Doctor John (2019)

One of the best medical dramas I have ever watched.

I must say I'm a big fan of medical dramas, and I really love this drama. I started watching this because of Ji Sung, but fell in love with the whole cast. Such a beautiful storyline, heart touching. They selected the best cast for this drama. I hope this drama will gain more attention because it's worth watching. If we talk about music this drama's OST suits its story line very well.
I love Lee Se Young's character. She is a really good actress. And must say their chemistry is just Wow!! I can name them as one of the best onscreen couples. They don't have too many romantic scenes but we can feel their chemistry very well.
And also I loved Lee Kyu Hyung's character, hope he had more scenes cause he did well in his character.
Loved this drama from the first episode.

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Not only for medical drama fans

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.

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A very interesting storyline

I am quite a fan for medical stories. The sheer mixture between the ethical problems that we outsiders of hospitals simply love to forget (see Covid and hospitals) is always good for interesting story lines. And with Dr. John it is the same. The background of the question about ethics of medicine and the questions of euthanasia are new to me in this genre, but played without the pathos other stories have.
The players are very good and tho the story is tending to lots of tears in the later episodes, its a joy to follow the series.
So, for the cold and wet season it might be a great choice.
Btw. the only manko ALL asian medical series seem to have is to see feminine workers in hospitals on high heels. Nobody would wear high heels in a hospital.

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Omg 'daebak news 'was my best line in this show.Honestly I shed tears almost every time jisung acts because i sincerely feel all the emotions but this show was on another level because it was a non-stop river of tears.i learned that there are differr g ways to love without the cringy stuff.In addition it made me question death,like for real what is the definition of it and how do I want to feel during my last moments.I also learned to never take anything for granted especially the pain I feel because someone out there probably doesn't have the luxury to live a carefree life like most of us take for granted.There were some light hearted moments especially between the second leads which balanced out the seriousness of the first lead couple.Dang that main chick had my blood boiling during the whole show and not for obvious reasons.watch it to know what I am saying.
The music especially when something terrible was about to happen was delightful.i loved it and the love songs too were great.
I will probably rewatch it after a while just because ji sung..
In conclusion,it was a great show Please watch it if you want to cry helplessly and learn a bit of medicine

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STORY: Damn, korean medical drama do not disappoint. I think this is one of the best drama's in it's season together with Hotel del Luna. I like that the story is about pain and basically life in itself. Do doctors have the right to take away life in order for the pain to be gone? or is prolonging life only provides torture for the patient? I like that it stimulates my mind in thinking this thoughts. I though this drama had really deep meaning not only in life but facing death.
CAST: I really really love the overall cast! Their roles were perfect. I mainly watched this at first because of Ji Sung. I've known about Lee Se Young when I watched Hit the top and Hwayugi. She did a good job with the acting. The other actors/actresses did a great job as well. But boy! Is Ji Sung not perfect? Looks, body and the talent! His wife is very lucky!
MUSIC: The OSTs were good as well, very catchy and unforgettable. However it is not as good as the other OST's in the other drama I was watching (ehem ehem Hotel del luna). But I have them on replay on spotify.
REWATCH VALUE: I just finished the drama but I already have the urge to rewatch it again. That should say something.
OVERALL: 10/10. Why not? This drama was that good!

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As expected from Ji Sung, I LOVED everything about this drama.

I watch Ji Sung's drama for him and nothing else. He is such an amazing actor and he has very expressive eyes. I had no idea what this drama was about before starting it, I didn't read the synopsis, tags or cast, only the genre, but I LOVED all of it.

There was so much chemistry between the leads. Heck, there was chemistry between EVERYONE, and they all developed such great friendships.

This is the kind of slow burn romance I love. It started off with admiration turning into friendship and growing into romantic love fairly quickly. It was very obvious the leads had feelings for each other, and unlike other slow burn romance dramas, the leads were able to build a romantic relationship before the end of the drama (around halfway through in fact), one that can withstand the test of time and long distance.

I LOVED every storyline and I LOVED how every character had depth. Everyone had their own story explaining why they do/did the things the do/did. And I loved how good and bad wasn't black and white, no one (not even the villain(s)) was fundamentally bad and at the end you couldn't hate anyone for what they did.

The only thing I didn't like about this drama was how little screentime the second lead, prosecutor Son Suk Gi had. He has a huge role to the plot of the drama, but his story takes place more off screen than on screen. I really wish we got to see more of him because I just loved his charecter development and relationship with Cha Yo Han. I get that this is a doctor drama, but his prosecution and investigation side of the drama was really interesting and it was entirely revolved around the medical aspect of the story.

As much as I didn't like the time jump at the end, it was a reasonable jump and needed for there to be a happy ending of sorts.

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This one had me mumbling as I was watching it

Very unpopular opinion here, but it's just my opinion -

I love Ji Sung - he is such a talented and charismatic actor. I don't know why I kept putting this one off, but now I wish I had continued to keep it on the back burner.

There was a lot to like about the show:
1) Ji Sung
2) Second couple - they were just so cute
3) The entire pain management team was fun to watch. They had the ability to be serious, but there was a lot of levity from them as well.
4) I loved the fact that the hospital politics was low, and we got more focus on the doctors and the cases they handled.

