Graceful Friends: First Impressions

JTBC’s Graceful Friends, also known as Elegant Friends, is a murder mystery that is set amongst a group of married couples in their 40s, ending their peaceful days. Featuring a list of veteran actors, such as Yoo Junsang and Song Yoonah, as well as director Song Hyunwook (The Beauty Inside, Another Miss Oh) being involved in the project, this series gained both domestic and international attention. Graceful Friends is hyped as the second coming of JTBC’s smash hits The World of The Married and Sky Castle with its promotional materials screaming dark and adulterous vibes.  

The men of this drama are a group of friends who have known each other since their college days as members of the theatre club, Phoenix Club. The past death of their professor, which they are involved in, comes to haunt them in the present, threatening to expose each of their secrets. In the center of all of this is Ahn Gongchul (Yoo Junsang), who is being suspected by his own wife, Nam Junghae (Song Yoonah). Amidst the suspicions and misunderstandings, their once-perfect marriage begins to fall apart as Gongchul struggles to protect what’s left of his family.

Be warned, there will be spoilers covering the first two episodes ahead.

Episodes 1 & 2

Wasting no time, viewers are greeted with a violent scene of Gongchul assaulting a man in an apartment. His friends rush to the scene, only to realize the unknown man is already dead. In between the transitions, his friends are being interrogated regarding this incident and they defend Gongchul’s innocence, displaying their tight bonds. A strong opening, but that’s all of the action of the premiere episodes. There is not much explanation for this scene, but viewers can be sure that this will be critical come several episodes. 

The drama then goes on to do some world-building and character development. Much of the humor shown in the first episode is risqué and crude, revolving around erectile dysfunction, viagra, and sexual prowess. Definitely not tasteful for some, but the unabashed nature is a breath of fresh air amidst the usual sterile K-Dramas. Viewers are also shown Gongchul’s highly sensitive side: feigning ignorance of his buddy Chun Mansik’s (Kim Wonhae) predicament at work, preserving his friend’s dignity, and standing up against a group of thugs disturbing the bar they were drinking at. These scenes are a jarring juxtaposition against his fit of rage shown in the opening scene and hint at the drama’s potential to develop and flesh out multifaceted characters. The men decide to go on a hiking trip in order to boost their virility, but Mansik passes away unexpectedly.

Things pick up in the second episode as Mansik’s death opens up a whole can of worms. His infidelity is revealed, which shocks the boys and calls back to this drama’s plot of everyone’s hidden secrets. Bae Haesook (Han Dagam), their first love and the school’s belle, shows up to the funeral. Her appearance causes quite a commotion amongst the boys because they supposedly lost all contact with her. The drama hints at Gongchul’s old affection for her, as well as her friend-turned-enemy situation with Junghae. To further spice things up, the episode explicitly shows Jung Jaehoon’s (Bae Soobin) one-sided longing for Junghae. There is a lot of unspoken past surrounding the main couple, Haesook, and Jaehoon that is wonderfully encapsulated in the first minutes of the second episode. Jaehoon mentioning Haesook’s name instantly sours the merry conversation with the boys and their wives, and the atmosphere visibly tenses. 

While the boys try to cope with Mansik’s sudden death, Junghae finds herself getting acquainted with Joo Kangsan (Lee Taehwan), her new golf mentor who she almost ran over with her car in the previous episode. He conveniently arrives and rescues her from two delinquents who were planning to take off with her handbag. His proximity to Junghae as he teaches her also disturbs the latter, probably due to her own attraction towards him. What is surprising is when it’s revealed that Jaehoon is actually keeping tabs on Junghae, and has photos of the two of them in close contact during a golf session, which probably makes great blackmail material for future use. 

Before the episode ends, Gongchul ditches his date with Junghae for a meeting with Mansik’s wife, who claims to have evidence that Mansik and Junghae had an affair in the form of text messages. Junghae receives photos of her husband with Haesook back from the funeral from an anonymous source and decides to drown her worries out with alcohol. Meanwhile, Kangsan conveniently finds a drunk Junghae in a bar. As Gongchul hesitates to read the printed text messages sealed in an envelope, he receives a call from Junghae. Unknown to Gongchul, behind the phone call is actually a half-naked Kangsan. The screen then pans to a similarly naked Junghae knocked out on a bed. There is a flashback to the past that explores the love triangle between Haesook, Junghae, and Gongchul back in their college days—and the episode ends.

Concluding Thoughts

The premiere episodes did an amazing job establishing the world, characters, and most importantly, the mysterious tone of the series. While there is rising anticipation for Graceful Friends to be the next Sky Castle and The World of The Married, the first two episodes show that it is more of the latter tinged with Sky Castle vibes and aesthetics as marriage drama seems to be core to the plot. While Graceful Friends is interesting in its own right, it is not as fast-paced as Sky Castle, which is known for its intense scenes and suspenseful cliffhangers. This does not mean Graceful Friends is slow or dragging—in fact, a lot happens that barely scrapes the surface. Although not mentioned above, the episodes did justice to the relationships in the drama, and balances tons of emotional and poignant scenes depicting friendship and familial support against the more scandalous segments.  

However, scenes of the other men in the gang, Park Chunbok (Jung Sukyong) and Kim Sungoh (Jo Hyungwoo), are simply not very intriguing at the current stage of the drama. One of the successes of Sky Castle is that it is capable of fully utilizing its large cast to tell different yet powerful stories, which does not seem to apply to the above two characters and their families. Hopefully, the two do have their own unique stories to tell in future episodes and do not just serve as comedic relief.   

So far, opinions on the premiere episodes of Graceful Friends have been divided, and rightfully so. Perhaps there were expectations for this budding series to emulate the addictive narrative devices employed in The World of The Married and Sky Castle, and viewers became disillusioned when Graceful Friends did not do that. This does not mean the series will fail—in fact, the series may attain success via different storytelling techniques. 

This drama likes to tell its story in a non-linear way as seen in the opening scenes and littering episodes with flashbacks that can be easily discerned with the use of a sepia-tinted filter and the awkward, vertically-stretched ‘90s aspect ratio. Although the synopsis of the drama speaks of the death of a professor, all that is seen of him is coercing a young Mansik after the latter threatens to expose his secret. Further details of the professor and their past seem to be intentionally omitted, which adds to the mystery. 

Furthermore, the actions of Kangsan are very suspect with his oddly impeccable and timely appearances. Viewers are inclined to believe that Kangsan is actually doing Jaehoon’s bidding to drive a wedge in Gongchul and Junghae’s marriage, but it could be a red herring given how obvious this conclusion is. Seeing Kangsan in his state of undress also reminds us of the assaulted man in the first episode. Could that man be Kangsan? Also, who told Haesook about Mansik’s funeral? What happened between Haesook and Junghae? Who sent the photos of Haesook and Gongchul to Junghae? The charm of Graceful Friends lies in the speculations and theories it makes viewers form, befitting of its mystery genre. 

We are optimistic that Graceful Friends will blow our minds once the bits and pieces of hints line up. Interested viewers are more likely to enjoy this series if they watch with a mindset of enjoying a new piece of work, instead of hoping that it will be a spiritual successor to The World of The Married and Sky Castle. 

Hop over to OnDemandKorea or iQiyi for the latest episodes of Graceful Friends, which air every Friday and Saturday.