Reviews

The dosage is super effective in the first half but abruptly ineffective during the last part

Psychological dramas are one of my top favorite concepts in K-Drama and I always look forward to what their stories have to bring to the audience. Daily Dose of Sunshine is a great show but loses its charm when it focuses on the life story of the main character, Jung Da Eun. The romance is the major factor why I am not satisfied with the story progression. I don’t feel any butterflies and just want to skip most of the scenes from the main character. I guess if they ended up the two best friends became the main couple, I may have enjoyed it somehow.

On the good side, I get to see heartwarming yet tragic stories about people who are facing such mental illnesses and how they move forward in the real world. Jang Dong Yoon once again proves how versatile he is as an actor. He nailed his character who suffers from panic disorder. I like how his story concluded and the other featured characters with mental illnesses.

The most valuable role in this drama has to be the head nurse. I like her strong, positive, and thoughtful characteristics. I just feel a little bit disappointed with the overall production since they already started with high impact but failed to give consistency and it ended up getting tiring. The other staff from the hospital have a better story to offer. Nevertheless, I still like the show and how it tackles mental awareness for people who are ignorant and have little knowledge regarding these disorders.

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Good acting but boring storyline...

The only feeling I had throughout was that the series had been wrongly named. I expected different with such a strong name... Comparatively I really enjoyed Only Friends, which has been made at the same time...
It felt too dragged at some places...
I have no complaints regarding the acting. The cast has really acted well... It really feels like they have adopted the characters into themselves.
But the storyline seems too straight...
Or it might be that watching other dramas with likable content has set my bars high...
But don't give this review too much importance... Watch it and decide for yourself... Mightbe you enjoy it...

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When dysfunction meets chemistry...

Late to the game. But we watch what we watch when it happens. Now was my time.

It's just a drama but it's also a slice of life condensed into ten episodes.

Bottom-line, both ML and FL are immature and dysfunctional. All that internal monolog each one has, needs to be articulated instead of rolling around in their respective brains. But then if that happened, this drama would be about two eps long.

TL;DR....Darn chemistry!

1. The FL and ML are both emotionally stunted....based on various reasons.
2. Both are poor at communicating due to #1.
3. Like most guy/gal communications, it's the age-old-not-soon-to-change he's literal, she wants him to read her mind and make the first moves. Articulate those emotions, baby!
4. FL wants the ML to be close while stiff-arming him to keep him away at the same time. This one is on her.
5. She wanted the relationship to be "friends with benefits", but be exclusive. That's not how it works.
6. He's the embodiment of pheromones barely contained by his skin aka oodles of charm and charisma. So Trouble walking on two-legs. But that's other peoples issue to deal with. He's in trouble only if he acts on it. Can't expect a guy to walk around with a paperbag over his head right?!?! ML is no more toxic than the FL...contrary to other comments, but we're all entitled. So viewers who assign this label to one or the other -- this is a judgment based on the viewer's own bias in my opinion.
8. If anyone is toxic, it's the ML's stalker former girlfriend. ML is her addiction. She has to be the one to stop cold-turkey.
9. Sad, not sad that noodle-guy didn't win the girl, but life is about timing. I could cliche him ad infinitum about missing the boat but I won't.

Nevertheless, while the ship did return, it wasn't for him.

See what I did there. ;-)

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AN UNDERRATED MASTERPIECE!

I found out about this drama here on this platform. However there were a lot of different reviews regarding this drama. Just as how there were good reviews there were bad reviews as well. Reading those bad reviews almost made me miss out on this beautiful drama.

This drama is the EPITOME of a well-written story. At the same time the cast and their acting obviously adds upto it. To anyone wanting to watch this drama all i would say is, don't read the bad reviews and give it a watch and decide for yourself.

Of course different people have different preferences. For people who like cliché rom-coms this drama is definitely not it. Which i am assuming is one of the reason some people might have left bad reviews. I, myself am a huge fan of rom-coms but i also love the mystery, suspense korean dramas. And this drama has made it onto the top of the lists for me.

I can vouch for you whoever is reading this review that this drama won't disappoint. In fact I was hooked right from the first episode itself and finishes watching in one-sitting. So please do give it a watch!

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Promising but poorly executed.

The concept starts off with an interesting premise that could have been developed into an intriguing story. However, it starts to get very shallow after a while, with very little depth to the ideas, boring cliches, one-dimensional characters and predictable plot twists. The series should have ended with 8 or 10 episodes at max, they just dragged it out and made it utterly predictably boring after a few episodes.

