God's Quiz (2010)

Ok, to start off, I am a major fan of drama's like this. I could go on for days about how much I like them, but I won't. Try to make this short.

I recommend this drama highly if you are a fan of the genre. If your not, don't waste your time. This drama is a lot like the Japanese drama MR BRAIN, but its also very different in that it involves more police work. As I said, CSI met House, and had a baby, and this is it.

The story is a good one, or as I put, a very good one, some things were just to predictable, so it didn't get a higher score.

The actors, did an extraordinary job, they were very believable.

Music, I never even noticed if there was music, so very low score on that.

Rewatch, I probably won't rewatch, but may someday.

Overall, a very good drama, and an interesting thought process while watching it. Watch it!

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Oh dear. It’s another episodic crime scene investigation story – my least favorite genre ever. But I like to branch out and it turns out God's Quiz was a good place to do this.

The drama is basically carried by its lead man’s peculiar charms. Ryu Deok Hwan isn’t an actor I look at and necessarily think “hot!” but he is every bit as charismatic, and his Dr. Han is what initially attracted me to the drama and kept me going. He’s a smart aleck with zero people skills. You’d think this makes him perfect to work with dead bodies, but he’s not actually thrilled to put his surgeon skills to use doing autopsies, and only grudgingly accepting the post because of his sunbae. Why? “Because it smells so bad!”

Detective Kang is standard female detective fare – sharp and deductive, and she gives Dr Han a lot of crap for his faulty and abrasive manners. They’re totally awesome together. If only the drama wasn’t modeled so much on the standard investigation genre, I’d ship them whole-heartedly. However, watching their friendship (and maybe something more?) progress both at work and out of it is very touching. They make a good pair.

The other cast members make a good mix for the rest of the investigation team. Everyone’s got their personalities and their screen time, and the chemistry among them is pretty good. I particularly liked Park Jun Myun as the ‘matriarch’ of the group who starts off being super unimpressed by our little hot-shot newbie but warms up to him later.

What’s This ‘Quiz’ About?
It's primarily an investigation genre show, however I find that for all the dead and dying people the main plot deals with, there’s a lot more on the discussion table – especially about human life. Maybe because Dr. Han struggles with himself as much as with the victims he investigates, but when he’s not being eccentric, he’s deeply conscious about life and human perceptions of life and death.

"People aren't ignorant about rare diseases, but they are ignorant about humanity."

Conclusion:
As long as I was in the mood for this type of story, God’s Quiz really made my day. I probably spent a great deal of time thinking about it long after I finished watching.

The overall plot arc really brought it together too, and I love the contrast of personalities Ryu Deok Hwan put into his character as someone who often seems shallow, but underneath is really a deeply contemplative human being. Unfortunately, I just wish more could’ve been focused on these things and less on the episodic cases.

Read more + pics + episode reviews on my blog at:
http://shinealightrose.blogspot.com/2013/05/kdrama-review-gods-quiz-season-1-2010.html

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Story:

This drama has a series of action, thriller, mystery, suspense, crime and even a hint of romance. God’s Quiz is a type of dramas that you need to watch all the episodes and part in order to understand the scenario. For every investigation they have, you need to be able to understand what they are referring and what they are talking about. After for each episode, they will come up with a solid conclusion in which you will find understand once the case is case. In regards with the plot and storyline, it is quite clever, yet complicated. This is because for every crime they investigate, the solutions are very clever while the procedures they have to undergo are very complicated. Also, the story shows the difficulty of criminology and how they tackle difficult situation, especially while working and risking their life.
In addition, the story is a complete package of suspense, drama and crime which is often a bad combination. However, these genre fits to the storyline of the drama and it was well executed. This suggests that with this combination, you are assuring that you want to continue watching it. Their curiosity for each case is astonishing. There is always a malevolent antagonist who is conducting series of crime which they need to identify who. Therefore, this is a drama that has a very good and solid plot and story. I can assure you that for each case they do, you would ask yourself “who did it?” “Why they did it?” and “what is the cause of it?”

