This review may contain spoilers
Daily Dose of Sunshine Indeed --- This is why I am drawn to K-dramas
Wow, just wow, I am overwhelmed by this drama. What a gem! The story, the acting, the cinematography, the imagery, the colors, the brilliant and creative visuals inside the minds of those who have mental illness and those working so hard to help them reach that healthy spectrum and how it affects them mentally but most importantly emotionally. Where to start: I will begin with the story and the message and then talk about the different actors who touched me throughout the journey. I loved how it loudly and clearly called to attention how thin the line is between mental health and mental illness and how important it is to understand that mental health is a scale, and there is no clear-cut line between what is considered normal and abnormal. We all experience various emotions and struggles in life, and seeking help is not a sign of weakness but rather a courageous act of self-care. I read somewhere that has stayed with me where the writer said that mental health is a continuum, and we all fall somewhere along the spectrum. Another thing that this drama did very well is bring much-needed awareness to the importance of quality health caregiving, spending time with patients, listening to them, interacting with them, and not just giving out prescriptions to maximize time.I was particularly drawn and impressed by this message -- asking for help is not a weakness, no matter how much a taboo it may be, and debunking the idea that mental health is only relevant when one is struggling with a mental illness. I loved the message, I loved the delivery, and I loved the importance of clarity of the message. I also loved how it raised the question of who cares for mental health carers, from doctors to nurses. The show did a great deal of showing snippets of this with trainee Nurse Ji Seung Jae and others. But the best was how it gradually showed the bond caregivers create with patients while helping ease their mental illness and the constant exposure to human suffering, and sometimes death can lead to mental illness. Jung Da Eun's loss and how she tethered the mental health scale was, to me, the core of this drama. And how her mind naturally decided to lean into Kim Seo Wan's world for her grief was a touch of brilliance. Just because someone (doctor, nurse, layman) may seem perfectly normal on the outside, it doesn't mean they aren't suffering from a hidden mental illness, and it doesn't mean they are crazy; it just means that life has become so difficult to handle that they lose touch with reality for some time and need help finding their way back. How long that takes doesn't matter; what matters is that they make it back all the way.
Now, actors Park Bo Young, Yeon Woo Jin, and Jang Dong Yoon were brilliant together; their friendship with each other separately and eventually together was uplifting to watch, as was Chang Ryul as Doctor Hwang Yeo Hwan—his struggle with love and acceptance along with Nurse Lee Hye Won. Her mother is an entirely different story. It seems every K-drama must have one of those; I have come to accept it. I wish the message with those types of mothers, fathers, and siblings is to cut ties with the toxicity. Just because they are family doesn't mean they deserve to be in your life. I wish to see this loud and clear in kdramas and pray it translates to life, back to Bo Young, Woo Jin, and Dong Yoon, among others. I loved the bond they had as kids and how they built on that and, in adulthood, worked in the same field more or less and cared for each other's mental health, be it in a professional or personal setting. I don't typically like how kdrama depicts love triangles because it doesn't do it correctly. A love triangle is when one person in a romantic relationship with someone is at the same time pursuing or involved in a romantic relationship with someone else. It is not a love triangle when one person loves a second person, who loves a third person; to me, that's just unrequited love. But that's just how I see it. That said, I loved how neither of them, especially Song Yu Chan, let it come in the way of his friendship with Jung Da Eun but, more importantly, Dong Go Yoon.
All the actors were impressive, but three stood out to me the most: Jeon Bae Soo as Nurse Yoon Man Cheon and, last but not least, Lee Jung Eun as Head Nurse Song Hyo Jin. The care and reserved passion Nurse Yoon showed to the patients and his colleagues, especially Da Eun, won me over each time. What a great actor, indeed. The other was Noh Jae Won as patient Kim Seo Wan, a fantastic actor. How he articulated Kim Seo Wan's struggles, bridging the world in his head with the reality on the ground, was utterly brilliant. Kudos to the writer; ingenious. He had me all twisted up in him and the world he created for his peace of mind. I was also totally impressed by his physical changes as he took us on that journey with him, which is why losing him was such a blow. I understood how and why Da Eun's mind decided to deal with it the way it did. As for Head Nurse Song Hyo Jin, she was a rock throughout everything that happened despite having to deal with hurtful stigma on her sister and, ultimately, her. Nothing is worse than defining one by one's illness rather than who they are as an individual. The same goes for Da Eun; having to deal with discrimination from the families of mentally ill patients, she was trying so hard to help for being on the spectrum herself. That was hard to watch, but I loved her determination more than anything, not letting it trigger or pull her back. I pray this drama is a stepping stone to overcoming the stigma of mental illness, helping many of us speak out against stigma, and instilling courage in others facing similar challenges as outlined in Daily Dose of Sunshine. I highly, highly recommend this drama!
