This review may contain spoilers
Multi-dimensional characters is a winner
What I love the most with this series is the character are multidimensional. They are not your cookie-cutter template one-dimensional character that we see in many TV dramas.While the Prime Minister and the Chairman/Father are the usual antagonist characters, evil and bad respectively, the rest are not.
For example, Doctor Moon. All he cared about was winning the competition. It was as if he doesn't care about the patients as long as he gets what he wants. Sounds selfish, right? It is. But deep down, Dr. Moon did what he did because he also had an experience he can not forget, at the same time, he has an ambition, and he truly cares about the patients.
This was touching for me because many of us judge other people based on our first impressions of them. We only see the surface and fail to understand what's driving them to be that way. Why are some people we meet always making jokes or making fun of others? Could it be that deep inside, they are broken, and it is their way of hiding it? Or maybe, at home, they live in a broken family, and making jokes and making fun is their only outlet?
I am not saying we should tolerate these things if it crosses-the-line, just us how some actions of Dr. Moon should not be tolerated when he's out of line already. We tend to forget the person inside and only see the surface.
To put it another way, there are also people who always smile, are kind, and helpful. But we forget to ask how their life is. Are those acts only there as a mask? Some people would even take advantage of them, without realising that behind it is some painful and tragic experience.
As the idiom goes, “do not judge the book by its cover”.
It was not only Doctor Moon, but the two main characters. As was explained in episode 16, the second lead couple failed to look behind the surface of the two main characters. They had a very painful and tragic life. They judged them immediately without first trying to understand what's driving them and why they do what they do.
This is what struck me about this show. It was not just a romantic story. It was not just an ER/OR drama. It's about how people judge each other.
And then there was the “it's not money that I want, it's your sincere apology”. A very powerful message itself. Often times we think too much that we forget all it takes is a sincere apology, and when something reaches the court, more often than not it was because the grace period for apologies had passed.
If a person still pursues a legal action even after apologising, that's their call. Asking for forgiveness and the rule of law, are two different things. For example, in the show's context, a medical malpractice is a medical malpractice, especially when there are clear guidelines in the first place. The victims can forgive, because forgiveness is personal, it benefits both parties, releases the burden. But the law is the law.
This series portrayed how the doctors and the Chairman/Father misunderstood apologising/forgiveness and the law. They assumed that people will sue them for medical malpractice just because. Or the victims are only after monetary compensation. We think too much that we create our own demons, when something can be solved by a sincere apology.
I'm glad I watched this drama. It's touching and full of life lessons.
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I was not satisfied with the ending nor the love stories in this drama.
For a medical drama which has surgeries as the main theme .. at least it should be somewhat realistic with a strong story line like good doctor, however in this case, there was a big plot hole and the main lead is not a normal doctor, but a super natural hero which I did not like~
Its my opinion in the end and everyone has his own perspective..
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Re-watch value: No chance.
Music: Not that great...
Cast: Park Hae Jin 10/10, Jin Se Yeon 9/10 (yes I am one of the few that actually likes this actress), Lee Jong Suk 7/10, Sora 5/10 (b/c of her obsession with hoon).
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Obviously, this is classified as a medical drama, but all the doctors and staff that work at the main hospital can only be seen as insane. And it's not even just the medical team, but also the show's antagonists can be considered psychotic. Nothing made sense in regards to the "big master plan" or any of the characters' motives. I get in dramas things have to be exaggerated and exciting, so not everything can be 100% logical. The main character Park Hoon, for example, had some god-given gift to diagnose any heart condition in seconds just by putting his hand to the patient's chest. And I'll admit that I'm a sucker for genius characters, so I didn't mind them exaggerating ones ability. I also don't mind when "villains" make over the top plans to get his/her's goals in motion since it can provide interesting plot points. But the writers clearly thought exaggerating things to titanic heights will make a "good" show. Therefore the antagonist becomes some immature child that keeps adding and changing things all for the audience to feel surprised or intrigued. But instead, you get people watching, wondering, "when did that happen?" or "why would they do that?"
You got characters magically disappearing than reappearing and others that just do nothing but feed the flames of frustration. The main love interest for Hoon, Jae-hee, can only be described as the single most annoying human in the freaking universe. Along with every other character, she practically does nothing but make stupid decisions but says they're "justified" even though she never thoroughly explains how. In fact, I even finished the show and STILL can't figure out why she did some things. She's by far not the only one, but she's the one that made me have to pause and contemplate if this is actually going anywhere.
