‘Bad things do happen to good people sometimes’
It’s a quote I picked up and remembered the most from a Korean drama I just finished watching, Hospital Playlist. I was hesitant to watch because of the effort it takes to watch long-hour drama with subtitles. Nowadays, I just watched those express ones on YouTube. There’s really not many that catches my attention since dramas I’m really fond of like It’s Okay Not to be Okay.
This drama has two seasons and is directed by Shin Won-ho, it revolves around five adult doctor friends with different personalities and life challenges. Fell in love the first ten minutes I started. It’s unlike those dramas where you can’t stop, but, it has this slow yet gripping effect on you. Feels like I’m the five of them. All five of them are compassionate souls – the one who seems mean and ungiving but makes touching moves behind people, the one who remains filial to his obsessive mother, the one who is very appreciative of and friendly to everyone, ranging from security guard to the patients of course; the one who is almost always close to being broke because of giving out to those who are in need, as well as the one who is very passionate in doing something despite being bad at it. Overall, these five friends who kind of drifted apart were gathered together and formed a band. They would make time and practise together.
Throughout the two seasons, I resonated strongly with stories from patients, patients’ family and the life of the medical staff – dilemmas, struggles, challenges and despair. Apart from that, there’s abundant of positivity, resilience and humour too. Hence, that’s why this drama is very much loved. The chemistry between the actors are remarkable as well. However, the filming of the detailed medical scenes like operation or delivery could be done better. Also, despite the main characters acting as the characters, it seems like they can always stay positive, a little bit unconvincing. Maybe there’s a period of time but it’s not clear. But then again, perhaps it’s how adults their age normally deal with things. Now that I’ve finished, there’s still an emptiness left behind. I wonder why…
One thing is for sure, thanks to them, yesterday was my Korean food fest day! I ate Shim Ramyeon as brunch (not the special one but suffice) and Kimchi fried rice with Kimchi jiggae (soup) as dinner. Also, not to forget, lots of side dishes intake (kept refilling despite the limited choices we were given). Watch the drama and you’ll understand why. Overall, I would give this drama a rating of 4.5 out of 5! It’s definitely a drama worth your time and effort.
Happy Mid Autumn Festival.
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