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It is okay to be sick
It was one of the most beautiful drama I came across.The message I got in each episode is just so compelling to love oneself.It created a bubble where I want to stay and never come out.From complementing oneself to prioritising oneself , I don't know if I learned to do that yet but it did create an impact over me and I am grateful for that.You can have an episode and still embrace yourself.If you are sick or your near ones are sick , you should understand not to give dark times to those who are recovering or who have recovered.Being sick is okay and accepting it is not embarrassing , love yourself and make both gloomy and happy moments to remember them and go through them all over again.Every pain is painful and don't belittle your own pain for the sake of other, because that is the least you can do for yourself.These messages were so overwhelming and capable of reaching my heart that I can rewatch it and go over through it all over again just to understand it a little more.Was this review helpful to you?
Before the sunshine there will be darkness, after the sunshines there will be darkness...
Mental illness, the stigma people with it face, challenges of treating mental illness and so on are all very important issues. The creators of this drama seem to want to do it all tackle how it is to treat an illness, the perspective of family, friends, the patient and society all in one while still offering the viewers a dose of sunshine between all these very painful issues . Offering the viewers a whole palette of mental issues. To be honest I think they got pretty close but there is something that keeps me from giving this a full score.I feel like I a m a bit undecided about the way they try to visualise the perspective of the patient experiencing an episode of mania, depression, anxiety and so on. And there are a few scenes that just feel forced and a bit to over the top healy for my liking. But they do manage to squeeze in a whole lot of great lines and important cases that need to be shouted out loud a lot more.
I could also relate to several parts of the story and perspectives, however as they took these to the extreme the relatability kind of subsided a bit (again lowering the score) .
Our female lead is amazing, Park Bo Young does a great job showing the whole spectrum of her character as well as how different she can be depending on the situation or who she is with. Playful with her bestie, child like with her mom, stand offish with the guy who acts weird on the bus and extremely patient with har patients while still showing us that nurses are human too. Probably one of the characters I could relate to the most from all the dramas I have watched so far.
Our male lead is so sweet and fun whenever the female lead was mentioned or on screen it felt feels like watching a child about to open presents on their birthday. Yet the guy still managed to seem competent and interesting.
So I would say Yeon Woo Jin nailed this role.
Jang Dong Yoon A.K. A the best friend is also adorable, interesting and a blast to watch, a great character versatile, helps forward the plot as well as made me feel bad for hi so many times it got ridiculous.
This is not a romance but it does have som romance and the second couple outshines the first couple with their screen time together as well as their story some of the best scenes in this drama where given to them and the way D.R Hwang adresses the mother in law issue was the cherry on top of this salty caramel sunday of a show.
The rest of the nurses, doctors, and patients where very well casted, some of the patients guardians or what they are called had me boiling but the acting was good.
All in all a drama I do recommend, just be were of the triggering elements
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best drama ab mental health that I’ve watched by far
this drama is amazing and beautifully written. I loved it so much, it totally exceeded my expectations. I loved how realistically mental illnesses were depicted, they didn’t over do it. and the characters and their (back)stories were so great. the acting was magnificent too. daily dose of sunshine was heartbreaking but yet heartwarming. i laughed, cried of sadness and joy, i felt seen and understood some times too. this drama was just perfect and at the end of the day ddos felt like a big hug <3Was this review helpful to you?
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something you need to watch
I am so glad I started watching this TV series.I loved acting of all characters, in interesting way, rather then focusimg on mainly doctors helping patients, it was more focused on nurses and their work with patients. New approach for me and I really liked it.
I think many of stories were relatable and I have to admit that writers of this TV show are briliant. The plot was not what I was expecting, I really loved it.👍
The top moment (among many) was the speach of head nurse in ep.11, it was so powerful scene about stigma on patients with mental illnesses, I think everyone should hear it and rewatch it for sure.
For people who like more deep and mature TV shows, this is something you need to watch.
I also loved how some of disorders were portrayed- it was also very easy to relate with amazing visual effects.
I am happy korean dramas are getting more popularoty, so much deserved.
I dont want to reveal much of plot, but you will definitely cry, laugh, feel light watching this drama.
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Dose of Sunshine ...
This series doesn't put a foot wrong in exploring and explaining mental health conditions in the context of demanding and stressful environments of Korean society, including addressing such issues as stigmatisation and lack of medical confidentiality and the need for better worker rights. It shows how to address these issues in a realistic & beautifully directed drama. In a strong cast, the stand out figure is Lee Jung Eun, who is exceptional in her role as Lead Nurse. Park Bo Young also explains mental illness in the first person without resorting to over dramatisation and Yeo Woobin is exactly the feel good addition we all need. I hope it will encourage more people to seek help and also encourage more healthywork practices. Fantastic workWas this review helpful to you?
