Healer (2014)

Parkour guy gets revenge on everyone for missing out on the olympic gymnastics team.

I tried. I really tried.

Through 9 episodes, I was praying this show would pick up. Surely, I thought, "it must pick up, I'm missing something here; I've pushed through mediocre beginnings before. It seems like a well rated and popular show. Show me something, anything, even one likeable character to hang on to". I waited patiently, but nothing materialized through nearly the 50% mark of this show; close to 10 hours of development. That's simply not acceptable for me - to have zero positive elements to experience or look forward to. I can accept a blend of bad and good, but an absence of any good is a complete turnoff.

First off, the music was noticeably bad and corny. Music, at worst , should be neutral, unmemorable, and not distracting. It's a sin if it stands out as bad. At that point, I'd rather there be no music. Just cut it out.

Second, in most shows, I can usually criticize the plot/writing more than acting or directing. In this show, the plot was actually the 'best' element, and it was still mediocre (5/10). Picture this: a young man parkours his way across building rooftops while chasing a vehicle through the city, he dives through people's windows into their living rooms while they're watching TV; he's being aided by a 50s tech hacker wizard with frizzy wild hair who can hack any computer, CCTV, etc., in real time, and bark directions to parkour guy on where the car is going; by the way, the hacker and parkour guy don't know each other's true identities but work together in this risky way with high trust; they must sense each other's age through voice because parkour guy speaks formally to hacker wizard; parkour guy is able to keep up with the car and doesn't even seem out of breath, never trips or loses his footing - oh and it is nighttime, too; he gets into fights with thugs, does gymnastics high bar routines while politely hitting thugs; no one knows parkour guy's identity because he wears shaded glasses and dark clothing with the top of his face covered; he has no morals and gets paid to do a variety of sh*t for mostly privileged and immoral men; without a doubt, parkour guy is just venting, displacing his anger for missing out on the Olympic gymnastics team; do you want me to keep explaining this further or do you get the picture?

There are long scenes with corny music and implied plot development. For example, check out episode 9, 27:00-29:00; it is two minutes where character A is thinking about character B wistfully, while character B is watching character A secretively. Guess where Character B is? They are parkouring their way across rooftops following Character A through random parts of the city 'protectively watching them'. 2 whole minutes. This scene isn't a sole transgression, there's quite a bit of this. Again, let me remind you, the plot is the strength in this show.

Third -and this is the first show for me in about 80 shows -I felt the acting across the board was, at best, mediocre. I cannot believe how average to bad some of the acting is in this show. I'm not even talking about I didn't connect with 'characters'. I'm talking straight up mediocre acting performance. Sadly, most 'characters' didn't even have a chance to shine even if the design was decent, because the acting was corny, unnatural, forced. Joo Yeon Hee? Intellectually, we are supposed to feel bad for this character's circumstances; instead I felt bad they were written and acted the way they were. I've enjoyed Park Min Young in a few shows, perhaps not super impressed, but enjoyable enough. I could not stand the character of Chae Yeong Shin and the acting was off. Awkward singing, overacted do-gooder, ridiculously naive, and lacking tact, Yeong Shin was difficult to watch and root for. Her romance with Seo Jung Hoo or "Healer" was plain awkward. The first kiss they share while they cannot see each other, is uninspiring; in some reverse alternative universe, the girl now, not Healer, has the upper part of her face covered. She was not skeeved out at all getting kissed on a rooftop by someone she can't see and doesn't know; maybe all the viewers that rated this show 10/10 like that kind of romance. Aigoo, I've had better kisses with pillows. Serious!

Sometimes, a show is not that high quality, but I understand what's happening in the plot well enough to skip the less interesting bits so I can enjoy the parts or characters that are enjoyable. In Healer, there wasn't anything for me to enjoy. Healer is the first show I wanted to fast forward, but couldn't because the plot was complex enough, that to fast forward scenes would impact comprehension. To comprehend, I had to watch. Ultimately, I could not justify doing that for another 10 hours.

I'm genuinely confused at what the high raters experienced.

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A drama to start them all

Since almost everything has already been said about Healer, I will try to keep this review as short as possible :
So, basically, you need to watch this drama. Right now.
Well, I'm not saying this is a perfect tv-show (slow motion effect abuse, too much emphasis on obvious things...)
But it's really enjoyable... mostly because there's something to see, to hear and to feel for everyone in this drama.
So... basically, you need to watch this drama.

