The Gentleman and the Lady (2021)

Loud characters became annoying and non-redeemable

The story is typical for this type of drama but it felt so contrived and just silly in some parts.
I could handle double amnesia —-I guess? But the actions of certain characters during those times while they were needed to drag to 52 episodes sometimes seems to not fit the characters.
The characters did what they needed to do to create the drama but it made it so hard to be drawn to any character as realistic at all. Perhaps the FL’s adopted mother was the only character that remained true and had growth throughout the drama. Every other character seemed to be loud and annoying with no development or a rushed abrupt turnaround (like the MLs stepmom).
But I would have looked past all the flaws for the cute kids and the pretty song (veiled path) and the romance ….
Sadly the main couple lacked the necessary natural chemistry to provide that for me. Their acting was fine - although the FL spent most of her screen time crying or just smiling at the ML….and the ML spent half the time with amnesia and the other half being manipulated by the women around him.
There are probably enough good parts to take out the ridiculous parts and make a shorter and better story. So I would have said skip through parts. But the end … felt …. Well ….where did she suddenly get friends from? We never saw them for 51 episodes ? And the attempts to create cuteness in ep 52 …. Oh my. It failed. If I had hopes of a wonderful final episode to save the drama I would have been disappointed. They just threw together some ideas and created something called episode 52. I wanted compelling romance. I did not get it. :(

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How much amnesia is too much amnesia?

Although the story is as insipid as one might expect from a soap opera, with its open narrative and outrageous plot twists (and blatant overuse of amnesia tropes), the cast made it enjoyable enough to hang on to the last episode (with the exception of Dan-dan's father, whom I couldn't stand).

The kids were the most adorable ensemble ever. Seo Woo-jin is a natural born actor. I swear it is scary how good he is at emoting: whenever he cried on screen, I cried too. The other two child actors were very natural as well. Choi Myung-bin is somewhat of a well-known veteran among acting children (I think I've seen her at least in a dozen different dramas) and she is an undisputed talent, whereas the other kid, Yoo Joon-seo, is less experienced yet he is on par with his colleagues and also absolutely cute.
The female cast consists of some of my favorite actresses: Kim Young-ok, as the national grandma; Cha Hwa-hun, as the greedy, scheming ajhumma (hilarious!); Lee Il-hwa, as the prodigal mother; and, finally, Park Ha-na, as the evil, crazy girlfriend. Their performances are delightful and they really tried to sell their characters with the utmost professionality but the writing was just too awful to be redeemed by their talent. Also, my feminist self left my body whenever I was watching an episode in order to avoid being shamed into oblivion.
The male characters are ridiculous, at best. Just like the plot. Personally, I endured it just to ogle at Ji Hyun-woo in suits (and out of them too...).

The main couple has a decent amount of chemistry, but their love story is problematic (and not because of the age difference).

All in all I would not recommend this to anyone I know, mainly because I wouldn't want them to realize I watch this kind of nonsense.
However, I must admit it is entertaining to watch just to discover what ludicrous extremes the writers' fantasy is going to reach.

Female Empowerment Score 2/5.

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Flawed but so entertaining

I’ve been watching this drama since September 2021 and it’s finally come to a conclusion. This drama in many ways feels more a kin to dramas made ten to fifteen years ago. There’s a lot of tropes and a lot of angst. I really enjoyed this drama. It’s very flawed and there a few characters I hate with a passion but on the other extreme there’s characters that I adore and I’m sad that I won’t get to see them each week anymore. Also the payoffs in this drama are well done and I’m very satisfied with the ending. My mom who lives in a different state from myself, we would call each other each weekend to discuss our frustrations and favorite moments. It was a great bonding experience. I don’t think this drama is for everyone but if you don’t mind tropes, check it out because it has a lot of heart as well.
8/10

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50 episodes were just too much

This whole thing was 30 episodes too long. I really enjoyed the first 16 episodes, it was fun but then when they’re finally together … AMNESIA!! - I wanted to quit then and there but decided to give it a go!
I skipped so many parts especially Sa-ra’s, she was taking too much space and I couldn’t even begin to comprehend how the MC believed all the bullshit. All the family drama was unnecessary I wanted to pull my hair out every time the mother or brother or heck even father were on screen.
THERE WAS TOO MUCH CRYING, I just feel they should’ve toned down a bit because crying happened in every episode.
I watched the last 4 episodes in x1.25 without skipping(it was awful).
It does have a really happy ending and everyone(except ms Wang(I hate her)) gets what they deserve. So if you like long drawn out stories and have the patience for something like a soap opera this one’s for you.

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This drama wanted to give a sense of reality about two people that came to love each other regardless of their age gap (14 years difference) and their financial status but, instead, it became a convoluted mess of slap stick comedy, ridiculous family members that kept doing wrong until almost the end and, in one episodes, they got the mystical enlightenment and became nice in the most ungenuine way. Instead of a well developed romance, the leading man (the gentleman) kept dumping the leading female (the lady) over and over with the excuse that it was all for her sake; and the lady kept dumping the gentleman despite the many times that she said that she trusted him truly and completely. Between this tug of war, their “steadfast” love and romance got stronger and unwavering but, since there was no romantic chemistry between the leading couple, the drama failed to convey the great feel of “love will conquer all”. As much as I tried to like the drama, it failed to even create emotional cohesiveness less alone a romantic atmosphere to save the array of characters in the drama that made absurd decision in the name of “kindness” that spelled selfishness all the way through almost all the 53 episodes.

