whyiamhere

Your Friend Doctors are Telling You Their Love Life

This sequel is not so different with the previous one, so my review won't be long as I have written all of them in the earlier season. This show is still like "your friend doctors telling you their day at the hospital", but now including their love life. You'll still get the same feeling about this show, calming and heartwarming. You'll still get the same feeling of standing in the middle of the ER, watching the patients being brought in, the doctors rushing around the corridors, the families crying while waiting for their relative's surgery.

However, I feel like this season has slower pace compared to the previous one. Not only slow on pace, but some episodes are also annoyingly long. While you may be looking for soothing vibe like the first season, you may find this season is a bit more dragging. At the end of the previous season, I thought only Song-Hwa and Ik-Jun relationship will be dragging, but then I found out that ChuChu love story is also dragging. On top of that, it annoys me a lot that Jun-Wan relationship broken because of such childish reason. Also, some of the romance related tropes are predictable. And somehow they kinda forget to put Gyeo-Ul in Episode 2.

For the cast, they're still doing an excellent job. With such number of doctors and nurses (and patients), they all are doing quite impressively. I enjoy the soundtrack more this season. And overall, this is still an excellent calming show to watch!

Read More

Conscience or Greed?

"Don't give up asking questions about why we live and what we live for. The moment you give up on that, the romantic life ends."

I came here prior watching this title, and I got intimidated by almost everything: the title, the poster and the genre tags. I thought this is going to be a romance-melodramatic medical show. After watching the first quarter of the show, you will get more confusion, is this a thriller? As you progressing with the story, you then will see how good is the story actually. There are a lot of message behind this show, especially about conflict of a doctor's mind. What should we follow, conscience or greed? Responsibility or climb the ladder? We have three young doctors with their own idealism stuck in an deserted hospital where whatever they do will not result in a wide recognition. There, we can see a very heartwarming character development. We get Kang Dong-Ju who goes from the one who always taking side to the one who faints in the ER due to overworking. We get Yun Seo-Jung who goes from the one who always blames herself for every mistake to the one who stands up for her patients. To me who have no idea about medical, everything seems so realistic. Don't expect a character where the doctor is a superhero that saves everything, I even think they have a lot of died patients on screen in this show. They also highlight the stupid politics inside the hospital. And apart from the medical life, we also get touch of slow-burning romance as well as comedy. All of them in precise dosage that won't make it cringe.

However an excellent story doesn't mean it flawless. I am quite annoyed about how the Doldam Hospital management team responds to the pressure. While President Do from Geodae Hospital is very nosy even to other hospital's matters, President Yeo rarely takes any impactful actions when they are accused by President Do. Manager Jang has been seen taking President Do's side on multiple occassion, yet it takes so long for somone to either interferes or confronts him. The emergercy surgery during President Shin's surgery doesn't seem logic. Yeon-Hwa pages Dong-Ju and In-Beom who are occupied at that time, while actually there is an available GS, Doctor Song. Also, the conflict between Dong-Ju and In-Suk doesn't seem to have any clear resolution. This conflict is caused by a big mistake from Dong-Ju past, and it's disappointing that the writer failed to make a better resolution or show how Dong-Ju repents it.

Finally, I will definitely recommend this show, especially if you enjoy medical dramas. This show definitely has a different kind of "thriller". You don't have to be a doctor or in a medical related to get the message. And after all, it's also worth for rewatch.

Read More

Great Start but Can't Hold On

As someone who like multiple cases in one show, I like this. The idea of helping people getting revenge is really good. Unfortunately as the story progressing, it annoys me more and more. As a group who is specializing in revenge, they work carelessly and keep making "rookie" mistakes. The turning lamp in the mirror is such an embarassment. Another silly mistake is when Jin-Eon crashed by a truck, they somehow allow Ju-Chan to run away easily. They somehow always feel invincible like nobody will watch them kidnapping or abducting someone, while on the other hand they can easily hack any surveillance cameras and see what the bad guys are doing. It seems contradicting when we have a very powerful and unstoppable character, which is the hero and is undestandable, but he keeps making stupid decisions.