Aside from the bad guy, no one else appears to have any intelligence and the outcomes of most episodes are laughable. Namkoong Min does a good job as always, he's debonair, smart and intelligent and stands out from the rest of the cast so much that he's out of place. But the police? They are portrayed as so inept and lacking intelligence that it's laughable. Park Yoo Chun, playing detective Moo Tak in a role that's so siloed, dumbed down, irritating and lacking intelligence it's impossible not to cheer for the bad guy. Detective Yeom Mi's role is a little more nuanced and you can afford to be a little more patient with her but her potential is severely wasted. The FL's role on the other hand was better cast and played - she's supposed to be a simple character without much depth, and you go in with very little expectation about her intelligence and abilities. To that end, she was not bad.

However, after a few episodes, it became so irritating that I stopped watching. I feel this drama does a lot of injustice to the capability and skills of a stellar screen personality like Namkoong Min - if you really want to see him shine, look at My Dearest, Hot Stove League, Awaken, Good Manager, or even a lighthearted comedy like Beautiful Gong Shim where he shines.

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A levelheaded heroine

Since the mother kept saying how wonderful her son was and that he could be happy only with a capable wife, I really hoped Tang Mingxuen would finally tell everyone how helpful Mo Fei was to him. Her help was crucial for his company at every critical moment. And yet it doesn't seem he even notices it. He only likes hearing from her how great _he_ is.

Overall, the drama was too long. I'm not usually a skipper, but I skipped all the XXL romance. I really couldn't care less for her character. Also, the scenes were too slow, and the dialogues often turned into monologues. This drama should have been shortened by half. At the same time many conflicts were left without a resolution. You know the Chekhov's gun principle. There were many "guns" in this story that failed to fire.

I'm glad that the main couple avoided serious breakouts, but I felt that Tang Ming treated Mo Fei too superficially. I hoped that, as a couple working in the same industry, they'd go hand in hand. But he never discussed with her anything serious, treating her like a teddy bear good for nothing but cuddling. Even though she helped him on many occasions it was often in spite of him. I also don't remember him standing behind her when it mattered. She was often left to fend for herself.

I did like however how levelheaded she was. That was refreshing for a Chinese drama. Still, I felt she was sometimes too easy on him. Esp. when he was lying to her for a long time and then pretty much just brushed it off.

I enjoyed the Chinese fashion history. I didn't enjoy the fake French interiors. Even the staircase that was the simplest to make failed to look genuine. Still, as much as I could suspend my disbelief and see it as a staircase in Paris, it gave me a weird feeling whenever the action moved to another "Parisian" place that looked Chinese, like Mr Feng's apartment or Cayman HQ, or that tacky restaurant where Andre takes the students. It felt like jumping continents in a matter of minutes.

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Worth watching

I must say that I appreciated the drama.

One thing that kind of disturbed me is the confusion between being "untamed" and unreliable. I don't think that controlling one's partner is a goal in a relationship, but couples do, and should, negotiate boundaries and rules and be mindful of what one's partner is comfortable with -not saying that each have to agree to anything, but each one's concerns should be discussed and taken seriously-. This is true even if open or polyamorous couples. People have boundaries that they have every right to ask be respected, and if they treat someone with loyalty, respect and honesty, they have every right to expect to be treated in the same manner in return. This does not mean that people cannot fall out of love and in love with someone else, but it does mean that there is a difference between deceiving your partner versus being honest with them and breaking things off cleanly and respectfully, without going behind their backs for more than a year like she did. Again, if she had merely dumped him because she didn't love him anymore and loved someone else, then it would have been a completely different situation and, however painful, I wouldn't have had a problem with that, given that the alternative would have been to deceive her partner, which she did.

When pursuing a long term relationship, I don't think that it is a good think to glorify being unreliable, or to confuse it with being strong and independent, as if they are the same thing, or even as if you cannot have one without the other. It's not being "wild" and "uncontrollable" and something impossible to decouple from being a free spirited and independent person: we are mixing two things that don't necessarily have anything to do with each other. One can be fiercely independent and still be reliable, show up for the people they love and be there when it matters, and be honest and upfront if they change their mind.

