Drama review of Good Doctor Ep 1

This is bad...I have been watching medical drama after medical drama recently...
After finishing to watch 'Emergency Couple', I watched 'Doctor Stranger' and now even after telling myself 'not another medical drama...', I've started watching 'Good Doctor'.

Joo Won is the lead actor in Good Doctor.  I've seen him in the drama 'Baker King Kim Tak Goo' and I really disliked his character in that drama....he played a really despicable character there...

But it appears like he'll be acting as the nice character in Good Doctor...so I'll check it out.
The story line sounds interesting too.  It's about a boy who suffers from autism and has a difficult childhood because of his violent father and his illness which makes him difficult for others to understand.

Darn I can't believe that the actor who played the evil Prime Minister Jang Suk Joo in 'Doctor Stranger' is acting as a nice doctor in 'Good Doctor' ^^''
It'll take some time for me to adjust to seeing 'Jang Suk Joo' act as the nice doctor in this drama... ^^''
Good actors indeed, to be able to switch from good to evil roles and vice-versa from drama to drama.

There are several actors in this drama whom I've seen in other dramas...for instance there is the actress who plays Cheon Song Yi's mother in 'My love from another star', there's the actor who plays the second male lead in 'Paradise ranch' and there's Moon Chae Won from the drama 'Nice Guy' and 'Mackerel run'.

Looks like Korean dramas have a limited circle of actors since I keep seeing the same faces in various dramas ^^''

This medical drama is told in a different way compared to the other two medical dramas I've seen.  Starting from the first episode itself, the main character Shi On proceeds with explaining the medical procedures and examinations in a very detailed and descriptive way.  It's almost as if he is giving a lecture and demonstration of medical techniques.

In Emergency Couple, it was all about emergency treatments to save the patients.  While in Doctor stranger it was all about lengthy and complicated heart surgeries.  In Good Doctor, it'll be mostly about pediatric medicine.

The 1st episode begins with introducing the main character i.e. Shi On who suffers from autism.  We see him as a child who grew up differently compared to other children.  I think that as a child, Shi On and his older brother went into a mine and the latter lost his life there in the collapsed mine.

Shi On who doesn't express any emotions somehow learnt medicine through medical books since a very young age (7 years old) to become a doctor.

Although as an adult, Shi On can be very childish, he is very skilled as a pediatric doctor.  We see him in action as he applies all his medical know how to save a child who has been pierced by glass shards.  The mother of the child later asks Park Shi On to accompany them to the hospital.  He realizes that he is actually heading towards Sung Won University hospital where he originally planned to go.  

At the hospital, the doctors are holding a meeting whereby a doctor is explaining why they should hire Park Shi On.  He tells the congregation that although Park Shi On suffers from autism, he has the savant syndrome which makes him excel in specific areas which in his case are memory and spatial intelligence.  His intellgence made him develop prodigious skills in understanding the functions and locations of the organs in the human body.

However, as Shi On reaches the hospital, the child's pulse rate is suddenly falling drastically.  Shi On tells the doctor in charge to perform a certain test, but the latter ignores him and takes the child away.

Kim Do Han is the doctor who will head the child's surgery.  Park Shi On interrupts the surgeons before they begin the surgery to tell them that an echo test has to be performed, but his words get muffled by the guards who drag him away.  

While Park Shi On is thinking of a way to prevent something bad from happening to the child; the meeting with the doctors is ongoing as they keep on debating as to whether Park Shi On is a good candidate or not despite his autism which causes him to lack social and communication skills.

Just like Park Shi On had predicted, the surgeons encounter a problem during the surgery as the child's pulse rate drops alarmingly again.  Park Do Han then realises that the child might have heart problems and asks whether an echo was done.   The other surgeons inform Park Do Han that an echo didn't seem necessary since the child did not appear to have heart issues. But they were wrong as Park Do Han remembers that Shi On was trying to tell them to perform an echocardiography.