The first half of the show is good, but it becomes dragging after they begin to work for themselves instead of the clients. The plot becomes predictable from there, and the makjangs become too much. They even forget about Dong-Hee's family, the one who request to get revenge on Sung-Mi after all!

Still this show is highly recommended! The whole cast play excellently, and the highlight is absolutely Lee Je-Hoon as Kim Do-Gi. The music is quite good, and it's really recommeded to rewatch for the eye-pleasing action scenes!

Read More

Hilarious Start, But Then They Lost It

Truthfully, I feel this show has a really high potential. The idea is unique: how come a gangster, a youtuber and a prosecutor cross path together? Unfortunately, this brilliant idea just turned into your average rom-coms. Most of the shows are cheesy and swoon-worthy. The comedy is the highlight of this show, as they have stressed it from the very first scene. However, consistency is the issue in this show. The trope about the triangle love and Ji-Hwan father's gang are quite dragging. While you can smile and laugh all the way during the first half, you'll smile less and instead raise your brows during those phases. In short, 16 episodes is too long.

The casts do a pretty well done job here, especially the Thirsty Deer employees. They are really hilarious. Han Sun-Hwa plays the cheerfull Go Eun-Ha well. As for Uhm Tae-Goo, he plays Seo Ji-Hwan, someone who is clueless to love and romantic feeling. However I feel like he drags the cluelessness into other situation, including while he is facing his opposition or while he is on the company meeting. Hong-Gi says that Ji-Hwan is a person who has an exact same expression throughout all situations, but to me he always looks confused.

Character development is the thing that I hate the most in this show. Most of the characters don't have mature thought. As a group who has experience in a lot of bad things, I don't expect them to keep making questionable decisions. I don't really understand why Ji-Hwan needs to resent Eun-Ha (by saying she is just a tenant), as well as what Il-Yoong does to Mi-Ho (keeps saying it's a mistake repeatedly). This ML and FL couple is quite confusing. They seem dating after coming back from the trip, and even kissing after Eun-Ha confession to Hyeon-U. But when they are alone together in the house, why they suddenly become awkward? Also I don't understand the reason Hyeon-U keeps chasing Eun-Ha after seeing her together with Ji-Hwan, and also randomly stops chasing her for no valid reason. I think they created character Ko Yang-Hui for the comedy purpose, but I feel they failed to make use of it properly. It is also unfair that not all of the house members get their backstory.

The soundtrack is quite enjoyable. I'll recommend the show because it still has a good comedy and romance, also you will swoon a lot!

Read More

DoctorMan is Coming to Save The World

Short review for short drama. The pace is as fast as their runs to the OR, yet they manage to keep the intense throughout all of the episodes. Lots of messages lay behind this show including the conflict between saving a life, administration bureaucracy and making money for the hospital. As the first responder, they want to highlight that a doctor should proritize their patients life above all. It also shows how a doctor should be determined to save their patients and not to give up before it's determined. All of the casts play excellently to build the tense around the hospital.

However rather being realistic, doctor Baek Kang-Hyeok has become a Doctor-Know-All. He always knows what is good, and what he does is always good. What a flawless man: a doctor who can pilot a helicopter, climb a cliff, shoot a gun and perform operations with some questionable out of the box methods. Also while all of the medical scenes seem realistic visually, the visual during any accident and crash scenes are just bad. If you compare them both side-to-side and looking to the budget that they claimed to spend for this show, it is a bit disappointing.

Still the show is enjoyable and entertaining. It is also worth to rewatch as it's quite short and easy to get to the main action.