No one of us is immune against mental diseases
Just finished it and trying to give it a proper rating now:_Story&Plot: 2/3
it's a calm slice of life drama, with many stories about different mental diseases and the obstacles the patients and their families encounter and the daily challenges that face the medical team (specially nurses since the FL is one of them) in the mental section, it starts weak but it grows on you, you get connected to the FL's life and start picking your favorite characters. It has romance, light love triangle and second couple but romance still not the main focus. I cried several times and felt so depressed at times. The title gives the wrong idea about the drama, I thought I'll be smiling and feel the "sunshine" with each episode but it got much dark than I expected.
A random change of course for one of the characters at the end felt so out of place and so "Netflix's touch" to send their usual message: "no to racism" (so we bring a bunch of people from different races with a random black person and let them dance), then you go overseas to chase a dream.
_Acting&Cast&chemistry: 1.5/2
PBY is perfect for her role, she is the "daily dose of sunshine", she delivered the change of her character correctly
We didn't really have a ML as important as the FL, instead we had 2MLs who are a support characters to the FL, UWJ's character suffered from the short screentime, I guess they were afraid to increase the romance focus, JDY was a great friend but that's it. Nothing special about the chemistry but it wasn't bad
All the support characters were great, 2 actresses I felt like they could profit from them more than they did, Lee Jung Eun as the Head Nurse, they kept mentioning at the beginning how much she is a scarry person but we only saw a kind mother to the rest of nurses, wished if we saw both sides more to give her more presence in the first half of the show, I felt like she was a guest role.
FL's mother played by Hwang Young Hee, seeing her in WYWS as suzy's mother can tell how much she can give to her role. We barely saw her in most of the drama.
_Directing&Camerawork 2/2:
The illustration for each disease was beautiful and odd at the same time, I liked it, same goes for the intro it was illustrating the title and the combination of sunshine and mental disease, at first I thought I heard wrong or some voice technic problem.
_OST 0/1: Netflix originals lacks when it comes to ost, Kdrama is known for giving the best ost that deliver the emotion of the scene, but this drama had NOTHING. Play a random song with the credit at the end means nothing for me.
_Style&view&colors 0.5/1:
The color of the nurse's uniform is perfect, nothing special about the character's style in clothes, but the colors at the hospital were beautiful
My problem was with the FL's house the colors were depressing and you could barely see with the lightings, what it was so depressing for no reason.
_Ending 0.5/1:
It was good when it comes to the FL but not much as I mentioned in the plot part, when it comes to another character.
Total is 6.5 but I'll add my bonus point because the drama touched me deep and cried many times, it had some medical accuracy and realistic touch instead of magical recovery of diseases, and with a great message that No one of us is immune against mental diseases
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MENTAL ISSUES
I for one hardly write reviews Because I'm not much of a Writer, and the genre is also not my cup of tea because I don't like slice of life that much but I was convinced to watch it and I decided to give it a try because park Bo young is my favourite actress and I have to say she's so good at picking her scripts.So, This drama focuses mostly on mental issues our daily struggles, fear and what we deem ourselves to be.
The Acting is very good, The Story line is wonderful, The way the drama focused on the lives of each of the characters is splendid from the nurses down to their patients.
Watching this drama it felt so relatable, it was as if it was talking to me and at some point I felt so attacked. This Drama shows that anyon (irrespective of who you are and how old you think you are) can struggle with mental health.
Sometimes we are not mentally sound and we don't even realise sometimes we are and refuse to acknowledge it.
And we accept that yes we are not mentally sound then we can move forward to finding solutions and help for ourselves
Ep 9 is my favourite character though as it shows and discusses alot about self acceptance which is difficult to do.
The drama did not fail to demonstrate major disorders that population these days pass through but it's short comings was that it scarcely focused on how to overcome them (they did but barely).
Moving down to the Characters, Each characters especially the nurses were beautifully written. Min deul re and her self esteem and self worth. Showing how she was able to overcome how she thinks about her self with the help of her doctor boyfriend.
The Head nurse and her struggles.
The Nurses with glasses and how she tries to juggle with being a mother and a nurse effectively.
The female lead and how she cares for her patients on a other level, she tries to do a work that is much more than a nurse, she tries to become Thier friends and all that, I also loved her she grew in the series especially after her therapy session. she became much stronger and was able to go after the things she wants and put herself first
Last of the list Kim seo wan. He was my favourite character and his story was so strong. Though I couldn't relate but his story passed a message. though it was sad that he wasn't able to persevere.
I wasn't really interested in the romance as it was more of a sub plot.....
I Just want to add, that this drama is a must watch especially for people who likes slice of life, people who are passing through one problem or the other.