Casting/Acting:

I am not very familiar with the cast for this drama; however, their acting skills are very good. In my point of view, they often improvised during some of the scene which makes them very professional with their field. I am very pleased on how they act on drama. I am looking forward on how they act for the next seasons. I hope they will not disappoint me like some drama that have next season that does not have a very good cast. Even though they are a lot of rookies in acting, they need to be confident on whatever their character is. For example, the main actor is effectively acting a childish, genius, comedic and mysterious doctor. What I see is that he carefully evaluated on how he is going to portray his character. Therefore, I would complement the director for choosing a very good casting list.

Music:

There is no much to say in the music. The reason behind this is because they mostly use suspense and thrilling sound effect to make the scene more dramatic and exciting. The viewers can actually feel the suspense and thrilling effect due to the effective use of the sound effect. Furthermore, the sound effects and music used in this drama fits to the genre itself. The music changes the mood of the scene from melodrama, to comedic, to suspense and to even romantic.

Conclusion:

For me, there is a high possibility to re-watch this drama. The reason for this is because of the suspense, action thrilling and hint of romance for each. With that malevolent, psychotic and cunning antagonist, you could miss a lot. I am looking forward on seeing him in the next season which I think he is. Either way, I conclude that this drama is a very astonishing due to its features. This involves plot twisting theories, unpredictable outcome, mind twisting problems and even fighting a vindictive phantom. Therefore, the chance to re-watch this drama is very high due to that fact that you will get curious as they go deep down with their investigations. Also, I am looking forward on watching the next season.

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Close to perfect at times. The acting was perfect for this drama. I asked myself why I hadn't watched this before. The title throws you off because you have no idea what it really is about. Let's start with the stand-out actors. First of all, Ryu Deok Hwan as Han Jin Woo was unbelievably good! From the first episode to the end. His portrayal of Jin Woo was spot on perfect. Yoon Joo Hee as Kang Kyung Hee was great! At times, she drove you batty with her police decisions which made no sense to me (or maybe I watch TOO MANY police and crime dramas) but overall she did a good job. The rest of the cast was fun and acted well. Every episode was a learning experience. Keep wikipedia/google handy. You will be doing a lot of searching! Again, I cannot believe I am just watching this. Onto to season 2!

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Given that God's Quiz is an OCN crime drama, it's inevitable for me to compare it to Vampire Prosecutor and TEN. It was a thoroughly enjoyable drama to watch, but there were a few places where I felt it was lacking. Still, it was plenty good enough to make me watch the second and third seasons.

STORY: 8/10

The plot follows a similar set up as VP and TEN: the mystery of the day taking up the bulk of each episode, and then a mystery of the season that develops little by little. The seasonal mystery I found quite compelling, so I have no complaints there.

The mini mysteries I found to be much more straightforward than both VP and TEN, which I found to be both a good and a bad thing. As much as I liked the other two dramas, they often left me utterly confused trying to figure out what was going on. God's Quiz I was able to understand without the headaches though, which was a nice change.

At the same time, I felt like I wasn't really drawn into each episode as much as I was with VP and TEN. There were fewer twists and turns to keep me glued to my screen, and the guy that you thought was the bad guy in the first 15 minutes often turned out to be just that. There were still a few twists (usually in the form of diagnosing a disease), but overall I felt the drama was a bit lacking in this area.

ACTING + CHARACTERS: 7/10

Han Jin Woo was wonderful in my opinion: an interesting character and well acted. VP and TEN both have your typical serious and totally badass main characters with tortured pasts. Han is their polar opposite. He's lighthearted, bumbling at times, childish, and tends to speak first and think second, but at the same time he's clearly a medical genius and rather adept at doing detective work as well. He still has his own dark secrets, which makes him all the more compelling as a character given how different he is on the outside.

Kang is the only other character that gets significant screen time, and I wish I could say as nice things about her character. I never really connected with her character, and I felt she was lacking in personality and depth. She seemed like some generic detective character: rather serious, a little cold, and that's about it. It seemed like she was just there out of necessity--there needed to be someone investigating the crimes, and there needed to be someone for Han to interact with. I wish they had developed her character more considering she played such an important role.

Despite its shortcomings, I highly recommend watching this drama. It has its strengths to make up for its weaknesses. It was definitely good enough to convince me to watch the next two seasons, which I'll be doing promptly.