Read More

Good Show But Overhyped

Where is the hype? I know it's a good show but this is totally overhyped. The story on the first half is borderline between boring and calming. The story doesn't really have a strong line, and it spreads everywhere along with the episodes. People are saying that the relationship is healthy, but I can't find it when the ML and FL are stubborn and always opposing each other just for the sake of their own pride. This show has most of the standard Korean Romance show components: childhood relationship, kidnapper, triangle love, past trauma and The White Truck. The childhood relationship is really uneccesary as it doesn't bring any impact. However, it is weird that I enjoy more those tropes, while in other romance shows those are usually the most uneccessary parts.

One thing that saves this show a lot is the visual and scenery of Gongjin. It's really beautiful and brings peace to the show, even when the scene is not really peaceful. Another thing to be appreciated is the casts. Most of them play excellently, creating a very warm (and nosy) village community. Shin Min-A and Kim Seon-Ho also have an outstanding chemistry. They seem like a real enemy when they're enemies and lover when they're lovers. However this doesn't apply to the character of Pyeon Mi-Seon. At first, I thought she is as reluctant as Hye-Jin towards the villagers. However she looks closer to the villagers earlier than Hye-Jin. She also has a history of dating a lot of bad guys, but she looks nervous and stiff all the time. I feel Min-Jung fails to deliver Mi-Seon actual personality.

Additionally, I feel it's rude that June doesn't attend Gam-Ri's funeral. And what the hell are those ads in the last episode? It's too much!

The correct tag for this show should be "Healing Show". Also you will enjoy this show if you would like to have an eye-pleasing village sceneries. But if you want to watch it you have to be commited, because you may have a thought to drop it during the first half of the show.

Read More

I'm Not Disappointed, but Feel Sorry for It

How many couples do you want? Yes! I think this is going to be long from me. I really pity this show since the story has a very high potential to be a huge hit. The story depicts entertainment industry: how a celebrity make a mess, how their management works their ass to clean it up, how it's stressful dealing with fans and haters, and how threatening a fans could be to their celebrity. The story at the beginning is really good; the vibe is lightweight and joyful, and the comedy punches on point. "Nation's Eunuchs" and "The Sliding Girl"; those are impressively hilarious! However the writer seems to overthink it and bottles it just halfway the show. To me, the change is too drastic that I barely even able to handle it. It's so ominous and intense which they lost the touch of comedy and we don't even able to grin. And to finish it, they give us two filler episodes. So in short, I feel that the show is too long that they have to make up something to fill in.

In the earlier episode of the show, they bring a lot of people whose are celebrities or someone who works in the entertainment industry. However the introduction is a bit too fast, and it's difficult to differ what they actually do and how much they will impact to this story. Although they have a lot of spare that they have to add fillers, some of the tropes during the intense period are left out hanging. It is unclear why Tae-Seong mother disowned him as her son during his childhood. Tae-Seong hater-housekeeper seems unecessary because nothing comes out after she left. Tae-Seong also suddenly forgets about the salty-food syndrome. The underage hater at Episode 15 also seems unecessary because nothing related to it. Nevertheless, this story gives a great illustration about how malicious can a hater becomes towards a celebrity. Hence to all fans out there, WHEN WILL YOU LEARN????? (I'm writing this review few days after the death of Kim Sae-Ron). This show has been 3 years old, so why this kind of sh** needs to happen again???

It's nice to have such character as Oh Han-Byeol. For a romcom, she has a quite mature character. She never holds back any of her secrets and worries from Tae-Seong. Thanks to Lee Sung-Kyung who plays this character well. I almost think that she carries this show alone. I personally think that some of the casts don't have their best performance here. Kim Young-Dae gives a very good expression everytime he's fighting or teasing Han-Byeol. However for other situation, his face expressions seem unnatural. I think he's trying to make a funny expression but it doesn't come up right. Kim Yoon-Hye plays Park Ho-Yeong who is clumsy, but I think she is still a bit too stiff and flustered for that character and we end up having her with the same facial expression for almost the whole show.

