Ghost Doctor 고스트 닥터
tvN (2022) 16 Episodes
Medical Drama, Bromance, Ghost Story Grade: B+
Korean Drama Review by Jill, USA (Some Spoilers)
~~~~~~~~~~~
The always
wonderful Rain and Kim Bum, both playing competitive
doctors together, in a mostly lighthearted K-drama?
How is that one to miss, even if you think the premise
is silly because of a ghost angle thrown in? Uh uh! No
way could I miss Ghost Doctor (2022),
not for the world. None of the ghosts are even scary
in this drama -- just like they weren't scary in Master's
Sun. It was a brilliant idea to cast these
two exceedingly handsome, talented actors together.
(I've especially loved Rain for going on twenty years,
my favorite work of his the brilliant sci fi film I'm
A Cyborg, But That's Okay with Su Jeong Im, made
in 2006). The bromance that developed slowly on screen
between them in Ghost Doctor made for
excellent entertainment, with many funny scenes. To be
honest, however, sometimes the nitty-gritty of the
actual writing of this medical drama made me roll my
eyes and grin at its lack of realism ... for instance,
in one scene a leading medical doctor at a hospital is
dying and only three people are in the operating room
to try and save his life, and the person who starts the
emergency surgery is an inexperienced intern! LOL! I
hope when my life is on the line I don't end up in a
hospital as wacky as this one! Even IF the
doctors look as handsome as these two fellows! :)
Rain and Kim Bum
The
leading lady, UEE (You're
Beautiful), has never been one of my
top favorite Korean actresses, in fact I usually
avoided her dramas, but I must admit she acquitted
herself very well here, and even made me tear up
for the first time while watching her playing sad
scenes. She played a doctor too, and an
ex-girlfriend of Rain's character, who has come
back into his life to shake it up.
UEE
It was also
delightful to see several familiar faces in the
supporting cast, especially the sunbaes (seniors). I
always grin when I see these genius actors in a cast
list of a K-drama: the beyond fantastic Dong Il Sung (It's
Okay, That's Love,My
Girlfriend Is A Gumiho, Jirisan,
etc.) and Park Chul Min (who played the unforgettably
funny stuttering, coughing trumpet player in Beethoven
Virus, an actor who has a resume a mile
long, going back to 1996!). And as the villain we have
the excellent Tae In Ho (Descendants
Of The Sun, Fix
You, Black
Dog, Misaeng,
etc.) who always makes you want to scratch his
characters' eyes out! LOL!
Our Primary Resident
Sunbaes (L to R):
Dong Il Sung, Park Chul Min, Tae In Ho
The Story:
We meet the stern and aloof head doctor at
Eun Sang University Hospital, named Cha Young Min (Rain),
and while he is an excellent technical doctor and surgeon,
his bedside manner is atrocious. He rarely smiles, has no
sense of humor, has no girlfriend or wife, and he seems to
be going through the motions of medical diagnosis and
possible cures for patients, instead of actually caring
for them as human beings. He has cut himself off
emotionally from everyone, and we begin to wonder why. He
often yells at his co-workers, especially in the operating
room, when a calm, cool head is required. Therefore, he
alienates everyone around him, making harmony among
hospital staff members and administrators impossible. In
one case, especially, he makes an enemy out of the main
hospital administrator Han Seung Won (Tae In Ho) who would
like nothing better than to get rid of him for good, no
matter what it takes.
Confrontations between Young Min
and other doctors and workers at the hospital are frequent
Then an old ex-girlfriend named Jang Se Jin (UEE)
re-enters his life after living in Miguk (America) for
several years. Her father is sick and is now a patient at
the hospital. Since she is a neurosurgeon she is hired by
the hospital, and Young Min is forced to see her again
pretty regularly; he seems to hold a grudge against
her for some reason, and often looks at her with partly
camouflaged hurt eyes. What happened between them? We
aren't to learn the reasons for their breakup for quite
some time. Brief flashbacks sometimes give us an inkling
as to why they broke up, and show us that Young Min had
not always been as stern a person as he is currently.
We also meet a resident intern surgeon named Go Seung Tak
(Kim Bum), who is the exact opposite of Young Min. He is
an easy-going worker at the hospital who cares about his
patients. However, he is a doctor who could learn a lot
technically from his superior at work, Young Min. Really
the only reason he keeps a high profile at the hospital is
because his grandfather is the founder of that hospital.
He messes up on occasion personally and at work, and has
to be reprimanded. Personal jealousies at this hospital
among staff are quite frequently exposed.
