9/10 is my rating. This is a 2016/2017 South Korean romantic medical television drama with 21, 60 minute episodes. Also known as Romantic Doctor and Romantic Doctor Kim. The 21st episode is a "special" episode but is such an integral part of the story I consider it part of the 1st season personally and not separate or "other".

Below I have a synopsis as I feel a lot of the synposis do not describe the dramas fully enough to get a good sense of what theya re about. In the next section I give my thoughts/review.

Synopsis: Boo Yong-joo (Han Suk-kyu) was a top doctor and a triple-board certified surgeon, who worked at one of the most prestigious hospitals in Seoul. Everything changed when his junior died and, as a result, he disappeared from his life in Seoul and assumed a new name Kim Sa-bu. In order to still work in the profession he loves yet keep his identity a secret, he works at a very small hospital in the Gangwon Province. Circumstances bring two young doctors, Kang Dong-joo (Yoo Yeon-seok) and Yoon Seo-jeong (Yoo Yeon-seok) under his tutelage. In the major hospitals, money and power often determine timing and quality of patient care with the very important persons (VIP) taking priority over those with less power position or money. Sa-bu sees patients according to their medical need regardless of their social status, power, prestige or the status of their bank account. His influence unearths Seo-jeong and Dong-joo's inner desire to disregard money and power and treat just the patient.

Review: This was a great, fast paced, medical slice of life drama with lots of interesting medical cases. The acting was, for the most part, outstanding with one small exception. When they would shock the patients you typically see the paddles placed high up on the chest and the person has to lean over the unconsious person a bit because of the position of the paddles then when they shock them the unconsious person's body jumps a bit off the table from the intensity of the current. Several times, particularly when it was Dr. Kim, the paddles seemed to be placed really low and the unconsious person barely moved. It sort of took you out of the moment a bit. But very minor. I loved all of the character development. Dr. Kang went from someone that had "given in" and was sort of in pursuit of money and power to getting back to his "roots" in medicine which is patient focused regardless of whether, or not, it benefitted him. He learned that from Dr. Kim. Dr. Kim learned to trust other doctors more again from all of the students who "baby ducked" themselves to him even when he tried to portray he didn't want it. He also learned to stand his ground and fight at times rather than always just figuring karma would sort it out. Seo-jeong learned confidence in her ability as a doctor from Doctor Kim and that she had the right to love again from Dr. Kang. There were a lot of surprise mentees that came from the main hospital and also attached themselves under Doctor Kim's tutelage. I particularly liked the director's son because he was headed on a dark path and both Dr. Kim and Dr. Kang really turned him around. The love story was cute and well paced. I didn't feel like we got a good sense of why he was so in love with her from their time together at the other hospital but I think we saw enough of their interaction under Doctor Kim that their love was believable.

Spoilers ** The reason Seo-jeong was so reluctant to start anything with Dong-joo was because of the accident she was in where her boyfriend was killed after she refused his proposal. She carried guilt feeling that was the cause without knowing that he was cheating on her and had drank a lot that day. There was an episode where she returned to the main hospital and encountered her former friend her boyfriend had been cheating with and that friend mentioned she had a five year old child that looked just like the father. You saw Seo-jeong give it some hard thought but it was never clear she made that connection. And then she was just sort of all right with moving forward with Dong-joo and I felt it wasn't obvious enough why she had the change of heart when the full extent of that situation was not revealed. She also had the attempted suicide episode and there was no complete resolution to that. It made it like just "tough love" was enough to snap someone out of that. Dr. Kim was basically like you can't be a doctor with thoughts like that and she was sort of like okay I won't have PTSD and attempt suicide anymore. Didn't make sense.

I also wanted to know a lot more about Dr. Kim's former students and why the one student had surgery. And what really went wrong. Why did she allow a proxy? Were they "sneaking" the proxies. What was the story with the cassette tapes/music. Lots there I did not feel was explained and I was very curious.

They left quite a few pieces unresolved I am sure in anticipation of the future seasons. But I prefer when a season can stand alone and I can decide whether to watch future seasons or not. I haven't watched season 2 yet because I am hearing there will be a season 3 and that season 2 ends without a lot of things unresolved. I am not a fan of being dragged along like that uncertain when and if a season will come out.

Overall I liked this drama. It portrayed well the very real world struggle doctors go through between being funded and doing the right thing by their patients. The slice of emergency and surgery life also showed the difficult decisions doctors often have to make in when to let go, who to treat first, and who to rely on. Dr. Kim was a very compelling character. It is true that when you are that good - you can have a target on your back from other's greed an jealousy. I will be looking for the 3rd season to come out and then will re-engage with these very compleling characters. Highly recommend for those who like medical dramas.