Why do I love Kdramas? Why do I watch so many Kdramas and so little American TV? To answer that question one need look no further than Healer. Healer may not be the best show I've ever seen, and it's not even the best Korean tv show I've seen. BUT it is the epitome of a KDRAMA. What do I mean by that? 1. Romance: It has one of the best OTPs of all time, in terms of chemistry, character, story, hotness, AND did I say CHEMISTRY? I think Healer set some kind of record for skinship and hot kisses for a major network Kdrama. 2. Action: Sure not all Kdramas have action scenes - but really good ones do! And they are a common feature of Kdramas. And when they are done well, they add so much excitement and fun to the show. Healer has really good fight scenes. 3. Acting: I would put Korean actors up against Hollywood ones any day and this cast was fantastic from top to bottom. 4. Kdrama Trope Soup - Healer has it all: mysterious vigilante hero, childhood traumas, powerful evil organizations, birth secrets, conspiracies, corruption, twisty plans, murders, orphans, weirdly specific illnesses/psychological issues that act as plot devices, quirky co-workers, and an OTP that was destined to be since childhood. (I'm sure I've missed a bunch.) 5. Hotness: A beautiful lead actress and a smoking hot leading man. 6. Directing: Lots of Kdramas have subpar directing, but I've noticed that on average their directing is much better than most other foreign fare. Healer had very good directing! So when I say that Healer is not the best Korean show I've ever seen but it is the best Kdrama I've seen, that's exactly what I mean. Healer takes all of the things that make a Kdrama a Kdrama and then puts them together better than anyone else. It does this without any of the failings that so many less stellar Kdramas have: 1. plots that start good and then become redundant to fill time or unravel towards the end, 2. noble idiocy / characters that don't tell each other the truth when that would solve all their problems just to keep the plot moving, 3. poorly thought out plots where the writer puts herself in a corner and cannot get out without the writing going to crap, 4. poor OTP chemistry, 5. annoying characters that make you want to strangle them (especially when they are the female lead), 6. mediocre acting, 7. sketchy directing, and 8. crappy endings (by that I mean endings that don't actually end anything!!!!!!!!!) The best thing about Healer is the OTP and their to-die-for, smoking hot chemistry (and the fact that they are genuinely awesome characters both together AND on their own). But the second best (and rarer) thing that makes Healer so special is that the writer really thought it out from beginning to end. There are hints and clues all over and nothing is wasted (no guns are left unfired, for all you Chekhov fans). The writer is not lazy or gratuitous or wasteful or redundant. Everything that is there is needed. I am, of course, not the least bit surprised since she wrote one of the best Kdramas of all time, Story of a Man, and one that I have not seen that is also considered one of the best of all time, Sandglass. (She's written some crap too, but I think her good outweighs her bad.) So, props to the awesome Song Ji Na! The only reason I gave it a 9.5 and not a 10 is that the ending, while satisfactory was a bit rushed. And I felt just a twinge betrayed since the writer had paced it out so well for 19 episodes and then got a bit rushy at the end. However, if I could give it a 9.8 I would. Anyhow, I normally only write reviews of less popular dramas, and I know that Healer has a huge online following so it is definitely not in that category. But I still had to get my two cents in because it's just that great! And if you haven't seen it, and you still need convincing: didn't I mention the historic levels of skinship and hot kisses?!