Smart Doctor Living

Smart Doctor Living

8/10

Smart Doctor Living

Genre:                                                    Episodes: 12                                    Year: 2020

Comedy

Melodrama

Synopsis:

Five friends entered the same university in 1999, and now work at the same hospital. 

Cast:

Jeon Mi Do (Chae Song Hwa)

Jo Jung Seok (Lee Ik Joon)

Jung Kyung Ho (Kim Joon Wan)

Yoo Yeon Seok (Ahn Jong Won)

Kim Dae Myung (Yang Seok Hyung)

Shin Hyun Bin (Jang Gyo Wool)

Kim Joon Han (Ahn Chi Yong)

Ahn Eun Jin (Chu Min Ha)

Jung Moon Sung (Do Jae Hak)

Kwan Sun Young (Lee Ik Soon)

Kim Hae Sook (Jung Ro Sa)

Kim Gap Soo (Joo Jong Soo)

General Thoughts:

The director and writer duo, Shin Wo Ho and Lee Woo Jung, are back! I just don’t think these two can help but make fantastic shows that are filled with heart and wonderful characters.

A new group of loveable characters

(If you didn’t know, this is the pair behind the three seasons of the ‘Reply’ series, and ‘Smart Prison Living’). Similarly to their previous works, ‘Smart Doctor Living’ focuses a lot on world building. The writer gives a highly detailed and understandable place for our characters to live and interact, and such comprehensive world building lets the characters really shine and develop.

Whoever even heard of a doctor wanting to be a priest

What I really enjoyed about this particular world building for this particular show, is that it very cleverly played with viewers expectations, and then subverted them. The first time I noticed this was during the discussion of who was the heir of the hospital- it played with using a Baptismal name, and not showing a face to the youngest child of the late Chairman. If you’ve watched any of the ‘Reply’ series, you’d know that this is a trademark of their work- all three seasons of ‘Reply’ focus on not knowing who the heroine would marry by using clever tricks, such as nicknames and shots framed to exclude the husband’s face, which is a similar thing they did here. Just as I found myself thinking ‘oh surely we aren’t doing this again’, they revealed that the son was Jong Won. It was a cute little ‘gotcha’ moment that felt very meta, and was quite fun. Again a few scenes later we are teased into thinking that Jong Won, as the Chairman’s son, and Jong Soo, as the hospital Director, are going to have a political war about who would inherit the Chairman seat after the Jong Won’s father’s death.

I don't think I've seen a single other K-Drama where the Director/CEO has been a genuinely good person

We see familiar scenes of people wondering if a shareholder meeting will be called, and discussing where they think the cards will fall- how many times have we seen these set ups in literally ANY K-drama that includes a big corporate body. Only in ‘Smart Doctor Living’ we get another ‘gotcha’ moment when Jong Won simply states he doesn’t care about being Chairman and hands it over to Jong Soo.

Ik Joon is my new favourite character ever

Who then also turns out to be a big softie who is very close to Jong Won’s mother. It was a nice surprise to find that hospital politics were not going to be prominent in a drama that was all about a hospital. I’m not sure how realistic it is, but it was a lovely surprise to find that most of the doctors and people in high positions were actually kind and reasonable, and were wanting the best for their patients, juniors and the hospital as a whole. The characters were of course at the heart of the show, and it was their relationships and hardships that were the focus for the plot. Similarly to ‘Smart Prison Living’ there were so many characters. So. Many. Due to the slightly smaller episode count this time around, I did feel like we were a little rushed in some of the character introductions. There were also some fairly big gaps between some characters’ introductions and the next time we saw them on screen, and I will admit that I occasionally forgot certain characters and who they were and what department they belonged to.

Who...who are you people?

I also usually have no issue with remembering characters names- sure if I met you on the street I might not be able to tell you the main characters’ names then, but when I hear them discussed in drama, I pretty much always know who they are referring to. That was not always the case in ‘Smart Doctor Living’. A good few times I struggled to realise who a group of characters were referring to, and unfortunately I think that meant I missed a few nice character revelation moments.

Characters are also 80% harder to identify when in scrubs

Sure, it wasn’t anything major that I missed, but I was a little bummed that I didn’t know exactly who they were talking about. I think one of the issues with this is that characters were getting referred to by different names by different characters. Jong Won alone had Andrea, Jong Won, Professor Ahn, Daddy Long Legs. It was a lot to keep track of, and I often got Jong Won and Joon Wan confused when they were being discussed but were not present- what can I say, as a non-Korean speaker the two names look kind of similar to me! Chi Yong and Jong Won also sometimes got mixed up for me, because they both had the surname Ahn, and sometimes all my subtitles gave me was a vague ‘Doctor Ahn’. I know Jong Won is normally ‘Professor Ahn’, but I really wish that Chi Yong had been given a different last name to spare some confusion. Although I was getting some names mixed up, I loved how individualised and unique each of our characters were.