I mean, I struggle to come to terms with where the exact boundary is, and in the end I can only draw the line at treating one's partner with honesty:
1. As much as one might wish to, one cannot guarantee that they won't fall out of love and/or in love with someone else. I think that if the situation is such that it is a true change of heart, and not a superficial whim, if this is discussed honestly with one's partner then really they have no reason to complain about the person's conduct given those premises: they might complain about fate and the circumstances, and wish things were different, but given that they are not and that the only alternative was to be deceived, being treated with honesty and respect rather than being lied to and cheated on is the best one can do and expect.
2. That said, people can also draw the appropriate conclusions from the situation and are not obliged to take such a person back if they change their mind. In fact, while I think that such a case would be quite different from the shamelessness of going up to someone you had deceived for more than one year and ask them to take you back, I also think that one would have every right to ask themselves if the person might have another change of heart down the line, because after all they already did, and while they might appreciate the fact that they didn't break their trust and talked about the situation honestly, one also doesn't really want to repeatedly end up in a situation where a person changes ones' mind, so the question of why they did and why it's not likely to happen next time around is still relevant.
3. In terms of people's wishes, when talking about stable relationships and building a family, clearly people would like to be with someone stable and reliable that they can count on to be there in time of need and to show up when it counts. This does not guarantee that one's feelings couldn't change with time and they might fall out of love, and in that case we come back with the importance of honesty and being up front about the situation and what to do -do you want to wait and try to rekindle the flame? Do you up?-. Being with someone so flaky and unreliable that they could change their mind at a moments' notice and want to break up, then come back unannounced after years they didn't speak a word to you and want to get back together really is not a nice prospect, albeit a quite different and much better one than the real situation faced by HS, namely being with someone that deceived him for more than a year (and we are not sure even owned up to it and admitted it at any point in time, even when asking him to take her back, when he really deserved the ability to make an informed decision and that piece of information would have been very important).
4. From what I understood, HS knew about YJ seeing DK behind his back for more than a year while she was lying to him about working, so it's not that he knew because she told him, he was aware of it beforehand. Does this mean that at no point in time she actually confessed to having carried on a more than year long affair with DK? Because that would be utterly damning in my eyes, if she came back after running off with DK for two years, had the gall to ask HS to take her back, and deprived him of the ability to make an informed decision by hiding such an important piece of information. If I was thinking of taking someone back, it would matter *a lot* if they had been respectful and honest in the relationship prior to the breakup. I might still have some concerns about the possibility of repeating the experience if they change their mind in the future, but I could at least assume that they would be open in their communication and let me know if their feelings change. If they had deceived me for more than one year, it would be a whole other matter. As I said above, this is the equivalent of depriving him of a very important, I would say even critical, piece of information very much relevant to his decision of whether to take her back or not. To hide this information from him while asking him to make this decision would be in essence to deprive him of the ability to make an informed decision about a key aspect of his life, asking him to make a choice based on faulty premises and in essence treating him like an object and self servingly manipulate him to get the outcome you want while in essence continuing to deceive him -a lie by omission, and I suppose a good old fashioned lie if he ever asks and you deny the truth like back in the day when she was telling him she was working while seeing DK behind his back-. Not saying that this is what she did, but frankly, it's another of the things that I wished the show was not vague about: she does kind of brush off his words at the side of the road, they never talk about it again if not in that insultingly jocking manner that completely disrespected the severity of the topic and the pain expressed in that outburst on their way to the airport, in the end it's not clear to me whether she knew he knew. I guess that there are various options: he did discover it himself, having been aware of it during that more than half a year of deception, but it's not clear whether he told her he knew, or she discovered he knew, at some point in time prior to her asking him to take her back, or whether she told him about it at some point in time prior to asking him to take her back, or whether she just plain didn't knew he knew and intentionally hid it from him while asking him to take her back. Hiding it from him while asking him to decide whether to take her back would have been unacceptably self serving (and if she didn't say because she already knew he knew, I guess that we are left with the question of whether she would have... given how self serving and self entitled she had been this whole time, and the way she lied about leaving to allow him to follow his heart, while in reality she was threatening him with the prospect of getting back with DK again, and later on almost running off with him, because she couldn't take him being the one to leave her -so, to protect her pride she chose to leave and hurt him again, choosing to hurt him again like she did in the past and only changing her mind at the last second, and in any case after using DK to make HS jealous and threaten him into begging her to stay-). I guess that we know for sure that FL doesn't know about this because HS just told her his gf dumped him, and one would hope that his cousin didn't either, because otherwise it's hard to imagine why he would want to associate with someone that treated someone he claimed to love in such a manner -his reactions to her coming back were akin to what one would expect from her changing her mind about being with HS, rather than someone that had intentionally deceived him for more than a year-. Again, this is someone that the shows asks us to expect wouldn't tolerate his gf being kissed by someone else without reciprocating even before they were together, an absurd notion given that he was a playboy himself, not to mention hitting on his cousin's girlfriend, and a notion that felt to me like overthinking and underestimating him (or maybe it's HS's trauma speaking, when he says that even if he pretends he is okay he is not I got the feeling that this is what he felt with DK when he brought up the betrayal and hating DK in the end and they made it into a joke -even after recently using him to hurt HS, make him jealous and force him to beg her to stay-... but we know that he tried to play it cool while being disturbed by DK in the past).

