This review may contain spoilers
Underwhelming
This show dealt well with controversial topics - euthanasia, assisted suicide, end of life issues. It is a sensitive topic in Korea, at least at the time the show was made. Often when a show deals with sensitive topics, they tend to become didactic.Plot: fairly good. It did drop the ball on a major subplot - the election of the new CEO of the hospital. From being talked about in almost every episode, it was “resolved” with one brief conversation in the next to last episode. The last episode was just odd. I guess they were trying to wrap up all the characters’ story arcs, but it felt forced and under explicated. For example, Dr. Cha (John) dropped out of contact for 3 years and the reason given was that he was getting healthy. That’s no reason to ghost people who care about him, especially the woman he says he loves.
Characters: Kang Shi Young - she oversteps boundaries all the time, snooping in Dr. Cha’s desk and his computer and following him. This is supposed to endear her to him. I never saw any chemistry between her and Dr. Cha, and found their age gap and professional relationship problematic for a romance.
The rest of the characters were ok, serving as comedic foils or for the FL and ML to react with.
Acting: FL - no matter her emotion, her facial expressions (most of the time) remained the same. She could be sad, happy, irritated - just the same face almost. ML - he was ok, but I’ve seen him do a better job in other dramas.
Not the best drama I’ve watched. For medical shows, I thought Hospital Playlist was better. However, my husband really liked Dr. John.
Was this review helpful to you?
Growing up and falling in love
Positives: no toxic relationships. There is a lot of plot giveaways - for example in the opening scenes we see a wedding, so we know from the beginning where the story is headed. Acting was good. The actors captured the awkwardness of being in high school and falling in love/like. It was not all love scenes, though. There is deep friendships and family respect. The story does not drag out as in too many dramas and each episode is 30ish minutes. Sub titles (English) are well done; I only saw one mistake.Negatives: at least one continuity issue - Jiang Jia is wearing one winter coat and then in the continuation of the scene, she has switched to another coat. Oftentimes, the plot is too coincidental. And as usual in Asian dramas, the female leads have an inordinate amount of winter coats! 🧥 Lastly, the scenery is not always consistent with the time of year. It’s snowing , but the bush in the background has spring flowers. It’s January, but all the trees have their leaves.
Summary: A pleasant, quick series with no excessive drama. Just real life teens growing up, and finding their way in the world. And a realistic ending without silliness. I don’t rewatch shows, so my rewatch value is 1.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Poorly directed
I really wanted to like this show, but there were so many problems with the world building that you were thrown out of the story, thinking, “that doesn’t make sense.” If you are someone who doesn’t care if the story/plot makes a lot of sense or offers something new, then this drama is for you. Each episode, from what I’ve seen, consists of the writer/director wondering which trope or situation they will include. Below are 4 examples of what I’m saying.1. The tired trope of a woman with fine skin, delicate bone structure, and thin frame passing herself off as an adult man. No one notices because her hairstyle and clothes are masculine. Sitting with her legs apart doesn’t make her look manly.
2. The female lead has been captured and escapes. The ML runs after her. They start by a river and a nice forest. Soon they are running through the dangerous desert. (Lost in the desert, surviving without water). A sandstorm comes. She is buried but emerges with every hair in place. He is flat on the ground, laying neatly. No one is hurt by flying grains of sand. They walk for hours/days (unclear) even though they didn’t run far to get in the desert.
3. Just as they see trees, they are attacked by wolves! She manages to miraculously make a bow and arrows with enough draw power to kill a wolf. Amazing!
4. Later (episode 3), the ML and his buddy are in danger from their enemies. He sends her off quickly to ask for help from a friend. However, she decides to take the time to put on female clothes and fix her hair nicely, complete with jewelry. No rational reason exists for this.
Many more things make no sense, I just could not continue. There are so many shows to choose from, I couldn’t spend my time on this one.
Was this review helpful to you?
