Drama Review for 'Doctor Stranger' Ep 1

Hi

I'm back with the review of another drama starring Lee Jong Suk.
The drama is called 'Doctor Stranger'..I wonder why it's called like that, why the word stranger...??.  But as implied by the title itself, it is a medical drama.

Doctor Stranger

Warning: There are spoilers ahead.  It's your choice to read or not to read.

Starting with the 1st episode, the main character and his father are exiled in North Korea after saving the North Korean leader from a cardiac arrest and consequently saving South Korea from a nuclear bombing.  Both father and son are specialists in heart surgery.  I'll probably be seeing lots of open heart surgery scenes throughout this drama...I've gotten used to it, so it's ok, I can watch those scenes...I  know it can freak out some viewers.

Lee Jong Suk acts as Park Hoon who is a specialist doctor at a very young age.  There are times, I find it difficult to believe his role as a doctor, because he looks too young for the part...  Don't you think?  I mean how often do you see such a young looking doctor?

Park Hoon (actor: Lee Jong Suk)

Whatever, it's just a drama, anything is possible in a drama ^^''

It's funny that they chose the cast from City Hunter to act alongside again in this drama (lol do they come in pairs or are they supposed to complement each other), for instance the ones who acted as Yoon Seung's fake dad and real dad (the President) in City Hunter are acting as enemies I believe in this drama as well; except that the evil and good roles are reversed.

Evil father in City Hunter but Good dad in Doctor Stranger

Nice president in City Hunter but evil character in Doctor Stranger

I'm almost done watching episode one and my main impression is that this drama has very dark tones for instance it includes betrayal, death, murder, conspiracies, blackmail, human sacrifice etc.  I guess that if the story is linked to North Korea, the theme is bound to be dark...



Now that I think about it, I have also seen 'Secretly Greatly' which is a Korean movie (based on a webtoon) about North Korean spies infiltrating South Korea with hidden identities.  It's good that I get an opportunity to talk about 'Secretly Greatly' in  this post.  That movie has a dark theme too but it is a really good watch, really funny at times, with excellent acting, starring our acting prodigy Kim Soo Hyun and the cute guy Lee Hyun Woo (Actor in drama 'To the beautiful you').

Secretly Greatly Poster 1 - Our spies fake identities

It's a movie I would highly recommend.  It's original, with a very good script and unpredictable scenes which were nicely filmed as well.  The acting is so precisely executed that I could have continued believing that Kim Soo Hyun was just a big village fool in this movie.  

Secretly Greatly Poster 2 - Our spies real identities 

Alright, lets come back to the drama - 'Doctor Stranger', in episode one Park Hoon is in love with Jae Hee,

Park Hoon and Jae Hee

but the latter is captured by the North Korean army because her father is plotting against their political party.  Park Hoon searches for Jae Hee for several years while remaining imprisoned in a military camp where illegal/criminal experimental surgeries are done on people for research purposes.  In order to survive and find Jae Hee, Park Hoon has no choice but to obey the tyrant's orders and practice those experimental surgeries. Finally one day he finds out that one of the persons he has to operate on is Jae Hee.  However, Jae Hee is on the brink of death because her failing kidney.  The experiment Park Hoon was ordered to perform involved transplanting Jae Hee's healthy kidney into the body of Jae Hee's father who has higher chances of survival.  However, Park Hoon disobeys the orders and chooses to save Jae Hee instead even though she has lower chances of survival.  Despite his father's warnings, Park Hoon takes the healthy kidney of Jae Hee's father and transplanted it into Jae Hee's body.
I feel that Jae Hee is going to hate Park Hoon for that and he is going to lose her love sooner or later...  I actually predict that he is going to fall out of love for her....  They just don't seem to have that much spark of chemistry between them...  I'll know by watching the next episodes if my guess was wrong or not.
The 1st episode ends with a dark note, with Park Hoon's father getting shot in his heart after being detected by the guards in the military camp.
I wonder if in the next episode, Park Hoon will be able to save his dad by operating on his heart....or is it unfortunately too late...  If it is too late, then I think the father's role was too short...  and his death was in vain...

Anyway we'll see...