In all this, I obviously ignore the unrequited mini-crush with the one sided kiss, one because he did that to someone that showed him no loyalty, respect and honesty and therefore had no leg to stand on to ask the same in return, while she did it to someone she knew had always loved only her and never even took a coffee with another girl (therefore, they would not be even even if he did to her exactly what she did to him with more than one year of deception, etc.; there is simply no way for him to get even, no comeuppance, the fact being that he was the kind of person that would put up with more than a year of betrayal and wait around for years for her to come back, while she was unwilling to even give him the space to sort out his feelings, and resorted to threatening him with getting back with the man she had cheated on him with... and he doesn't even come close to even in any case: their relationship is profoundly unequal, as are their expectations for each other, the latter being severely, almost comically, unbalanced in YJ's favor, and it's telling that she is not willing to endure a billionth of a fraction of what he went through for the sake of the relationship), two because it's simply laughable to talk about this in the same breath as her lying to his face for more than a year -and potentially hiding this fact even after asking him to take her back-. Again, I would have very much preferred a full blown affair with someone that wanted him back, so that she would have to actually struggle to get him back -instead of him trying to get her not to leave him for DK again-: as awful I felt about World of the Married for having them back together, if I recall correctly, at least ML had to sweat for it more than YJ did here, where she merely needed to show up twice and then she was back with HS, and he was the one chasing after her and begging her to stay, again. Not that I think that either in World of the Married or here they should have gotten back with the people that had originally betrayed them, much better situation in A Good Lawyer's Wife or The Magicians where the betrayed spouse/girlfriend has a revenge affair and does not go back with the cheater -again, turnabout is fair play, and they cannot exactly complain of being paid back with their own coin: what goes around comes around, and if someone treated you with no respect, loyalty and honesty (as is the case with the year long deception, and was the case with the husband/boyfriend cheating in those other shows), they are not entitled to get any themselves-. In any case, nothing even comparable to this karmic/poetic justice happened in Coffee Prince, as anyone with a sense of perspective, or a neuron in their skull, would have to acknowledge.

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My review of the show

I love this show. It stays true to what it promises and remained lighthearted all the way. It may not be much plot-wise but the writing for all the characters makes up for it. So for people who like fast-paced plot with tons of action, unfortunately this isn't for you because you might find it too slow or boring for your tastes. But for people who like well-written characters, lighthearted stories about the regular lives of people living in Joseon and are into great cinematography, you should definitely give it a try. One thing I would love to compliment about this show is its use of background music. I love that its pretty much just instrumentals. It complements the scenes really well and doesn't feel overwhelming. Oftentimes pop songs with vocals and lyrics can be so overused in dramas so this is such a breath of fresh air.

The acting is great too. Especially Rowoon who manages to show his comedic range without stepping into the line of overacting. I feel like a lot of actors especially the new ones have a tendency to overact when they have to do comedy but he did such a great job with this. The side characters were great! Cho Yihyun's acting was so-so in the first half, which is understandable since this is her first main lead in a historical, but I think she did improved in the later half.

I guess one slight disappointment would be the chemistry. I think Rowoon did the most he could, to be honest.He made his character being 'in love' quite believable but Cho Yihyun, on the other hand, will need to work on it a little bit more. It's probably due to her lack of experience in the romance genre. But she's still young and probably once she gets more experience in romantic roles, she'll learn how to generate some chemistry with her co-stars. Also contrary to what most think (because I know that she has a lot of shippers from her prev work), I don't think she has chemistry with Lomon either lol. Even in School 2021, I do not think she has chemistry with her co-star as well. I think she needs to work on that the most if she wishes to transition to roles in the romance genre.

Overall, it's an enjoyable drama with interesting side couples as well.

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[will update when it's done]

Not too sure why the drama doesn't seem like it has many viewers with such stellar cast... I've been excited to watch it ever since I saw the trailer. I rush to watch this drama every week, and every time I catch up I just want more!

Plot
People might compare this with Hometown Chachacha with the seaside theme and the main lead going to there to escape from a scandal. Since people like to compare anyway, I think this drama has a better mix of happiness, sweetness and sorrow. While Hometown Chachacha was more heart-fluttering, Welcome to Samdalri is better at invoking emotions in my opinion. The sob story here is also better explained in my opinion. It's not just the main characters' lives you're interested in, you will want to know about everyone!

