Good Doctor ep 7: Dramatic Review

Oh you guys, it has been just that kind of week around the Dongsaeng household.  Little Popper 2, at the ripe old age of 10, can now lay claim to having contracted "The Kissing Disease".  How does a 10 year old get mono?  I don't know nor do I really want to know.  But mono he has and two weeks of nuttiness it has given us.  The best part was when he grew spots, lots and lots of spots.  And then would scream when said spots would start itching.  I really could have used a house call from our Good Doctor Joo Won this week.  He could have brought along Hot Doc too, I wouldn't have minded.  We needed a lot of medical attention around here after all.  The more the merrier.  Except for Dr Skeleton Face, not him.  He's creepy and a big jerk.  I wouldn't want him coming near my kid.  Shi On and Hot Doc though?  Ooh yeah, doctor doctor!  ;)  Anyway, so that's why this is late because I spent all of yesterday holding cold compresses on my son as he fought the crazy itchies from his fun rash.  I lead a very exciting life, don't I?  Be jealous, be very jealous.  Of course I was eating bon bons simultaneously because that's what we moms do, isn't it?

What did you think of this week's Good Doctor episodes?  Are you still feeling this show?  Do you eagerly anticipate Monday and Tuesdays?  Stalk the subbers?  What's your take?  I'm dying to know.  Mostly because I want to know if I was the only one bored this week.  Maybe it was just me watching after a long, hard day that followed a lot of other long, hard days.  I want to like it, and it's not that I am not, but I just found myself realizing somewhere in ep 8 that I was bored.  B-O-R-E-D.  Bored and ready for something to change.  It was more me just wondering what the point of this drama was.  Where is our focus?  Shi On and his struggles as he tries to achieve his dream of becoming a surgeon?  The inner workings of hospital politics that oughta make any patient or potential patient shudder with fear?  The love story that is heating up to lukewarm?  Where should we be zeroing in our attentions here?  Or is it really just going to be the same thing episode after episode?  A case, some politics and some Shi On struggles with none of them really taking the driver's seat?  I need a direction here peepoles!  And I'm just going to tell you, it better not be all the politic stuff because I am soooo over that and not interested.  I'm starting to be afraid that it is though since easily half of the cast is there for those reasons only.  So what do you think?  Am I being unfairly harsh this week?  Has this drama won you over heart and soul and I'm just crazy?  At this point I'm wondering if it's just a vessel to show off Joo Won's superb skills, and superb they most certainly are.  Really.  He's a delight to watch, but I am needing more at this point.  I need something to really grab me and make me count down the hours until Monday.  I shouldn't be watching Master's Sun first every week. {{oops, I probably shouldn't have let my Good Doctor infidelity slip there, but yes, this week, Master's Sun came first and Good Doctor was just because I had to.  I hate watching dramas because I feel I have to.  That's no fun.  I want fun!!!  Make me gasp!  Make me feel!  Make me want to not just come back for more, but RUN back for more.  MORE!  Give us more!  Plllleeeeaasse!}}

Well, with that glowing review to start us out, how about we now talk about the episode?  *blushing*

Dongsaeng's Drama Doctoring of ep 7

1.  I Cannot Tell a Lie

Shi On is blamed for leaving the door to the puppy girl's room unlocked and for all the damage that is done after she escapes.  He is understandably upset when it appears that no one believes him.  He insists that he is innocent and that he cannot lie, a fact confirmed later on by the Director.  He can handle people not liking him, but he cannot handle people not believing him. 

2.  Ousted

It appears that the plot to frame Shi On and get him and the Director ousted is successful.  Shi On is promptly booted and the Director resigns as per his promise.  There are some that fight to keep him though, so his dismissal isn't as immediate.

