Graceful Friends Korean Drama

Network: JTBC

Episode: 17

Genres: Drama, Mystery, Crime

Airing Date: July 10 – September 5, 2020

Airing Day: Friday & Saturday

Grade: A+

Graceful Friends is the story of a group of couples in their 40’s who lives in a city. They know each other from their 20’s. They enjoy peaceful and ordinary days, but one day a murder takes place. Since then, suddenly their peaceful life changes.

Main Characters:

Yoo Jun Sang as Ahn Goong Chul

Ahn Goong Chul works in a food franchise company and is a loving, caring, and supporting husband and father to his family.

Song Yoon Ah as Nam Jung Hae

Nam Jung Hae is Ahn Goong Chul’s wife. She is a psychiatrist. Jung Hae is an intelligent and beautiful wife, but she hides a dark past from her husband.

Bae Soo Bin as Jung Jae Hoon

Jae Hoon is a urologist with wealthy family background. After his divorce, he lives alone, and he is the most mysterious man in the group. He has a past connection to Nam Jung Hae, but Ahn Goong Chul is not aware of that. Jae Hoon is a cold and straightforward man.

Kim Sung Oh as Jo Hyung Woo

Jo Hyung Woo is an adult film director. His dream is to become a mainstream big-budget film director, but his luck is not with him. He doesn’t earn much and fully depends on his wife’s income.

Kim Hye Eun as Kang Kyung Ja

Kang Kyung Ja is a former adult film actress and now runs a luxurious bar. She is the wife of Jo Hyung Woo. They have one son Ji Wook who is a golfer.

Jung Suk Yong as Park Choon Bok

Park Choon Bok works in an insurance company. He looks older than his friends and wife, and people often mistake him for his wife’s father. He struggles financially.

Lee In Hye as Yoo Eun Sil

Yoo Eun Sil is a housewife and they have a daughter Park Pu Reum. She is the wife of Choon Bok.

Kim Won Hae as Cheon Man Shik

Cheon Man Shik is a City Hall Tax Collection Division official. He is suffering from depression. Ahn Goong Chul and Man Shik were roommates in college and are best friends. He has been hiding a secret from his family and friends, which is revealed only after his death.

Han Eun Jung as Baek Hae Sook

Baek Hae Sook used to be friends with the five and they all have a crush on her in college. Due to some circumstances, she had to drop out of college and wasn’t in touch with any of them until Man Shik’s funeral.

Highlights of Graceful Friends Korean Drama

First Love:

Baek Hae Sook is the crush of all our ajusshis in their college days. Suddenly she appears at Man Shik’s funeral, and everyone was shocked. Besides, she has an interest in Goong Chul. She wants to separate Jung Hae and Goong Chul. From time to time she always asks the help of Goong Chul. She became the owner of the bar where the boys always go.

Mysterious Man:

Joo Kang San (Lee Tae Hwan) is a golf coach. He meets with Jung Hae a few times accidentally. Jung Hae was in tension because she was thinking that her husband is having an affair with his first love Hae Sook. She grabs a drink in a bar and later she found herself in Kang San’s bed. This situation is as bad as it looked. Somehow, Jung Hae knows that she was drugged and put in that circumstance for the sake of photographs to blackmail her.

Misunderstanding:

Jung Hae and Goong Chul are keeping secret from each other and from there all misunderstanding started. She refuses to tell her husband Goong Chul anything. She assumes that Goong Chul has been meeting with Hae Sook behind her back and having an affair with her. Meanwhile, Goong Chul’s received the packet of text messages which she exchanged with Man Shik and he’s also suspicious of her, but he doesn’t want to believe that her wife and best friends have an affair.

Lack of Communication:

In a successful marriage, it is very important to communicate with your partner to clear the misunderstanding. But in Graceful Friends, every couple has a lack of communication in their married life, they misunderstood their partner’s decisions. Jung Hae keeps secrets from Goong Chul whereas Goong Chul also keeps secrets from Jung Hae. And finally, our couple’s trust for each other was broken.

Murder:

Kang San makes Jung Hae’s life miserable just in a matter of days, he keeps threatening her that he will release her photos, finally, he sends the photos to her husband. Finally, Jung Hae tells her husband what’s been going on in her life and as expected he loses his mind. Goong Chul went to Kang San’s apartment, and he saw that Kang San has been already dead in his washroom, and Goong Chul’s other friend also follows him and they were shocked. After Kang San’s murder, their life changed.

Love Triangle:

In Graceful Fiends there are two different triangles:

First: Jung Hae and Goong Chul love each other. Goong Chul has a crush on Jung Hae during their college days. Hae Sook also likes Goong Chul and she ends up creating a misunderstanding between Jung Hae during their college days. But somehow Jung Hae and Goong Chul married each other. In the present also, she suddenly appears in front of them and again creating a misunderstanding between them.

Second: Like I already told you that Jung Hae and Goong Chul like each other, but Jae Hoon also like Jung Hae from their college days. Hae Sook and Jae Hoon both team up together and create a situation to separate the love birds.

Dark Secret:

*Little Spoiler Alert* Jae Hoon and Jung Hae hiding a secret from Goong Chul that they both are engaged to each other, but Jung Hae broke their engagement and married to Goong Chul*Spoiler End*. They have both been hiding this secret for a long time. When Goong Chul finds out that he was very hurt, of course, who will be not upset when they find out that his wife and best friends are engaged. She hides so many things from Gong Chul.

Mastermind:

*Spoiler Alert* To be very honest, I somehow knew who would be the mastermind of all these things. All that happens to Jae Hoon was pointing at him and he was the one who hires Kang San to separate them. He wants to separate Jung Hae and Goong Chul because he can’t see them happy with each other. Jung Hae leaves Jae Hoon because she finds her happiness in Goong Chul. He’s saying to Goong Chul, “You married Jung Hae and rubbed it in my face. You acted like you were so happy, but nothing made me happy.” *Spoiler End*

Friendship:

Their friendship is very different for me, in the starting like their friendship and then I hate their friendship, then again I like their friendship so overall it’s a love-hate relationship. They don’t keep their promises; they hide a secret from each other but still, they protect each other. I think that’s what I like the most in Graceful Friends how they protect their loved ones. When Jae Hoon realized that he has done very wrong with Goong Chul because he trusts him a lot, it was a very sad scene for me to watch even though I also hate Jae Hoon but still felt very sad for him.

Overall Thoughts on Graceful Friends:

Graceful Friends is not the drama for you if you want to see young, handsome Oppa in the story because it is the story of 40 above Ajusshis, who are struggling in their daily life to earn money, their complicated love story, their dark secrets, and many more. If you are someone who is looking for the story, then definitely go for this drama. You can also watch Graceful Friends on Netflix.

My favorite character in Graceful Friends is Kang Kyung Ja. She is understanding and supporting that why I like her from the starting of the drama. She didn’t disappoint me with her decisions. Kang Kyung Ja is so brave and sexy woman, she supports her husband even though he didn’t do anything and he is not a successful director.

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