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Storyline on Repeat within the same Drama.

same storyline repeated 5x’s within the same drama. girls love boy boy reject girl boy accepts girl finally for everyone to diapprove and a crazy female 2nd lead to get in the way they breakup process repeats 5 times. Maybe 5 is a little over exaggerated it was 4 times they broke up and got back together the 4th time they stayed together. Now to The crying crying and more crying. In these soap opearas I’m use to the FL crying all the time. The elders crying all the time expected but adding three children to the mix after all this it became over annoying expecially toward the end I was over it. the last 5 min with the special episode I was like these times would have been better elaborated on instead of crying half of the last 10episodes. Just to point out all the relationships formed no one appoved of. I’m happy I watch Beauty and Dr Romantic 1st because I would have missed a good one if I started off with this one

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here to defend the series

hahaha yes im giving this a 10 star review to defend this drama, not your best written family weekend drama but very entertaining and i absolutely love it, after homemade love story and once again, this sure lives up to the weekend slot by kbs. definitely not the best writing, it was quite trash but it was entertaining nonetheless, as we deal with the stupid troupes the writer threw at us each week. iconic ost that has been charting on melon by youngwoong, and splendid viewership ratings in korea thats why it got extended to 52 episodes. sehee instantly became one of my favorite actresses after watching her here, after live on. she did a great job here and she will be continue to expand her career from here onwards. honestly thought it wouldnt end so quick but we are here already with few more eps left till the finale. maybe this isnt well received on mdl bcos there are many new watchers that are new to family weekend or daily soap operas, and this being their first one may not appeal to them but it is a great choice to see what these dramas are and how it works. 10/10 ylag, will def miss the drama..

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Dated tropes on a continuous loop..

I loved this drama so much and looked forward to new episodes every week...until ep16 hit and I got unexpectedly makjanged. This writer is more suited to daily drama's where a sense of realism isn't expected and the more over the top tropes the better.

Our supposedly intelligent CEO has turned into a complete idiot and doesn't know up from down. The writer has made a fool out of him. Sure he's had amnesia twice (lol) but his character is now written to have lost not only his memories but his reason/logic, moral compass, I mean everything, he's become an empty shell. His house has been overridden by parasites and he's just going along for the ride, hurting both his children and the woman he supposedly loves. I can tell you the writer makes no sense at all. Pure laziness to push plot and drama along...actually I have lost the plot...not sure what this clown show is supposed to be anymore. The writer chooses episode after episode to push the abuse, greed, lies, crimes, in my face and it is not enjoyable for me to watch anymore. I will drop.

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Started well, then dropped beyond any hopes

Started out pretty decent, then amnesia hit and it all went to shit.
The problem wasn't just the stupid amnesia, the problem was that all creativity went out the window together with it. While amnesia plots are general just plain bad (out of more than 40 shows I watched with them, only 1 was a good plotline, and that later turned out the ML had faked his amnesia) this show just turns bad in general.
After the amnesia plotline hit the ONLY new content we had was the ML's sister and her lover getting together properly. Literally everything else was just rehashing the same problems, character traits and bahaviours again and again. Ml looses his Memory? Believes Chief Jo without any reliable person or proof to back her up. Looses his memory again? Believes Chief Jo without any proof to her statements at all.
ML looses his memory? FL doesn't even utter a single sentence to fight for the ML instead believing chief jo who has not a single shred of proof. ML looses his memory again? FL doesn't lift a single finger or utter a single word to fight for the ML...
It's honestly not so much that the amnesia is the problem, that could be overlookked (it's a Kdrama, they can't live without doing some tropes that are universally hated and siliked by the entire viewership in any country for some reason), it's that the quality is just gone. The writing turns from not-great-but-decent to something you'd get a failing grade in middle school for beeing so unimaginative, repetitive and just plain bad

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Frustrating to watch

If not for the 2 MLs and the childten, I would have given up long ago. The storyline is overwhelming, as mentioned by one of the reviews, just too many parallel stories going on, and some are like bulldogs that don't let go, it keeps coming back eg Cho sara, the father, the mother...sigh .... the list goes on. In this day and age, some parts dont make sense and potentially create a false impression of korean culture (or maybe I don't know it well, if so pardon me)
There is no need to drag your viewers through the excruciating roller coaster emotional rides. It gets frustrating and becomes agonizing to follow. I will skip episodes 43 to 50 and resume for the last 2 episodes.

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Watch it if you want to bite the table.

The main female character, DanDan, is kind and beautiful, a lovable, good person.

Unfortunately, with a few exceptions, she is surrounded by idiots, madmen and lunatics, malicious people and criminals.
Among these people, one can confidently subsume the author who made this mess in 52 episodes.

There are brutally selfish parents and other disturbed people who obviously have the right to interfere.

For the happy ending, everything is concluded with a huge reconciliation smear, in which even the worst offenders are forgiven. Hard to bear...

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Dodge the bullet

I made the mistake of seeing this title in one of those "recommended" lists and the beginning seemed like a pretty generic start a melodrama. I usually have something on the side playing because I can't really deal with silence and this drama had a hefty amount of episodes which worked for me.

Let's get started...
What is happening and wrong with these characters? The female characters in this drama are especially toxic. The 4 (out of 5) moms and Cho... It got to the point where I assumed that this writer absolutely hates women. Even Dan Dan has such a weak identity and characteristics, it's hard to call her a "main character".

What the eff... [Spoilers ahead]
Did anyone even make it to the amnesia part of the story? Yikes.
Did anyone make it to the point where Cho Sa Ra (secretary) locked up the kids to teach them a lesson? How is he letting this **** slide?

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