Dramatic Friday Review: Dr Jin episode 3

Well, well, well.  I wasn't planning on reviewing this one again so soon, but looking at it, last week's review of Dr Jin was our top read post for the week.  Guess that means I'm back for another round.  Hey, gotta give the people what they want.  And if it's Dr Jin that will keep 'em coming, well, then, I guess it's Dr Jin that I'll be reviewing.

Now, this one had less to make fun of then the first two episodes. Not to say that there wasn't anything laughable here, but I missed my Brain Baby terribly.  I hope it comes back soon.  I want to know more about it.  But for now, we'll dabble in a little rustic Joseon medicine.

Remember where we left off last time?  Dr Jin was about to lose his head...literally.  Then the Left State Counselor, Kim Byung Hee (who I like to call Jaejoon's Bad Dad), conveniently collapses and passes out.

The Royal Doctor says it's just a little bump on the head and he's been outside all day - too much excitement, let's just take him home and let him rest.  Dr Jin however thinks that it could be a chronic subdural hematoma.  He starts listing off symptoms that Byung Hee would have had and they all fit.  He's pretty convinced of it.  So much so that he puts his own life on the line.  "Hey guys, if I'm wrong, go ahead and kill me."  I mean, what's he got to lose?  He's already sitting on the executioners block.

Kyung Tak is convinced.  He sides with Dr Jin over the royal doctor (the symptoms all fit after all) and off they go.

Here's a screenshot that maybe wasn't exactly necessary, but it's Jaejoong.  I will never miss an opportunity to throw some eye candy in to the mix.  Blood and guts and medical gore or the most gorgeous man to ever walk the face of this planet?  Yeah, no contest.

And the surgery begins.  Okay Dr Jin, now's your time to shine.  Shine like you've never shone before.  Shine like your life depends on it.

This sight never gets old.  Hammering a giant spike into a skull.  Yummy.

The first hole is empty.  No hematoma.  Oh poops.  Whatcha go'n do now Dr Hotshot?  Why, drill another hole of course!  Give the guy a break.  It's not like he has any imaging equipment to see where the actual hematoma is.  He's taking a stab in the dark.  A stab with a giant spike and hammer.

Kyung Tak doesn't take too kindly to this idea.  He whips out his pistol.

She's obviously in shock at the sight of his pistol.

{Do NOT go there Dongsaeng...just don't do it.  I know it's tough...Jaejoong...pistol...but you must...resist...temptation...!}

Kyung Tak gets so worked up when Dr Jin starts cutting open his dear papa's head again that he actually fires that pistol.  Of course he misses, but he promises that if this new hole doesn't reveal the hematoma, the next shot will not miss.

I had to laugh at how squeamish the Royal Doctor was at the sight of blood.  Pansy!

Luckily for Dr Jin, the second hole reveals a hematoma just as he had suspected.  Everyone is amazed.  Suddenly he's the hero not a criminal.  Kyung Tak tells him that he has proved himself to be a doctor as he claimed and one with great skills.  However, until he reveals who he is and how he gained these great skills, the police will be watching him closely.

Again, another superfluous shot of my Hero.  It's my blog, I'll put up as many shots of him as I want, so neener neener.

Dr. Jin gets invited over for a sleepover.  Living with the constable's fiancee?  Yeah, that's going to win him points with Kyung Tak.

We then have a scene where Kyung Tak goes to his father's bedside.  He obviously cares for this man who treats him so poorly.  Aw, what a sweetheart Jaejoong, oops, I mean Kyung Tak is.  Devoted bastard son to his bully of a father.

Then big brother comes charging in - raging like a bull!  Talk about being mistreated!  You think Dad's bad?  Big brother Kim Dae Gyun is a piece of work.  He screams at Kyung Tak for listening to Dr Jin over the Royal Doctor.

He also doesn't miss any opportunity to remind his little brother of his illegitimacy.  Constantly.  Yeah, this guy's a real winner.

Poor Kyung Tak.  He just can't get any respect.  Like it's his fault his dad hooked up with a concubine, sheesh!

After the brother's square off, we jump forward a few days to a party - a feast to celebrate Byung Hee's recovery.

The gisaeng Choon Hong enters and Dae Gyun is struck by her beauty.  Not in a romantic way.  The guy's a pig.  A dirty, rotten, no good, slimy, filthy pig.  You can practically hear him grunt.  Gross.

Meanwhile, Dr Jin is getting ready for the party.  He puts on proper clothes that we find out Young Rae stayed up all night altering for him.