But I still tried to look for some positives among the ocean of depression. I'll admit that there were a few moments that had my interest (coincidentally those moments didn't actually relate to the main plot.) There were some goofy moments that genuinely made me smile. And I really wished I could have seen more of Dr. Hoon treating people instead of this constant competition between the hospital staff that is not just frustrating but questions if the people at that hospital have any morals! Like seriously!? People are more focused on using patients' illnesses and problems for competition rather than... I don't know.... treating them normally! And if by some miracle, a doctor besides the protagonist, shows sympathy, it becomes some unbelievable game changer. But even after that, the characters still will go back to their old selves after an episode only for the cycle to repeat again and again.
Although there are many more things I would love to rant about in regards to this show, most of them would be considered spoilers. But don't worry, if you still decide to watch this show (Although I'm not in full support of that call) you'll figure it out eventually. It might take eighteen hours, but you'll get there. I wish you the best of luck on your ventures! Happy watching - (☞ﾟ∀ﾟ)☞
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Just my opinion
I know that a lot of people liked this show, but I couldn't, for the life of me, forgive the mess that I was watching. I was very disappointed in the writing, not the acting. Lee Jong Suk and Park Hae Jin were both wonderful in this mess of a drama. I'm all for suspending disbelief, but this show, in the first place, didn't seem to know in which direction it wanted to go. Baddies that don't die no matter what happens to them, a change in the focus of the show (N. Korea was a good starting place, but went horribly awry), things happening in a hospital that have absolutely no foundation in reality, name/identity changes (who can keep up with the names?), and it seemed like the inmates were running the asylum! The ending was very disappointing and caused an even further suspension of disbelief - the main characters disappear for a year - did no one look for them? Ugh!Was this review helpful to you?
It has a great story line and really gives you an insight to how the Government works and how hard the life of a a person who has escaped from North Korea is. The story has so much potential and would have been really great if they had planned how they were going to show each part of the story in equal parts I won't be mean and say that this drama is horribly scripted, but I do have to say that the drama does lag around the episodes 10 -17, and loses the main focus of the story line, which in turn leads to a rushed ending on the final two episodes.
That being said, the drama is filled with so many romantic triangles (or should I say hexagon?) revelations and plot twists that make it exciting to watch so If you like stuff like that (and if you like surgeries, because you will see a surgery being performed in almost every episode) then this is the drama for you.
The music was great, but it wasn't amazing if comparing it to other drama's OST's (cough "Mary stayed out all night / Secret Garden). The Acting was amazing despite the rushed ending. There were some characters who I felt should have been developed further or or given more of a back story so that we could sympathize more for them, but despite this the Cast played the roles amazingly (Park Hae Joon as Cha Jin Soo and Lee Jong Suk as Park Hoon are my personal favorites, they are amazing actors).
Overall I would give this a 7.5 because although the Acting and Story line are great, the way the drama dragged out the middle of the drama, resulting in the really rushed ending, makes me feel less inclined to re-watch this drama. It's still a great one non the less!
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The story line had everything sadness, happiness, comedy (a lot of it), frustration, anger and confusion. But the last two parts lets it down i think it was due to rushed ending. They wanted to wrap up al of the answered questions. Also, there were some repeated scenes but in different ep which made the story to drag out and lose development. However, the acting was just AMAZING i have no problem with the actors and the emotions they portrayed. Would i watch this? probably not.
Give it a go, you will enjoy the first 14 or so episodes.
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This review may contain spoilers
Second Lead Syndrome Caught Me in 'Doctor Stranger'
There are many things I want to say about this drama. First off the whole cencept is very ambitious since it's doing a story including North Korea and how there were many times the main 2 leads couldv'e died. Also this is the first Drama and will probably be for a while in which I actually fell into the whole sencond lead syndrome, I generally supported Quack and Park Hoon for the forst half of the show and I really enjoyed thier interactions together.This story has many coincedences between Park Hoon and Jae Hee in which they call fate but to be honest, in terms of this story I have to believe they were fated to be together, the amount of shit they had to go through to get to the happy ending was alot. Some people are saying it wouldv'e been better if Park Hoon and Jae Hee died and everyone accepted it, but since I'm such a sucker to good endings I was actually hoping thier was a good ending in which they both lived and they happily live thier lives together and that is what we got.