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A nice little introduction to Ji Chang Wook and Park Min Young

This is one of the best dramas I've seen and as of now, I've watched a few. Has everything - good action; strong plot that doesn't dip in terms of excitement and likeable characters that you really root for (if they're good guys) and want to see their end if they're villians.

It was also well casted and chemistry between the main cast was good and the pacing of the story was just perfect. I didn't watch this when it first came out so unlike those that did, I didn't have to wait for a week between episodes (might have gone mad as virtually every episode ends with a cliffhanger!).

I've watched several other Korean dramas starring Ji Chang Wook and Park Min Young now and I would say that this showcases their talents well. Ji Chang Wook fits the bill as an all action man who sticks to shadows and is a bit of a loner, playing against a feisty, underdog in Park Min Young who gets under his skin.

It's surprisingly non-tropey in that you can't always predict the outcome - the good and bad guys are not always what or who they seem to be. There can be no mistaking that what you think will happen at the end does, but everything in between does keep you hooked into the story and you're genuinely interested in what happens next.

I say give it go. It was one of the first kdramas I ever watched and it holds a little place in my heart because of the fact that I've been watching them almost non-stop for nearly 2 years, almost to the extent that I can't remember the last time I watched something without subtitles!

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A Good Series That Should Have Been Great!

“Healer” kicks off like a massive thunderstorm, and by the time it ends, it’s just a gentle rain, which left me to wonder, “What the heck happened?”

Seo Jung Hoo is a man in his late twenties who is basically a sort of “hero for hire.” He has fancy gadgets supplied by his hacker partner, Jo Min-Ja. He’s hired to do any job except for murder A master at hand-to-hand combat as well as being able to evade pursuit and detection, he’s sort of a cross between Ethan Hunt and Jason Bourne. Little does Seo Jung Hoo realize that he’s soon thrown into job that takes him back to his own origins from 20 years ago.

Chae Yeong Shin is a novice reporter working for an online tabloid news company. She’s tenacious when it comes to tracking down a story, but other than that, she has no real journalistic skills at all. This is coupled by the fact that she gets severe panic attacks whenever she’s in a violent situation; attacks that incapacitate her. Of course, why she never suffers an attack during her first confrontation with Seo Jung Hoo is never explained, even when he threatens to harm her if she resists. She, too, has a tie to 20 years ago.

Finally, we have Kim Moon Ho who is Korea’s most famous journalist. He’s nothing short of a celebrity, but thanks to Seo Jung Hoo and Chae Yeong Shin, he is quickly immersed in a massive cover-up that involves his brother and their friends from 20 years ago. Kim Moon Ho is the only one who knows Chae Yeong Shin’s true connection to his brother’s wife (who is Chae Yeong Shin’s mother who believes her daughter to be dead). This sets the stage for a sort of “David vs. Goliath” showdown in which our three protagonists struggle to uncover the truth, who is pulling the strings, as well as trying to stay alive in the process!

While this all sounds intriguing, and for the first twelve episodes or so, it is, but suddenly, there are just way too many plot holes to plug up by the final episode. It lacks the tautness both of story and character that were present in such thrillers as “Vincenzo” and “Stranger.” In those series, the writers and actors knew their characters backwards and forwards. If only “Healer” could have been done with the same attention to detail, this may have been a very different series.

As you may expect, Chae Yeong Shin is like a 7th rate Lois Lane. She soon finds herself falling for the mysterious Seo Jung Hoo, especially after he saves her (fairly typical of nearly every superhero movie ever made!). She’s soon behaving much like a swooning 18-year-old. Min Young Park seems to try her best to keep a handle on her character, but too often, she goes from a journalist with some degree of professionalism to a shy, don’t touch me in front of my father, little girl. Korea is a somewhat conservative country, at least when it comes to K-dramas. Their movies are something else entirely! I guess they want you to believe that Korean women are still innocent and the property of their families. When Chae Yeong Shin tells Seo Jung Hoo that he needs her father’s approval to date (after they’ve already spent the night together!), I cringed. Is this 1950 all of a sudden?! A late twenties woman hasn’t the guts to speak for herself. Wow!

There were a lot of key missing conversations that never took place in the series that had me scratching my head. At one point, Seo Jung Hoo is overwhelmed by the death of his master. Chae Yeong Shin finds his lair and attempts to help. She never asks him why he secluded himself. So much for journalistic attributes to say nothing about someone simply showing concern. Ever after she finds out about his true identity, there’s no real conversation about it.

