Brogana Sunfrog

I don't give out a 10 score easily. well balanced drama. Female lead evolves

I probably have seen 3 or 4 dramas that I've deemed worthy of a perfect score, so this is one of the "elite"
I've watched this in 2018, then in 2020 & then again in 2025
Briefly :
Good story, good ending, good acting. I was really impressed with the good balance between drama, action, suspense, romance & light heartedness.
Sometimes it got a little too intense for me [I don't enjoy family drama & intense violence] And many episodes ended with intensity. The characters had interesting idiosyncrasies & there was good character, relationship & plot development & resolution. I almost want to say the this is the perfect drama, but there were some negatives.
For instance;
they overused/overplayed the song Eternal love. English is my first language, so I noticed that there were times when the song was playing and the sentiments of the scene were all wrong.
Also, on my 3 rewatch, I found the female lead's character to be dislikeable. it took me to almost half way through the series to warm up to her. Not sure why she only irritated me AFTER already seeing the series twice ! I can only speculate that after seeing alot more dramas , I had developed different preferences & became pickier in what the ideal female lead should be (?) I think that the writer's wrote her poorly in the first episodes but redeemed her character by having her mature & grow, becoming less selfish, etc.

It did seem that they left a bit of an opening for a sequel

**spoiler**
(I mean they they defeated the bad guys but not the next tier of bad guys that were puppeteering the whole movement so really, ARE they safe ?)

Rewatch a 4th time ? definitely !

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Ep. 1-8 yes ! Ep 8-12 No !

Leads did well, but the premise & the comedy got lost around Ep. 8. If I ever rewatch this I would stop at the end of episode 7- that's all the happy ending I need. Ep 8-12 are weighed down with maudlin, boring listless characters who do alot of soul searching. Yes, that stuff did tie things up nicely, but in ways that I don't need or care about. [DO I care about the side characters getting an in depth happy ending ? DO I care about 4 main characters getting closure with thier parents ?] This is not a drama that felt like it needed to get all sober & philosophical, sending a pointed message to the audience about mental health. That just made this a drama that seemed bipolar!

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Look A spleen & gushing blood ! If you've seen one surgery, you've seen them all: Yawn

This is a good drama but I have no idea how I talked myself into watching it as it's WAY outside my drama genre enjoyment zone. I really get bored with lengthy surgery scenes. Granted, some surgery scenes were interesting because of the character's interaction during the surgery, but much of the surgery shown was tedious. Surgeons always seem to end up with blood on their faces . There lot's of bloody gloved hands & organs shown which was just boring. [honestly, we know it's all fake so it's not even gross] .The ending was satisfactory & the main couple's relationship is resolved with warm fuzzies .Sadly, some plot points were not resolved & the "Appendix" extra episode that was at the end ( I watched from DVD) was unnecessary. It also had to do with a controversial topic which made it unappealing.

**Spoilers**
female lead never is told that the boyfriend that died was cheating on her. this was really frustrating. It's implied that the Casino Chairman will provide for the country hospital so that it won't have to shut down (because as it stands it will be shut down as soon as the chairman leaves the hospital)and you never see the chairman pass away from his lung cancer.

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Almost hits that sweet spot, but ending suffers from bad writing & editing

Warning: this drama was SO close to perfect.10* {especially for the acting!}, but it drops 2 points & gets a big angry "Boooo" for the way the writers ruined the ending.

On the bright side :
3 incredibly handsome men in One Drama!
Random fact: Female lead's sobbing was very unique
The rather sad premise/plot topic had me wondering how in the world it could end well, but, there are happy endings for most of the characters. ( though it felt a bit forced to have literally everyone's story tied up in a bow) And I really didn't need or care about what happens after the happy ending. That sort of stuff kinda deflates the happy ending .

There IS alot to love about this drama, but the last few episodes put a damper on by serving up inane content that seemed like just filler. .Plus, the female lead became all wiffely waffelly about being together with the male lead-after she just said :"don't leave me for one instance" -Huh !!?? she suddenly becomes wooden & stand offish. Made no sense.

Needs re editing!!

