppa..." with so much intensity and passion and energy just makes her forget the age gap a bit and we start to cheer her on in our mind.

The reason I chose to watch 'A Gentleman's Dignity' was mainly because i am a fan of CNBLUE and CNBLUE's Lee Joung Hyun was in this. Lee Jong Hyun plays the mystery boy 'Colin' who comes to Korea from Japan, and brings a change to the four friends' life by saying one of them is his biological dad.
the characters of Colin and Kim Dong Hyub (played by Kim Woo Bin), though they are really short characters are memorable characters and i liked really the carefree attitude of both of them, and both these characters have their unique sort of charm. And Dong Hyub is the reason i really like Woo Bin even before Choi Young Do of Heirs. :-)
The sentence that Colin and Dong Hyub exchange at the end of the dram is really humorous that how one of then had his first love snatched off by 'dad's friend' and other by'friend's dad'...

CNBLUE fans really have a bit to be happy about 'A Gentleman's Dignity', because not only Lee Jong Hyun is there as Colin, but  also Jung Young Hwa comes as himself in a cameo role in one episode. And the drama has used CNBLUE 'Intution' in an episode. (The way a drunk Seo Yi Soo sings 'intution' was so cute...)

'A gentleman's Dignity' is also lovable because of it's excellent OST. Every song in it is good, but above that, the songs in it blend with the situation on screen so well that it just ads more feel to the situation. Especially the two songs by Big Baby Driver : 'Spring, I love you best', and 'You're everywhere'. These are slow soft songs that blend in to a scene so well that they give it a magical feel. The scene where Seo Yi Soo is sad and is sitting in the bathroom thinking about all the moments with Kim Do Jin, and realizing how she might be in love with him, the song 'you're everywhere' plays softly in the background giving the whole scene a magical sort of feel. That just gives the romance a whole sort of higher level feel...

And it need not be mentioned that 'A Gentleman's Dignity' is filled with humor and fun. we laugh our guts out in every situation and many thing brigs a smile to our lips. let that be Yi Soo's funny reactions or how Jung Rok remove his wedding ring and drops to his pocket at the sight of beautiful girls, or how Yoon sweetly tries to hide his growing feelings for Meari... And the prologues are really super fun rides.

Friendship is another aspect of this drama that we really would like. The friendship of the 4 men is really genuine and deep. It's shown most in the flashback prologue scene where Yoon's wife was dead. I really liked the ending episode in which it shows in prologue how the four men became friends while in high school and then shown that Colin, Dong Hyub and the two other boys becomes friends and shows how the chain of friendship continues.

Characters

Kim Do Jin : A successful architect and a bit of an arrogant man. He has dated many girls but have found no one that he cares for. he has a habit of recording every moment of his life because of a certain illness he is subjected to.

Im Tae San : Im Tae San is an engineer and he and Kim Do Jin has set up a construction firm together. He is a reliable personality who gets really serious in relationships and never takes things for fun sake when it comes to women.

Choi Yoon : A Lawyer. His wife whom he loved dearly is long dead, but he lives in the memory of her and doesn't take off his wedding ring even after all these years after her death. He still visits his in-laws and behaves as a good son-in-law. And he is troubled at first when young Meari is having a crush on him. He feels guilty and confused about that...

Lee Jung Rok : The Casanova and playboy in the group. Although he is married he always mess around with girls and his hobby is the remove his wedding ring and drop to his pocket at the sight of a beautiful girl. He owns a successful cafe on a busy street, and is married to business woman Park Min Sook who is older and wealthier than him.


Seo Yi Soo : She works as a teacher and is really dedicated to her job. she is actually a really simple and romantic woman who's wish is that if suddenly something like romance comes to her life it would be good. And she thinks that only 20 seconds is enough to fall in love...

Hong Se Ra : Soe Yi Soo's friend and room mate. She is a professional golf player. She thinks really realistically and is bold and smart and a bit of a jerk too. She likes to show off and believes that love is something to be played and calculated... Then she meets Tae San.

Im Meari : Im Tae San's younger sister. She was Seo Yi Soo's student and is really close with Yi Soo. Meari is a really cute and energetic girl, and she has a crush on Choi Yoon since she was a kid. She is following around Yoon and declaring her love in public without any hesitation giving Yoon discomfort and guilt.


Park Min Sook : Lee Jung Rok's wife. She is fed up of her husband who is a player and Casanova. But she never actually gives him divorce though she always threatens to, maybe because she still loves him. She is a strict and strong woman and actually has the four men in her grasp because the buildings where their work places are is actually owned by her and if she decides to she can kick them out.



Colin : Colin is the mysterious boy who comes to Korea from Japan. He comes to the four men's life and tells them that one of them is his biological father, his mother being Kim Eun Hee - who used to be a close friend of the four men when they were 20 years old.

Kim Dong Hyub : Seo Yi Soo's student and a delinquent in the school. Yi Soo pays special attention to him and try to make him study a bit and be serious about life. But he likes to just mess around and relax, and doesn't have any future goal.

Story line :

Kim Do Jin, Im Tae San, Choi Yoon and Lee Jung Rok are four friends entering age 40. they are fun loving and energetic.
Soe Yi So, a teacher in late 30s was in one sided love with Im Tae San, her student Meari's brother. But Tae San ask her if he can get the phone number of her friend Hong Se ra, because she is just his type. Yi Soo feel a bit sad and gives the phone number and Tae San and Se Ra starts dating.
Kim Do Jin sees Seo Yi Soo a couple of times and he feels something towards her but he lose the chance to talk to her and she disappears in to crowd all the time. Along this time Kim Do Jin also gets in to a fight with Kim Dong Hyub, who is Yi Soo's student. regarding this Yi Soo calls Do Jin a few times to settle the fight case out of court, but Do Jin doesn't realize that the teacher who is calling is the same girl he met a couple of times on street.
Then these two meet again at the baseball match of Im Tae San's private league team 'bluecats', in which Seo Yi Soo is the umpire.
Soon Do Jin realized the teacher who calls him is Yi Soo and he meets her and all. But he finds out that Yi Soo is in one sided love with Tae San. Despite that he declares that he loves her, and calls her his one-sided love interest. Yi Soo is confused, disgusted and troubled by Kim Do Jin's attitude and fearless talks.
Meanwhile, Im Meari comes back to Korea from USA after her college studies there and comes straight to the baseball practices and runs and hugs Yoon saying, "Oppa, I missed you a lot", while ignoring her real brother Im Tae San standing right beside Yoon. Yoon is troubled and guilty by Meari's declarations of love.
Im Tae San and Hong Se Ra are always fighting and breaking up for difference in opinions and getting back together frequently. And Jung Rok is covering up for his women problems and trying not to get divorced by kissing up to his wife shamelessly.
Colin had already arrived in Korea. He was in the same flight as Meari. And after rescuing Meari from a locked bathroom, he becomes friends with her to get closer to the four men and to learn more about them. He knows that one of them is his biological father, he doesn't know who is that person...

'A Gentleman's Dignity' is totally an entertaining experience. It shows romance in a really different and refreshing angel. Also shows the energy of friendship in a fun way.
Totally worth a watch...

My Ratings of this Drama : 9.99/10

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