KJazz
I thought season 1 could not be topped but the new characters in this are a lot less stuck up with the "I hate Doldam" energy that I felt the first season had. While that will always be a pull for the younger doctors it was refreshing to see younger doctors like Dr Yoon Ah Reum actually fall in love with the simplicity and move to Doldam. The 2 main leads have backstories that were fleshed out fairly well (okay I wish they went more into why Cha Eun Jae hates the OR).
Dr Kim has never been high up on the romance - it fleshes out the daily life of doctors in a hospital and not to mention the elaborate political schemes but the emotive eyes and the pure love that transpires among the hospital staff despite their busy life is something I love. It is really relatable especially as an adult trying to figure out love in the real world.
While the last episode had some spectacular moments, the love story felt super rushed. I wish they went more into the reality of working at the same hospital and the challenges/positives it brought to the couples.
That said, the OST IS PHENOMENAL. Dr Kim has always had a fantastic OST - I'm going to playing these songs for the next 3 years as well just like I did between the first season and this one :P
Han Suk Kyu as usual is outstanding. From satoori to his proud dad smile to his silently-supportive-Asian-dad nuances, he adds dimension to his character. Ahn Hyo Seop seems a little fresh but the love he has in his eyes had me falling for his character. With a little more practice and experience he can be a fantastic actor (and he is definitely easy on the eyes). The rest of the cast did an outstanding job as well (including the iconic Mr Gu <3). I sincerely hope there is a season 3 because I truly cannot get enough of Doldam... <3
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This review may contain spoilers
0/10 DO NOT RECOMMEND
*TRIGGER WARNING - Suicide and mental health concerns are mentioned*Okay... *cracks knuckles*
I am not trying to bash the drama for no reason. I really want to hand it out to the production team - making a drama out of a well loved webtoon is always risky and they did a good job (I believe based on reviews of people that have watched the drama and read the webtoon) that the portrayal of the source material was done well. I however have many problems with the way the drama (well technically how the webtoon was written). It is infuriating and disappointing to say the least.
1. FAKE NEWS MORAL
*this may be a spoiler* - I am not going to shade Kang Mi Rae for undergoing plastic surgery - never ever. As a woman we have enough people judging our actions and she was bold and brave to be able to make a decision for herself - one that she believed would make her happy. Surgery is not easy nor is it cheap so she must have been really traumatized if she had to go to the extent of surgery. That said, the main social message in the drama comes when they are trying to "SAVE" Hyun Soo Ah from killing/hurting herself At that critical moment our main FL goes on to say something along the lines of you shoulnt have to change yourself and you should love and accept yourself. EXCUSE ME BUT WHERE WAS THIS REALIZATION WHEN SHE WAS UNABLE TO LOVE AND ACCEPT HERSELF??? It is a good message (albeit it is overused everything now seems to be hyping the Love yourself concept so it can come across as insincere) but I do not want to hear it from someone that still struggles to love and accept herself. She was so ashamed of herself and she still rates people and judges them based on their appearance. So for her to come round and say "Love Yourself" undermine the value and importance of loving and appreciating oneself. It would have been better if there was a character foil - a girl that was "ugly" and didn't change herself but learned to accept herself. If she came around and told both Mi Rae and Soo Ah to love themselves as they are inspite of their flaws then it would've been a much more powerful message. So plot-wise this drama was terrible.
2. CLASSIC PRINCE SAVES DAMSEL IN DISTRESS
The main ML's primary job seems to be the hot and popular guy that hangs around our main FL and saves her from distress. I already don't really like the shy, "weak" FL trope - why can't women be strong and independent? - and this Knight in shining armor concept makes it that much worse. I was hoping they could be a strong power couple - independently strong and amazing in their own right and together they are unstoppable. I really wished that for them but I was constantly disappointed.
3. UNREALISTIC TRANSFORMATION
I understand that a big part of the drama is showing how the main FL gains confidence and slowly becomes more and comfortable with herself but it takes years (if not decades) to erase the effects of trauma. If her childhood trauma had a such a deep effect of Mi Rae's self confidence then one year of college cannot flip her to becoming Ms Popular. Even if the world is deeply in love with her she is going to need a lot of time to accept herself so her sudden confidence halfway through not only seems unrealistic but also fake.
There however some good bits - they are not outstanding actors but they definitely have potential. The chemistry between the leads was cute. The OST was also really good. Other than that this drama was truly a miss for me. I watched it only after all the hype it got and I do not think it was worth the hype so sadly I was very disappointed.
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The cinematography in this drama - AHFIAHUGF its sooo good. The scenes are very well artistically shot and the aesthetics and the composition in each scene is very interesting.
I really enjoyed the pace of the first episode - it was fast, kept me on the edge of my seat and left me wanting more. I like that they slowed down the pace for the second episode and spent more time in exposition and fleshing out characters. They're giving friendships, relationships and romance some time to grow - something that I think is important to fantasy thrillers because so much focus is put on the fantasy exposition or the thrilling chase that the romance feels almost forced. So I am glad that they are taking the time to show the little things that matter -like the lingering gaze between the leads which make it more convincing that KGE's character, who normally is too sassy to care about him, has the build up to turn and help LMH.
Speaking of, I love the characters a lot. Kim Go Run does spunky chic so well - that is my #goalz. Lee Min Ho is the king of classic regal romance so I couldn't have thought of better actors for the characters. And thank god Kim Go Eun is not a 19yo (sorry Goblin that was truly one of my biggest qualms)
KES has always shined with her bromances and the start of this drama has me convinced that this one won't be any less. The supporting characters have some traits of their own which in my opinion is important to showing the difference between the two worlds so I love that they have been thought about lol. I do like the prime minister a lot (as of now at least please dont be heartless woman please please). But stay tuned to find out if I feel the same later.
THE OST IS MAGICAL. HWA SA's ORBIT HAS BEEN A CONSTANT ON MY PLAYLIST EVERY DAY. And the song choices are phenomenal.
I do however have 2 things I wish they did differently. In the first episode it was hard to keep track of the jumps from one world to another. While this was bound to happen, I think Signal did it a lot better imo. Once they picked a time they stayed there for a couple of scenes. In The King, I was getting whiplash from skipping from one world to another every scene. That might not be a problem anymore (the second episode was better) so maybe I won't have that problem lol. Also Signal had the older timeline is sepia and newer in white light setting which made it easy to tell which time we were in. If The King did something like that it might help? Unclear. The second thing I wished was if they made the first episode slower paced - did the exposition there and then hit us with fast paced suspense filled episode that leaves me wanting more for the following week.
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