From the beginning I liked the way that the characters were introduced. Little by little, showing just enough information for this moment. Slowly uncovering the main plot. We were subjectively shown what happened, not always getting the whole picture. So it was a slow exploration of the story, but very satisfying one. From the first episode we got three characters who were clearly somehow connected- directly or through similar experiences. And the first episode that was somehow a prequel to the mail story perfectly introduced us to the characters without uncovering all the cards.
I’m, not a big fan of medical dramas, I think I’ve already said it in other of my reviews. In my life I watched enough medical series so everything after that seems just not enough to keep my interest. But here the medicine seems to be just a background to the events of the drama. It sets the tone, but here, people are the main focus, not necessary their illnesses.
It’s hard to find drama that have so many interesting characters as this one. They’re all well developed, they all have their specific set of characteristics. They all are motivated by their own set of rules and truths. And it doesn’t matter if we’re talking about main characters, secondary ones, background characters. We have so many interesting stories of patients that even during slower episodes, lack of progress of the main plot line wasn’t a problem. And kudos for the “villains” of the story. For their humane side and well explained motivations. It’s just that all of the characters seemed very human, very true. And sometimes it’s just difficult to have such a great cross-section of different personalities without even one being over the top or exaggerated.
I don’t know if I have to even mention acting here. I’ve learned long time ago that Ji Sung could play turnip and it would be the best acted turnip in history of vegetables. This role seems to be just made for him. The composure and cold calculation mixed with personality of a person who always had to count on himself just works perfectly with him. I just think that this actor does his work the best with difficult roles. I’ve seen him in some pretty normal ones and they just wasn’t it.
The rest of the cast delivers as well. Lee Se Young who for some reason I haven’t recognised from Kairos, even tough I love this drama, was very good. And duo made by Lee Kyu Hyung and Shin Dong Mi and their characters path of understanding was just perfect.
This drama couldn’t defend itself from couple of standard cliches that maybe weren’t that obvious, but if you watched enough dramas already, you kinda knew what will happen now. I’ll not spoil any more, but let’s say, that what I was afraid would happen, happened and I wasn’t happy about it, since it’s one on my least liked tropes in dramas when it comes to figuring out the finale.
And the music. It’s nothing big, there’re no big hits here. No loud bangers. But it just fits perfectly. After finishing the drama I like to listen to soundtrack, even during writing of the review, and I was pleasantly surprised how many good song there’re there that were amazing background to the events on the screen.
Just to conclude. I wasn’t really sure what to expect here. I’ve read some mixed reviews about it, but was very pleasantly surprised with what I got.
If you like medical dramas and don’t mind some standard plot cliches, by all means, watch Doctor John, you’ll like it.