The drama shows that there's a thin line between a normal person and a person that is not mentally sound.
it is an eye opener for people who are oblivious to Thier struggles or who do not wish to accept it
P.S: The drama won an award
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A gem!
Taking on the issue of mental health is a bit risky for a drama, but this one does so with such delicateness that you'll feel better after watching it instead of feeling exhausted or depressed that you would feel after watching other dramas of similar theme.Great acting by the lead actress as well and the supporting cast are just as lovely. Overall, a great show worthy of time.
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Daily Dose of Sunshine: A Heartwarming Journey Through the World of Mental Health
"Daily Dose of Sunshine," a drama that's like a warm hug for your soul!Not just entertaining but also incredibly important and heartwarming
Talk about Park Bo-young? This actress is a powerhouse, and she absolutely shines (pun totally intended) as Jung Da-eun, a nurse in the psychiatric ward. Her portrayal is so nuanced and heartfelt that I found myself laughing, crying, and cheering along with her every step of the way. The way she navigates the challenges of her job while dealing with her own personal growth? Absolutely brilliant!
First things first, can we talk about Park Bo-young? This actress is a powerhouse, and she absolutely shines (pun totally intended) as Jung Da-eun, a nurse in the psychiatric ward. Her portrayal is so nuanced and heartfelt that I found myself laughing, crying, and cheering along with her every step of the way. The way she navigates the challenges of her job while dealing with her own personal growth? Absolutely brilliant!
What really got me was how the show portrays the patients and staff. These aren't just "cases" or plot devices; they're fully realized characters with their own stories, quirks, and journeys. Every single character, no matter how small their role, has a story that touches your heart. I found myself getting invested in each of their stories, rooting for their recovery, and learning so much about different mental health conditions along the way. It's eye-opening without ever feeling preachy.
And can we talk about the staff dynamics? The way the nurses and doctors interact, support each other, and sometimes clash feels so authentic. It's like getting a behind-the-scenes look at the daily lives of these healthcare heroes. The camaraderie, the stress, the small victories – it's all there, and it's beautifully portrayed. The show really dives deep into the nurse work life, showing us the challenges, the rewards, and everything in between. The relationships between co-workers are so well-developed, you feel like you're part of the team!
The production value is top-notch too. The way they use lighting and color to set the mood is just beautiful. There are scenes in this drama that are going to stay with me for a long, long time. They manage to make even the sterile hospital environment feel warm and inviting.
I've got to say, "Daily Dose of Sunshine" isn't just a drama – it's an experience. It's changed the way I think about mental health, about healthcare workers, and honestly, about my own life. I've found myself being more empathetic, more patient, and more aware of the struggles people around me might be facing.
So, if you're in the mood for a drama that'll make you laugh, cry, think, and maybe even grow as a person, give "Daily Dose of Sunshine" a shot. It's like... well, a daily dose of sunshine for your heart and mind. Trust me, you won't regret it.
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We all are standing on the border between normal and abnormal
A truly inspiring Kdrama. I felt physical happiness and satisfaction after every episode. From being oblivious to how mentally unstable people behave to being like them, everything in there made me happy and satisfied to the core. It was very pleasing drama, and some notable points will be discussed down below:1. Park Boyeong: As psychiatry nurse Jung Daeun. She was previously a nurse from Internal medicine unit, but was switched over to Psychiatry because the head nurse there thought that Daeun was slow, when in fact, she was just empathetic. After she started as a nurse in psychiatry, she understood the depth of her own heart. She understood her own thinking process and her methods of mental defense. The way she portrayed depression and self harm through her own life, it was mind-blowing. She did an incredible job in making us realize that we won't understand how exactly depression really feels unless and until we experience it ourselves. Good job, Boyeong.
2. Yeon Woojin: As Proctologist Dong Goyoon. Damn this guy was the most laid back yet most realistic doctor I have ever seen. From being a patient with severe anxiety to being a total heartthrob, he had everything a woman wishes for in her partner. truly a marvel. I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that he in fact fought for his love and did not give up when Daeun told him to. Very rare a trait I must say.
3. Jang Dongyoon: As Song Yuchan. Okay I have always hated love triangles, it just ruins the mood, like it did in Welcome to Samdal-ri. But this guy, oh my god!!! He set the standards for being the best friend even after having a crush on Daeun since high school. He was one of the most perfect second lead I have come across (the others being Hwang Inyeop from True Beauty and Jung Haein from While You Are Sleeping). He really had the best growth and maturity development step by step through out the series. I loved that it wasn't rushed.
These were the main characters, other than these, all other characters were a perfect blend of happiness and satisfaction for me. Highly recommended. Also this drama actually put forward a very good insight about mental health, depression, schizophrenia, delusion etc. No exaggeration whatsoever. I really don't know why people said that it didn't portray it properly.
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