One
auspicious night Dr. Young Min is driving his car and a
man on a motorcycle broadsides him: in the ensuing
confusion on the street there is a second huge collision
with a truck on the road and Young Min is knocked
unconscious. Then, strangely, he seems to be able to exit
his banged up car to check on the medical condition of the
motorcyclist unconscious on the street, but none of the
bystanders or emergency workers seem able to see or hear
him. When he touches a paramedic his hand goes right
through the man!
Trailer
Young Min is shocked, and walks back to his car, only to
see his own body still in the car, unconscious, leaning
over the steering wheel and air bag that had burst open on
impact. (This scene is so much like a scene from the
brilliant classic Korean masterpiece 49 Days
that I actually started laughing -- plagiarism, writer?).
Young Min is rushed to his own hospital for treatment and
is admitted as a patient in distress and in a resulting
coma. Then the shocked coma spirit of Young Min somehow
possesses the far more inexperienced resident doctor Go
Seung Tak’s body ... suddenly gifting Seung Tak with
extraordinary surgical abilities that he's never had
before. Thus, this spirit of Young Min even manages to
operate on himself, through Seung Tak's hands, shocking
other staff members at his sudden brilliance! "Physician,
heal thyself!" takes on a new meaning in this scenario.
Of course Go Seung Tak becomes
the main topic of conversation at the hospital for saving
Young Min because no other doctor had happened to be
around at the time. He relishes the attention. It is soon
apparent he can see and talk to Young Min separate from
his body. Another young emergency room intern named Oh Soo
Jung (Son Naeun) thinks she can sense that something is
not quite right with Seung Tak's sudden medical brilliance.
Personally she believes in supernatural phenomena and
begins to sense early on that something spiritual and
mystical is going on in Seung Tak's life.
My Favorite OST Song: Fly Away
Seung Tak himself is shaken to his core upon meeting the
coma spirit of his senior doctor at work. At first they
have quite the tempestuous relationship, but as the days
and weeks go on they begin to grow closer, almost to the
point of friendship. We see Young Min soften a lot in his
character, become more caring, and even feel closer to his
ex-girlfriend because she had made his comatose body her
own patient, moving him to a better room where she can
take care of him one on one.
How long will this unusual
mixed up medical / mystical situation go on – and will the
real happy-go-lucky Seung Tak ever return to the operating
theater to become an experienced physician on his own
terms? After overseeing and operating on many patients
together the two doctors become as close as brothers.
Seung Tak can also see other coma ghosts hanging out in
the hospital and Young Min begins to like them too. There
is only one ghost among this group who is not in a coma
but who actually died, and he is the "supervisor" of sorts
for everything spiritual going on in the hospital, the
compassionate sunbae doctor ghost Oh Joo Myung (Sung Dong
Il). We learn from flashbacks that when Joo Myung had been
alive he had saved Young Min's life as a child during a
boating accident, and so they have a strong emotional
connection early on.
However, one by one, as these
coma patients wake up from their deep sleep, their spirits
disappear from the hospital hallways, and they have no
memory of their lives as ghosts. Another doctor on staff,
who was often browbeaten by Young Min before his coma,
named Kim Jae Won (Ahn Tae Hyun), begins to figure out
what is going on and he tells the main hospital
administrator Saeng Won about his suspicions. When they
compare notes, and eventually receive confirmation about
these spirits, the two men are thrown for a loop. There is
no telling what these two distraught men will do now to
put a stop to all this "nonsense" at their
hospital. Another senior doctor named Ban Tae Sik (Park
Chul Min) seems to have a better and calmer grasp of the
situation that develops. He isn't quick to judge harshly
about such an incredible, life-challenging situation. Then
Young Min begins to suspect administrator Seung Won, who
has never liked him, may have had a hand in his car
accident, to get him out of the way permanently, and he is
even more on the alert against him than before.
Will Young Min ever wake up
from his coma, and if he does, will he be able to recall
all the incredible events which happened in the spirit and
physical worlds while his body was asleep? Will he ever
reunite permanently with his ex? Will he be able to
continue being friends and co-workers with Seung Tak? Will
he be able to achieve ultimate justice against those who
got him into his car accident to begin with, or will they
continue to be a threat to him and to Seung Tak?
Although the plot of Ghost Doctor is often
convoluted I still had a great time watching this drama,
and enjoying the bright performances of our two delightful
leading men. I can tell they both had a blast making this
-- mostly -- comedy. If you're getting tired of watching
full fledged Korean melodramas then take a break from them
for awhile and put Ghost Doctor on your K-drama
queue. It's like a breath of fresh air. It's great to
laugh! You can watch it on Viki.com through your ROKU on your big screen TV.
Enjoy!
