A Gentleman’s Dignity: Episode 5

How many people does it take to fix and then crash a computer within a span of 3 minutes? The first correct guesser gets a cookie shaped like a magnifying glass. Do Jin is far from the smooth playboy he thinks he is, especially around a girl who prefers his goofy baseball-loving friend. It’s a little painful to watch but hilarious nonetheless. Well, it’s no fun seeing the guy get the girl without a few accidents, right?

EPISODE 5 RECAP

 

The guys have a serious discussion about who the best member in Girls’ Generation is. Do Jin votes for Tae Yeon, Tae San vouches for Yuri, and Jung Rok claims that Tiffany beats them all. Yoon gives a deep sigh and shakes his head at their immaturity…

Suddenly, Jung Rok spots Sooyoung outside of the café and the guys crane their necks to get a better view. When Tae San turns to ask Yoon a question, they find his spot empty because he’s currently asking for her autograph. He fanboys like there’s no tomorrow and even dances “I’m genie for you boy,” causing his friends to squirm in embarrassment. Bwahah. I love this side of Yoon.

 

Se Ra realizes that Tae San is Yi Soo’s 20 second man at the baseball field, and cryptically suggests that Do Jin and Yi Soo accompany her and Tae-san to dinner after the game.

When the four arrive at the restaurant, Se Ra suggests that Yi Soo sit next to Tae San. Yi Soo compliments Tae San on how well he played today and Tae San replies that it’s because Se Ra was in the stands. A green-eyed Se Ra brushes off his comment and brings up the topic of Yi Soo’s mystery crush. Damn. She’s going the bitchy route, isn’t she.

Do Jin kind of saves the day by saying that Yi Soo has a couple of men around, like the guy he saw at her house the other day. He looks at Se Ra as he mentions Yi Soo’s “friend,” which shuts Se Ra up. He tells Yi Soo that she should try dating him instead of meeting other guys, then excuses himself, announcing that he’ll pay for dinner.

 

Yi Soo leaves the dinner with him and begins to complain about how Do Jin made her look like a player. Here we go with the victim card again.

He responds that he saved her secret from being exposed but mentions that she’s so transparent about her feelings that it’s a miracle that Tae San remains in the dark. Why did she never confess? Was she afraid of hurting Se Ra or herself?

Later, Yi Soo sits at home trying to get her thoughts together when Se Ra asks how she feels about Do Jin’s confession. Yi Soo avoids answering and Se Ra angrily wonders how amazing Yi Soo’s crush must be for Yi Soo to reject a guy like Do Jin. I should change her name to Ms. Passive-Aggressive.

Do Jin thinks back to when he saw Tae San’s high school picture in Yi Soo’s journal and mutters that she can be so childish. He picks up the Valentine’s Day card for the hundredth time. Today, however, he notices that the letters in the card are shaped differently from the letters on Yi Soo’s post-its.

He grabs a magnifying glass to study the words and ends up going to Tae San’s apartment to figure out the situation. But when he enters, he sees Yoon, who stammers that he came for something he left behind. Hm. What is going on here? Do Jin asks to talk to Me Ahri in her bedroom, which makes Yoon fidget uncomfortably. So, why were you in the apartment again?

Do Jin forces Me Ahri to write the words “real” and “cold,” and confirms his suspicions that Yi Soo did not write Tae San’s card. He puts on a gleeful smirk and then grills Me Ahri on what Yi Soo has said about him.

In particular, he asks about Yi Soo’s tone of voice when she recounted the event in the hotel. Me Ahri rolls her eyes—is that the only reason he asked to speak to her? Before she leaves, Do Jin requests to see her high school yearbook.

He promises to pay her with a high school picture of Yoon, but Me Ahri pulls out her phone and proudly shows off Yoon’s face. Hahaha. Do Jin is forced to reveal his hidden card, which is the password to the apartment he and Yoon are living in. The yearbook is handed to him within seconds. Hee.

The next morning, Se Ra asks Yi Soo why Tae San has three numbers on his shirt. Yi Soo starts happily explaining that he combined the numbers of two players that he liked ever since he was a kid. Se Ra cuts her off and murmurs that she’s not sure who Tae San’s girlfriend is.

Se Ra takes her frustration out on the driving range but memories of Yi Soo talking about Tae San swirl around in her head. She quits practice early. Is it mean to say that I don’t really care about her angst?