Cast
You know it's a good drama when you see Shin Hyesun. Kim Mikyung has got to be everyone's favourite ahjumma. I do like Ji Changwook and his acting but I feel like his choice of dramas hasn't been the best ... UNTIL THIS. Good ol' Ji Changwook is back. :)

Music
Beautiful music. Will definitely listen to the OSTs and put them in a playlist. The tears,,,

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Unique drama worth watching!

I really enjoyed My Journey to You. It is not like your run of the mill wuxia. It is highly stylized and the plot is unique. The pacing is good and its only 24 episodes which meant theres never any boring parts! Yu shuxin really surprised me and was quite good as a female assassin completely different from any of her previous roles or what you see of her on variety shows. She really showed her range here and she wont be type-cast into cutesy roles. Even her actions scenes looked realistic! Zhang Linghei was good as the seemingly soft hearted heir (major golden retriever vibes lol). The SFL and SML were amazing with their acting and had smoldering chemistry!

Definitely give this dark wuxia a watch!

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female chef meets doctor and their story

There is no synopsis, but i believe the female lead comes from the future and she knows how to cook. She stands up to her annoying relatives and starts making a name for herself. She comes up with food that people havent had yet like crawfish, chicken wings fries . The first scene is the female and male lead are " caught" waking up together by the female lead's relative.
The male lead is a skilled doctor, who's dad use to serve for the king but due to some people's schemes his dad dies. He is on the quest to clear his dad's name. The female lead is bold, loud , proud and quirky. She gets bullied and a lot of hate because she is so successful.

The leads have chemistry but there is barely any romance. Like maybe 2 kisses in all 24 ep, but this is a mini drama... There was a lot of flirting but thats it lol.

slightly cliche story but still enjoyable. Female lead is successsful , people are jealous, they try to sabotage her, on repeat with the male lead saving our female lead.

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The Heart of Medicine takes a System, not a solo Saviour

This was an unexpected sleeper hit for me and I really enjoyed watching this medical drama. The Heart does not feature doctor as a perfectly heroic McDreamy clad in white-coat armour. Instead, we see a portrayal of different personalities in the specialist field of Cardiology, from Doctors to Nurses and Administrative staff, each with their own unique struggles and hidden backstories, working alongside each other in the setting of a distinguished hospital in the city.

The White-coat Saviour
Within the Heart Centre, the central protagonist is Dr Zhou XiaoFeng (played convincingly by Mark Chao) , an introverted "block-of-ice" who is driven by a sense of perfectionism in everything he does. Under his superior Dr Bai Ji, XiaoFeng works a deputy director at Dongli hospital and is recognised by his colleagues and Head of Department for his reliability, intelligence and sensibility.
Things shake up for him when his bubbly step-sister, Fang XiaoRan (played by Mao Xiaotong), also a Doctor, gets transferred to the same hospital to work in the Intensive Care Unit. Despite their biological ties, XiaoFeng tried his best to avoid XiaoRan as much as he can, while Xiaoran makes no efforts to hide her bursting admiration and affection for her stepbrother in spite of her stepbrother's persistent coldness towards her. Viewers find out later why XiaoFeng seems to treats everyone in the department kindly except for XiaoRan. In her, he sees a shadow of his mother, Dr Fang ZhuQing (played by veteran Joan Chen), a renowned doctor and twice married divorcee, who abandoned him and his father to pursue her specialist training in Pediatric Cardiology when he was a teenager.
To make his life spicier, XiaoFeng also crosses paths with a new hot-headed colleague who gets transferred from another hospital to join the Dongli Hospital Heart Centre. Lin Yi is an impulsive but talented Cardiothoracic Surgeon. Laughably, the real reason behind Lin Yi's transfer is not due to the lack of capable surgeon at the Heart Centre but rather, upon the insistent recommendation of his mentor, Dr Cao, who feels that while Lin Yi's surgical skills are promisingly undeniable, his lack of social graces and emotional intelligence is hindering his career progression. In this new environment, Lin Yi soon finds himself interacting with more non-surgical colleagues outside his usual comfort zone. His arrogance and poor bedside manners soon grate on the nerves of patients and colleagues around him, including XiaoFeng and XiaoRan and this inevitably (repeatedly) lands him into hot soup and sticky situations.

