La Dolce Vita Episode 4
ay_link May 12th, 2008
If yesterday’s episode was all about Oh Yeon Soo, Episode 4 is mostly centered on Park Si Yeon’s character, Da Ae. Interestingly, she did justice with this role and it suits her somehow. Though I never think much of her before, as a new actress (first time seeing her in “My Girl” also opposite of Lee Dong Wook), nor as the famous girlfriend (now ex-girlfriend, they broke up), or Eric, leader of SHINHWA.
There’s something about her that I really find it very intriguing, and I’ve fell to love each characters one by one, except maybe the cheating husband, Dong Won (Jeong Bo Seok). But I’ll rant about him later lol.
Episode 4 opens with Joon Soo coming back to Seoul.
He walked out of the shuttle towards the parking lot and we saw this red convertible BMW car parked waiting for its owner to finally come home.
First thought: Dang, what a hot car (and he looks HOT in it too, yes I noticed. lol)
Second thought: He must be friggin loaded… well, well, who knew?
So, on the way home, we got a quick flashback to his childhood. When he was still very young, maybe 5-6 years old? They were on the beach, and this is his noona (older sister), which to me look like his mom coz of the age difference.
Then we can see there was someone, a man, took him from her and they got separated.
Is that how he’s been living all this years? Separated by his only sister?
I guess we shall see more coming.
Joon Soo drove thru with the tops down, and quickly breezing through the roads and into the parking lot. The elite apartment looks so neat and luxurious. He was greeted by the security guard who told him that someone was looking for him but he didn’t tell them anything. “Didn’t I do a good job, sir?” he asked. And Joon Soo only responded by giving him a pocket money. Then he left.
Coming out from the private elevator, he stepped in to his luxurious apartment. And straight from the door, he was looking straight forward to the wall in front of him.
He did that, and this is what’s staring back at him. Hehe.
Hee. Adorable.
And his place is awesome, I can’t resist not to include these caps.
His walk-in closet:
And his safety box. Covered by a painting on the wall which can go straight up by a remote.
Joon Soo took a bundle of money from his suitcase and placed it in there, along with his two passports.
Then we got another flashback at a nightclub. This is where Joon Soo and Song Gu first met Da Ae and her friends.
Which ended up to in a heated argument between Joon Soo and Song Gu when the girls left the premises. I really don’t know what’s going on between Song Gu and him. That friend of his, Song Gu, doesn’t seem like a good friend of him though. But he’s still so mysterious, so I’ll leave it at that for now. But just a quick recap, Joon Soo got all worked up because again, Song Gu mentioned his noona, and later on saying that no wonder he never gets the girl, and that people think Joon Soo might be gay. As apparently Joon Soo never sees other girls because he adored his sister so much.
The camera flashes back home to the present time, and we got a glimpse of his bedroom…
Then Joon Soo left home with his bike, driving to this huge mansion way in the suburb.
And we got introduced to a new character, which Joon Soo addressed him as “Mr. President”, which apparently I think he is Song Gu’s father. Seems like Joon Soo is working for him, as he was really formal and super polite to the old man.
After addressing a few issues (he was sent to Japan by him), Joon Soo left and stopped by a lake.
Da Ae texted him saying, “Are you back in Seoul?”
Then he met up with her at some empty bar. She was there already, listening to music using her headphones. I’m a bit fuzzy on this scene, but at the end, Da Ae asked Joon Soo, “Do you know why I like Song Gu?”
Joon Soo looked a bit dumbstruck that he couldn’t say anything.
So she left, and headed back home to her apartment.
Great acting by Park Si Yeon in this scene btw.
Though I’m still a bit confused… so does she like Song Gu better than Joon Soo or what?
Does she know that Song Gu is dead? Hm.
Then we got another flashback.
Joon Soo and Song Gu stopped by Scarlett and Joon Soo brought down bags of goodies.
Saying that it’s from Milan, and outside waiting was Song Gu. Looking inside to see her reaction.
Da Ae was a bit hesistant to receive all those goodies, but then I think she was flattered too.
Showered by gifts from Milan and Paris, Joon Soo was a bit flirty with her. just looking at his expression.
Then we’re back to the time when Da Ae was about to go on her flight.
She got stopped by the private detective we saw earlier in the episode, the same one that was hired by Dong Won to look for her. But this one, Mr. Detective is asking some questions about Song Gu, whether Da Ae knows him or not, etc.
He showed her a few pictures of Song Gu, in which Da Ae was a bit surprised but tried to hide it. “No, I don’t know him.” she said. But it raised up a suspicion from the detective because of her response.