I watch this show on Netflix and their subtitle is a lackluster. During the earlier episode there are a lot of names and occupations shown on screen, which Netflix decided not to put in on the subtitle. They didn't even bother to translate any few words of any articles showed on screen.

Overall I would still recommend it if you are looking for some laughs, or a lighweight and easy-to-enjoy rom-coms. It also has a lot of message behind it, regarding anti hate speech, mental health awareness and dealing with hardships.

Read More

Your Doctor Friend is Telling You His Story

I don't think I need to explain it extensively here. Hospital Playlist is an example of a well-written show. It is more like a very calming slice of life story at the hospital. The story is very simple and not dragging (not-dragging K-Dramas are quite rare nowadays). It is seems like watching a hospital documentary, but not boring. I mean, NO! It is more like listening to your doctor friend after you asking "Hi, how is it going today?". We won't be drifted by hoping that tropes should go here and there, because it is your friend telling you his/her story. It might have a good ending, it might have a bad ending, it might not have any ending yet, or it might don't have any ending because your friend just doesn't want to talk about it anymore!

This show has quite huge number of cast. And thanks to them, especially the main leads, for allowing this marvelous work to happen. The chemistry of them five is just marvelous. Most of the scenes are quite realistic, which makes me feel like I'm standing in a hospital and watching around. We can see families waiting in desperation for their relatives to pull through a surgery, the joy of parents carrying their newborn baby, doctors and nurses running in a rush to their patients and so on. Forget about all of the medical terminology that you may not understand, this show will bring you through a journey between happy and heartbreak tears.

At the end of the day, this show doesn't have any surprising or thrilling climax. You may not have any urge to watch the next episode quickly after finishing one. This show is very calm throughout all episodes, and it is better to take it slowly. Like when you are having a hectic day, going through an episode of this show may help to calm you down.

Read More

Rom-Com Gem, Even After Years Later

Watching this six years after the release, and still this one is a gem. Why can't they make Rom-coms like this nowadays? The vibe is really positive. The romance is a bit cheesy, not cringe enough though, but they have clearly choose this spirit from the very beginning and keep this consistenly throughout the season. The comedy is able to hit at the points. The storyline is really excellent, though not flawless, as they able to emphasize the focus on the main leads (they don't even need second lead couple, though I hope there is). I love how they able to maintain this focus and intensity almost all the time. It is a bit off on the last 2 episodes though, but not destructive. The triangle love is quite forgivable because it is not malicious and doesn't seem like a product of hopeless additional plot. I also love most of the characters are very mature. They don't react childishly at something and try to communicate problems to each other rather than making some wild presumptions in their own head and then come up stupid decisions. Both of them always trying to resolve every misunderstandings rightaway and moving forward. This is really a relief because most of KDramas build stories on the pile of misunderstandings nowadays.

Most audience complains that Duk-Mi stops fangirling at some point. To me, she doesn't stop. She just changes her idol.

However, I don't really like the circle of Duk-Mi's friendship. They rarely give good advice when the other is in trouble, and instead just giving support no matter whether it is right or wrong. Duk-Mi doesn't really care when Seon-Ju fight with his husband, and Seon-Ju doesn't give any advice regarding Eun-Gi's feeling towards Duk-Mi. Also I am a bit disappointed on the writing of character Kim Hyo-Jin. At first she seems like the main villain. But after she sees the truth, she neither keeps being the villain nor supporting Duk-Mi. Instead, she just becames a supplementary character that appears as an intermezzo. Director Eom's rejection on the exhibition also resolves easily, making Hyo-Jin's character more useless. She doesn't even have a clear conclusion at the end of the series apart from still working at the museum. Her relationship with her mother, and her employment status after her mother returns to the museum remains a mystery (or forgotten). They should also add the scene of Duk-Mi going to Si-An concert before taking a break fangirling.

I really like both ML and FL. PMY and Jae-Uk play both characters excellently. Even though Min-Young kissing skill still wasn't really good at that time, to me they really have a great chemistry. The storytelling on each piece of art is great and also soundtrack is amazing!