The "Brains" of the Drama
The highlight of the drama lies in the extensive variety of critical cardiac conditions and common heart diseases (From Aortic Dissection, Cardiac Tamponade, Valve prolapse, Infective Endocarditis, Fetal Cardiac Defects etc) presented through the lens of each patient and their backstory. This script-writers do not dumb things down for the viewers by omitting the technical terminology or bypassing the chronological sequence of events surrounding the presentation of each cardiac disorder. Instead, we get to watch the events preceding the presentation of each condition before they land up in the Heart Centre and watch how each patient survives post-intervention during their ICU admission and long term outpatient care. So for pre-medical students who aspire to become healthcare professionals, this drama is invaluable! I would also argue that for lay people who are not interested in becoming Medical doctors, this drama is equally educational and insightful, because each case shines the spotlight on the various problems and challenges in the healthcare system. How a misdiagnosis can arise from an incomplete disclosure of a patient's past medical history, a doctor's negligence can be influenced by their underlying biases and beliefs, or how an ambitious doctor can push for unnecessary intervention for the sake of gaining more academic credit etc. The Heart shows how the public health service system can be abused and exploited by the plebeian, politician and prosecutor where there are loopholes and opportunities to tempt the weak-hearted. A sophisticated set-up is never spared from the honest mistakes made by well-meaning caregivers and medical professionals either. The greatest insight of this drama for its viewers is the realisation that healthcare is really a byproduct of a vast and complex multi-layered system, limited by inherent human weaknesses and subject to the unseen mysteries and uncontrollable forces of nature. Medicine need not always come in the form of an invasive operation, expensive drug or a walking knight with a stethoscope in shining armour.

The "Heart" of the Drama
In case you think The Heart is all cerebral and devoid of any human emotion, it was the humbling maturation of the key characters that formed the real "pulse" for me. Pardon my use of the medical puns.Through the experiences of dealing with his own patients who fight on to live for their lives, XiaoFeng learns to let go of his past grievances and reconciles with his mother and forges a deeper bond with his stepsister. Lin Yi learns to live beyond his father and brother's deaths and not let the fear of inheriting a genetic and debilitating heart condition dictate his obsessive nature to be in control of every aspect of his life, including the care of his patients. The bright-spirited XiaoRan encounters her fair share of tribulation when she gets accidentally exposed to a HIV patient. The internal cardiologists learn to work alongside the cardiothoracic surgeons as allies instead of viewing them as opposing enemies. The story ends beautifully with the characters choosing to fully live in the present while embracing the unknowns in the future. Lin Yi and XiaoRan decide to give their relationship a chance at romance and Xiaofeng turns down a pay-rise at another prestigious hospital to pursue the next phase of his career to in a rural hospital that is short of experienced cardiologists. You could say, the 3 key doctors decided to go with their hearts in the end.

Summary
Being a healthcare professional myself, I like how this drama strived to show a pretty realistic and layered portrayal of Doctors and allied healthcare workers as flawed humans with noble ideals and aspirations. Not a bingeable-till-2am kind of drama but definitely an unforgettable one.

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Good drama

Overall, a good drama.

Personally, I would have liked to see SFL struggle more to get back SML (actaully, to be honest I would have very much preferred him to look at other options and conclude the obvious, namelythat he could do better than someone that would treat him as she did, deceiving him for more than a year, disappearing for two years without a word, and then have the gall to ask him to get back together after she broke up with the guy she cheated with... and he could do better with anyone else, or even by himself) or at least a stronger love triangle where SFL actually faced a challenge. I mean, there was more struggle and uncertainty with the This Week My Wife Is Having An Affair love triangle, and it was basically an afterthought. I wished that SML had channeled Astrid from the ending of the Crazy Rich Asian movie and demonstrated he had a little spine, self dignity and self respect.

The fact is, SFL doesn't really have to face the consequences of her actions, because such consequences are a token resistence that crumbles basically in their first meeting, then he takes her back. And that happens in the first episodes, after which she is no longer the one that chases after him and tries to get back together, he is the one that chases after her, from going to her apartment after their first intimate encounter to literally begging her not to run off with DK, the man she had cheated with, once again. This is insane. Even in something completely ludicrous, where FL should have definitely not taken him back, like World of the Married, the cheating partner has to go through more hoops in order to get a new chance, while here, absurdly, its the SML that runs after her anyway and tries to convince her to stay, after basically folding immediately when she asked him to take her back, despite the pain and betrayal she had put through -what he had to put up with was orders of magnitude worse, she just walzes back in his life after more than one year of cheating and two years off with her lover... I mean, they don't even discuss why she is back: did she have a change of heart, and if then why? Did the relationship just not pan out and so he is the backup? Did DK cheat on her with the briefly mentioned model? One really is forced to try to convince themselves of the first option based on what little evidence the show provides, and the "why is she back" bit is barely touched on-.