I love all the intricate relationships 

Even down to the supporting characters who weren’t seen that often- everyone was completely different and showcased those differences brilliantly. One of the better outcomes of these differences was showing the different strengths that each health care worker had. While Joon Wan was a brilliant doctor and surgeon, he had terrible bedside manner. On the flip side Jae Hak was less confident as a doctor, but had brilliant interpersonal skills with his patients. No one was perfect, and each character was continually learning and growing, both as people and as professionals.

Everyone loves some personal growth

Another thing I adored about this drama was the way it fought the stereotype that men and women can’t be friends. While the five doctor friends were the main characters, I actually think this was most perfectly expressed in Ro Sa and Jong Soo’s relationship. They had been close friends for so long, and shared so much of their lives together. Each had their own families and had a spouse that they had loved very much- but none of those things impacted their friendship. There was nothing romantic between them at all, and they were simply shown to be very close friends, even after their partners had passed away. It really was a beautiful relationship- it was a doubly good one because not only was it showing so plainly that men and women CAN be friends with absolutely no romantic undertones, but it was also a friendship between two older characters. So often characters over the age of, let’s say 50, are relegated to being a mother, a father, a professional, and that’s pretty much it. I adored that Ro Sa and Jong Soo were still individual characters that had their own lives that didn’t stop when they became partners to their spouses or parents to their children.

A middle aged friendship sounds oh so boring, but it was actually really fun and really refreshing

It’s not something that’s often seen in K-Drama, so I found Ro Sa and Jong Soo’s friendship really precious and really special. As for actual romantic relationships, there were a fair few that were floating around in this show. It’s not uncommon for workplaces to be the spark that lights crushes, and it was cute how a lot of these crushes played out.

My poor heart can't handle all these unresolved love-lines

Min Ha had the direct, blunt approach to Seok Hyung, and while I can’t really see them working out (though I bet Season 2 will pair them up), it was fun and endearing to see Min Ha take the front foot in expressing her feelings. In many ways she was the most likely to get hurt- she was a woman and she was also in a lower position in the hospital. It was unexpected and very brave of her to be so forward, but because she was so straightforward despite being in a more vulnerable position, you just couldn't help but cheer for her. Gyo Wool’s crush on Jong Won was much quieter and she kept it a secret from him right until the last episode. This relationship was probably the one I was least enthusiastic about (and ironically is the only one that actually came to fruition). My lack of enthusiasm mostly stemmed from not really seeing what it was that sparked their interest in each other. Love at first sight isn’t something unusual for K-Drama, but I honestly expected something with a little more depth from this writer, so I felt a little let down when this was Gyo Wool’s answer to Ik Joon asking why she like Jong Won.

Of all the love-lines in this show, I am most surprised that this is the only concluded one

As for Jong Won, I still am not exactly sure why/how he ended up falling for Gyo Wool. I don’t think I’m wrong in thinking that when this show started he didn’t really have any romantic feelings for her, so I’m not sure what changed over the course of the show. Whether it was Ik Joon’s friendship with Gyo Wool making her more noticeable, or Gyo Wool making the effort to really better herself as a doctor, I wish the show had expressed a little more clearly what exactly it was about Gyo Wool that made Jong Won

Can't Song Hwa see that she fits in so perfectly with this lil' family?

want to give up his life long dream of becoming a priest (even though we all kind of knew that he liked being a doctor better than a priest anyway). My absolute favourite of the romantic pairings was Ik Joon and Song Hwa. They had such a solid friendship to build their relationship on, and the scene of the two of them looking after Ik Joon’s son when he was sick really solidified to me that they could be happy and feel fulfilled together. I guess we’ll have to wait til next year to find out. Sadface. Chi Hong was cute too, and his crush on Song Hwa was sweet, but once the show started suggesting that Ik Joon liked Song Hwa too, I just couldn’t root for him- sorry Chi Hong! Joon Wan and Ik Soon were an adorable pairing too, and I really enjoyed watching their relationship develop and how they went out of their way to accommodate each other and grow together. I think the long distance will be a hurdle for them next season, but it was a nice contrast to have one relationship going so well while all the others were not quite finding their feet.

Why do I feel like Season 2 is going to be tough on them?

What Was Great:

Fabulous Five:

The characters and cast were absolutely delightful, especially the main circle of friends. There were a couple of familiar faces- Yoo Yeon Seok was a major character in ‘Reply 1994’, and Jung Kyung Ho was a main lead in 2018s ‘Smart Prison Living’ (there were also copious cameos from actors that had appeared in other works by Shin Won Ho and Lee Woo Jung also).

Some familiar faces and some new ones too

Both Yoo Yeon Seok and Jung Kyung Ho played characters that had similar traits to their previous characters, but they were different enough that it didn’t feel like they were playing the same characters in a different universe. It was more like the writer knew their strengths and added that into the characters, or cast someone familiar that they knew could really sell the type of character they were aiming to portray.

