Beautiful Mind is a gem of a show, that was sadly underrated by viewers in SK and thus ended up being cut by 2 episodes, which showed, but the writer managed to pull most plot lines together in ways that worked. It is about a character who literally is incapable of empathising with others, which sounds like many drama heroes who just need a girl to open up their heart, and nominally this drama works the same, but the way it is done is so refreshingly different that it feels interesting and actually worthwile. It is also about the question of what makes us monsters and who really is a monster when it comes down to it. It is also the rare medical drama whose science is not completely out of the realm of possibility and the attention to detail by the writing and the set design plus the fact that the medical cases are used to deepen our understanding of the characters and further their journey makes it stand out even more. Led by Jang Hyuk, who truly delivered a standout performance, the whole cast is fantastic. Almost every character gets a moment to shine, or grow and it was a delight to watch Jang Hyuk's character interact with everyone else. It felt like he really elevated everyone's performance even more. Of course I'd be remiss not to mention the love-story, and Jang Hyuk and Park So Dam had a delightfully easy chemistry, which wasn't exactly sizzling but that would not have worked with these characters anyway. And while the initial episodes were a bit rough on Park So Dam's character, once that got smoothed out, she became one of my favourite female characters I've seen this year, able to see Jang Hyuk's character and connect with him in ways no other character did or could before and Park So Dam played her with a sparkling brightness and inherent steadfastedness that it was easy to see why Jang Hyuk's character was drawn to her. The other big relationship that needs to be mentioned is between that of Lee Young Oh (Jang Hyuk) and his father, portrayed by Heo Joon Ho. Their scenes were always crackling with tension and the two of them had such a complicated relationship and Heo Joon Ho really played his character in an understated way, that gave every look and every movement so much meaning that it was a joy to watch and when the two of them were together even more so. All in all a great drama that can't be quite perfect due to the slightly rough beginning and the shortening of the number of episodes and thus some plotlines being dropped out of necessity, but nothing that I greatly missed.