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Story:

Its a typical procedural episodic crime drama with hints of an over arching plot to be solved at the end. The crimes are in fact a mix of cliche and original plots. Investigations are captivating but marred by stupid writing and unrealistic plot progression. The scientific theory and forensic autopsy part stands out more than anything else. Though the gory details could have been toned down. It is a bit too much for some people (not me though!).

The most glaring plot holes are the shoe horned feelings of attachment and care between the investigative unit. They all were like people working together with no other feelings and then at the end they were like some long lost friends or some people working for years with each other...

It seems that every episode happened after many days of time difference in the timeline but their behavior does not substantiate such. I felt extremely lost in the last 2 episodes.

Characters/Acting:

Characters are stupid, except for the main lead who is an omnipotent genius. Chinese novel readers should know that it is the same OP MC story line that they have red in hundreds (if not thousands) of Xianxia novels. The universe serves the male lead character. Romance and friendships are shoe horned where needed.

In fact, the plot is so contrived that with only the main lead, they could do everything. That makes you question the viability of such a unit and how it solved cases before him or why the other doctors haven't been fired yet. The others including the female lead are just 1D characters. The whole world of the drama is made only for the male lead to shine, all else is just decoration.

I mean the male lead can do all the medicals better than all the others. Their could have been silent characters helping him out, no need for these foolish, no consequence characters, just there to show a more wholesome team. The female lead could have been their to provide protection and other police work, may even serve as a romantic interest with a sassy demeanor (she is already a bit sassy). It is a tried and true formula, I have seen many popular shows with such a plot going successfully for more than 5 seasons.

The last 2 episodes were really the bottom and reminded me of the over 1000 episodes of CID (Indian Drama) that my household hated and only my little brother loved.

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Interesting cases with non-consistent realization.

To begin, I really like this drama, but I think it isn't one that everbody likes.

The story isn't a really new concept but it has really unordinary medical aspects. It focuses mostly on the medical and mystery. I like how the characters were introduced and that the "investigation team" is newly formed. In my opinion one or two cases are not as interesting as the others. However the main case is quite thrilling.

The acting in this varies . Some actors played their role really well. The lead actors played really great. Personaly I liked Ryu Deok Hwans acting slightly more than Yoo Joo Hees. The guest roles differ from poor to excellent.

The music isn't bad. It is just not memorable.

I don't think that the drama has a high rewatch value, not because I didn't like but once a mystry is solved it loses its tension.

Spoiler
At the end not everything is resolved, especially about the male leads past. But you can still watch it comfortable without a need to watch the other episodes.

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This, deserve a 10/10 from me. I am a fan of medical forensic drama. And, I love OCN's dramas. So, this drama is basically a combination of both my favorites. I've watched a few dramas with this genre, either from Asian, or US. Vampire Prosecutor, Virus, Body of Proof, CSI:NY, Brain, Surgeon Bong Dal Hee. But this one is, simply amazing. This drama maybe has the highest score among all the drama I've reviewed.

Story: the story basically had no defined plot at early episodes. It just contains separated cases each episodes. But later a plot was built and unexpectedly made a twist (which was a pleasant surprise). The case about rare disease is REALLY interesting. The cases are not using a really "smart" or "tricky" strategy, but rather, it's interesting because the case was actually solved by solving the victim's or perpetrator's disease. And of course, I could take notes learning about rare disease (which, I really interested into). And to add the plus point, it contains a bit romance (and a sweet one :))

Acting/Cast: I must admit, dr. Han is really charming, in his own way. He's smart, but quirky at the same time (and different from other main characters from other medical drama I've watched). Ryu Deok Hwan is absolutely worth praising. The interaction between the team is also hilarious and warm, which I really enjoy. All the cast did a fantastic job building the character, so, 10/10.

Music: actually, there's not much music. I do believe, OST bombardment is not for medical drama, because atmosphere is not really the main point. But to be honest, this drama had better OST than other medical drama I've watched.

Rewatch Value: I'm not the type who would rewatch the dramas I've watched. But if I put myself on other's shoes, I definitely would want to rewatch this, someday in the future.

Overall: Even though it lacks in music, but it doesn't matter for me. This drama still scored 10/10. The acting is terrific, nothing to complaint. It blown me away after I watched the first episodes and got me addicted (to the extent that I neglected all my currently watching dramas beside this one). This drama successfully rises to the top 5 of my all-time favorite dramas, and I am now excited to watch the second season. Apparently this drama had similar format with other dramas, but with its uniqueness, I would highly recommend this drama for those whose fond of medical dramas (and those who doesn't mind bloody and autopsy scenes).

