Good Doctor ep 3: Dramatic Review

Silly, silly Dongsaeng.  How could you have doubted this drama?  You think that the almighty Joo Won would have taken a role in a drama bomb (hey, ignore Level 7 Civil Servant smartalecks)?  Yeah, but it would appear that my uncertainty in the initial premiering of this drama was unfounded, because this week brought us two pretty dang good episodes.  Hearts were wrenched, tears of sorrow and triumph alike were shed, and even some giggles could be heard echoing down the halls of our fictional hospital.  All of this combined gives this humble blogger hope for the future of this drama.  Please let it be true that even the tiniest doubt was founded in nothing more than just the fear of enduring 20 episodes of reviewing the drama equivalent of a ghost town, complete with tumbleweeds blowing through a sun-baked dusty wasteland.  I've so been there and don't want to go back.  Ever.  No matter how cute the lead is promising the story seems. 
{{What?  Like you've never watched a less-than-stellar drama just because of a super hottie?  Puh-lease.  I bet you have a bridge to sell me too or something.  I'm not buying it.  Oh no, can't pull one over on ol' Dongsaeng here.  Nuh uh.  No siree.  I'm on to you.  May as well come clean.  We've all done it, there's no point in trying to hide it any longer.}}

Hey, so, like, speaking of clean, know what else is like really clean?  An operating room.  Yeah.  Like one where they operate on children.  We should talk about that for a bit, shouldn't we?  {{How'd you like that seamless segway there?  Pretty stealthy, huh?}}  {{P.S.  Can you tell I'm in a mood today?  Not enough sleep coupled with a headache and coming out of some off-limit-treats-induced sick days has left me all roses and sunshine.  Maybe this post should come with a "Cranky Ahjumma" warning attached to it.  Nah.  I'll behave.  A snide or snarky remark may sneak its way in every now and again, but I'll do my best to keep the rainbow-vomiting unicorns puking as normal.  You'll hardly even notice it, unless I point it out like I'm doing now.}}

So, yeah, uhm, the drama.   No more tangents.  Tangents over.  Done.  Complete.  Finished.  History.  "History, history..."  That reminds me, I have a ticket for KCON and can't go and am really sad and stressed about it.  So if you know of anyone who is dying to go and wants a super snazzy I'm-gonna-cry-to-see-it-go VIP2 floor ticket for cost, well, then let me know.  *sob*

Okay, now for reals.  It's drama time.

Dongsaeng's Drama Doctoring of ep 3

1.  What?  You Weren't Doing Anything with It Anyway

Anyone who has spent any time with small children has probably witnessed this phenomenon - a child completely ignores a toy until the second another child picks it up and then the screaming begins.  Well, apparently these doctors do the same thing.  HPB Doc has a preemie patient in the NICU who is seriously ill, but he tells the parents that there's nothing he can do to save the baby and to prepare themselves for the inevitable.  Well, there's not exactly nothing that can be done, he just doesn't want to do it because the chance for success is too low.  Dude, it's a 20% chance.  20% is still something.  So what happens?  Shi On intervenes.  He tells the parents that while the HPB department can't save their baby, the pediatric surgeons can.  Namely Hot Doc Dr Kim Do Han.  This starts a whole mess of trouble for everyone.  And a lot of these faces.

2.  Really?
The playground analogies don't stop there.  After all this comes out, a couple of the doctors take it upon themselves to corner Shi On in the men's room and hassle him.  Bullying?  In a hospital?  Aren't these people supposed to be intelligent, highly-trained and professional individuals?  And they're bullying an autistic co-worker in the bathroom like punk kids?  I love how Shi On is supposed to be the one with a 10 year old mentality, yet all the "normal" folk are showing that they aren't any better when it comes to maturity.  I loved Dr Cha's intervention when she busts in and asks them if they're trying to steal his lunch money.  At least someone around there has some sense. She's still mad at Shi On, but at least she's handling it like an adult and not bullying the guy.

3.  Robot

There's a lot of focus on talk about Shi On and his capabilities or lack thereof.  Hot Doc's opinion on the matter is that he is a robot - programmed to act but unable to think for himself.  Yoon Seo hears this and tries to form her own opinion, but after observing for awhile, decides that Hot Doc is probably right.  Poor Shi On.  What do you think?  Robot or not?

4.  Running Scared

It's fun to see bad guys running scared, but also scary because they'll usually fight back.  Like this guy - the Chief of Pediatric Surgery, aka Dr Skeleton Face.  He's in some hot water and having trouble at work.  His job is being threatened.  His errors being covered up.  He's not winning many to his side.  So what does he do?  He employs an underling to act as his spy.  This plays a role later on when said "spy" is used to bait Hot Doc into taking on the NICU surgery and thus jeopardizing his job as well as that of the Director.