At one point, Seo Jung Hoo runs off to help his mother who is in danger. He’s operating in the guise of Bong Su Park, who works undercover with Chae Yeong Shin. Chae Yeong Shin finds him unconscious on the rooftop. Bong Su is a bit of a coward, and yet Chae Yeong Shin never asks why he ran off in the first place after he recovers.

Chae Yeong Shin also seems to have strange mood swings. She’s upset one moment and then she’s suddenly okay. I’ve never seen characters with such speedy recoveries in my life! In one scene, she’s nearly catatonic, and by the time Seo Jung Hoo reaches the first floor of the coffee shop where she lives, she comes bounding down the stairs with a smile on her face as though nothing had happened. I wondered if she was bi-polar!

I also found it strange when Seo Jung Hoo is set up for a murder rap, and Chae Yeong Shin sees him covered in blood, she’s initially shocked until he runs off. She never once attempts to contact him. It isn’t until a couple of days later that she finally asks if he’s ever killed anyone. So much for trust and faith, eh?

Seo Jung Hoo is a man who is in tremendous shape, literally scaling buildings and running across rooftops. He and Chae Yeong Shin stupidly decide to try and have a “normal” life, despite the fact that there has been NO resolution to their situation. Suddenly, Seo Jung Hoo is sleepy and seems to have no energy in the office workplace. Give me a break! A guy in that kind of shape is suddenly struggling to stay awake?! Even after he’s already been working those hours as Bong Su? This wasn’t just laughable. It was absolutely ludicrous! It was bad enough that someone of Seo Jung Hoo’s intelligence would suddenly decide to hang up his “cape and cowl” when the bad guys are still out there and there hasn’t been a resolution. It was an insult to the intelligence of the character as well as the viewer to buy such a cheap ploy.

I was also a little surprised that we didn’t get a final “daughter/mother” reveal between Chae Yeong Shin and her mother in the last episode. Even though it’s obvious that they both pretty much knew, I was waiting for that moment which never came.

Also, I felt that the final ploy to bring down “the Boss” at the end was a fairly cheap one. I was hoping for something bigger from “the Boss,” and a guy who seemed almost unbeatable.

Performances are pretty good in this series. Kim Mi Kyung is easily my favorite character of this series. She’s just a fantastic actress! Ji Chang Wook did a good job with what he had to work with, and Min Young Park was decent who just had too many awkward moments. One, which was at the end when Seo Jung Hoo puts out his hand to her, and Chae Yeong Shin actually hesitates to take it! Right after she does, she immediately goes into a little thing about how she can never imagine being without him. Then, why the hesitation?! It made no sense!

While the music was good, I started getting tired of the same two songs always being played after nearly every scene! The vocalizing choir really got on my nerves after just the first few episodes.

Healer is a series that was good, but it really should have been great. I know this series has very high ratings. Honestly, I guess I just don’t understand why, especially with so many problems with the script and the characters. It made zero sense not to tell Chae Yeong Shin’s mother about her daughter. You really think that kind of new would actually kill her?! If anything, it would give her some well-needed healing and hope! That was just a horrible reason!

It's sad that after 20 episodes, they still couldn’t quite get everything right. It made me wish that Hacker Jo Min Jae could have hacked into the script and done some serious editing and fixing! Now that would have been worthy of the Healer!

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Seriously outstanding, *applauding*. I mean everything about this KDrama is great! The action, even if you played the song *I Will Protect You" sung by Ji Chang Chook over and over, great song btw I will also play it over and over (lol), the visuals, the martial arts, the costumes, the hair! Let's talk about the action, the car chasing scenes "ON POINT"; the fighting scenes "ON POINT"; jumping and leaping from buildings "ON POINT"! Costumes: The outfits that Ji Chang Chook wore were "ON POINT"!

Ji Chang Chook will be on my fav KDrama list! His portrayal of Seo Jung Hoo was superb! Park Min Young's portrayal of Chao Yeong Shin was also superb! The Romance chemistry between these two was "ON POINT"! A very happy ending "the boy gets his girl" no matter what! I would love to see these two again.

Yoo Ji Tae who played Kim Moon Ho also did great and love the camaraderie he had with all the cast. All the cast did an awesome job in their roles even the mobsters or corrupt politicians.

What a great storyline! I enjoyed every episode that kept me on my toes, and my emotions and I did not skip over any episodes. This is what I love about this Kdrama. A must-watch!

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