Could have been brilliant, ended up a mess

This drama had the potential - a slice of life story showing different problems and even controversies through the stories of patients of the hospital and through the eyes of the doctors, seems like a very good premise to say something valuable and to touch upon certain topics that are currently of concern for the modern world and contemporary China most of all.

And for a while, the drama does it - hoax medicine, overworking, corruption in the medical field: all appear in the series, there is also an interesting message of 'don't judge someone's choices without knowing their circumstances' that echoes throughout the episodes and seems to be the lesson that both patients and the doctors have to learn. So far so good. These arcs make the cast shine and many of the side-stories are compelling and thought-provoking, without offering easy solutions and dictating morally correct answers, which is where the 'brilliance' in the title of the review comes from.

Unfortunately, what the drama does not deliver, is consistency. It seems that the idea was to balance out the heavy topics with some light-heartedness stemming from the romantic sub-plot, but this is where the script simply loses itself. The romance is done poorely, to the point that neither people who like it and want to see it, nor people who would prefer to go without (like me) can be satisfied with it. The romantic tension between Bai Zhu and Xiao Yan is practically non-existent, which is all the more surprising considering how good chemistry they have when acting as supportive colleagues, presenting a united front in their fight for the patients' well-being. To make up for that, the script forces them into a number of romantic tropes that do not fit the story at all and what's worse, make the otherwise interesting and well-thought of characters seem unlike themselves and childish in ways that are absolutely not charming. Making a bet over a diagnosis? Taking someone for a motorbike ride to prove your point? Eavesdropping and making unwelcome grand gestures to impress the other? Both Xiao Yan and Bai Zhu do a lot of things that are simply bizarre for their personalities, just to make some basis for their future romance and they do it at very odd times as well, non-organically at all.

The worst part about it is, for me personally, the treatment of Bai Jinguang, Bai Zhu's son, who after his very nicely done and heart-warming arc centered on his illness, is demoted to an annoying match-maker whose only role in the later episodes is to meddle in his father's relationship and to give lectures to both BZ and XY on why they should get together. It also undermines BZ's character, who at the beginning is stated to be a workaholic that only loves his son, and later is shown rejecting his kid's pleas for time and attention to help out or meet up with XY, even if she doesn't want it or need it. Him getting drunk in front of BJG and making the kid worried enough to call other adults is played up for laughs, but considering the way their relationship is shown prior to that, only furthers the feeling that BZ is getting his character arc turned around and is getting progressively less likeable, just to make room for romantic cliches, erasing BJG's character and the father-son relationship almost completely.

It is all the more upsetting, because this is already what the rest of the cast suffers from when a Romantic Moment happens - all of these intelligent young doctors and nurses change into gossipy teenagers who have nothing better to do with their lives than to push two colleagues together, even after Xiao Yan openly states that she does not wish them to - here the script does its job because her reasons for rejecting BZ are well set up and the entire scene gives hopes for them to evolve into something more mature (especially her point about being uncomfortable with gossip about her love life in the workplace), but this idea is quickly abandoned for more unnecessary romantic tropes.

The biggest flaw of these sudden genre switches is making BZ into a man-child who needs care and who is less mature than his own son, which considering the fact that he is arrogant and uncompromising from the very beginning, doesn't endear him to the viewer at all. In fact, with all of my admiration and affection for Bai Yu as an actor, it's a relief when XY rejects him, because he is absolutely an atrocious romantic partner and gets even worse as the drama goes on - his pursuit of XY despite her refusal is probably supposed to be cute, but it does play into 'if you bother her enough, she has to like you' which is an idea that is actually discussed in the series in another subplot, and proven to be a harmful way of thinking. His absolute disregard for her grief, her goals and needs doesn't help at all.

There is also a worrying 'he's been so good to you, you have to accept him' message that reappears in all three romantic sub-plots the show offers, which is not entirely consistent with what the rest of the stories - think for yourself, your life is more important than anyone else's expectations, take care of your health but you are the one who decides what to do with your body and no one else - tries to say. Out of the three, the Director/Nurse Jiang relationship is the most interesting and nuanced one, but it doesn't escape this notion of 'owning affection' either.

Overall, it's almost like some changes were added at the last minute, to make the drama more marketable. Which is a shame because the conflict between 'a hospital is here to help people' and 'it has to make money and be accountable by the public' is engaging enough and would possibly suffice to garner audiences, if it got more time and attention. Here episode 39, with Director Lu giving an interview about media coverage of difficult operations shines in particular - if only there were more episodes like this, dealing with both positive and negative results of difficult calls being publicised and how the media shapes opinions and prejudices of people regarding their own health. The topic of 'what makes a good doctor' is also something that gradually disappears to be replaced by romantic shenanigans.

As it is, 'Thank You Doctor' is not enough of a romance to attract audiences who want to see Xiao Yan and Bai Zhu believably grow into a couple, and it is definitely not committed enough to its serious themes and messages to be something more, without achieving a satisfying balance between the two approaches. The result is a drama with a very good cast that has moments of brilliant social commentary, that are quickly muddled up by frustrating amounts of unfitting tropes.

Not enough to hate it, but too many to love it.

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