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Mild, fluffy drama with NO second lead syndrome

Mild, fluffy drama with NO second lead syndrome .
The mean characters are cruel but not scary & are redeemed by the end (which I take issue with ). One thing that really disappointed me though was how harshly mean a father was to his daughter. Second lead female was tediously moody, needy & weepy through out the whole drama. Main couple were sucked into the lying & "breaking up with you " (for your won good)trope which was annoying.
I found the female lead's character to be exhaustingly noble & painfully nice.
The OST is not great & there is slot of song repetition [needed more song variety]. I will rewatch it again because romantic dramas that are light on the drama are rare

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A glut of villains , violence & comedy imbalance. Cringeworthy irritating comedy.

Started out interesting but then got bogged down by the sheer number of people the Female lead was in conflict with. It's one thing to have you wondering who the evil behind the evil is, and it's quite another to have more than three "grade A" villain's! Super creepy/violent scenes trade off "comic" relief, which is more irritating than relieving [IE: gang members who turn into super fans of the demon-just cringy]. The romance between the lead's assistants got way to much screen time and again, and was also cringy. Episodes were either super violent or stupid sidekick filler. I was really puzzled why this drama didn't just pull me in & keep me in because it checked off all the right boxes of what I am interested in. Still, when they revealed the whole back story of the main couple-I was nonplussed as it was not compelling.
the last 3 episodes dragged, and the end, though happy. was anticlimactic-like the writers & actors were all just tired & ready to be done. Yes tidy endings for all characters, but kinda TMI & bland at that.


In the end it was a few things that made this a huge disappointment:
***Spoilers***
It just didn't work for me that in her past life the female lead worked in a tea house-which translated to prostitute (?)! was planning on committing suicide & then faked being Catholic in order to hope to change societies norms concerning rank. I just didn't see the nobility in that, nor the grand love, and certainly not any grand sacrifice. Which is what they were trying to sell us.
Also, a major blunder on the writer's part was having the female lead's parents die because of a deal with Demon (& ha ! he didn't even remember ? but then said he did but didn't mention it because it would complicate things ? All of the was unconvincing, but even more unconvincing was female lead's forgiveness of that due to her seeing that he "saved" her in her past life (uh, NO he didn't, he just accidently interrupted your suicide attempts) Another plot point in which we have to suspend disbelief is that the female lead's surrogate mother was trying to take down the female lead's parents & had a significant part in their deaths. OH the time skips. must every drama have them ? And having Demon just appear, with him being like :hey yeah I'm back why are you surprised ? not excited, not showing any emotion, so weird & unromantic. Then thier lives just go on with him STILL being a demon-you know the thing that appalled her when she actually saw him in action after he supposedly became a nice guy!? yeah, so he's immortal, goes around looking for bad people to punish and wow-that's actually pretty awful if you want a future with him (you hate his job & you're not immortal). I felt like they just kept him bipolar-I love cake- I take lives-I love my woman-I send souls to hell. If they were trying to get us to see him as some Batman/Robinhood righteous dude, they failed. This is no Tale of the Nine tailed, nor is it Healer.

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watched this online at: ondemandkorea for free & enjoyed it. I liked Exit 2019 & Hospital playlist as well as Oh my Ghost (& other dramas Jo Jung Suk was in) so was looking forward to this, but I didn't feel like the story did enough for his character. The whole movie just didn't have enough "meat on it's bones". I found his sister & mother to be unfunny unsympathetic leaches. It was hard to really grasp why his character garnered such a strong reaction that he lost his job. For non Koreans, it will be hard to discern where & what the main character is actually doing at the end of the movie. They set up the male lead but then left him hanging ,as if things were changed, or edited out. Jo Jung Suk is better than this movie, why isn't he given better (written) parts ?

