Title: Gogyulhan Geudae / 고결한 그대
Aka: The Noble You
Genre: Romance
Episodes: 20
Network: Naver TVCast (SNS)
Broadcast: 2015, Aug-Sept
Starring
Sung Hoon as Lee Kang hoon and Kim Jae kyung as Cha Yoon seo
Synopsis
It's about a wealthy CEO and a struggling Veterinarian who bump into one another a few times and don't hit it off right away, but the seemingly cold-hearted CEO finds the pretty, stubborn Veterinarian an interesting challenge, and so he begins to pursue her, but in a clumsy, forceful way that doesn't help him to win her affections. She is reluctant to fall in love, and he is determined to have his way.
My Take
This is a live-action version of a very popular web novel with the same name.
With 30 million online views, it is Naver's number-one web novel.
It isn't a feature-length drama but a movie cut into 20 fifteen- to twenty-minute segments.
I watched the entire show in one sitting and didn't regret it for a second.
Yes, it is another Cinderella story, but not a bad one.
The leading man is overly Korean alpha, too, but I didn't really mind that so much, either.
The overuse of the word Trope is about as annoying as the over-abundance of (tropes) used in a Korean drama of this nature, but there you have it, folks.
There is no use in my pointing them out or discussing them here.
If they annoy you, you won't like this show, but they annoy me, too, and I still found this to be a charming diversion from the norm.
She is very pretty and he is extremely handsome.
They looked really good together, too, and the acting wasn't horrible, which just adds up to total immersion for the viewer.
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| Sung Hoon |
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| Kim Jae kyung |
At the start, he is a cool-headed, stuffy Chaebol type minding his own business when a dog they are using for another ad campaign runs off and Kang hoon has to chase it down since he paid good money for the animal to be in one of his commercials.
The dog has stopped for Cha Yoon seo, the pretty veterinarian who is in Seoul for a 'friend' reunion of sorts. 2 of her 3 close friends are snobby and talk down to Yoon seo because of the jealousy/insecurity factor while the third woman comes to her defense all the time.
Yoon seo spent her 20's building up her veterinarian business in a rural area outside the big city and runs around taking care of not only house pets but livestock as well.
She's finally paid off her student loans and looks forward to the day when she pays off her clinic lease and can finally begin to make money for herself.
Now she is 29 going on 30 and wonders if that day will ever arrive, or if she will ever find the time to date, fall in love, settle down with a man, and raise a family.
Kang hoon grabs the dog by its collar and starts tugging, and Yoon seo yells at him for being heartless.
He ignores her and drags the dog back to the studio.
Not long afterward, he is kidnapped and held for ransom.
He manages to break free but is stabbed in the process.
It is a stormy night and Yoon seo is on her way home from work, singing aloud in an attempt to keep calm because thunder scares the crap out of her.
She stumbles upon Kang hoon as he sits at the side of the road in the pouring rain, nearly unconscious from his wound.
She takes him back to her clinic and patches him up, but when she tries to walk away, he grabs her by the hand and won't let go, so she is forced to fall asleep at his side.
He leaves his business card on the counter for her to contact him about the bill, but her beautiful cat swishes its tail and the card lands in the garbage can.
She is honest to a fault, but that honesty insults him since he is a) expecting to be blackmailed and b) can't believe she doesn't see him for his overall street value.
When she doesn't bite, he becomes angry and starts playing foolish, manipulative games with her and her life -- like threatening to buy her building and have it demolished if she doesn't abide by his whims.
Eventually, though, she ends up relocating to Seoul, to work in the clinic he has chosen for her, and then, in order to get out from under his mother's demand that he go on blind dates with the intention of getting engaged by the end of the year, he again coerces Yoon seo into a contractual dating scheme that is supposed to last three months.
After she's signed that contract, he begins working on getting her to move in with him, and when that finally happens, his little brother arrives from Migu, and then his mother returns, blows a Korean mother gasket, and the floundering relationship turns to dust.
It sounds bad, I know, and as I mentioned at the start, it is another typical-stereotypical Cinderella story with a lot of the expected and predictable scenarios played out, but these two were great together.
The chemistry was undeniable, and that, I think, is what sold it for me.
I'm not sorry I watched this one, and I don't think you will be, either, so give it a chance and see for yourself if I'm not right.
Your comments, thoughts, suggestions, issues, and insight are always welcome. Please feel free to reply to any of my posts.
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