A Gentleman's Dignity () is a 2012 South Korean romantic comedy television series starring Jang Dong-gun, Kim Ha-neul, Kim Soo-ro, Kim Min-jong, and Lee Jong-hyuk. It aired on SBS from May 26 to August 12, 2012 on Saturdays and Sundays at 21:55 for 20 episodes.
The series marked Jang Dong-gun's return to television after twelve years. It was directed by Shin Woo-chul and written by Kim Eun-sook, the same team behind hit dramas Secret Garden, On Air, Lovers in Prague, and Lovers in Paris.
Synopsis A Gentleman's Dignity is about the careers and love lives of urban professionals. It tells the story of four men in their forties who have been friends since they were eighteen as they go through love, breakups, successes, and failures.
Kim Do-jin is a confident playboy who meets Seo Yi-soo and falls for her. To his surprise, she doesn't give him the time of day, and he discovers that she has a crush on his best friend, Im Tae-san. He begins a one-sided love for the first time in his life and tries to win her heart.
Im Tae-san starts dating Yi-soo's roommate, Hong Se-ra, but troubles arise when Yi-soo's crush is revealed and when Se-ra tells him she doesn't want to get married.
Choi Yoon is a lawyer who is still recovering from his wife's death four years ago, but begins to have feelings for Tae-san's much younger sister, Im Meari. Meari has always had a crush on Yoon. However, Yoon refuses to give in to his feelings and jeopardize his friendship with Tae-san.
Lee Jung-rok is married to a rich woman, Park Min-sook, but constantly flirts with other women, which causes problems and trust issues in their marriage.
Meanwhile, a teenager named Colin comes to Korea looking for the four men and claims one of them is his biological father.
Cast
Main
Jang Dong-gun as Kim Do-jin A confident ladies' man who heads his own architectural firm with Im Tae-san. Do-jin has a memory loss problem in times of stress and records everything in his daily life using a voice recorder pen. He loves his car and named it "Betty".
Kim Ha-neul as Seo Yi-soo A high school ethics teacher who also umpires amateur baseball games in her free time. Yi-soo has had a secret crush on Tae-san for three years. Kim Soo-ro as Im Tae-san A partner at Do-jin's firm, heading the construction division. He is a member of the Blue Cats baseball team and a long-time friend of Yi-soo.
Kim Min-jong as Choi Yoon A lawyer who is still recovering from his wife's death four years ago and is a member of the Blue Cats baseball team.
Lee Jong-hyuk as Lee Jung-rok Owner of a Mango Six café and a bar. He is married to a rich woman, Park Min-sook, but constantly flirts with other women.
Supporting Yoon Se-ah as Hong Se-ra A pro golfer. She is Tae-san's girlfriend and Yi-soo's roommate.
Kim Jung-nan as Park Min-sook Jung-rok's extremely wealthy wife.
Yoon Jin-yi as Im Me Ah-ri Tae-san's younger sister and Yi-soo's past student. Meari came back to Korea after studying in America and has an interest in bag design. She has had a crush on Yoon for a long time.
Lee Jong-hyun as Colin An American-born Korean who comes to Korea, claiming that one of the four guys is his biological father. He develops a crush on Meari.
Kim Woo-bin as Kim Dong-hyub A student of Yi-soo who often gets into trouble at school. He has a crush on Yi-soo. Park Joo-mi as Kim Eun-hee Colin's mother, and the first love of the four guys. Nam Hyun-joo as Teacher Park Park Ah-in as Attorney Kang Yoon Joo-man as Team Leader Choi Min Jae-sik as Mango Six Cafe's manager Kim Chang-seong as Sang-hyun Kim Geun as Kim Geun, Hwa Dam's employee Lee Joon-hee as Kwon, Hwa Dam's employee Jo Hyeon-gyu as Hyeon-gyu, Hwa Dam's employee Han Eun Sun as Young-ran, Hwa Dam's employee Ahn Jae-min as Yoo Seong-jae Kim Yoon-seo as Kim Eun-ji, Do-jin's ex-girlfriend Lee Yong-yi as Lee Mi-kyung, Yoon's mother-in-law Kim Sun-hwa as Director Song
Special appearances Sa-hee as Do-jin's seducer in the pub in (ep 1) Ahn Hye-kyeong as Yoon's client (ep 2 and 10) Shin Hye-jeong as Na Jong-seok's daughter (ep 3) Choi Sung-jo as Min-sook's fitness trainer (ep 3) Kim Kwang-kyu as a high school teacher (ep 4) Choi Soo-young as herself (ep. 5) Hwang Eun-soo as Hong Se-ra's golfing junior (ep 9 and 12) Kim Dong-gyun as Na Jong-seok (ep 11) Jung Yong-hwa as himself, and a past student of Yi-soo (ep 13) Juniel as a street performer at Hongdae playground (ep 13) Kim Sung-oh as an army instructor (ep 15) Jang Joon-yoo as Tae-san's blind date (ep 16) Cha Hwa-yeon as Yi-soo's mother (ep 16 and 19) Bae Ji-hyun as a reporter (ep 20)
Prologues A unique feature of this drama is that at the beginning of every episode, a prologue (or cold open) is shown. The prologues involve anecdotes about Do-jin, Tae-san, Yoon and Jung-rok's friendship through the years, and they all carry a humorous tone, except for episode 16. The prologues are not related narratively to the previous episode's ending or the present storyline. However, they underline each episode's theme.