She also does his hair - adding a horsehair extension so that he can have a proper topknot.

On the way to the party, they have a little discussion about how Young Hwi hasn't passed his exams yet after several attempts.  His sister claims that it's not because he lacks in intelligence or studies, but because the rich and powerful use their money to buy positions.  Young Hwi tells her to be quiet in case anyone should hear her being so vocal against the powers that be.  Obviously there's something more going on here....

Sure enough, Young Hwi slips away and joins his band of bandits of which he is the leader.  But are they truly bandits?  Or revolutionaries?  Hmm...  Their conversation goes something like, "I was being too childish.  The police were targeting us and spread false information. I'm pretty sure Kim Kyung Tak concocted this plan.  The police will get worse.  Until I contact you, stay low."

{Oh, you like Unnie's text to me on this screenshot?  I was going to edit all of these but forgot before I put them on and was too lazy to change it.  So now you get a slice of our real life conversations.  This one was boring.  They're usually pretty funny though.  Chincha.}

Dr Jin and Young Rae arrive at the feast.  Dr Jin is immediately invited up to the tent with Byung Hee.  He's all smiles and niceties now.  Last time they met he was screaming at the good doctor and ready to lop his head off.  Funny what a little life-saving can do to one's attitude.

 Not everyone else shares Byung Hee's approval.  There's a little jealousy going on.  Dae Gyun doesn't take too kindly to his father offering Dr Jin money, land, or whatever he wishes.

When Dr Jin turns down the generous offer, Byung Hee is impressed that such a doctor exists that will save a life and expect nothing in return.  This doesn't sit too well with the royal doctor.  You kind of get the feeling that he has used his position as royal doctor to gain favor and prizes. Yah think?  I mean, the guy practically fainted at the sight of blood.  Think he's in it for the doctoring?

This guy, who's name I don't know, but the one that laughs like a crazed hyena all through this scene, doesn't miss an opportunity to mock the doctor, telling His Excellency that the royal doc is best at drunken angry talk and not best with medical skills.  Is it just me, or do I forsee some problems in the future between these two medical professional peers?  The pot of bitter jealousies is being stirred.

Kyung Tak gets impatient that Young Rae has had to wait in line to pay her respects to his father.  As his fiancee, he feels she deserves a little more respect, so he grabs her and drags her up to the tent.  Bold, but kind of foolish.  It's not like he himself gets any respect from this crowd, why would he think she would either?  *sigh*  The poor boy means well.

She presents a gift from her mother, which is Byung Hee's favorite treat, but is mocked and scorned for her meager offering by the other yahoos in the tent.  Byung Hee tries at first to be gracious and inquires after her family.  He asks whether or not her brother has passed his exams yet, and then tells her to have him stop by sometime.  The other tent sitters think this is hilarious!  "Providing such great position with such a meager gift!  If they had brought something a little better, he could have easily gotten a position pulling a plow."

Kyung Tak jumps to her defense and tells them that she didn't come looking for favors or to ask for a government position, but was invited by him (Kyung Tak) to come and greet him (Byung Hee) as his (Kyung Tak's) fiancee.

This of course really sets people off.  Kyung Tak is scorned for being the son of a concubine and therefore not worthy to marry a noble.  But then Young Rae is scorned for being a bankrupt noble.  These two just can't win in the sight of this crowd.

Sensing the tension, Prince Ha Eung starts to dance.  Um, yeah.  That wasn't a pretty sight.  I guess it was supposed to be funny, but yeah, not so much.  I appreciate his trying though.  And everyone there thought it was rip-roaring hilarious, so I guess it served its purpose.

Embarrassed by the treatment she received, Young Rae runs off in shame.  Kyung Tak follows her and apologizes, calling her his fiancee, his person and his woman.  In a non-creeper kind of way.  It was actually very sweet.  He obviously cares for her even if it is an arranged marriage.  The poor boy just needs someone to love and love him back. Look at that face!  That's just someone who is starved for affection.  Don't you just want to reach out and give him a great big hug?!

Back at the party, Piggy McNasty (aka what's his ugly face) has drawn Choon Hong away and has asked her to be his concubine.  He promises her the world - all his precious things and authority.  He's so ardently in love with her.  Or so he claims.

He pledges her his very life.

She takes him up on his offer to prove his sincerity and tosses him overboard.  YES!  I love this lady!  I know she's going to end up going after Dr Jin, but still, I love her!