He's hilarious and delightful and all kinds of adorable

Jo Jung Seok was absolutely delightful in his role here as the social butterfly doctor. The role suit him well and really let him bring out his goofy, cheeky side. He is just ridiculously charming, and he channeled all his energy to give us a bright, energising character. His scenes with Kim Joon, who played his son, were so adorable and were doubly cute knowing that he is going to be a father for real soon. Jeon Mi Do was the only female in the main group, and she was fabulous. The way her character was described by other people made her sound like an absolute goddess, and I think Jeon Mi Do did an excellent job at making Song Hwa seem like a real person, and not someone’s fantasy of what the perfect woman would look like. Her bumbling responses to Chi Hong and Ik Joon’s confessions made her feel realistic and awkward, and she had a certain ‘grannyish’ quality to her where she liked what was comfy and convenient over what was trendy and cool. Song Hwa was grounded and reliable and Jeon Mi Do played her so, so well- I almost couldn’t believe when I searched her up and saw that she’d only been in one other drama and only one movie! She was great!

Song Hwa- please love him next season

Kim Dae Myung rounded out the main cast, and he was so wonderfully awkward. While the other four had great qualities that were obvious from the start, Seok Hyung’s good traits took a while to be revealed. Much like he was closed off to other characters in the drama, he started out as a bit of a mystery to us viewers as well. We learned about his gentle, considerate character as the drama progressed, right along with the rest of his team.

Seok Hyung was surprisingly sweet

Kim Dae Myung did a great job at slowly lowing Seok Hyung’s walls and gradually showing more and more aspects of his character. Of all the characters, Seok Hyung tended to have the subtlest character development moments, were he quietly went about his business in an unobtrusive, yet caring manner that was easy for other workers in the hospital to overlook. While each of the main five were wonderful on their own, magic really happened when they were all together. It didn’t have to be all five of them together at once either- whether it was Ik Joon and Joon Wan, or Song Hwa and Jong Won, or all five of them together, they were always endearing and often hilarious. I liked how the show gave enough focus on each of the relationships between each of the characters. The friendship between Joon Wan and Jong Won was different to the friendship between Joon Wan and Ik Joon, and I appreciate that the show took the time to show the intricacies and layers of these friendships.  

Character Driven:

Despite being in a hospital setting and a lot of patients and surgeries being major parts driving the plot, this drama was so much more than a medical drama. I don’t think I’d even want to describe this show as a medical drama because it was so character focused.

Dat drunken tension

Most drams that take place in a hospital have a sort of ‘patient of the week’ episodic format. ‘Smart Doctor Living’ sometimes had three or four patients in a single episode, and sometimes had one patient over a couple of episodes. Whether the surgery was successful or not wasn't really the point of the show or the story the drama was trying to tell.

So many small stories with so many thoughtful moments

The show instead focused on the smaller character beats that these patients brought. We got to see our beloved characters breaking bad news to loved ones, we got to see the strain of family members doing nothing but sit in a waiting room dwelling on their powerlessness. In one episode we were seeing a family have to let go of a loved one who was brain dead and donating his organs. In the next episode we saw a family helplessly praying for a brain dead organ donor to save their loved one’s life. And the doctors were the same- they saw both sides of the story, the grief and the relief and it weighed differently on all of them. This writer-PD duo do so extremely well at finding the small character beats in a busy, complex drama, and in making their characters so endearing and relatable. It’s become a kind of signature for their dramas, and it has always been brilliant, and has never disappointed. The characters moved the story forward, not necessarily by what they were doing, but by who they were being, and how they responded and reacted to events and people around them. 

What Wasn’t:

Inconclusive: 

The episode count of ‘Smart Doctor Living’ was 4 episodes shorter than ‘Smart Prison Living’, which had 16 episodes. I am not sure if the smaller episode count was a calculated decision in order to get a second season out of it, or if this show was always going to be 12 episodes regardless of if it got a second season or not.

I want more of these characters and I want it right now!

I am never really super enthusiastic about K-Dramas having a second season or multi-season format. One of the things that originally drew me into K-Dramas was the single season format- whether a show is great or terrible, it will tell its story in the allotted number of episodes and I can be satisfied that however it ends, that will be the story all wrapped up.

2021 feels so far away...

I get this impending sense of dread when I get about halfway through a final episode and things don’t seem to be wrapping up fast enough. It’s not that I want the show to rush through everything nor that I need every single thing to be tied off in a neat bow- but I do want a conclusion to the main storylines of the drama. So I wasn’t that thrilled when ‘Smart Hospital Living’ left several important plot lines unresolved (primarily Song Hwa’s answer to Ik Joon’s confession) and finished up with a ‘Smart Doctor Living will return in 2021!’ And really, there were only a few things that needed to be touched on in order to bring a satisfying close to the story, which made the Season 2 pill even harder to swallow. If there did have to be a second season, I don’t think it would have been that hard to wrap things up in Season One in a satisfying manner and still have room to explore relationships and events in Season 2. On the bright side, this does mean we get these wonderful characters for another 12ish episodes. But I still don’t like multiple seasons. 

Recommend?

Absolutely- this is one of those one size fits all type of dramas, and I think you would have to try really hard to not like this show.

It is truly delightful