After a long hiatus, since she got married and gave birth, Park Shin-Hye is back for K-Drama Doctor Slump paired with the famous second-gen idol crush, Park Hyung-Sik (ZE:A) – who now keeps climbing the ladder of the acting field. 

I bet many of you anticipated the completion of the said K-Drama. Even though Park Shin-Hye is not the majority’s favourite (tell me I’m wrong), Park Hyung-Sik at least never missed capturing viewers’ hearts in each of his K-Dramas.

Geureondae, yeoreobun… of course, if I were to nit-pick every K-Drama, there aren’t a lot of perfect or satisfying ones out there. But Doctor Slump is just… *sigh*

I’m going to tell you the merits and the demerits of Doctor Slump.

The Good

K-Medical Drama Jjang! – If you are an avid fan of K-Drama, you should know how their medical dramas or movies never disappoint. Even if you are not a medical student or a doctor, Korean medical drama always has clear explanations that make us learn a lot as a general knowledge. The precision proved that the people behind the drama had done their research. Because viewers are not stupid and we know if things are nonsense, right?! 

Life Motivations & Mental Health Awareness – Although the title contains the word ‘Doctor’, the focus of the drama is not mainly on technical medics like Hospital Playlist or Dr. Romantic. There’s the word ‘Slump’ in the title, hence, I’m here to remind you, that the main plot of the drama is how the characters navigate their life in their career slump by healing each other – both happened to work as doctors (Heroine – Anaesthetist, Hero – Plastic Surgeon). Albeit not much, there are some insights on career slumps if you need them. But I have never been hit so hard in my life by the main characters’ struggles in battling their depression and PTSD.

Misunderstanding of ‘Genius’ – every class has that one person who always knows the answer to the teacher’s questions, and always knows every answer when we ask them to re-explain what we have learned. At first, we adore the person for being a genius and understanding everything, but it turns to envy when adults start comparing us. The drama impressively highlights the two main characters who study hard to reach the top. How exhausting it is for them too to maintain their place on top since the only way you can go from the top is down. To some, when you call them genius, it might be a compliment, but to some as well, it is as if you are disregarding their blood, sweat, and tears just to not be a disappointment. So, it’s not that they are geniuses, they just study harder by themselves.

**Geniuses are like Sheldon and Paige (Young Sheldon/The Big Bang Theory)

Unique Career Choice – we have seen a lot of K-Drama that features neurologists, cardiologists, general surgeons, paediatricians, psychiatrists, etc. but it is rare to feature plastic surgeons and anesthesiologists. It is such a fresh take. Yes, there aren’t a lot of surgery scenes, but at least we have a glimpse of what happens inside the OT.

The Bad

Unnecessary Flashback Scenes – since the drama is about the unexpected meeting of two top students of the same school during their career slump, of course, it will show you flashbacks of their rivalry and quirks as school students. It was sweet, and funny, looking back at the reason they hate each other without realizing they have feelings for each other since back then. UNTIL, every time they mention school memories when they’re together as adults, the school scene comes in. It is okay if the scene has important hidden details, but none of the throwback scenes are needed after the first one. It’s enough to just tell the story as it is, viewers won’t miss anything. The mentions of their reminiscence are so menial to have a 10-minute flashback – every time! Mind you it’s a 16-episode K-Drama. On top of that, every flashback scene is the same scene! I always have my remote in hand to skip the redundant throwback parts.

Dull Loveline of The Main Characters – Park Hyung-Sik (the hero) is famous for his previous K-Drama called Strong Woman Do Bong-Soon. In that drama, he treats his girlfriend VERY sweetly and cutely. But it was acceptable since the heroine in that drama is also a cutesy woman with hidden massive strength. However, in Doctor Slump, the heroine comes from a poor family who must become a breadwinner and the hero is a born rich-humble boy. So, it is given how serious the heroine is while the hero acts bubbly. And their love line is so dull and anti-climactic that the love line of the side characters is more interesting to watch.

Shallow Motive & Plot Twist – the plot twist is not plot-twisting. The motive of the persecution is so shallow that it was actually revealed in the earlier episode when they speculated on the hero’s downfall. Then, the revealed motive was dragged until the 14^th episode – making the scene as if it is a discovery, which turned out to be not surprising at all. Instead of gasping at the crime revelation, I threw my remote away and decided to cherish my sleep instead.

The Verdict

To be honest, I was in tears for the first few episodes, especially the scene where the heroine found out that she has depression due to her pushing herself beyond her limit in working as the breadwinner.

The way she confronts her mother and when her mother questions her for quitting a job merely because of the ‘tiny problem’ of having depression is heart-wrenching. Added with the normalization of the elders on workplace bullying. 

It hit me hard. I invested my time in the drama every weekend since then. The pain of a child who always is the tool of parents’ bragging can’t ever make a mistake because when you are raised high to the top, once you fall, you fall down rock bottom.

Alas, halfway through the 16 episodes, the drama took a wrong turn. The emotions are becoming shallower and shallower. The uniqueness faded away, causing the drama to lose its shine due to its shortcomings. As if it is rushing to finish off the story.

Even though the finale of Doctor Slump suggests that there might be a sequel to the series, it is okay if it is not true as well. To close this post, I give my rating to Doctor Slump – 4/10.

If you would like to read my views on other anime or Korean content, you can read them here. TTO BOJA!