El Sanador (2014)

Parkour guy gets revenge on everyone for missing out on the olympic gymnastics team.

I tried. I really tried.

Through 9 episodes, I was praying this show would pick up. Surely, I thought, "it must pick up, I'm missing something here; I've pushed through mediocre beginnings before. It seems like a well rated and popular show. Show me something, anything, even one likeable character to hang on to". I waited patiently, but nothing materialized through nearly the 50% mark of this show; close to 10 hours of development. That's simply not acceptable for me - to have zero positive elements to experience or look forward to. I can accept a blend of bad and good, but an absence of any good is a complete turnoff.

First off, the music was noticeably bad and corny. Music, at worst , should be neutral, unmemorable, and not distracting. It's a sin if it stands out as bad. At that point, I'd rather there be no music. Just cut it out.

Second, in most shows, I can usually criticize the plot/writing more than acting or directing. In this show, the plot was actually the 'best' element, and it was still mediocre (5/10). Picture this: a young man parkours his way across building rooftops while chasing a vehicle through the city, he dives through people's windows into their living rooms while they're watching TV; he's being aided by a 50s tech hacker wizard with frizzy wild hair who can hack any computer, CCTV, etc., in real time, and bark directions to parkour guy on where the car is going; by the way, the hacker and parkour guy don't know each other's true identities but work together in this risky way with high trust; they must sense each other's age through voice because parkour guy speaks formally to hacker wizard; parkour guy is able to keep up with the car and doesn't even seem out of breath, never trips or loses his footing - oh and it is nighttime, too; he gets into fights with thugs, does gymnastics high bar routines while politely hitting thugs; no one knows parkour guy's identity because he wears shaded glasses and dark clothing with the top of his face covered; he has no morals and gets paid to do a variety of sh*t for mostly privileged and immoral men; without a doubt, parkour guy is just venting, displacing his anger for missing out on the Olympic gymnastics team; do you want me to keep explaining this further or do you get the picture?

There are long scenes with corny music and implied plot development. For example, check out episode 9, 27:00-29:00; it is two minutes where character A is thinking about character B wistfully, while character B is watching character A secretively. Guess where Character B is? They are parkouring their way across rooftops following Character A through random parts of the city 'protectively watching them'. 2 whole minutes. This scene isn't a sole transgression, there's quite a bit of this. Again, let me remind you, the plot is the strength in this show.

Third -and this is the first show for me in about 80 shows -I felt the acting across the board was, at best, mediocre. I cannot believe how average to bad some of the acting is in this show. I'm not even talking about I didn't connect with 'characters'. I'm talking straight up mediocre acting performance. Sadly, most 'characters' didn't even have a chance to shine even if the design was decent, because the acting was corny, unnatural, forced. Joo Yeon Hee? Intellectually, we are supposed to feel bad for this character's circumstances; instead I felt bad they were written and acted the way they were. I've enjoyed Park Min Young in a few shows, perhaps not super impressed, but enjoyable enough. I could not stand the character of Chae Yeong Shin and the acting was off. Awkward singing, overacted do-gooder, ridiculously naive, and lacking tact, Yeong Shin was difficult to watch and root for. Her romance with Seo Jung Hoo or "Healer" was plain awkward. The first kiss they share while they cannot see each other, is uninspiring; in some reverse alternative universe, the girl now, not Healer, has the upper part of her face covered. She was not skeeved out at all getting kissed on a rooftop by someone she can't see and doesn't know; maybe all the viewers that rated this show 10/10 like that kind of romance. Aigoo, I've had better kisses with pillows. Serious!

Sometimes, a show is not that high quality, but I understand what's happening in the plot well enough to skip the less interesting bits so I can enjoy the parts or characters that are enjoyable. In Healer, there wasn't anything for me to enjoy. Healer is the first show I wanted to fast forward, but couldn't because the plot was complex enough, that to fast forward scenes would impact comprehension. To comprehend, I had to watch. Ultimately, I could not justify doing that for another 10 hours.

I'm genuinely confused at what the high raters experienced.

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A drama to start them all

Since almost everything has already been said about Healer, I will try to keep this review as short as possible :
So, basically, you need to watch this drama. Right now.
Well, I'm not saying this is a perfect tv-show (slow motion effect abuse, too much emphasis on obvious things...)
But it's really enjoyable... mostly because there's something to see, to hear and to feel for everyone in this drama.
So... basically, you need to watch this drama.

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A nice little introduction to Ji Chang Wook and Park Min Young

This is one of the best dramas I've seen and as of now, I've watched a few. Has everything - good action; strong plot that doesn't dip in terms of excitement and likeable characters that you really root for (if they're good guys) and want to see their end if they're villians.

It was also well casted and chemistry between the main cast was good and the pacing of the story was just perfect. I didn't watch this when it first came out so unlike those that did, I didn't have to wait for a week between episodes (might have gone mad as virtually every episode ends with a cliffhanger!).

I've watched several other Korean dramas starring Ji Chang Wook and Park Min Young now and I would say that this showcases their talents well. Ji Chang Wook fits the bill as an all action man who sticks to shadows and is a bit of a loner, playing against a feisty, underdog in Park Min Young who gets under his skin.

It's surprisingly non-tropey in that you can't always predict the outcome - the good and bad guys are not always what or who they seem to be. There can be no mistaking that what you think will happen at the end does, but everything in between does keep you hooked into the story and you're genuinely interested in what happens next.

I say give it go. It was one of the first kdramas I ever watched and it holds a little place in my heart because of the fact that I've been watching them almost non-stop for nearly 2 years, almost to the extent that I can't remember the last time I watched something without subtitles!

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