His tune changes immediately once he's had a nice cold dip in the water.  He starts calling her names and even tries to drown her.

He is pulled to safety, but Choon Hong is still in the water and is drowning.  Dr Jin swims out to her and pulls her in.

She's not breathing.

 So he starts CPR.

 Everyone FLIPS out when they see him touching her chest and mouth.  They are all appalled!

My favorite line is when Ha Eung says, "You don't have anything better to do? To a corpse?"  Bwahahaha!  He thinks the good doctor is making out with a dead body!  Hahaha and ew!

Even Young Rae, who has seen the man three times now hammer a spike into someone's skull to save their life, is shocked and taken aback by his odd behavior.  Uh oh, he's going to have some 'splaining to do later.

Of course when Choon Hong is brought back from the brink of death, the people chill a little and realize that he was just doctoring, not perving.

Choon Hong is grateful for her life and offers to *cough cough* repay him.  Young Rae hears this and takes off.  It's just too much for her sensitivities.  Thankfully he's a gentleman and a professional and turns down the gisaeng's *ahem* offer.

He follows after Young Rae instead and they have a little chat.  At first she's still shocked at his method, but he tells her it was called CPR.  Eventually she lets it go and they start walking.

Along the way, a dirty street urchin greets her.  She's obviously done some charity work.  Remind you of anyone else?  Good, it's supposed to.

They are visiting there on the roadside when all the nobles who were just at the party come racing by on horseback.  The child runs right out in front of them, his mother sees and rushes out to protect her child, getting kicked by a horse in the head in the process.

See what a classy guy Dae Gyun is?  The lady is laying in the street, bleeding profusely from the head and unconcious.  When asked by one of his companions what's going on, his response is, "Nothing.  They just ran into the horse" and gallops off, leaving her for dead.  Yeah, I know this guy just showed up, but I hate him already.  He's a nasty piece of work.

There's a mad dash to save the lady's life.  It's only an external wound, but she is losing a lot of blood.  Young Rae runs to get Dr. Jin's bag and supplies, the supplies are stolen, she chases the thief, turns out he's one of the crime boss (that Dr Jin saved with the emergency tracheotomy)'s men, the thief is then ordered to go help deliver the supplies.

Shik (the little boy)'s dad come home furious.  He orders the doctor to stop, just let his wife die.  At first you think that the guy is an abusive husband, but then it comes out that life is so miserable, death is preferred.

Even the wife wakes up long enough to tell the doctor that she wants to die - one less mouth to feed.  Little Shik begs and pleads for his mother's life.  He offers to work to earn the money for the medicine and to not eat very much.  It's an emotional scene where we get to see just how tough life is for the common folk at the hands of the corrupt nobles.

Both the father and mother give in to their son's pleas and the surgery continues.  More suturing than surgery, but why mince words?  Dr Jin is having a tough time thanks to the angry dad smashing his finger with a hammer.  Lucky for him, nurse Young Rae is there to help pull that catgut for him.  The music right there made me laugh.  This was supposed to be a very touching scene, the fact that she pulled the string when he couldn't.  Hmm, okay.  Sure, why not.  :/

Shik's mom is saved.  Dr Jin does it again.  Yay Dr Jin!  Dr Jin, he's our man, if he can't do it, no one can!


On there way back home after a full day of life saving and fun, a guy falls down in front of them with an apparent stomachache.  At this point I just started laughing.  Jin can't go anywhere without having some medical emergency literally fall at his feet.  Is he like a sick person magnet or what?  Not once yet has anyone actually had to go and find him in order to save someone - they all just try to die right in front of him. Convenient.

And then, the scene.  The scene I didn't realize I had never before seen on television until I actually saw it here.  Diarrhea.  Oh yes, they did.  They showed watery poo flowing out of this guy's butt on TV.  Yes!  Thank you K-dramas!  You never disappoint!  You go where no other TV programming dares to go.  Here in the States we'll show sex scenes on network TV these days, but never diarrhea.  That's always behind closed doors.  You may get the sound effects, but never the actual act itself.  I never knew what I was missing!  How would you like to be that actor?  "So you were in a drama, huh?  That's cool.  What part did you play?"  "Uh, I was a guy that had the trots and then puked in the street."  o_O

Young Rae instantly recognizes this for what it is - gwejil (or cholera).  She also goes into a panic.  Hmm, one would think that she's had a bad experience with this particular disease before.  I wonder...  but my curiosity will have to wait until the next episode, because this is where this one leaves off.  Stay tuned for episode 4!