With Park Hoon, he really had a tough life and like Joon Jae said at the end of the show. Behind Park Hoon's happy exterior, he is going through a lot of pain and stress. During his time in North Korea after spliting up with Jae Hee, he had to work as a doctor in which sacrifices lives in order to increase his medical experience and knowledge, so he was unwillingly killing heathy people to grow. Throughout his time in South Korea I really enjoyed his character and when I thought he was going to give up and lay down, he comes back up and makes his comeback. This show had a severe case of second lead syndrome to the point I wanted it to happen, but this came with the fact that Jae Hee wasn't fully likable when she first came to South Korea. Park Hoon's relationship with Soo Hyeon (Quack) was a breath of fresh air from the tense and stressful relationship between Jae Hee and Park Hoon. Quack was very light hearted and her backstory just made me support her even more to teh point even Jae Hee tried to set them up at the end and would leave after everything is done. Soo Hyeon was what this drama and Park Hoon needed and even though they didn't work out, I was fine.
Jae Hee's character is very complex because she is originally from North Korea and falls in love with a South Korean, and also her family had very different political beliefs than what a North Korean should have so that got her put in a detention center. Near the end of the show when she was trying to push Hoon away, she said that she regrets holding onto Cha Jin Soo's hand to meet Hoon because she didn't know how much dnager it would put him in but her 'greed' which was longing to see Hoon was large. Her relationship with Hoon was actually nice to watch because it felt rewarding after seeing how much they went through for the whole show so when they first reconnected as Hoon and Jae Hee I was really happy that happened but felt a bit sorry for Soo Hyeon. Overall I liked her character but there were times where I found her infuriating when she tried to push Hoon away saying she was take all the pain basically just so Hoon and his mother would be fine, but now that I think of it, it's actually very mature of her and mustv'e took alot out of her.
I actually like the OST in this show, especially the one called 'Stranger' by Bobby Kim, that OST just shouts at me for being a good OST and everythime it came on I loved the song becausee the lyrics fit the theme of the show very well saying 'If your not here, I'm just a Stranger' Meaning that if Jae Hee isn't with Hoon, then he will feel like he doesn't belong anywhere and it's quite sad honestly.
If your loking for a drama in which is Star Crossed love typed romance with a heavy mix of medical and also a Second Lead Syndrome you can actually support then watch Doctor Stranger.
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Doctor Stranger had a very intriguing beginning that captured the viewers attention just by the mere mention of North Korea. With such a strong beginning it is almost impossible to think that this drama could even go downhill; however, this a completely wrong assumption to make. At the start, the focus on Park Hoon and the moral dilemma of being a doctor made for a completely emotional story line. Unfortunately, the show was not able to keep up this interest as it feel into a decline. The romance was dragged out between the main character and his love interest with too much push and pull that made it quite difficult to end up rooting for them (especially since their romance as childhood sweethearts was too adorable to handle). If you are looking for the romantic doctor content, then you most likely won't find it here. The biggest issue with the story line is that it just wasn't planned out as well as it could have been.
Acting wise? Not many complaints. Lee Jong Suk provides amazing depth to the lead character and acts with the same charm that we all know and love. Park Hae Jin's double sided character is portrayed as well as it can be within this drama, no complaints. As for the two female leads, it is hard to say whether they were good as their characters were just terribly written. Many scenes with the female actresses were just missing the character development that they both deserved which in turn just made them bland and uninteresting to watch. I think it is safe to say that Yoon Bora's Chang Yi saved the day in terms of female characters with her lovable and charming personality.
Can't say much about the music as it did not seem to have as much of an impact as it should have.
Would I rewatch it? Probably not. Would I recommend it to someone? Possibly yes, depending on if they are a fan of any of the actors/actresses.
Overall opinion: I am not going to say that it is the worst (even if it was, I can't leave a drama unfinished). But there are definitely places for improvement, which is disappointing because the show had so much potential if it had been executed properly. My positive opinions about the show come from a bit of a biased opinion based on the pure fact that I am a fan of Lee Jong Suk and Park Hae Jin. If you want a romantic drama, this isn't the one to look for. If you want a medical drama, there are a few better ones out there. If you want good looking male leads who provide depth to a character, then knock yourself out with this.
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Medical thriller with a historical political twist
A cautionary moral tale, about ethics, politics, promises, and duty of care. Surprisingly deep despite the sometimes shallow characters (like the playboy resident), this heart-pumping, oft gory drama about one of the top cardiology departments in Korea shows how far politicians, soldiers and doctors and prepared to go in order to ensure they reach the very top and remain there as long as they can. Pretty solid acting by all, especially northern side and the seemingly cold dad. A surprise sleeper hit which kept our pulses raised till the very end.Was this review helpful to you?