Now the causes for my mumbling:
1) Lee Se Young as Kang Shi Young. I have liked her acting in other works, but she really bothered me here. This character cried in every episode. She was kind of a stalker toward Dr. John and followed him around a lot. For being a resident, she had an awful lot of free time! And the strange haircut...when they first showed her at the conference from the front, I thought she had a bob haircut and it looked really cute. Then she turned around, and it WAS a bob, just with a lot of long hair underneath it. It was so distracting! Add her wide-eyed staring at Dr. John all the time, I didn't like her at all.
2) The romance. It should have been left out. I love me some romance, but the leads had absolutely no chemistry with one another. I think that this is the first time I've watched supposed romantic scenes and been uncomfortable. They acted like they were acting, and I didn't believe that they liked each other at all.
3) Do medical shows have medical advisors? If so, the advisor for Dr. John must have been on vacation when they were filming.
A woman has had her arm amputated and feels pain - she knew nothing about phantom limb pain?!?! They warn amputees about this. She thinks that he has a fever, and she checks his forehead with her hand. She checks his pulse with her thumbs.
Multiple instances of patients writhing in pain with no medical staff close to them and the side rails are down. She's worried that he's gotten this dreaded disease a few hours after contact when she's already told us the incubation period was 10 days.
They stated that the actress had not signed a DNR form, and then were yelling when he was performing CPR. And can we talk about how fake the CPR looked. Get the disease names right - it's lymphedema, not lymphadenia (maybe a translation error, I'll give a little slack on that.) There is no way they would have hired him back at the same hospital after being in prison. Him not being able to feel pain, there is no way he would have been walking around outside barefooted, at night especially.
4) The last few episodes. He leaves for three years without contact. She CONTINUES to try to reach him (have a little pride, woman!). Come to find out, he's been back for a year and following her around, then he shows up in her face and she just forgives him (she's crying of course).

I had high hopes for this, but the writing took a definite turn in the wrong direction somewhere along the line.

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It may contain spoilers

I started watching this drama because of ji sung. This drama is my first medical drama and o loved it. It contain all genre romance, friendship, medical. The setting of drama is very nice specially in 1 ep. It also teaches me about the strange disease and people desperation to end their life because it is incurable but the doctors help them to take out from that trauma and help them. One dialogue I liked very much from this drama is "A doctor should always to run so keep your lace tied up" this show that how difficult the job of an doctor because a life of person might be dangerous because of there foolishness.

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The history of human is the history of pain

. People who are born in pain and eventually die from pain. They fight their pain all their lives. Without pain, we can hardly live.” In our hands How can we relieve and deal with pain?
The plot was so good that it also gives us a much wiser perspective on what the job of a doctor really is.
This drama made me think about the issue of pain, the fine lines between life and death, prolonged treatment, hospice care, and euthanasia from a few angles. Throughout the series, there was not a single moment where I felt bored or disinterested. Each character has their own charm and the actors did a great job and on top of that it was very helpful which somewhat increases your knowledge of the medical field in some way.
In real life, we need that fellow/friend you can count on for your secrets, who understands the situation and knows when to give his friend time to "stay alone" for a while...

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AMAZED, SUPRISED BY THE LEADS

Just completed this drama and it's my first time writting a review. This drama made me want to write the review. Amazing performance by the leads. Even the support actors were amazing. The whole show was build nicely. Loved the character of Cha Yo Han and Kang Shi Young . Ji Sung always amazes me with his superb acting skills. I also loved how Lee Se Young portrayed the character so well. She's an amazing artist. One thing I would like to highlight is that Kang Si Young was brilliant in this drama. The way she stood by Dr. Cha made me feel so good. She was so sure of her feelings that she never gave up on him.
Overall it's an interesting drama. You would witness a slow burning romance (Ji Sung is so good with his eyes, He can romance with his eyes). A must watch for everybody. To those who haven't watched yet give it a try guyss, You will love it.

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mostly enjoyable

this show probably broke my kdrama block, being the first show that i had completed in a while, though i did admittedly find myself skipping a little in virtually every other episode (skipping the scenes of the antagonists mostly, as well as the second couple).

i enjoyed seeing the relationship between yo han and shi young bud. i liked the pacing of the tender moments and the way that their concern for one another manifested. despite the mentor/mentee relationship and the age dynamic, as the relationship progressed, it didn't feel like there was a perverse power dynamic influencing shi young- it seemed that they were equally romantically inexperienced, and it helps that their romantic relationship began as their professional relationship ended. i was glad that there wasn't a love triangle as well.

interesting philosophical and ethical discussions were brought to light, though i'm not sure that the timing of them were appropriate, e.g. discussing the ethicality of euthanasia when someone is in cardiac arrest. i did appreciate that they didn't necessarily force a view on the viewer, however, just inviting a discussion of such matters and the intricacies in each possible scenario.

eun jung, the nurse, was a frustrating character. of course, she had a right to be upset that her idea of retribution was not executed, but her anger was misplaced and way too drawn out. i found myself skipping most of her scenes- she was too obsessive.

i was frustrated with the final episodes. i was hoping that they wouldn't do that typical time-jump wherein the main couple have lived separately and reunite, but alas.

i'm not well-versed in medicine and so i cannot touch on how good or accurate it is as a medical drama, but things i researched out of curiosity appeared to align with the show's plot.

overall, an enjoyable watch, but not one free of complaints or criticisms. the acting was great, and i was particularly impressed by ji sung.

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Clap clap

I really didn't expect this drama to be so gooooood. It always made me anticipate for what will happen in the next episode. The plot is really intriguing and the plot twist is awesome. I can't really say so much about this drama that now belongs to my all time favorite. Like, it's awesome!!!! If you are waiting for a sign to watch this.... Then this is!!! Okayyy yyy yy yyy yyyy yy yy? Okayyyy yybyy yyy yy yyy yy!

Ugghhhh ugh awo awo awo awo awoa woao wow wow wow wow wow. I'm getting crazy HAHAHAHHA don't mind me! I need a check up from dr john if possible

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