(side note, I really like Park Si Yeon in here. Her hat, her big red bad hehe. Chic-trendy style - first pic of this entry.)
Moving on…
We got another flashback, and it was the nightclub again. This time, Joon Soo is wasted, and he’s drunk.
The four of them (Joon Soo, Da Ae, Byuk ja and Song Gu) went home and Song Gu was driving his (another) BMW convertible car.
The sitting arrangement in the car was a bit ‘Eh?’ to me, but I guess the whole purpose was that Byuk Ja and Song Gu were planning to set the night up for the drunken Joon Soo and Da Ae. As they arrived at the mansion (where Joon Soo met the President earlier), then soon after, Byuk Ja and Song Gu left Da Ae alone in the house with the half-conscious Joon Soo.
Then back to present time, Da Ae still in her apartment, and Dong Won still trying to call her.
He was in his massage session at the gym, so he sent her a text message.
In the locker room, he was still thinking about her and how she ignored him completely.
Furious and pissed off, he even wore an unmatched tie that looks so oogly with his shirt. Haha.
After gym, he stopped by a flower shop, and first I thought he was planning to send Da Ae a bouquet of flowers. Talking to the florist, while picking the right flower, the florist asked him if he knew the meaning of tulips. Different color has different meaning. “First love.” “Forever Love”
And… turns out he bought the purple ones (ahh purple!) for his lovely wife at home.
Hye Jin received it with half-emotionless. I bet she was totally wondering what he was thinking buying her flowers after she dropped the “I started to like someone” bomb earlier last night.
Then she prepared him a meal, and after that, he was sitting in this gorgeous living room interior (I love the sofa), and she tried to make conversation with him. (which he refused to respond)
Oh Yeon Soo has such an intense look, and her short hair grew on me somehow. I think she looks so great in it. Especially in this shot above. She didn’t get much screen time yesterday as she only appeared towards the last few minutes of Episode 4.
Her husband is indeed still very disturbed by the idea of her saying she started to like someone.
So he was furious and blamed her for everything. Crazy guy.
LOL. I couldn’t help not to laugh on this one. Haha…
Then she went to pick up her daughers.
Back at home, Dong Won was in his study, and Hye Jin stopped by to bring him some drinks (maybe coffee or tea). They got into an argument again and led to this…
Gotta hand it to Jeong Bo Seok for acting oh so pro. I feel creepy already, and it shouldn’t be this way since this couple are married. But for some reason, it creeps me out.
The next morning, they all pretended that nothing’s happen, in front of their daughter.
He took them to school. She waved goodbyes, “Have a great day!” after Joon Soo told her to have dinner together later.
At the intersection, he suddenly remembers what she said and I think he’s gone mad crazy lol
He was laughing by himself, and the car didn’t move even when the light turned green.
Then the episode ended.
From the preview, looks like we’ll get to see how Da Ae found out about Hye Jin. Maybe at first she didn’t know that he was married? Hm. Not sure. But we shall see this weekend!
- K-dramas , La Dolce Vita
- Comments(2)
The plot is rather obvious. It is similar to a hollywood movie titled The Talented Mr Ripley, which starred Gyneth Paltrow, Matt Damon and Jude Law. The 2 guys are friends but unequal one cos the richer wants is condescending towards the poor one while the poor one accepts the humiliation so that he can enjoy the comforts that the riches bring. So the poor guys takes over the rich guy’s identity after a major fall-out with him.
In the korean drama, it is very similar. After the death of the rich friend, he takes over his identity. The house, car belongs to the dead guy. Prior to his death, the rich friend challenged him to win over the girl by pretending to be him.
And the old man he was speaking to was the rich friend’s father. He implored him to look for his son, who is the rich dead friend. Of course they try to make it interesting by throwing in the married woman into the mix.
Hope tat clears up the plot a bit.
While the poor guy-rich guy combo does look like that of the Hollywood movie (and of the novel(s) by Patricia Highsmith the movie is based on), the more or less sadistic-looking relation of the two characters doesn’t.
Also, Highsmith’s Ripley, the poor guy, succeeds in impersonating the rich guy largely because he stays in Europe (Highsmith’s characters are American) and thus avoids meeting (American) people who could “unmask” him. In Joon Soo’s case, this would require him to stay in Japan. However, he comes back to Seoul, where any number of people will know who he really is, and where it is only a matter of time before he is caught.
Yes, some of the plot looks like coming from Highsmith. But certainly not all of it…