Saturday 7 February 2015

4th Completed Drama: Doctor Stranger

Doctor Stranger
Episodes: 20
Country: South Korea
Aired: May 5, 2014 - Jul. 8, 2014
Network: SBS
Duration: 60 mins.
Genres: Drama, Medical, Romance, Thriller
Viewers Rating: 7.8/10
My Rating: 8.0/10

Synopsis: As a child, Park Hoon and his father were kidnapped by North Korea. In North Korea, Park Hoon was trained to become a doctor by his father who was already a doctor. Park Hoon becomes a genius like chest surgeon. He then flees to South Korea after his father was killed. Park Hoon begins to work as a doctor in South Korea's top hospital Myeongwoo University Hospital, but he feels like a complete outsider (because he was trained in N. Korea). To bring his love from North Korea, he does anything to make money.

Cast: Lee Jong Suk - Park Hoon
Jin Se Yeon - Song Jae Hee/Han Seung Hee
Kang So Ra - Oh Soo Hyun
Park Hae Jin - Han Jae Joon/Lee Seung Hoon


Review
Contains a lot of spoilers!
Story: 9.5/10
The story of Park Hoon and everyone else made was excellent. I couldn't have asked for a better medical drama. Whether it was the competitions between Park Hoon and Han Jae Joon, Oh Soo Hyun's slow but steady love development for Park Hoon, or the constant threats and danger both Park Hoon and Song Jae Jee were put through, I loved it all. It kept me on my seat through out the whole 60 minutes. Even the cute moments between Kim Chi Gyu and Lee Chang Yi brought some great and humorous moments to the drama.
During the last episode when we found out that both Hoon and Jae Hee were still alive, the acting and plot behind that was immense and that became one of the reasons why I cried when we found them both (but the main reason was because my baby (Park Hoon) was still alive).
The reason why I knocked off the 0.5 was because when Park Hoon and Jae Hee did the President's surgery, I would have actually liked to have seen it like with every other surgery. I found it very disappointing how we just skipped straight back to the Prime Minister.

Characters: 7.0/10
I loved pretty much every character, except Song Jae Hee. Not only was Jin Se Yeon's (actress who played Jae Hee) acting awful, her personality was crap and during some moments, I honestly would have slapped her across the face. I know she had reasons why she was like that, but still. If she really loves Park Hoon, express it better. If Jae Hee wasn't a main character and a great influence to the story, maybe the score would have been higher, but she was. She was a crucial part of the story, and she didn't fulfill her part like she should have. And also, if Jae Hee's character was better, I probably would have shipped her with Hoon, but in the end, Park Hoon x Oh Soo Hyun became my major OTP.
Besides Jae Hee, I loved all the characters. Park Hoon was charming and adorkable as anything, Oh Soo Hyun was relatable and sweet, Han Jae Joon was stern but handsome, and other characters like Kim Chi Cyu and Lee Chang Yi were great to know.

Visuals: 9.0/10
The setting and visuals to Doctor Stranger were lovely. One scene in particular was when Park Hoon was (mentally) showing Oh Soo Hyun how to do a surgery she was nervous about. The computer graphics of the heart were amazing, and it made that scene more perfect than it already was. I hope to see more visuals like this in the future of Korean Dramas.

Music: 8.5/10
The soundtrack to this drama is very good, but sometimes not appropriate. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely the OST to this series, especially A Day Like This. I listen to the soundtrack whenever I can. It's beautiful, but through out the drama, I did notice some soundtracks that didn't suit some moments, and that ruined the soundtrack slightly for me.

Final Verdict: 8.0/10
I know it's only my fourth drama (technically sixth because I'm watching Hyde, Jekyll, Me and Kill Me, Heal Me still), but so far, it's the worst drama I've watched. I did especially love the story, most of the characters and the visuals, but Jae Hee and the placement of the music caused this drama to only be rated a 8.0.

From Left to Right: Soo Hyun, Hoon, Jae Hee + Jae Joon

+ Brillant Story
+ Great Characters
+ Lovely Graphics
+ Beautiful Soundtracks
- Song Jae Hee (or Jin Se Yeon's acting)
- Inappropriate timing of music
- Missing out an important surgery

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