Radiation House Special (2019)

NOT worth the wait

I held off watching Radiation House until this SP was subbed, and while the Drama was great and well worth the wait, the same could sadly not be said for this SP.

This was a 90 minute SP that was 45 minutes of flashbacks woven into a couple of interesting "case of the week" stories. It was clearly intended to "catch up" viewers in time for Season 2, and felt like a filler, way too much padding. Which is a shame because if the flashbacks had been cut out, or at least massively trimmed, the fresh content would have stood out more. I'm not sorry I watched this, but it adds VERY little to the series overall, and leaves me hoping that Season 2 returns to the excellence of Season 1

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Please cut out the recycled scenes

Who thought it was a good or even vaguely acceptable idea to include large chunks of almost random flashbacks (recycled scenes from Radiation House Season 1)? There really is no reason to do so except to lengthen this special episode to an hour and a half (without having to film that many more scenes) perhaps for the sake of having more time to give thanks to sponsors. That is to say, the only real reason to have so many recycled scenes is the worst possible reason.

That said, the special episode could really have been special. Because Season 1 ends with the male lead leaving the hospital, the special episode continued from there and out of necessity cannot repeat the same old structure the series has done for 11 episodes.

The special episode switches back and forth between the scenes in the hospital where the remaining staff continue life without the male lead and the scenes of the male lead on a plane. There is unfortunately no connection between the two different sets of events. The events in the hospital show the legacy the male lead, Igarashi, has left behind. He has basically changed the work culture in the hospital, and the radiology technicians are now more appreciated and have more initiative in their work. They now have the Igarashi spirit.

On the other hand, the scenes of Igarashi on the plane is more of the same old stuff. Of course there are a couple of medical emergencies on the plane and of course our hero saves the day. But he also seems to be a tad too heroized--yes, we already know that he's not just a good technician but also an ingenious doctor, so there is no need to belabor the point. There is another doctor on the plane, and we have the same old discrimination against technicians and the same old declaration that he won't lose to the main lead when they meet again. We get a sense of déjà vu despite the introduction of a new character.

Throw out the redundant recycled scenes and the episode will be shorter but better. The scenes that remain are adequate, but it is possible to add more to them. Instead of heroizing Igarashi further, perhaps he could have been shown to have learnt something from his stint in the hospital he has left too. Instead of showing Igarashi on the plane (it's not even clear if it's the trip to America after resigning from the hospital but it probably is), the story can show him already in America. There can then be indications of how he remains in contact with the radiology team in the hospital and indications of some development in the relationship between him and the love of his life. There are plenty of missed opportunities.

We still do have an ok-ish special episode. It doesn't impress but it isn't really worse than Season 1 itself, except perhaps for the all-too excessive flashbacks.

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