Outside the surgery room, Park Shi On is visualizing the surgery scene as if he was the one operating the patient (reminds me of 'Doctor stranger' when Park Hoon and his image training before undertaking complex surgeries)

Meanwhile at the conference, the majority of the doctors vote for not hiring Park Shi On even as a temporary doctor.

Inside the operation room, the child's heart beat has stopped, and the doctors are using the defibrillator to try to reanimate the patient.  Fortunately the child's heart is reanimated as it starts beating again. (I've seen a lot of these open heart surgery scenes in 'Doctor Stranger' already ^^ the heart looks different in this drama though; it looks darker as compared to the heart in Doctor Stranger.)
The surgeons finally find the internal wound and sew it up.  Looks like Park Do Han is a really skilled doctor as well but not a genius like Park Shi On. (those two remind me of the rivalry between Han Jae Joon and Park Hoon in Doctor Stranger)

Relieved to hear that the child was saved, Shi On leaves to go to the conference room where only his mentor is left.  His mentor is disappointed that Shi On was not hired.

Later, a group of journalist are at Sung Won university hospital looking for the doctor who performed 1st aid to save the child.

The video of Shi On performing first aid to save the child was even posted on the internet and broadcasted on the TV news.  After learning how skilled of a doctor Shi On is, the chairwoman of the hospital decides to call back the decision made previously by the board of doctors.  Shi On's mentor who is in fact the hospital's director requests that they hire Shi On for 6 months to see how he performs.  The Director even proposes to step down from his position as Director if there is any trouble during Shi On's probation (The Director must really care for Shi On, just like a father would)
Just then Shi On comes into the conference room and makes a bow to salute the audience.
The chairwoman asks Shi On why he wants to become a doctor.  Shi On replies that it is because of the bunny and his older brother who both went to the sky without having the chance to become adults.
Shi On continues with his reasons and naively adds that he wants to become a doctor because he wants to earn a lot of money so he can buy a 3D TV for the kids at the orphanage... (that would be a typical answer from an young child ^^'')

Looks like Shi On's speech has touched some doctors and made others feel doubtful.  However, the chairwoman was touched and has decided to hire Shi On temporarily as a resident doctor.

The chairwoman later tells the Director in private that what he said is risky because many of them are looking forward to kicking him out of the Director position.  However the Director simply replies that he would still be a doctor even if he is no longer the Director.

Effectively, just like the chairwoman predicted, the other doctors are already betting that Shi On won't last long at Sung Won university hospital and that the director will eventually resign.

Shi On is later introduced to the team of resident doctors to which he has been assigned.  As soon as the director leaves Shi On with them, the team leader starts scolding him harshly because Shi On speaks like a child.  Kim Do Han even goes to complain to the Director that the issue is not that Shi On has the savant syndrome but that he has the character of a child.  But the director tells Kim Do Han that he is sure that Shi On will succeed.  He also requests Kim Do Han to help Shi On.

Kim Do Han interviews Shi On privately and tells him that he has to find the reasons why he can't be a surgeon and shouts at Shi On for not paying attention  (Me:  I think that's a pretty harsh judgement...Kim Do Han should at least give Shi On a chance since it is Shi On who gave him the hints to save the child previously.  I'm also getting the impression that the other doctors are all treating Shi On like a child by scolding him constantly when he has done nothing wrong)

Kim Do Han asks Shi On whether he has ever performed a surgery before apart from first aid care.  Shi On tells him that he has never done a surgery.  Kim Do Han then asks him how he knew what that child was suffering from.  Kim Do Han looks a little in disbelief after hearing Shi On's explanation.    

Shi On returns home and thinks back to his childhood days when his older brother encouraged him to be a doctor.  (Me: Shi On's older brother reminds me of Kim Tak Goo ^^ their characters appear quite similar)

Just then, Moon Chae Won (that's what I'll call her for now since I don't know her name in this drama) comes into the apartment and starts stripping without noticing Shi On standing behind her.
Shi On tries to tell her that he is there but she is too drunk to notice his presence and just goes to sleep.
The next morning Moon Chae Won wakes up in shock to find Shi On standing half naked in front of her.