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dated classic "Old school" drama with Kim Hyun-joong; good to look at but playing a jerk

This was one of the First 4 k-dramas I watched. I got to ep 10 or 11 & had became so disappointed in the story that I put it on hold. 3 years & alot more dramas later, I finished it and found that whatever attachment I previously had for the characters was severed. This is an "Old School" drama, with tentative melodramatic piano music for for much of the background. It's not bad, just dated. the style of filming & the situations is very dated as well. I think what really drew me in & got me attached was the acting & story potential. Well, honestly, it was Kim Hyun-joong ! I first saw him in Boys over Flowers & wished that he had been the lead instead I was thinking that Playful kiss would fulfill that. Sadly, I did not find his character here to be one that you can just forgive for being a jerk. When he smiles you forget everything else, but he does not smile much & there is NO reason for his jerky attitude or cold behavior. He's definitely not tsundre , just inexplicably cold. I wanted to like this so much, but then I had the same problem with Boys over Flowers : the lead is a jerk that I just can't accept & it ruins the story

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leads have no chemistry. Interesting medical "mysteries"

Let's just start with: It ends on a cliff hanger & after watching this I hunted down season 2 & it was not in any way as good as season 1
So;
I jumped into this without reading any reviews . 1st few episodes are unpleasantly dark with, everyone dying, trying to die or trying to kill someone. The tone picks up but there are alot of heartbreaking moments. It takes awhile for the characters to "jell" into a 'family' of sorts and for you to actually like or care about them. Eventually I did end up getting invested in the characters . The over arching story was not as interesting as the individual medical cases in the rural area, though there did seem to be ALOT of cases where the the mistreatment of women & thier low status/lack of rights was front & center. It would have been nice to have more diverse medical issues , but honestly, they were in a rural area, so that limited them greatly. The leads didn't really have much chemistry, but by the end you have expectations & right as everything seems to be resolved & calms down, they end the series on a cliff hanger (before you can get any relationship resolution or happy warm fuzzies).

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Avoids most tropes. Nice balance Some parts are worth skipping

I was pleasantly surprised that this avoided most drama tropes & every time I thought it was heading into heavy drama territory it evened out nicely, which was a relief as there were already enough sober issues that get dealt with. I never did figure out what the title refers to. The height difference between the leads was often weird .
Even though I rated it highly when I re watch it I will need to skip some parts in order to have the drama I want !
There were 4 things I absolutely hated.
spoilers:
1) Female lead's actions.
Female lead feels bad about herself so breaks up with guy because SHE feels guilty. And later they trick us by making it SEEM as if female lead says she's not going to leave but then changes her mind and does.
2) Time Skip.
I loathe time skips & this one is done oddly.
3) Male lead's sister's husband is probably gay (but in denial) it's a bit is he or isn't he for most the series & the couple start to get along really well & both seem happy & at that point-they divorce ! UGH!
4) Not watching some parts definitely make the drama better
This series is totally rewatchable until the female lead decides to leave for __________. so I personally will stop before that ( as what follows really crushes the warm fuzzies you have for the main couple.
here are my notes for future rewatching:

Ep. 13
stop 57:24
right after he says "is it all right" [with 5:29 left in the episode]
Ep 14 pick up at 17:17 with 46:02 left (when he is outside leaning against car)
stop at 19:25 (rings)
pick up at Ep 16 making eggs 28:37
stop 31:35 holding hands
pick 54:42 I feel lucky and thankful (feeding him) (with about 6:04 left ]

so future me:
stop before she leaves for overseas in the time skip & skip right up until they are dressed for thier wedding at the very end .

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lacking balance, relationship break, Disappointing end

My initial take was that the male lead was not that interesting so I was in no rush to watch this. Having watched it, I'm still on the fence about him !This series doesn't have a good balance of tension, violence & warm fuzzies. (simply too much cruelty & violence). One of the biggest plot points: the female lead having a "big" secret from her past, is never resolved ! All we are told is that she was bullied in highschool because of something her father did. Also, It was inconceivable that a character would rather have one month of normal & resign themselves to death than live in a lesser capacity but keep the relationship they are willing to die for. I never did figure out what happened to the fathers (are they dead or ?). The leads' relationship took a break with a "gap" year ( I HATE this trope !!!) And, WHO doesn't communicate in any way for a WHOLE year [even if they are away getting treatment ????]. Secondary couple was a complete nonstarter. A bit too much filler content towards the end and ridiculous circumstances where a guy is mostly dead BUT he manages to fight a whole bunch of guys AND lift a car, AND walk home before collapsing. In the end, though the couple are reunited there is No kiss, no glad faces, just thier backs. SO bland!