Episode summariesEpisode 1 - Funeral of the pharmacist The four guys' primary motive for attending the funeral is just to see the pharmacist's wife and her friends, who are ex-models. However, before they could pay their respects, a woman holding the pharmacist's illegitimate son arrives, and a fight breaks out at the funeral... So the four guys split what they need to do.Episode 2 - Mini skirt girl The four guys are gossiping about their friend, when Do-jin said they're at an age where they don't even know if someone likes them. As they're chatting, they see a woman wearing a very short mini-skirt, so their eyes are drawn to her. The woman bends down to pick something up, and the guys all lower their heads as well, trying to look up her skirt.Episode 3 - It's our friend's daughter! While at a club, the four guys spot a pretty young woman and, through a waiter book her for their room. They lie to her about their age, saying that they're 31 ("oppas") instead of 41 years old ("ajusshis"). Then Tae-san says she looks like one of their ex-classmates, and the girl says that he's her father! The four guys run away from the room.Episode 4 - Who's the mastermind behind the adult movie? Flashback to the four guys in high school, when they apparently get caught for watching adult movies, and the discipline master wants to meet their parents. At the field, each vows to admit that he's the mastermind and promises that they'll all get punished together. However, when in front of their teacher, Jung-rok admits it, but Tae-san, Yoon and Do-jin all point to Jung-rok, saying he did it. So in the end, only Jung-rok gets hit. There's a bit of an inside joke in the scene. The teacher is portrayed by Kim Kwang-kyu, the same actor who played Jang Dong-gun's teacher in the 2001 movie Friend. When the teacher keeps commenting that he looks familiar, and asks if he's from Busan and whether his father is an undertaker, those are all references to Friend.Episode 5 - We're Girls' Generation's middle-aged male fans! While in Jung-rok's cafe, the four guys are seemingly talking about economic issues, but the topic is actually the K-pop girl group Girls' Generation (SNSD). Do-jin says he likes Taeyeon, Tae-san likes Yuri, and Jung-rok likes Tiffany. But Yoon says they should care about their country as much as they care for those girls, giving the impression that Yoon isn't interested in SNSD. Suddenly, while he's talking, Jung-rok sees Sooyoung, and the other two go gaga over her too. Tae-san wants to ask Yoon to get Sooyoung's autograph for him, but before he finishes his sentence, Yoon has already disappeared... to talk to his favorite SNSD member, Sooyoung, at the counter. Yoon asks for her autograph and even starts dancing to some of SNSD's songs. The other three guys are left stunned.Episode 6 - Whoever loses will pay The four guys are playing billiards and decide that whichever team loses will have to pay for the sashimi they'll eat later. Do-jin and Jung-rok are on one team, Tae-san and Yoon on the other team. As the game continues, they take it more and more seriously. Do-jin even leaves the shop forgetting to change out of his slippers.Episode 7 - Jung-rok and Min-sook's wedding The night before Jung-rok's wedding, the other three guys go to Min-sook's house to give the marriage chest. Three women come out, wearing expensive jewelry. Yoon starts singing, and the other two guys dance. The next day, at the wedding, Jung-rok is all smiles, but Min-sook looks angry. The reason is that the groom's female friends are younger and prettier than the bride's. The three guys standing in the second row are thrilled to see the pretty girls in front of them. Do-jin narrates, "Everyone else is happy, except the two who are getting married."Episode 8 - The four guys' first love The setting is during their college days, and the four guys go on a group date with three girls. The girls are either too ugly or too fat, so the guys aren't interested in them and try to find ways to turn them off. Jung-rok brags that he's always last in school, Yoon acts like a mama's boy, Tae-san pretends to have a muscular disease and can't stop moving his hand, and Do-jin talks with a lisp. Suddenly, the fourth girl arrives, and she's so pretty that all four guys fall for her. She is Kim Eun-hee, the four guys' first love.Episode 9 - Guys who love to beautify themselves After they each finish taking a shower, Jung-rok appears in the bathroom with a complete set of facial creams, toner, etc. Yoon and Tae-san mock him, saying how a guy can care so much about his looks. Then Do-jin enters, and as Tae-san and Yoon tell him about Jung-rok, he quickly hides his eyebrow razor blade behind his back. But the guys catch him anyway, and Jung-rok ends up asking Do-jin where he bought the pink set.Episode 10 - Im Yo-hwan is at the cafe! The four guys are playing StarCraft, Do-jin and Jung-rok VS Tae-san and Yoon. As they're playing, they ignore phone calls from Min-sook and Se-ra since they're too busy "burning tanks" to answer. Shortly after, Jung-rok gets a call from his cafe, and Do-jin tells him to answer, as it would be ridiculous to go out of business while playing games. The employee says that actress Jun Ji-hyun is at the cafe; the four guys are surprised but continue playing, with Jung-rok telling his employee to hook up Jeon with coupons. Then, a few seconds later, the same employee calls again to tell Jung-rok that the expert StarCraft player Lim Yo-hwan is with Jeon. Upon hearing that, the four guys spring out of their seats immediately and rush to the cafe in a taxi, when the place is just a 5-minute walk away.Episode 11 - I'm the basketball legend The scene starts with the four guys at a park, deciding who should build the tent. Then, when they wanted to start their picnic, they realized that all of them had brought only alcohol; no one had brought food. So Jung-rok said he'd trade some alcohol with the girls camping near them, who had much food. However, the girls said they've already traded with the other guys playing basketball. So the four guys decide to play a game with the youngsters, with Do-jin saying the youngsters will be embarrassed because of his good skills. The game starts, and the four guys make a lot of mistakes. They're out of breath... They lost all the liquor they brought with them. They then asked Do-jin when was the last time he played basketball, and he said his last victory was 18 years ago in 1994 (a pop culture reference to actor Jang Dong-gun's hit 1994 basketball drama The Last Match).Episode 12 - Let's quit smoking!