I mean, compare this with the hoops the SFL in Backstreet Rookie has to go through, after merely kissing another guy and briefly leaving: there we at least see the reason she is back, we see that she finally learned to appreciate ML (and she never really loved the other guy, anyway) and before she didn't realize how committed the latter was to her, and she goes back (and never really gets a chance). Here we don't know why she is back (did things not pan out and he is the fallback? Or did she suddenly realize she really loved him? But she said she loved DK when she run off with him, and seemed to know all along how much HS loved her and how she was his entire world, so it's not as if she knows anything more about him than when she intentionally deceived him for more than a year while seeing DK behind his back, and run off with DK for two years without saying another word to HS... I really would have liked to be given a reason beyond her saying that she wants to get back together).

This is exemplified by the flippant way his concerns around DK are dismissed/made fun of. He tries to play it cool, but is disturbed that she is still talking with the guy (and meeting up one on one, with a creepily intimate vibe and her giving clever replies and not really putting the foot down and drawing boundaries, when he is still trying to win her back). I would have been okay with saying that his advances were inappropriate and she was going to walk away if he didn't stop hitting on her (she banters with him and makes clever comebacks, frankly it was more like flirting, and I would say that she was at least indulging his flirting if not partecipating -by the end, definitely participating and stringing him along to make HS jealous, which given DK was the guy she cheated with for a year was simply insanely disrespectful, though I liked the jealousy on *her* part, high time she understood she couldn't take him for granted, though unfortunately in practice she could safely take him for granted and he was back to begging and grovelling in two seconds flat-), though I would have very much preferred if she had shown some consideration for HS's obvious insecurities and understood that this was a bad idea in the first place.

Here we are not talking about indulging or pandering to some irrational jealousy. The key point here is that no, her being with HS is not enough to reassure him that he is the one she had chosen, because prior to that, while they were together, she cheated on HS with DK for more than a year, so clearly her being with HS was insufficient to assume she wouldn't cross any boundaries in the past: it would have been a completely different situation had she decided to break things off with HS and then purse a relationship with DK, in that case it would have hurt, but he could have at least trusted that if she had developed feelings for someone else she would talk to him about it and not double time him. He simply cannot make that assumption, because she has shown herself to be the kind of person that would keep her foot in two shoes and lie to his face for more than a year (for that matter, I was about to say "chose him over DK", but it's not clear whether this was because she relized she loved him and not DK, or because DK cheated on her with the underwear model, or she broke up because of something else DK did, so it's not clear that the "choice" is not a convenient fallback... I chose to go with the first option because the alternatives would be even more unpalatable and even more taking him for granted).

Given that betrayal and the fact that DK is still trying to get back with her, this is not simply mantaining a friendly relationship with an ex-bf, it's not a separate matter. And if HS feels that he has to keep his mouth shut about his feelings to be able to stay with her, and when he tries to express them he is not taken seriously, there is a problem. If YJ has no idea that HS would be bothered by her taking calls from the man she had been seeing behind his back for more than a year and agree to one-on-one meetings and lunch, then she would be completely insensitive. I was about to say that nobody could have expected him to be relaxed about that that quickly, but that was before knowing of the betrayal and about YJ using DK to make HS jealous... after knowing that, I would switch that quickly to ever, and say that the phrase is validated, because nobody did expect that, and in particular she did not: she knows perfectly well how HS truly feels about DK. When he comments on him wanting her back because she is a talented artist, she says it's a surprise to hear him say something nice about the guy (considering he had been seeing his gf behind his back for more than a year and she run off with him for two, what a surprise). And later on she exploits the pain he felt with regards to DK to remind him that she had lived with the guy in their NY house and he still has feelings for her, and she might be starting to reciprocate, to make him jealous, before outright telling him that she is going back to him.

To be honest, if we were to speak about practical advice I would give someone in HS's situation, it would be to run for the hills and choose anyone else (or nobody and stay single). A perfect life of two rich artistic guys with nice houses, the dream life/couple? And YJ and HS being even more unhappy than FL? Well, in reality I would say that HS was the only miserable one, and he had perfectly good reasons to be: that completely ignores the fact that there is more to life than money and YJ betrayed HS, while nobody stabbed FL in the back in such a manner. Her knowing him so well as to share something like the little foot fetish and choosing to lie to his face for more than a year, knowing full well about how much he loved her and trusted her, and self servingly exploiting and breaking that trust, and then running off for two without a word, and later exploiting knowing which buttons to push to hurt him with his insecurities regardind DK... it all makes her actions all the more damning (in Backstreet Rookie at least SFL was confused about ML's commitment to her and didn't realize how much he had sacrificed for her, here she knew all about his feelings and took him for granted, deceiving him anyway and then later intentionally using DK to hurt him).