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Minimal drama. Smile inducing

I had this on my "not interested" list, but I wanted something light & fluffy & this was free , AND I saw that it had a happy ending, so I figured I'd try it. It took me along while to warm up to the female lead's character. She was SO cringy. I wasn't all that captured by the male lead's visuals either. But by the 4th episode I was getting numb to those negatives. By the 5th episode the male lead's acting impressed me. There was very minimal drama & a very short separation period of the leads before the resolution of the story. I was surprised to find that having had no expectations of really liking this, that by the end I really had done alot of smiling throughout the drama-which is just what I wanted. I would actually watch this again sometime.

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Martyrdom masked as Self sacrifice. Frenetic pace but boring surgeries

Needed something different after a 30 ep. Chinese Historical drama- & figured that I would just watch the 1st episode. I'm not a fan of medical dramas (though did love Ghost Dr. & Hospital playlist-just not the surgery bits. Also slogged through & Dr. Romantic-which had a much more endearing & charismatic lead Dr than this drama does).
I rated this lower because :
1)it was fast paced but frenetic & not exhilarating.
2)The lead Dr. was not given enough time for character development
3) the closeups of surgery was boring (no need for most of it as it just makes things draggy-but then , this is not a fav genre.

The trauma team's dedication is touching, but them being heroes (pretty much against thier will!) did not resonate with me. Self sacrifice is fine, but not when it feels like a death wish martyrdom thing as they live a zombie like life disregarding their own basic needs . I think I've gotten to the certain age where self abuse isn't as noble so all I can think about is : "ah, you haven't eaten or slept today ?!") Also it's hard to ignore the issues of healthcare reality in S. Korean this past year, so it's really unfair to any real hospital trauma personnel to say these characters are heroes, I mean, yes, but they set the bar of care at a fairytale level! O.K. it is JUST a drama, but again the pace they go at is unsustainable for even one week if that & it is a group of people who have no life, just service.
The tension of the medical missions was less stressful for me than the welfare of the main characters! The surgery scenes were standard. Lots of blood gushing, spurting-but to me just boring. Have the doctors comes up with great work arounds, but really the implementation can be left to the imagination! The cast "gelled" a little too quickly , forming thier little rag tag rebel unit, but it was a nice short drama series with an ending that wasn't traumatic. From the trailer I was really expecting this to be about the male lead coming in, not finding the hospital environment hospitable, grabbing the best ER personnel , going rogue & setting up his own trauma center....why does my expectation sound better than the actual drama !!?
Good cast, but tired of seeing Kim Won-hae in yet another bad guy, role with him having tantrums. The trope of angry out of control, yelling screaming big boss needs to be retired. (or is this a reality in South Korea ?)
In the end: entertaining but nothing stellar .

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Frustratingly slow

Male Lead is plainly smitten right away, but is frustratingly clueless about declaring himself. Again the thing that is the major problem is the very old trope of lack of communication.
I'm going to blame the director for having Cha Eun Woo do most of his emoting with his eyes & clenched fists. You accept it because, well, it's
Cha Eun Woo ! Unfortunately, it quickly gets frustrating to watch. His character is written so broken & emotionally withdrawn & yet we never get a good explanation besides his mother leaving. It really needed to be plainly shown that his father's being emotionally distant/selfish/demanding/uncaring is the cause. It was annoying that Alot of his actions & attractions are simply inexplicable. The series stylist did an unflattering job with Im Soo Hyang. Her look was flat & not as attractive as she really is so it was hard to see her as the super pretty. She also was not given much in the way of direction or something as she too often came across dim witted & dull. The premise was interesting & there were alot of good point about appearance, but the series was also heavy on being preachy about beauty standards & attitudes towards females. I was not fond of the OST. I wanted to like this, but it was a bit of a waste of time because of the pace & the flat characters. would not watch again, even for Cha Eun Woo

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