Of course, I’ll avoid anything spoilery…
I was surprised at how much I got into both the main plot (Jin Dong’s nurse mother accused of a medical error causing in family tragedies) and the secondary plots in this series, especially as I was not impressed with the “surgical” scenes featuring the same “incision” surrounded by layers of gauze with a fairly hot pinkish-colored “blood” stain. Note: they do include a few shots of what looks like real medical work done, e.g., stitching up a wound — not that I’d want anyone who sutures like that working on me!
They keep the issue going right through the whole drama, rather than fixing it early, and my feelings as they worked through it all were engaged — and I wanted to reach thru the screen and slap the perpetrator(s) more than once — so yes, I cared!
What I especially liked though, and I’ve mentioned it already, is that Jin Dong and his costar Bai Baihe have a nice chemistry as actors, but more than that there characters offer a really fresh ‘opposites attract’ take — yes, they’re both excellent surgeons and share a passion for medicine and science, etc., but she’s really outspoken and forthright and he’s one to play things much closer to the vest. She’s been raised as the darling of the hospital and he’s felt more the pains of the past. I loved how very direct she was in her approach to her relationship with him and the way she takes the initiative when he is more reserved (because he has secrets).
I also enjoyed some of the interactions with her goofy pal, an ER doctor, who moves into her 3-bedroom apartment to balance things out. He’s a character and has some very entertaining lines.
Yes, there are Meaningful Messages about the Noble Work done by medical professionals, but it’s also a look into the crazy working conditions that they endure. Much like the way Divorce Lawyers was a picture into the customs of marriages and divorces in China today, this one is a strangely fascinating look into how… oh, how can I say this diplomatically…? I can’t, so I’ll just say it — how ignorant and backwards and shouty and even violent the patients and their families often are. It’s almost as if they see doctors as performing voodoo and can’t figure it all out, and then have to yell whenever they damn well feel like it. Kind of like a Western ER on a full-moon Friday payday night… times 2.
I enjoyed watching a lot of Jin Dong too — not the little bits and pieces we’d get of him in The Disguisers or Ode to Joy, but lots of him. And there ain’t nothing wrong with that!
#bai-baihe, #jin-dong, #surgeons
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