5.  Bedside Manner
Sometimes he's a rock star, other times, well, he's not.  There's no denying that Shi On is a genius in the operating room.  He's already been saving lives and doing good despite everyone's mistrust and doubts.  And it looks like he's about to score another win when a young patient is throwing a fit because he wants to eat pizza.  Bratty Brat needs a stern reprimand in my opinion, but Shi On takes another approach and begins to bond with the boy over his Transformer toys.  All is going swimmingly until Shi On asks to borrow the toy and the boy flips.  Bad turns to worse then as Shi On accidentally breaks the toy.  The kid is screaming, the mom is freaking (lady, if I were you I'd be more concerned with your total brat kid than the doctor accidentally and unintentionally upsetting your child) and Shi On is of course all to blame once again.  It's seriously Pick On Shi On day at the hospital today.  It culminates in the moms sitting around gossiping and getting themselves all worked up into a frenzy and then demanding that their doctor be changed.  They see Shi On as an unfit physician and caregiver.  Even the lone mom's voice saying "but he saved my child's life" isn't enough to sway or pacify them.  One young patient sees a bit of what Shi On is going through and tries to lift his spirits and let him know that they at least accept him.  All the kids gather and pull a cute little trick on Shi On, only he doesn't react very well.  He takes their playfulness as teasing and runs off.  Can you blame the guy?  He's only known bullying from everyone in his life outside of his brother and the Director.

6.  These Two
It would appear that there is some history between our leading lady and Hot Doc and we get a flashback as she carries his drunk butt home one night and sees his collection of photographs.  It's at the beginning of her residency and they're all out together one night when she gets tanked.  As he's piggybacking her home, she comes very very very close to confessing to him.  So she has obviously been crushing on him for a long time and he's most likely crushing on her.  Lucky girl.  I hate her.

(Just kidding. I don't actually hate her.  I just think she's one lucky, lucky girl)

7.  Oh
Before he's all liquored up and she's helping him home, Hot Doc and the Director are sitting together at a street stall, sharing some shots and shooting the breeze.  Hot Doc comes right out and asks the Director why Shi On is so important to him, why he's always protecting and defending him and fighting so hard in his corner.  The man has laid his own job on the line in defense of Shi On after all.  The Director doesn't really respond with specifics, but you can see it written all over his face that there's some sort of history there.  Sure enough, later on we get a glimpse of just how these two met.  Shi On is having a nightmare, back in the mine cave in where his brother died.  The rescuer is there trying to save his big brother.  And the rescuer is...you guessed it, the Director.  Insert hand into chest cavity and twist.

And if that wasn't interesting enough, we get this mysterious scene as well.  A contemplative Hot Doc is scanning through his books when he takes out an old photograph of him with another young man.  Remember how the first time we met Hot Doc back in ep 1, he was visiting the memorial of this young man.  I think it's fairly safe to assume that this is a brother that died.  Then I'm going to take that safe assumption and go out on a limb and say that something was special about this brother.  I think he too was autistic or in some other way similar to Shi On.  Just a working theory at this stage, but wouldn't it fit?

8.  Surgery
As mentioned above in #4, Dr Skele has commissioned a spy for himself and uses this spy to goad Hot Doc into doing the surgery.  The Dirty Dealing Threesome (they need a better name, I'm open for suggestions) want the Director out and they see this surgery as the perfect tool.  The chance for success is so minimal, he's sure to fail, and when he does, they get rid of all of their problems - the Director, Hot Doc and Shi On.  So yeah, spy guy plays the "you're not good enough to perform this surgery" card which lights a fire under Hot Doc who then steals the patient away from the HPB department.  It's not a simple exchange, major hospital protocols are bruised in the process which leads to a hearing.  If he goes through with the surgery, bad things will happen whether or not the patient survives.  At this point I believe that we, as potential patients of the medical field, should be quaking in our boots when we see the politics and red tape that surrounds healthcare.  Kind of scary.  You would think it would be a no-brainer and that all would be seeking the same thing - the best interest of the patient, but no, they're all playing roulette with this child's life for the sake of their pride and careers.  If that doesn't make you sick, well, I don't know what will.  Anyway, there's a whole lot of political back and forth and wheelings and dealings.  Finally, the barriers are removed enough for the surgery to begin once the patient takes a turn for the worse and there is no more time to waste. 

Watching the watchers watch gives us interesting insight into their personalities. Some are more evil than others.  Some are better doctors and some need to have their license stripped away immediately.  And one is impossible to read (but more on that in the next episode). 

As the surgery commences, it at first is going very well, but then a complication arises, one that does not have an immediate fix and we're left with the dramatic cliffhanger of "what can be done Doctor?" to which the reply is, "nothing."  DUHN DUHN DUHN!  (ooh, it feels nice to break those out again!)

And there is episode 3 for you.  And wow, there's some stuff I didn't even get to, but I'm sure we will be addressing as the drama continues.  There is a lot in this one.  Melos are tougher to recap just because there's so many layers of story going on all at once.  Sorry if I missed something you wanted to see here, but don't worry, if it's important, it will certainly come up again later. 

Now, I will wrap this up so that I can get episode 4 done and then we'll be wrapped up for this week with this drama, just in time for the new episodes on Monday and Tuesday - yay!  I'm telling you, if you're going to watch currently airing dramas, it's so important to get ones that air on different days.  The fact that I have two Mon/Tues, two Wed/Thurs and one weekend drama as well as one already aired to fill in the gaps is the only thing getting me between these episodes.  They're just all so fun and I'm feeling like a very happy, well-fed and possibly spoiled addicKt these days, and I couldn't be happier for it ^_^







 

 Remember that "mood" I spoke of earlier?  Want to see what this post almost was?

;)

:P