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If you like medical and detective work. You will enjoy this drama. It has it witty moments and some heart wrenching cases. I enjoyed watching this season but I have a problem with the pacing and story line

What I liked: The cases. The cases that this team worked on were definitely different and the stories fit well within a 1-2 episode arc. I liked the dynamic of the team could've used some more fleshing out. I enjoyed most of their banter and the setup of their deductions. Everyone is cable in their own right and didn't bring down the team. (Also really liked the moment of silence before the autopsy)

What I didn't like: I would have enjoyed if this season had a few more episodes. Everyone likes fast pacing, dragging out a drama is never a pleasant experience. But I thought this was too fast. The main story line or (personal cases for the leads) didn't kick in until episode 8. It seemed rush and not fully rounded for me. Especially the love line. I would've appreciated a stronger build up to that plot point.

Acting was also enjoyable. There were some problems with delivery of some lines from the actors, but it wasn't enough to make me stop watching. I haven't given up on the series. I'm going to continue watching hoping that the show works out the few kinks I disliked.

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It's very rare for K drama to have a couple of seasons. This drama is quite popular in Korea for a cable tv drama. I always love mysteries or crime drama which made me interested to watch this series, and by chance, I find it in Netflix too.

The story is focused on the genius doctor Han Ji woon. As a part of a forensic doctor team which specializes in finding the cause of death due to some kind of weird circumstance and rare diseases. The idea is very unique and intriguing. Each episode is very interesting which made you hook. I find the story of each case is more sentimental and sappy than I would like it to be (the story does make you think but in a more sentimental way). The case sometimes can be very easy to guess or too predictable. The ending is kind of weird and forced I think. I did not expect any romance development in the story which made it really weird. I think its better if the writer did not put any romance at all into the story. The main partnership lack some chemistry. Although this drama did not make it to be one of my favorite crime dramas, I still enjoy watching it and looking forward to season 2.

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I was bored so I thought to watch something to time pass, but then I completed this series in 2 days....

Male lead was a bit hilarious and quite friendly but a total genius though he was suffering from some unknown disease but didn't show to anyone as he didn't want anyone to get worried....

Female lead has a strong sense of justice and quite a good fighter. She showed firm determination and passion in solving every case...

There were ups and downs in every episode which were full of emotions, suspense and drama....

I am totally sure that you will not be bored as you can't guess every disease....

Those who like medical field dramas will surely gonna love it.....

Overall the drama was quite intriguing....

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I have to say this is not typically what I watch, as I'm more of a romance-comedy-drama kind of person, but this really got me hooked from the first episode.
Maybe it was also a very nice change for me BECAUSE I was watching so much romance..stuff.

This story actually reminds me of a mix of some US-series but it definitely has it's korean touch to it which made it very enjoyable.
I liked the whole plot setting and that it always develops towards one question and one issue that is present during the first season.
Some points are clear from the story but some really surprise you which made it not boring at all. Even if you're not a medical-stuff-love-freak, they made every aspect quite interesting and it IS interesing because it's about a group in a university lab which deals with rare deseases.  
I loved the acting and the cast, because they balanced each other out pretty well.
At first I didn't like the female lead because sometimes she seemed to act a little tough for me, but during the series while she gets warm with her crew and Dr. Han she changes a little and that made me like her in the end.

Also I have to say that the antagonist of this whole story was pretty well played! I loved the mystery and the danger and also the craziness. I mean this is nothing for soft hearts for sure.

What I also really enjoyed were the talks Dr. Han had almost at every end of those episodes because they were so so human. Dr. Han is portrayed as pretty arrogant and he doesn't care what he says but at the end of each episode he asks his mentor about human nature and why people act how they sometimes do and that made him actually pretty human and likable and I think everyone can learn from those talks...getting philosophical here...(probably because I'm writing a paper for uni atm xD hahahaha)

sometimes I thought the music was a bit off or was cut off too fast at the and of a scene but it didn't bother me in the end.

Because this drama shows a lot of unpleasant stuff that could happen to you, I wouldn't rewatch it right away, but at some point I would.

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