Time Slip Dr. Jin (2012)

There comes a time where I deviate from my usual way of watching things. I'm the type of person that either watches an airing show as soon as it comes out or binge watch an already-finished drama as quickly as I can. Unfortunately, I didn't do that this time as I would have liked to. That would bring me to the main part of my review: the fatal flaw.

It drags. Yes, the nightmare you all dread, hiding behind your fortress of speedy Japanese classics and 16-episode Korean wonders. I stopped at episode 18 and didn't pick it up for months. It just slowly came to an unbearable halt. It's not like the story wasn't interesting - it just went on. And on. And /on/. When one problem was finished - oh! there's another one. That itself was not well structured. It was like watching reality TV with plot points being dragged out from the darkest depths of cinematic hell and suck in to keep it mildly entertaining.

That was a huge blow to what otherwise would be... quite a great drama. Believe it or not, the story was pretty good. Despite the former, I genuinely enjoyed the storyline. I mean, it kept you guessing for one thing --- maybe because of a lack of proper explanation, but well, that's one way to do it.
The other fantastic thing was the acting. A fairly star-studded cast graces us with their sublime acting. Kim Jae Joong (who played Kim Kyung Tak) was particularly good (the eyes!).

The other minor let-downs might have been the soundtrack. None of the songs honestly piqued my interest enough to remain in my memory, and I remember noticing the songs entering at really strange times. Not fluid at all. More like a tear falls and suddenly you have a random ballad flash in. If it were faded in and out - or even better -had a better composed OST, it would have been nothing to complain about.

Overall, I myself enjoyed it. The ending was exceptionally good - I enjoyed that very much. The majority of the drama was set in the past (exactly what I like from a historical drama, if it wasn't obvious) and the medical scenes were realistic, and realistically gory. It wasn't over-the-top (though some might disagree) and yet it still played a strong role as a theme in the drama.

If you have a lot of free time, perseverance and like continuous problems in the plot - here's your drama.

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{I rushed this review. I might come back to edit it later...(don't count on it)}

You might enjoy it.

But it made no sense.

My English teacher always tells me that my stories are creative and the plot is great. Not to mention, my writing skill is superior. However, the development lacks.

Time Slip Dr Jin is similiar. A great plot but poor execution.

To be honest, I enjoyed watching the drama. The actors were skilled, however, there are exceptions. Like someone said, the actor for Dr Jin, his expressions were exaggerated to the point where it was embarassing.

After watching Faith which is has a similar plot, I also noticed that Dr Jin adapted to the Joseon Era too quickly. Basically, you're suprised, you suddenly travel 500 years ago to the past but then you start treating people, become a reknowned doctor, and start to fit in. In fact, from the moment Dr Jin time travelled to Joseon, he fitted in. Personalities, mannerisms, protocol, norms, values etc...would be completely different from what he knew in the future. However, he fits in perfectly. Which consequently resulted in a boring main character.

Many people would let this slide. However, after a while, I was all. "WHEN THE HELL DID THE CHARACTERS DEVELOP FEELINGS FOR EACH OTHER!?!" Yup. This drama doesn't deserve a romance tag.

The drama mainly focused on its political aspect. And that in all, was executed perfectly. It was well enjoyed.

Now to the biggest turn off about the drama, the drama developes on a plot and then BAM! Your reward for wasting 22hrs of your life is a horrible ending, cliff hangers and bad explanation for a good plot.
All in all, it doesn't hurt to watch Time Slip Dr Jin. According to the person, you might be disappointed.

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This is a very difficult drama to review because by the end, I was confused. What was the message in all of this? What was the writer really thinking when he wrote this piece? What, as a viewer, am I supposed to feel or understand from this?
The only thing that comes to mind: Frustration; and boy did this show frustrate me!
I really struggled to keep up with all the Paranormal turns and twists, and friends I talked to about it was also having trouble grasping the plot.
Choong Hoon told to him that he was taken by time so his life can be saved… … save from what? ¯\_(?)_/¯
Park Min Young was great in this drama but that doesn't justify you having to sit through 20 episode of this Fringe/Time Travel/Paranormal mess.

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At first I wasn't even sure if I was going to watch this until the end after seeing the first two episodes and were about to drop it. Now I'm glad I didn't as it managed to entertain me and I ended up liking it.
I'm far from being a medical profession but still, I do know a bit about medical stuff so maybe I'm more difficult to please when watching a drama with medical theme and tend to be also more critical.
While I cringed here and there about some things that just didn't seem logical to me the drama was enjoyable in total.

I didn't know and haven't seen the Japanese Original from 2009 when I watched the Korean Remake so that's possibly why I was more compliant than other reviewers who watched the remake after the original. Still, now that I watched it I have to adjust the rating. The Japanese Original is indeed better.

The Korean Remake is definitely not bad but it included an unnecessary second male lead to cause a "dramatic" love triangle and that was just dumb. The story doesn't need such nonsense and it made things just worse in the remake, things that would've been fine without this element that Korean Scriptwriters seem to love but is mostly annoying to no end, at least for me. The storyline is really interesting on its own and doesn't need any adjustments in my opinion. The J-Drama has some depth that lacks in the Korean Remake which is sad cause it gave the drama so much.