3.  That's a Good Question and One I'd Like to See Answered

I mention this because a point was brought up by Shi On that I for one have always struggled with in dramas - the idea of responsibility.  Basically, the Director tells Shi On that even if he's not guilty, he still should take responsibility.  Huh?  This seems to be a reoccuring idea in dramas - the idea that one is guilty when something goes wrong, even if it had nothing to do with them.  For example, father is on his way to meet a daughter for dinner and is struck by a car as he crosses the road and the daughter is therefore to blame for his death.  What?  What kind of crazy sense does that make?  We see things like this time and time again - people having to accept responsibility even when they're not responsible.  Dude, I'd be terrified all the time if this idea held true here.  It's bad enough trying to not screw up on my own, but to think that if someone else screwed up I could have to take the blame even if the truth was known?  I cannot wrap my mind around this.  It made me feel relieved when Shi On, being the genius that he is and all, couldn't either.  Thank you.  I'm glad someone finally called this whole practice out for the nonsense that I feel it to be.

4.  World's Worst Mentor

As he's leaving in shame for a crime he didn't commit, Shi On receives some words of wisdom from his supposed mentor.  "Don't bother to say goodbye to anyone since they don't have fond memories of you."  "Don't cause anyone any more problems anymore".  And my favorite, "don't ever think that you are capable of doing something on your own".  Sheesh.  This guy is in the wrong profession.  He should look into creating de-motivational posters or something.  I know he thinks that he's protecting Shi On in his own convoluted way, but still...dude, that was harsh.
 
5.  Dat's Just Not Right

A voice, a loud, obnoxious, toxic voice is heard echoing down the corridors of the hospital.  It's a voice that causes our poor little puppy girl to shake and shrink in terror.  It's her auntie, there to collect her.  Never mind that the child just came out of surgery, Auntie is angry and ready to move her niece somewhere else.  This lady committed what the Child Protective Service agent called the worst case of child neglect/abuse he had ever seen but was let off with just a warning and is ready to take this poor sick child away.  Needless to say, the staff of the hospital put up quite a fight in her defense, and won...at least for now.

6.  What About the Children?
Shi On has left.  He's been fired and takes off.  Some are happy, some are not.  Dr Cha is one who is not happy.  She runs after him and tries to catch him, but he ignores her.  She's incredibly upset by the whole circumstance.  Aww, looks like she cares about him!

Another group upset by Shi On's dismissal are his young patients, at least a handful of them.  Puppy girl especially, but also the young lady who sneaks out to go find him.  It becomes very obvious that, whatever the parents may feel, he has made a positive impression on his patients.  The ones that know him love him and want him to be their doctor.  They know that he is innocent as they saw him lock the door to puppy girl's room before they left.  Shi On clearly has a way with these kids that the other doctors do not.

7.  Mom

Mystery lady is indeed Shi On's mother and Dr Cha eventually lets her know that she knows.  Shi On has blocked out most of the memories of his childhood due to all the trauma he experienced.  This includes his mother.  He cannot remember his mother (or dirt bag father) and does not recognize her even though she has been following him wherever he went his whole life.  She's always there watching over him and waiting for the day he remembers her.  Wow.  I don't even know what to say about that yet as I don't have the full story.  We know that dad wasn't a nice guy, but we don't know the full story about how mom fit into all of that.  For whatever reasons though, the only family member Shi On has any memory of is his big brother.  There's gotta be a reason for that.

8.  Crushed and Crushing
Yoon Seo is broken up about what has happened with Shi On and his job.  She takes him out drinking and gets herself plastered.  He piggyback's her home and sweetly takes care of her.  The boy is definitely falling for her. 

Yeah, so I cut some stuff out.  A ton of this episode dealt with all the political shenanigans going around the hospital.  What we have are still good guys, bad guys and that one we still can't quite pin.  It's complicated and frankly, not very interesting to me.  So I skipped talking about it this time.  There will be more to come, rest assured on that.  I also didn't get into how Shi On was found innocent using the record for the electronic door.  At the end of the episode, we find that the aunt of puppy girl has returned, this time with a police officer in order to claim her "precious pet".  There is an argument and we end with Shi On appearing out of the blue and insisting vehemently that the girl will not be leaving.  There, now I mentioned them.  I just really had wanted to end on a love-y note.  Aren't they so cute up there?  I'm ready to see this part of the story progress more.  Enough with the boring politics and junk - give me Joo Won going gaga for a girl.  Oh yeah!

Episode 8 coming up next!