 

She stomps into Do Jin’s office and states that she’s caught in a very annoying love triangle. Do Jin points out that if Yi Soo really wanted to get between her friend’s relationship, she wouldn’t have hid her crush for so long. He brings up the “friend” who slept over and suggests that Se Ra treat Tae San better. Yay. Someone finally suggests she stop acting like a jealous 14-year-old.

A co-worker joins Yi Soo at lunch and somehow pulls her into going on a hiking trip. During their conversation, Yi Soo asks if the woman remembers Me Ahri. The co-worker nods; she’s talking about the rich little girl, right? Yi Soo is taken off-guard by this information. I thought she already knew this…

Me Ahri is admiring a red dress outside a store when Jung Rok’s wife sidles up to her. The two go shopping and Mrs. Jung Rok gives the young one some crucial advice: Don’t give affection to a man who doesn’t care for you. Don’t even look at his face. Kill him if possible. Well, that’s one way of solving unrequited love.

Do Jin finds out that a client injured one of the office employees with a glass cup. A ticked-off Do Jin visits the client and “repays” him by throwing a glass cup at the wall. Do Jin rips up their contract and calls him a low-life rat that other architects will refuse to work with.

 

He returns to the office and scolds the employee for not coming to him sooner. He reminds the employee that he’s the boss; he’s a shield for his workers whenever a problem arises. He assures the guy that he’s worth more than any delayed payment. Aw. He really is a good guy underneath all the arrogance and craziness.

Do Jin lets everyone leave work early but his cool façade fades when he talks to Yoon about squeezing the rest of the construction payments from the client. Yoon tells him that he can’t do anything because the contract is ripped. Do Jin hangs up after calling him a sucky lawyer and cringes at his lost money. Keke. Why so cute?

Tae San grumbles that he still needs to get additional measurements for Se Ra’s kitchen, which Do Jin offers to get. He walks there happily and pours on the charm as soon as Yi Soo opens the door.

He admits that he thought he might be able to time his arrival with her taking a shower, and she draws back at his creepiness. Kek. She goes back to working on her computer when the blue screen of death suddenly flashes.

He offers to fix it and reboots the computer. He opens Internet Explorer and restores the previous windows, which gives him access to her Cyworld. He snoops around until he finds a picture of a bikini-clad Yi Soo. It’s a wonder his eyes don’t pop out of his head.

 

He stands up and tilts his eyes down, trying to look down the swimsuit. Yi Soo walks in at that moment and he panics by pouring coffee on her computer. Wha?! He sheepishly explains that he thought the black coffee would hide the screen. HAHAHA. She’s more upset about her broken laptop than the photos she’d uploaded for people to see.

Do Jin starts to blame her for his reaction. How is he supposed to think straight with that picture in his head? Lol. Uh. Logic? Does not compute. He leaves after complimenting her pretty neckline, which makes her blush. She admires herself in the mirror, only to pull her shirt up to cover herself when he returns for one last remark.

Her shirt ends up showing off her stomach, which makes him even more attracted to her. He confesses that he really doesn’t want to leave but forces himself out the door anyway. Rawr. He smiles to himself as he goes computer shopping and runs into Jung Rok, whose laptop froze yet again because of his secretly downloaded adult movies. Pft.

Me Ahri pays Yoon a visit to figure out what fabric matches with his skin tone but is interrupted by his young, hot colleague who asks Yoon some law-related questions. I sense competition. After she leaves, Me Ahri asks Yoon to close his eyes, and he obliges while sticking out his cheek, as if expecting a kiss. Bwahah. She tells him that she’ll be much closer to him because of her new job at Jung Rok’s café.

Se Ra takes a walk with Tae San and he remarks that they are truly a unique couple; he’s the only one who isn’t carrying his woman’s bag. Uh, okay. She asks if he ever wanted to break up with her and he says of course. He assures her though that if he wanted someone else, he would have left a long time ago. She acknowledges his honesty and asks him to come over tonight; Yi Soo will be out of the house.

Unfortunately, Yi Soo’s hiking trip is cancelled at the last minute, though he sour mood lifts when she receives a red dress from Me Ahri. Trying the pretty thing on, she’s spinning happily in front of the mirror when Tae San arrives with a bottle of wine.

She quickly figures that he’s here to spend the night and she makes up an excuse that she’s on her way out. There’s a party she has to attend and she asks him to tell Se Ra that she’ll be sleeping over at a friend’s house. Gah. Why are you so nice. It makes me dislike Se Ra even more, dang it.

Later, Tae San suggests that he and Se Ra go out for the night because he feels bad for making Yi Soo leave. The lovey-dovey mood quickly sours and she accuses him of putting Yi Soo before her. He says he’ll leave before they get into another fight, and although she warns that it’s over if he takes another step, he goes out anyway.

