[RECAP: A Gentleman’s Dignity] Episodes 7 & 8: “One-Sided Love is Difficult”
We’re already a month into this wonderful drama and still discovering new secrets and mysteries that have yet to be solved.
The focus of Episodes 7 and 8 was on one-sided or unrequited love. And even the characters whose hearts aren’t aching because of love are agonizing over one thing or another.
Basically, no one’s really happy in these episodes. Well, maybe Lee Jong Rok, but he’s a special case.
Kim Do Jin (Jang Dong Gun)
In Episode 7, we find out that Kim Do Jin actually has no recollection of the beautiful kiss he shared with Seo Yi Soo (Kim Ha Neul) under the cherry blossom trees due to his rare short-term memory loss, which usually kicks in when he’s under stress.
Seo Yi Soo is most definitely the cause of the stress since her rejections are enough to make a guy go crazy, especially when he has never chased after a girl so passionately.
This crush on Seo Yi Soo is doing Kim Do Jin some good, however, as it is taming the wild egotistical beast in him and turning him into a sweet adorable boy, who wants to do anything to catch a glimpse of her.
When Seo Yi Soo comes to his house and chases after him to make sure he doesn’t listen to the embarrassing rant recorded on his pen, she accidentally falls on top of Kim Do Jin.
While Kim Do Jin teases her, holding her shirt down, he finally tells her, “If you don’t go now…” to which Seo Yi Soo says, “I know, you won’t let me go.”
Kim Do Jin smiles and says, “I was going to say you’re going to get stuck in traffic,” but as soon as she leaves, Kim Do Jin’s face falls and he says, “Of course that was a lie. I really didn’t want you to go.”
But the prize of Kim Do Jin’s behavior in Episodes 7 and 8 were his text messages to Seo Yi Soo. Even with Seo Yi Soo’s constant rejections, Kim Do Jin doesn’t forcibly push himself on her, but instead leaves her several indirect text messages.
When Kim Do Jin carries Seo Yi Soo, who pretends to be drunk, into the bedroom, she tells him to carry her out and into her own room. At that moment, he temporarily saves a text, which she receives much later, saying, “Tae San, I’m in the same room as Seo Teacher right now. This woman is so pretty. But she’s telling me to carry her so she can leave. But I think if I carry her, I’ll want to lay her on the bed. What should I do?”
Also, when he is feeling saddened that Seo Yi Soo stopped answering his phone calls, Kim Do Jin texts her, “Tae San… Seo Teacher isn’t answering my calls. I probably shouldn’t bicker at her for not answering, right? This is kind of upsetting… one-sided love.”
While he may be suffering, Kim Do Jin must be doing something right, as he is slowly melting the heart of Seo Yi Soo.
Im Tae San (Kim Soo Ro)
After finding out about Seo Yi Soo’s crush on him, Im Tae San immediately becomes troubled. Not only is his girlfriend always nagging him to apologize for letting Seo Yi Soo like him, he fears that his girlfriend will lose a good friend.
Then with the issue of his 24-year-old sister crushing on his 41-year-old best friend, mixed in with a slew of other problems, Im Tae San shows a sharp change of character.
When his girlfriend, Hong Se Ra (Yoon Se Ah), goes to the hospital for fatigue, Im Tae San doesn’t even bother going to the hospital.
When his sister makes a huge fuss over liking Choi Yoon, he solemnly tells Im Mae Ari, “I really missed you when you weren’t here for two years. Don’t force me to put you on another plane again.”
Im Tae San then goes to confront Kim Do Jin about keeping Seo Yi Soo’s crush on him a secret to which Kim Do Jin simply replies, “What’s the point? You wouldn’t have been shaken anyways.” With a bit of hesitation, Im Tae San replies, “What if I was shaken?”
Things are still ambiguous as to why Im Tae San went from the perfect boyfriend and brother to a cold, heartless man, but this sudden change in character was the biggest surprise this week.
Choi Yoon (Kim Min Jong)
Just when we thought Choi Yoon was going to step up his game, he takes a step back.
When Im Tae San drags Im Mae Ari out of Choi Yoon’s birthday party after she gets upset at her brother’s rejection towards her crush, Choi Yoon grabs Im Tae San’s hand and tells him to let go.
“If you have something to say to Mae Ari tell it to me. I’ll listen,” he says, making everyone and their mothers wonder if this is the moment of truth when Choi Yoo finally admits that he is in love with Im Tae San’s little sister.
But, no.
Pushing excitement aside, instead making room for disappointment and a hint of anguish, we indirectly learn about Choi Yoon’s inner feelings.
“Don’t worry. The thing you’re worrying about will never happen, because I’m deathly making an effort against it. It’s been a while since it’s been like this," he says, admitting that he does love Im Mae Ari, but is trying to reject the feelings for more reasons than one.
He returns to being a cold, annoying brother to Im Mae Ari and also takes up cooking to forget about her.
Too bad he’s not much of a cook. Otherwise, he could have made up for the lack of romance.
Lee Jung Rok (Lee Jong Hyuk)
We learn several things about Lee Jung Rok.
1. He only has female friends, as seen from his wedding photos,
2. He’s obsessive when it comes to hygiene, using three towels in one shower for his head, body, and feet,
3. He’s not a very convincing actor when it comes to his wife.
4. He sure knows how to be the trophy husband when needed.
After getting kicked out of the house with the texting and phone-breaking fiasco, Lee Jung Rok does everything he can to get his wife, Park Mi Sook (Kim Jung Nan), to forgive him, even parodying the classic love story of The Promise.
He calls his wife to a church and gets down on his knees, confessing of his sins against his wife, calling her “the perfect lady who fell into a pothole.” He is able to blink out some tears, but they aren’t enough to convince his cunning wife, as she tells him, “Meeting other women isn’t the only betrayal. Yanking me out of your heart is also a betrayal. And you did both.”
Even when he proves his innocence when his wife thinks he’s cheating, she doesn’t let him come home.
But when she’s with friends, who are showing off their husbands, she calls Lee Jung Rok, who struts in, acting as polite and loving to his wife—like a real gentleman.
Not only are the other friends suddenly embarrassed of their own husbands, but Park Mi Sook almost beams to show off her younger, more handsome man, even if the entire thing was just for show.
If only Kim Jung Rok’s deed was a regular occurrence, because although his wife is a pretty cold person, she really does deserve better.
Gentleman of the Week: Kim Do Jin
It was actually really difficult to choose between Kim Do Jin and Choi Yoon, since Choi Yoon’s rejection of Im Mae Ari was actually to protect her, but the reason why we chose Kim Do Jin as the Gentleman of the Week is because he isn’t forcibly shoving his feelings down Seo Yi Soo’s throat.
It’s driving him nuts that he can’t get the woman he wants, but unlike his egotistical days, he’s actually taking Seo Yi Soos feelings and wishes into consideration. His new tactic of sending indirect text messages is working and hopefully, by next week, Seo Yi Soo will reciprocate the same feelings.
Douche of the Week: Im Tae San.
This makes us sad, because Im Tae San was the closest thing out of the four to a true gentleman, but everything blew up in our faces within the span of two episodes.
There must be a good reason why he’s suddenly ditching his girlfriend and snapping at his best friends, but we we’re still pretty bummed about this sudden change because we didn’t think it was possible for Im Tae San to be a jerk.
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Reporter : Grace Danbi Hong (graced923@cj.net)
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