This review may contain spoilers
Loose ends, loose ends.. *sigh*
The second season is still relatively close to kdrama perfection, while maintaining the Reply writer's unique style. Also there is nothing that aired since It's Okay to Not Be Okay that comes anywhere near HP2 in terms of raw production value, it's nice to see that Korean television can still do it :-)
The recurring cast members were still brilliant, however compared to the first season there were a few sub par supporting actors cast as patients and their relatives. Then again it's not realistic to expect that a show could get 5+ new AWESOME supporting actors for minor 2-5 minute roles every single episode, so I'm okay with that.
I'm happy how everyone that should've gotten together has gotten together and that nothing particularly annoying has happened in the 12 episodes. The second season is full of funny and extremely touching scenes, I may hate shows that want to drag things out for as many seasons as possible, but I could keep watching HP for 10 years in a more episodic format, no problem. Hospital Playlist is still a strong medical drama, even without all the romance, but I do realize that some people that don't like this genre felt bored during surgery scenes etc.
So why is it not a 10/10?
Something is off with the story pacing. It took way too long to for the 3 new couples to get together & the final episode is extremely rushed & lacking for a series finale. I have the impression that the production team is expecting a season3, or they were at the time of producing most of the episodes. So yes, while I'm happy see Jae Hak's storyline has gotten a closure, but I would have rather had the Chuchu couple resolve the evil mother in law issue, or SongHwa to become a family to Ikjun's son. IkSun deserved a lot more camera time as well. There were so many things I've been looking forward to & almost none of them ended up happening. Admittedly I'm not a fan of open endings, or loose ends, especially loose ends that had a tremendous amount of buildup as is the case with HP2.
So yes, the production team may have done most of the filming with a third season in mind, but the final episode is full of red flags for that. So I no longer hold much hope for s3. With that said I've read in the comment section how people think that the last subtitle line "Thank you for watching Hospital Playlist" means exactly that, but that's probably a minor inaccuracy, because the Korean text may have had "Thank you for watching Hospital Playlist++", so "+++" could still in in the cards, but only time will well.
The recurring cast members were still brilliant, however compared to the first season there were a few sub par supporting actors cast as patients and their relatives. Then again it's not realistic to expect that a show could get 5+ new AWESOME supporting actors for minor 2-5 minute roles every single episode, so I'm okay with that.
I'm happy how everyone that should've gotten together has gotten together and that nothing particularly annoying has happened in the 12 episodes. The second season is full of funny and extremely touching scenes, I may hate shows that want to drag things out for as many seasons as possible, but I could keep watching HP for 10 years in a more episodic format, no problem. Hospital Playlist is still a strong medical drama, even without all the romance, but I do realize that some people that don't like this genre felt bored during surgery scenes etc.
So why is it not a 10/10?
Something is off with the story pacing. It took way too long to for the 3 new couples to get together & the final episode is extremely rushed & lacking for a series finale. I have the impression that the production team is expecting a season3, or they were at the time of producing most of the episodes. So yes, while I'm happy see Jae Hak's storyline has gotten a closure, but I would have rather had the Chuchu couple resolve the evil mother in law issue, or SongHwa to become a family to Ikjun's son. IkSun deserved a lot more camera time as well. There were so many things I've been looking forward to & almost none of them ended up happening. Admittedly I'm not a fan of open endings, or loose ends, especially loose ends that had a tremendous amount of buildup as is the case with HP2.
So yes, the production team may have done most of the filming with a third season in mind, but the final episode is full of red flags for that. So I no longer hold much hope for s3. With that said I've read in the comment section how people think that the last subtitle line "Thank you for watching Hospital Playlist" means exactly that, but that's probably a minor inaccuracy, because the Korean text may have had "Thank you for watching Hospital Playlist++", so "+++" could still in in the cards, but only time will well.
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