MattPeddlesden
Kent, UK
Summary Bit - Brilliant, Enjoyed, great characters, fantastic story with great medical action, the story keeps moving along quickly and I absolutely cannot wait for Season 2 and to see more from the staff of Doldam Hospital!
Waffly bit
This is a medical drama first and foremost, there is romance in it but it's relatively light - certainly not the focus, but enough to keep the Romance-enthusiast happy for sure. What I particularly liked about this one as opposed to other medical dramas was there was a lot more focus on the other unspoken aspects of being a Doctor such as dealing with the consequences of when things go wrong - I don't mean necessarily legal, but the personal emotional consequences, it doesn't matter how many times you can be told "you did everything you could", you're still going to have to handle how you feel about that and get through it.
A common theme is about the choices Doctor's must make, and the choices they must NOT make. You have two patients, the one that arrived first has a lower chance of dying in the next hour than the one that arrived later - which goes into surgery first? What if the one who has a more immediate chance of dying is a violent criminal?
Teacher Kim is the subject of the story, though it spends a lot of time also looking at the other characters, particularly Seo-Jung, Im-Beum, and Dong-Ju. To a large extent the characters are helping to explore different aspects of Teacher Kim's life and history from the viewers perspective as well as showing how he can influence them and develop them as people (as well as Doctors). Seo-Jung is inspired to follow him and learn everything she can, Im-Beum starts out a short sighted character led by his father with material goals but develops into a great Doctor, Dong-Ju is affected by the decisions a Doctor must make at a very young age and it's only when he needs to make those decisions himself he truly understands what a Doctor must do.
Doldam Hospital is a provincial hospital in the middle of nowhere in particular, but is near to a number of highways as well as a large casino - which means that it's far busier than anyone outside the hospital really appreciates but is understaffed and underfunded.
There are a good number of different incidents occurring during the drama including major traffic accidents, gunshot injuries, hostage situations and quarantine situations. The story moves along well. If all you like to see is the medical stuff, there's plenty to keep you interested with various types of surgeries taking place in different situations.
All the characters were great, though whenever President Do or the Chief of Surgery were on the screen I wanted to reach in and throttle them, a sign of good characters well written and acted I guess :) No issues with any of the acting at all.
Production-wise - the echo narration didn't sit well with me at all, I don't think the echo was needed, it rarely is, ever :) Otherwise it was great, nothing outstanding to call out but then nothing felt wrong either.
General - This is down as a 20 episode story, but it really isn't. It's a 21 episode story. If you watch to the end of Episode 20 only, it ends in a really bonkers place - they introduce a new character of some apparent importance and that's it, credits! Thankfully they produced a 21st episode as a special which completes the story about that character - and adds additional dimensions to the "what it means to be a Doctor" discussion, bringing in "Doctors without borders" and AIDS patients. They also then took a little time to talk about how the team in the hospital got together with some nice little anecdotes that just rounded everything off nicely. I'll say it once more - that extra episode is NOT optional, it's a key conclusion to the story IMHO.
Music was good, I need to listen to the OST but it sounded good and I'm looking forward to doing so.
There is a season 2 starting shortly with MOSTLY the same cast. Looks like Seo-Jung and Dong-Ju have moved on and now Teacher Kim finds two new team members - but the majority of the rest of the cast looks the same, so there's a nice bit of continuation from the looks of it. SUPER excited for it.
Absolutely worth the watch, definitely on my re-watch list, and can't wait for Season 2 to start imminently :)
Waffly bit
This is a medical drama first and foremost, there is romance in it but it's relatively light - certainly not the focus, but enough to keep the Romance-enthusiast happy for sure. What I particularly liked about this one as opposed to other medical dramas was there was a lot more focus on the other unspoken aspects of being a Doctor such as dealing with the consequences of when things go wrong - I don't mean necessarily legal, but the personal emotional consequences, it doesn't matter how many times you can be told "you did everything you could", you're still going to have to handle how you feel about that and get through it.
A common theme is about the choices Doctor's must make, and the choices they must NOT make. You have two patients, the one that arrived first has a lower chance of dying in the next hour than the one that arrived later - which goes into surgery first? What if the one who has a more immediate chance of dying is a violent criminal?
Teacher Kim is the subject of the story, though it spends a lot of time also looking at the other characters, particularly Seo-Jung, Im-Beum, and Dong-Ju. To a large extent the characters are helping to explore different aspects of Teacher Kim's life and history from the viewers perspective as well as showing how he can influence them and develop them as people (as well as Doctors). Seo-Jung is inspired to follow him and learn everything she can, Im-Beum starts out a short sighted character led by his father with material goals but develops into a great Doctor, Dong-Ju is affected by the decisions a Doctor must make at a very young age and it's only when he needs to make those decisions himself he truly understands what a Doctor must do.
Doldam Hospital is a provincial hospital in the middle of nowhere in particular, but is near to a number of highways as well as a large casino - which means that it's far busier than anyone outside the hospital really appreciates but is understaffed and underfunded.
There are a good number of different incidents occurring during the drama including major traffic accidents, gunshot injuries, hostage situations and quarantine situations. The story moves along well. If all you like to see is the medical stuff, there's plenty to keep you interested with various types of surgeries taking place in different situations.
All the characters were great, though whenever President Do or the Chief of Surgery were on the screen I wanted to reach in and throttle them, a sign of good characters well written and acted I guess :) No issues with any of the acting at all.
Production-wise - the echo narration didn't sit well with me at all, I don't think the echo was needed, it rarely is, ever :) Otherwise it was great, nothing outstanding to call out but then nothing felt wrong either.
General - This is down as a 20 episode story, but it really isn't. It's a 21 episode story. If you watch to the end of Episode 20 only, it ends in a really bonkers place - they introduce a new character of some apparent importance and that's it, credits! Thankfully they produced a 21st episode as a special which completes the story about that character - and adds additional dimensions to the "what it means to be a Doctor" discussion, bringing in "Doctors without borders" and AIDS patients. They also then took a little time to talk about how the team in the hospital got together with some nice little anecdotes that just rounded everything off nicely. I'll say it once more - that extra episode is NOT optional, it's a key conclusion to the story IMHO.
Music was good, I need to listen to the OST but it sounded good and I'm looking forward to doing so.
There is a season 2 starting shortly with MOSTLY the same cast. Looks like Seo-Jung and Dong-Ju have moved on and now Teacher Kim finds two new team members - but the majority of the rest of the cast looks the same, so there's a nice bit of continuation from the looks of it. SUPER excited for it.
Absolutely worth the watch, definitely on my re-watch list, and can't wait for Season 2 to start imminently :)
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