I like the characters and think the actors did a great job. The medical theme is not perfectly accurate but quite good and I've seen worse.
The whole time travel, parallel universe stuff was a bit confusing towards the end and I have to admit that at some point I lost focus and didn't care much about how it would be explained in the end. As anticipated the explanation wasn't really satisfying anyway so I didn't dwell on it. It was more logical in the J-Drama and I think it might've been better to just keep that instead of changing it to something that is confusing.

The music was not really outstanding and sometimes it felt a bit out of place and was not matching the scene but it wasn't really throwing me out of the scene anytime so it's okay. In fact the song "Last Love" sung by Song Seung Heon was very nice.

Despite it's flaws I like the drama and enjoyed watching it. I think it's worth a watch if you enjoy historical medical drama like me, but I would recommend watching it before the Japanese Original because the Korean Remake has some changes and most of them are not good but rather the opposite.
For me it's perfect proof that sometimes remakes are not needed and that an original is still better. Truth is, that it's hard to do something better what is already very good. In this case the attempt failed. I probably won't rewatch the remake again, at least not completely but instead picking the scenes I liked.
I still give it a solid 7.5 stars rating, cause it gave me a good time when I first watched it.

Edit: a little over a week after the original publishing of the review

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A medical scam

Reminds me of some cheap isekai anime. Executed as a one and equally as garbage. Terrible writing from the get go. Poor storytelling and structure. Painfully underutilizing the generous long runtime. Filled with irrelevant nonsense that doesn't contribute to anything, not even for a side gag or filler. While the cast may not have been terrible, but they were definitely careless and under-performing. It's not like they had much to work with in the first place. The director doesn't seem to be helping in that regard either. I don't think this drama would have worked even if it was just a 2-hours movie.

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I cannot praise this highly enough, it's great. It has sci-fi, medical, saeguk intrigue and plotting, adventure and memorable characters all in one. All good-looking leads to sweeten the eye. Song Seung Heon still looks very young and handsome here considering he was in his thirties and comparing his still good but more rugged look in Black only 5 years later. The only (slight) disappointment was the Joseon ending, which left the story hanging in the air. The attempt to tidy it up through Prince Heung Soon's appearance (those who watch will know what I mean) for me was unsatisfactory. Apart from that I am really sorry to have finished it. Will almost certainly re-watch, like Black, with Song Seung Heon, one of the few I have re-watched with equal pleasure as first time round. I cannot understand the low rating on this series. Lack of good taste I assume.

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I don't get it why people don't like this!

My take on this drama may differ from most. I really enjoyed it and don't understand why it received such a low rating. It blends sci-fi, medical themes, adventure, and memorable characters, along with a great mix of history and fantasy. It's a well-written and enjoyable drama that deserves a higher rating. While it may not be a masterpiece, it fulfills its purpose of being enjoyable and creative. Additionally, those criticizing Park Min Young's acting in this drama should get their eyes checked. This is clearly one of her best works, and her performance in the romantic scenes was exceptional. The entire cast's acting carried the show, even though I didn't particularly like Kim Kyung Tak's character or the actor's somewhat mediocre acting. Despite this, I stand by my opinion. The entire cast's stellar performances overshadow any shortcomings. Watching this drama is definitely worth it; you won't regret it at all.

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Come nel manga originale, il medico chirurgo Jin finisce nel passato; qui però c’è un cambio di paesaggio: veniamo portati nella Corea del 1860, nel periodo della dinastia Joseon. Dotato delle conoscenze moderne in campo medico, il protagonista si dedica a curare i suoi nuovi pazienti. Potrà il suo bisturi, salvando delle vite, modificare il corso della storia?
Jin è interpretato dall’attore Song Seung-heon (Autumn in my Heart, Summer Scent, East of Eden, My Princess)
il ruolo dell’antagonista è ricoperto dal cantante-attore Kim Jaejoong (Protect the Boss), che si calerà nei panni di Kim Kyung-tak, il discendente di una nobile famiglia di guerrieri maestri di spada, quest’ultimo è innamorato di una sua amica d’infanzia.
Nel cast troviamo anche Lee Beom-soo (Singles, Giant), Park Min-yeong (Glory Jane, Sungkyunkwan Scandal, City Hunter) e Lee So-yeon (Untold Scandal, Dong Yi, My Love By My Side).
In molti hanno screditato questo drama, visto e considerato che è diverso dagli altri; Io invece penso che sia una storia originale e interessante. Un medico di oggi che finisce nel passato e porta le sue conoscenze mediche moderne in un mondo antico sa un po' di Thermae Romae e può avere dei risvolti interessanti. Come romanticismo non aspettatevi nulla di stratosferisco -.- ahahahhahaha

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It's was difficult to see these series in Europe.

I recommend this series, is very interesting. The actors are great and the story is good. Anyhow, I'm glad I was able to watch the series finally to the End. If you are living in Europe At you are really at disadvantage watching K-dramas. The episodes on YouTube had bad sound and picture quality. Dailymotion only offered just part of the episodes. Global prime-time shows and movies are not good represented in Germany. I suffered a lot. Asian Crush is a popular alternative but offers all the latest in Asian entertainment. You guys there have to do something to help us, please!

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