I would have liked to see a real triangle, for HS to have had other actual relationships and given it a real try. It just seems mightily unfair that he would wait for her for years and not have the chance to truly explore and discover whether someone else could make him happy... with him being strong armed and pressured into a decision and not having any experience with a relatioship with any other girl, I really cannot say he is making an informed decision (and in fact imho anyone else would have been a better choice, given that they had not betrayed him in such a horrific manner, in fact staying alone would have been preferable). More than that, that way YJ would have had to actually do some work to win HS back, while this way she essentially just shows up and asks. One cannot even talk about her evolving: she still thinks that it's okay for someone to stab people in the back to get what they want (she tells ML that had he really been interested her being his cousin's gf wouldn't have mattered and he would have tried to steal her away for real... as if people simply acted on their impulses with no consideration for the fact that they are hurting people that they don't know and never did anything to them, or people they know and care about, and getting what they wanted by any means necessary is the only thing that matters... would have liked to see how she would have felt like had she been on the receiving end of such a life philosophy and had someone really been trying to take HS away from her, rather than it being HS's one sided crush... this is simply basic golden rule stuff, treat others like you want to be treated, and people being able to separate their emotions from whether pursuing someone is a good idea and wouldn't want to come between two people in an established relationship, and I would have liked ML to push back on her hogwash and restate that no, as he told his gf, the fact that he is HS's cousin mattered, he is not a sociopath that is completely self serving and does not mind stabbing people -in this case family he cares about- in the back in the pursue of his goals... though his flirting was still inappropriate -it was not clear to me that HS truly didn't mind when he put his head in YJ's lap, but it's something ML should have wondered about, though maybe it's something he did, and in fact he did seem aware of the fact that he and his flirting were not being taken seriously- and I appreciated FL calling him out on it), she just decided for some reason that now she does not want DK anymore and wants HS again.

It's not clear to me that he can expect this not to happen in the future, and to be completely honest I guess that nobody can guarantee not to fall out of love with someone and in love with someone else, and in such a case it would be perfectly fine to be upfront and honest about it and break things off, the worry is whether she would be like last time and deceive him for more than a year: to be clear, had she simply dumped him and run off for two years, while unpleasant for HS, I wouldn't have had a problem with it, because she would have been honest and really the only alternative if she was in love with DK and not with HS would have been what she chose, namely lying to HS' face for more than a year. If she still thinks that what she wants is all that matters and she can stab the people she loves in the back to get it (as she implied when talking to ML about his crush on her), then with that mentality it's not clear that she wouldn't lie to HS again if a similar situation to the one with DK arose in the future, maybe being in DK's shoes this time around and hurting someone else as well, like she suggested ML to hurt his cousin by pursuing his girlfriend for real. The notion that one might think that despite one's feelings and emotions and what they want/wish for, there are other considerations, and they don't want to be the type of person that would come between two people in an established relationship, or be willing, in order to get what they want, to unfairly treat someone they didn't know and that never did anything to them, or stab a family member and someone he cares about in the back, as if wanting something or someone is a free pass, a get out of jail free card, and merely desiring something or someone wsa a universal justification in and of itself. Again, the double standard of thinking that this is all perfectly okay if she does it to someone else, but it's not if even much less is done to her. That's the reason I would have liked her to have some real competition, rather than simply someone that had no interest in coming between her and her boyfriend and was completely unthreatening.

It's absurd that she doesn't have to do anything to win the person she deceived for more than a year back other than show up and ask, and he is the one that needs to beg her to stay, again. Once again, it's not her fighting to get him back, it's him fighting to get her to stay -and, after putting up with more than a year of betrayals, he needs to beg her not to run off to the lover she cheated on him with *again*, when she was the one that asked him to take her back? After more than a year of lies and running off for two years without a word, she gets to come back into his life just by asking once and barely saying sorry, and he has to grovel and beg her not to leave him again for the man she had cheated with?-. I simply find it absurd that she basically didn't need to face any challenge to get him back, she just had to show up and ask twice.

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A good thriller, and action drama but the editing was a little meh

I've seen a lot of edits of this show on TikTok, and now, after finishing it, I get the hype for this show. They did a nice job depicting the student life: immature kids who always whine and are out of touch in reality but slowly mature as they understand what is going on. I'm glad that the aliens here are interesting to know and watch, since in the other fantasy dramas I have seen, the "fantasy" or "sci-fi" parts were so boring. A lot of characters were so annoying, but a lot of them are also exciting to see. The action scenes are so good, but since the students are either arguing or complaining, it gets irritating. The cliffhanger was nice; since this has a second season, it would make you curious about what will happen and how they will end the invasion of these unknown creatures. A 9/10 for me.

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