I wanted to give a 9, if it's not for the last 2 episodes. To me the main highlight of this show is the consistency of the pace and intensity. I would still recommend this even for rewatch because up until now, it is still rare to find something like this.

Read More

Great Heartwarming and Healing Rom-Com

The premise of this show is annoyingly relates to me: someone who has been pressured all their live to achieve all of the expectations set by others. Then when they fail, everyone just run and leave them without any shoulder to lean. After we fail we may become hesitant: "if I choose this next, will I become happy?" But life is all about choices. We are bound to go through sadness and happiness. If you can't take it no more, just quit, does not matter what other people think. Thanks to this show to again raising mental health awareness. The story is not just good, but also heartwarming and healing-some. It shows that even you are a successful person, doesn't always mean that you will be happy. We should know that the "perfect life" that we picture in other people may not be really perfect, or we maybe will not fit in that kind of life! Yes there is a lot of misunderstandings in the relationship, but thanks to the writer that the characters always trying to resolve everything rather than putting everything into more convoluted tensions. The sudden breakup is not neccessary, but I think this can be forgiven since the both are not in a good mental state. Comedies seem to be in the right place. I also really like the narrative style. It somewhat shows that everyone has overcome their pains already.

Park Shin-Hye again does an excellent job. However, I really feel bad to the character of Jeong-Woo. His personality is too childish to his age, and he mostly overreacts at everything. Annoyingly, his appearance also looks somewhat much younger than other lead characters, even though they are all should be nearly in the same age. He looks as young as Ba-Da. On the other hand, Nam Ba-Da character is a bit cringe. At first I thought he just jealous with his more successful sister's job, but he is a total asshole. He is heartless and keeps trash talking even when he knows that everyone around him is hurting and in a depression. I always thought that the background for killing someone as "I want them to feel the same pain" is a dumb reason. Especially in this show when Kyu-Min is a doctor with such knowledge, power and money, it will be more reasonable for him to try killing Jeong-Woo in more vicious ways. Even "making him feel worse pain than me" will seems better and more reasonable.

This show most likely has already prepared to end at 12. The premises after their reconciliation are most likely a filler. The pace is slow and the level of importance does not similar with first half of the show. The second lead couple does not get a fair treatment. They get less screentime during the first half, and suddenly increase just when the writer needs some fillers. It neither bad nor destroying though, but it is quite noticable that they intent to add something to fulfill the episode number requirements. They should instead write about Ha-Neul backstory. She was a cheerful person prior to her father's death, but the writer never shows the turning point or why she chose to live an ambitious-autonomous studying life. I was going to mad when they want to send Ha-Neul abroad in the last episode but thankfully it is a twist.

To me, this is a good healing rom-com. I don't really understand why people rarely mention this show when it comes to best K-Dramas of 2024, it's better than some of the shows that they usually mention! You will learn a lot through this show, especially about giving your shoulder to someone struggling and most importantly, FIGHTING!!

Read More

Excellent Spin-Off!

The spin-off from No Gain No Love! This spin-off really shows how good is the second lead story in NGNL. The whole story is excellent and hilarious. HJH and LSY do a fabulous job playing both character. It's great that they made it just into 2 episodes, rather than a series of boring and pointless story. And apparently, this spin-off also explains the reason how Ja-Yeon fell in love with Gyu-Hyun in the parent series.

Though I think they should add 1 episode. It should contain the ending of the novel, since Ja-Yeon wrote the ending after being together with Gyu-Hyun.

I really recommend it! The story is very light and enjoyable. However, I recommend to watch NGNL prior watching this spin-off, so you can understand why Ja-Yeon really hated Gyu-Hyun so much.

Read More

This is How Rom-Coms Should Be

I don't generally write reviews, but I will start with this one really.