Meanwhile, Yi Soo arrives Me Ahri’s house because she has nowhere else to go, only to have Tae San show up a couple minutes later. He asks why she’s not at the party and she quickly lies that she and Me Ahri decided to go to the party together. Me Ahri shoots her a look and reluctantly goes inside to change. Hehe.

 

The two go to a club and Yi Soo finds herself alone as the young ones go off dancing. Deciding to go home, she’s looking for Me Ahri when Colin approaches. She tells him that she knows she’s pretty but that she’s not interested, leaving him greatly amused. Haha.

She goes outside, which is when she realizes that Colin is the hitchhiker she picked up on the side of the road. She sees him leave the club and threatens to call his parents. High schoolers should not be here! He flashes a smile and disappears before she nags even more.

Yi Soo goes through her phone to see who could pick her up at this hour, and ends up calling Do Jin. She requests a ride instead of a new computer because she has a tight dress on and strangers are looking at her. He jokes that she should just go home with the first man who offers her money as he makes a U-turn to rescue her. Just then, her phone dies.

 

Yoon emerges from a restaurant with his colleague and they get a designated driver to take them home in her car. She asks who Me Ahri is and he replies that he’s known the girl since she was born. He gets lost in old memories and he recalls her kindergarten uniform and when she first tried on high heels. Notably, his colleague does not seem too happy with his answer.

Do Jin arrives at the club and sees Yi Soo conversing with someone in the car in front of him. She laughs at whatever conversation she’s having and Do Jin almost bursts from jealousy. He rear-ends the car in front and Yi Soo looks up to see a fuming Do Jin staring right at her.

Comments:

First things first, I loved how Do Jin pointed out to Se Ra how petty she was being toward Yi Soo. I didn’t expect Se Ra to handle this situation well and it’s great that someone pointed out that the best thing she can do is to love Tae San more. She already has Tae San’s heart, which should be enough motivation to improve herself rather than hurt her best friend.

I do appreciate that her reaction is realistic in that many women go through a cycle of insecurity and pettiness when competition for their man arises. I truly hope that Se Ra gets out of her funk soon though. Otherwise she’s just going to end up without a lover and a friend. I’d rather that the drama spend more on developing the relationship between Se Ra and Me Ahri than on Se Ra’s jealousy.

Speaking of Me Ahri, I admit that I’m a little bothered by the age difference between her and Yoon. I understand that love doesn’t consider age when it happens but it was kind of jarring to hear Yoon talk about seeing Me Ahri in a kindergarten uniform. He was probably twenty years old or so then. It’s a little weird. On the other hand, the chemistry between the actors is good and I really do want them together so I’ll try to ignore my squeamishness for now.

 

I liked seeing another side of Jung Rok’s wife, aka Min Sook. She’s not my favorite character but I do like seeing the power reversal between a wealthy wife and her less endowed husband. I’m sure Min Sook is secretly hurt by how hard Jung Rok tries to run off with younger women yet we’ve only seen her as this controlling, snobby woman. I know that Jung Rok’s skirt chasing is done for comic relief but I can’t help feeling sorry for Min Sook whenever it happens.

It’s interesting to see her take Jung Rok back very time he screws up. I don’t know if this is because she’s afraid of being lonely or if she’s just so hopelessly in love that she wants him by her side no matter what. I want to know how they got married and where their relationship started to fall apart. Did he even love her at all?

 

Now let’s talk about the man of the hour, Sir Black Coffee. He was doing so well for most of the episode too. He kept Yi Soo’s secret from being revealed, told Se Ra that she needs to stop her jealousy act, and defended his employee from a crazy client. I was even thinking that he had graduated the poofly level until the laptop event happened.

I thought it was hilarious how ashamed he was about looking at her photos and that he thought black coffee would cover the screen, but it’s also unbelievable that a forty-one-year-old man could act so immaturely. I was going to let the laptop incident slide because it was so entertaining but the last stunt he pulled just made me shake my head. I guess you could argue that some guys are like that and Do Jin’s reaction wasn’t so far-fetched.

But what was he going to solve by rear-ending a car? Does he really think that causing acar accident would give him an edge over his unknown competition? Oh Do Jin. You’re lucky you’re good-looking and charismatic. Otherwise I’d push the Yi Soo and Jong Hyub couple harder. He actually wants to be Yi Soo’s husband while you kill her laptop. You’re losing points, Mr. Cray Cray.