Dr. Crush #review

Doctors / 닥터스

Genre -  Romance, comedy, drama, medical
Writer -  Ha Myung hee
Network -  SBS
Episodes -  20
Released -  June - August, 2016

CAST

PLOT

Yoo Hye jung (Park Shin hye) was a wayward girl in high school with a prickly, gangster personality. Childhood scars kept her heart closed towards others. She changes after moving in with her grandmother and meeting Hong Ji hong (Kim Rae won). They part ways but meet again after 13 years, when Yoo Hye jung becomes a doctor. ~Wiki w/edits

REVIEW

I'm being generous with the star rating for this one, and probably because of the actors involved as opposed to the story itself, which is what I'm most-often reviewing about -- but not this time.

And, it wasn't a horrible story, just not much in the way of a plot or purpose.

Well, okay, how about I admit to thinking that this is a worn out plot devise (revenge) taken to an extreme level.

Hye jung grew up hating her father, who wasn't there for her, and even less so after her mother died, so she becomes rebellious and vindictive to the point of being a bad-ass without the motorcycle and tattoos.

Then her father, who has remarried and is raising another daughter, kicks Hye jung out and sends her off to his mother.

Halmeoni owns a little boarding house/cafe, and she's a patient woman with a big heart who loves her granddaughter and wants what's best for her.

Hong Ji hong resides at this boarding house and also teaches science at the local high school for girls, where Hye jung stubbornly refuses to get along with anyone including him.

Eventually, she makes friends with two other girls, and one of them -- Jin Seo woo -- is your typical, stereotypical rich snob born into the lap of luxury because her father is a surgeon turned hospital CEO.

And, of course, her mother is a typical/stereotypical bitch housewife who doesn't receive an ounce of attention or affection from her husband, so she pours herself into her only child and lives her life vicariously through the stuck-up daughter.

Things go horribly wrong one night and Hye jung is about to take the fall after Seo woo blames her for the incident, but the other friend steps in and lands in jail.

Then halmeoni becomes ill and needs surgery.

The doctor turned CEO performs the operation and, again, things go terribly wrong and we lose the dear, sweet old lady through malpractice.

Thirteen years lapse and we see Hye jung, Seo woo, and Ji hong working at the same hospital in the same neurosurgery department.

Ji hong is there because his father is presently a co-founder.

Seo woo is there because of her father, of course.

And Hye jung is there to exact her revenge on Seo woo's appah.

She still hates everyone and is ruled entirely by vendetta, so it was difficult to see or understand, much less want her to become emotionally involved with anyone -- including Dr. Hong.

And that is where things get interesting, because as I mentioned, this isn't so much about the story as it is the two leads and their eventual romance.

The handsome Kim Rae won and the beautiful Park Shin hye had an on-screen chemistry that can't be beat.

Their sexual tension and physical contact can't be denied, either, and seemed as real on camera as it may or may not become off.

I loved seeing these two together and enjoyed every moment of their dual relationship in and out of the operating room.

Unfortunately, these two both failed to convince me that they were in character.

She dressed too fancy and acted too smug for her position while he seemed slightly off-kilter as a brain surgeon and the adopted son of a hospital head.

It was more like watching two Hallyu stars grace the set of a studio hospital and go through the motions w/out really getting into character.

I read the gossip about her nail art being criticized and laughed because it seemed more absurd to me that she walked around the hospital in a lab coat, Coco Chanel, and stilettos as well.

Over here, it isn't unheard of for a practicing physician to wear what she wore in the office, but I've yet to see the same thing occur in a hospital setting, so I get the huff even if I think it is wrong and ridiculous for those in the know to point out such things in a DRAMA.

Are we not all aware of the simple fact that this is television and therefore unrealistic?

Unfortunately for her and the show, it is what kind of ruined it for me with regard to her story.

And I know that sounds weird and even contradictory, but the incongruity of her appearance made it difficult to get into her vindictive head when staring at her conjured up all things Korean Hollywood and not angry former gangpae!

Is it possible to be too beautiful for certain parts in a K-do?

She is beautiful, no doubts there, and a really good actress -- just not in Dr. Crush -- and only because of her inability to transform.

Park Shin hye and Kim Rae won

Adorable HEA.

It was a tremendous relief to watch these two actually GO somewhere in the romance department.

For a very welcome change, the writer / director didn't lead us on through 19 of 20 episodes only to have them either part ways or for one of them to die.

Guess I can't stress enough how much I loved these two as a couple.

However, there were a few aside characters who worked their magic as well.

Baek Sung hyun

Baek Sung hyun's Pi Young kook almost stole this one.

A nerdish bespectacled intern with his mild-mannered ways and a serious crush on the stuck-up daddy's girl.

The glue that held his department together and paved the way for a lot of unresolved issues to iron themselves out on his behalf.

His relationship deserved a bit more air time and for us to see it work out at the end.

I'd like to know, anyway.

He's good and I'll be interested to see him in whatever else he's starred in.

No second lead syndrome here, either.

At one point in the show, one of the characters referred to Ji hong's rival (Yoon Gyun sang's Jung Yoon do) as 'the guy who resembles a Husky.'

At that point I began to study his face and noticed a slight resemblance, except that the actress got her breeds wrong.

Gyun sang looks more like a Malamute (to me).

And both are adorable!

He also did a better job of portraying his hard-nosed yet idealistic doctor who falls easily in love, and always with the wrong woman.

It was cute the way he behaved inside and outside the hospital, but especially at his swank pad when his uncle and his uncle's friend kept crashing there w/out notice.

And speaking of the 'other woman', she fell off after those house-crasher incidents, never to return to the set.

I always wonder why.

lol

Little boy Kim Min suk (Choi Kang soo) started out with pink hair that turned orange before yellow and then he had to shave it off for surgery.

A majority of his time was spent doing intern things, but his moment in the spotlight turned out to be one of a few tearjerker episodes.

Namgung Min

Namgung Min appeared in episodes 13-15 as the father of two sick sons and man, was that gut-wrenching and difficult to sit through.

He knocked that one out of the park, and I'm so glad because I was getting worried about him as an actor.

Cried buckets for his story.



Finally, there was Lee Sang yeob who appeared from episode 15 onward as the husband of a pregnant wife who ends up in a coma.

Lee Sang yeob

I really, really adore this guy and want to watch more of him on screen.

Something about his eyes says 'care for me, I'm lovable'  -- and I do!

His story dragged on til the very end, and it, too, brought tears to my eyes.

Great acting and a really handsome young man portraying a poor, young soul with a life-altering decision to make.

Last, we have the subs.

Now, I know I said I wouldn't say anymore about awful translation, but this and a few other shows have offered me a new reason to complain.

About the appearance of British slang.

Beyond annoying having to read Mum, ON the car, cheeky, and the unbelievable two that appeared here:

Stop it.

Just please . . . please stop it.

I'll leave you with three more yeppeun bg's for your laptop.