This one will increase the standard of rom-coms! The plot is really basic, rich ML boss and employee FL couple. The difference in this show executes it excellently. They don't need silly premises such as ML and FL childhood connections or "FL is being chased by a serial killer". Instead, they use a very basic and straighforward plot, yet unique and entertaining. Since the beginning, I think they have chosen to have more comedy rather than romance, and they maintain the comedy really well thoughout the episodes. I like that all the romance scenes are not cringe and totally enjoyable. Silly act? They were all silly since the beginning so that's not a problem! The OST is really great. The way they put it as Melomance concert is a great idea (and I really like the Se-Jeong version).

Given the intensity of the story that we get from the very first, the ending is a bit let down. I feel that the Yoo-Ra's internet hate comments premise is uneccessary. It makes the last 3 episodes feels bland and lose the grip somehow. I personally think that there should be several stories to be explored rather than to pick that option as the ending. I really want Ha-Ri to have a proper closure with Grandpa. I personally think it is better if they add 2 more episodes. After all, most K-Drama have the same problem about not-so-good quality ending.

Oh, I wonder what is the ending of Be Strong, Shin Geum Hui.

On top of all, I will definitely still recommend this. Very light story and easy to enjoy. So far still my best rom-com series (I don't watch a lot of rom-coms though).

Read More

A Diary of A Family Coping with Struggles

Let me tell you: this drama is not my cup of tea at all. The only reason why I watched it is because the trailer used to keep appearing on my Netflix home. Never have I ever thought that this show will be my best K-Drama I've ever watch so far! The storytelling is a masterpiece. There are a lot of shows talking about life struggle, but I haven't found anything like this one. It's not just a love story (and never just a love story), but it's purely a journey of blood, sweat and tears of Ae-Sun trying to fight her struggle of living under the patriarchial society and stand out for her daughter and herself. And it is a pure unconditional love from Gwan-Sik who always stands out for his wife, her dreams and her ambitions whatever it takes. The whole story doesn't feel dragging at all (or maybe it's because I don't see this genre a lot? I don't know). I love the back and forth plot, it's not confusing and interesting. The narrative by Geum-Myeong also gives additional point of view from her. The whole depiction of the family seems interesting, because poor family in K-Dramas generally are shown as not-so-poor. They usually still have foldable phone, high-end cars and wear luxury make ups. But in this show they do it properly, and it's relieving (they somehow still has camera though).

The entire casts do an outstanding perfomance here. IU has a magnificent job by doing two roles in this show, while Bo-Gum is giving a massive impact as just his presence will give huge spirit of devotion. So-Ri and Hae-Jun also successfully bring the mature atmosphere of endless affection between them two. And not to forget the other casts whom successfully make us through the emotion rollercoasters for the whole shows.

The cinematography is also excellent. You will be pleased with the beauty of the seas in four seasons around Jeju. But more than that, I think the writer wants to relay the message that this scenery potrays the spring, summer, autumn and winter of our lives. They all have their own beauty and storm. The soundtracks are also nice.

Though the story is written excellently, there still some flaws there. The quality of the story seems divided into three part on this show. The first third of the show is really the most outstanding part, it is the part where we see young Ae-Sun coping with all her struggles. Then it comes the second third of the show, the transition part. This is where the story quality goes to a big downfall. The episode about village election is unecessary, not really impactful and seems more like a filler. I understand that they want to highlight the patriarchial society here, but making it as a whole episode is just too much. The story quality picks up in the final third. IU plays two roles in this show impressively, but I can see clearly that she does it better as Ae-Sun rather than Geum-Myeong, thanks to the better story though.

For rewatch recommendation, I'm not really sure though. It is too painful to rewatch the first third of the show. But to let you know, you may look at you family differently after watching this show. This is still a must watch for everyone, because you may not see something like this again anytime soon.

PS: 9.5/10 is the highest rating I've ever given here, and I had never given that to a melodramatic show. Truthfully, I was planning to give it 10/10 if it's not because of that silly village election episode.

Read More