Médico Fantasma (2022)

Neither disappointed nor impressed

I have enjoyed many medical dramas, and am thus looking forward to watch this drama. I won’t say I’m disappointed, nor would I say I’m impressed with this drama.

Most medical dramas touched me at some point or another, but this drama did not. Perhaps due to lack of stronger backstories for the coma patients (where was the walnut man’s son?), and backstories of the other docs and staff at the hospital (e.g. the cleaner Ms Kim (any particular reason why Tess possessed her time and again?), and the doctor who defended the 2ML (Seung Tak) when the rest mocked at him?)).

Different from most sentiments, I thought the first 5-6 episodes are slower and repetitive (possessing humans and saving lives), compared to the last 5-6 episodes, with the unveiling of some backstories of coma patients, the MLs and their budding mentorship-friendship (reminds me of similar mentorship-friendship between the MLs in HK medical drama The Last Breakthrough - btw this is an underrated gem not-to-be-missed), the 1ML (Young Min) reflecting on when to really stop saving patients and the 2ML (Seung Tak) learning to be a real surgeon.

It would have been better if there are stronger backstories of the coma patients, and a "reunion” of the MLs with the patients who awoke from their coma.

Random musings:

1. Certain side profile of Rain in the drama resembles Lee Joon Gi. How about a drama with both of them as brothers?
2. Why did both 2ML and 2FL not have fathers, and were doted by their respective grandfathers?
3. Wasn’t the motorcyclist who banged into Rain shown to be a menacing dark ghost emanating black smokes, peering at the Leads from behind doors in one episode and Tess remarking him to spell troubles, but he turned out to be a harmless coma ghost who just need help from the Leads to recover from his coma?
4. Why was the backstory of the guy coma patient featured only 4-5 episodes after the backstory of the lady was featured and the lady recovered and discharged from the hospital – common sense would have the leads find out the backstory of each coma patients at about the same time, to help them out of their coma. It almost seemed like the guy coma patient has been totally forgotten, and added in as an afterthought.
5. Is skin slitting with a surgical knife a common shot to mark the start of surgery? Similar to Kids Lives Matter with the mechanical skin-slitting start of surgery scene, there are numerous bloody and heart thumping surgical scenes through this drama.

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Good for a Medical Drama!

I loved it! It wasn't something that I had on my watch list initially...but I wanted to try something different and I was also interested in seeing how Kim Bum acts. I've only seen him in Boys Over Flowers. Needlessly to say, I loved him in this.

I am also a fan of medical dramas, I binged Greys Anatomy as well as House so I was curious to see how this would measure up. I'm glad to say that it did not disappoint. I also like a bit of fantasy so it was great for that as well.

At first I was wondering why this drama was so long...I am sure it could've wrapped up everything in 12 episodes, but now that I've finished it, I love how they tied everything off so nicely. I also love the character's growth and progression. I also LOVE that the ending didn't feel rushed (like so many dramas do).

It's a must-watch for sure! Makes you think about the value of life and how you never know when it's your time to go. So therefore you should do what makes you happy.

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Fort potentiel (non tenu)

Attractif pour son super cast avec Rain, Kim Bum et Uee (entre autres).

Le plot est original (chirurgien dans le coma, qui utilise/partage le corps d'un jeune interne maladroit pour continuer à opérer), mais l'histoire est loin d'être toujours cohérente et son traitement devient "barbant" au bout de quelques épisodes.
Fan des leads, j'ai tout de même continué à naviguer entre les interventions et les complots/malveillances au sein de l'hôpital, mais avec beaucoup de zapping.
La bromance entre les 2 ML est très sympa, mais elle ne suffit pas à tenir en haleine.

Les images sont belles (celles des champs opératoires sont réalistes) et la réalisation soignée. Les OST sont très actuelles, très KPop.

Conclusion : je suis un peu déçue, car avec un tel plot et un tel casting, ce drama avait un excellent potentiel...

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This one took a lot to get me interested

Let me start by saying that I have to have at least ONE character that I really like to enjoy a show. The two male leads were extremely unlikeable for quite a few episodes. A friend kept telling me to stick it out, it gets better, and it did, somewhat. However, I never felt fully invested in the show.

LIKES: Loved Rain and Kim Bum's acting. Rain, especially, was able to wring emotions from me with his looks, his mannerisms, and, let's be honest, his crying. For me, it was worth watching just for their acting, and their bromance. This was a relationship that started out with hate/antagonism and it was a very enjoyable journey watching them come to terms with their connection with one another, and develop a deep friendship. There was a lot of humor when these two played off each other.

I also liked the other coma ghosts, especially the head guy (he was awfully funny, too).

THINGS THAT WERE DISAPPOINTING: The romance. My favorite genre is romance, so I never thought I'd say this, but they should have stuck with the bromance. The romance was just boring.

The bad guys. These bad guys seemed like caricatures to me, like they should be twirling their imaginary villain moustaches. They got away with so much for so long, and the justice served just seemed like an afterthought.

Changing rules for coma ghosts - 1) you can't go past the desk at the front lobby, yet suddenly you're out in the community. 2) WAY too much leeway to a slacker intern who has made no bones about the fact that he isn't committed to being a doctor - by all means, let him do surgeries!!!

BOTTOM LINE: Just my opinion, this is a good one to watch for excellent acting, but other than that it was ho-hum for me.

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Balanced medical drama + killer bromance => great watch => great rewatch

Only Rain and Kim Bum could pull off this bromance and make this drama shine... the main romance otherwise was kind of lackluster, but the bromance more than made up for it. Liked the concept overall of certain doctors being so dedicated that even as ghosts they cannot leave their life's work of saving people, and a passionate but jaded doctor as well as an inexperienced but idealistic newbie coming to a middlepoint to cooperate and save lives. It was also nice that the antagonist bad doctors weren't just one dimensionally evil for no reason from the beginning, rather they lost that passion over the years as they had to be realistic to keep their careers; the "bad" doctors also come around and help the younger passionate doctors when they can do it. Overall the plot didn't drag, which is amazing for a medical drama that focuses on hospital politics (by the end they usually have to play out politics that viewer's aren't interested in anymore, but in this show it really never dragged). Could've done with a little less Uee/Rain melo scenes, those were the only ones I 2xed or fast forwarded.

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A Feel-Good Watch

This marks my first K-Drama in about two years (not counting Netflix dramas). The reason why I enjoy K-Dramas are the goofy love triangles or the angsty family rivalries. I didn't get ANY of that with this drama.

Why did I rate this drama so high? Because the character development was AMAZING! There isn't a laser focus on 1-3 characters. You learn, get to know, and relate with every single character that gets at least 5 minutes of screen time.

Although I do love a good ole fashioned love triangle K-Drama, I appreciated the fact that this one wasn't oversaturated with unrequited love. It focused on the message of being a good doctor and why they all became doctors.

To keep this review short and sweet. This was a great step back into the world of K-Dramas for me. It was refreshing in both comedy and the drama storytelling. The entire cast was a perfect fit for their parts. I couldn't imagine a "x could have done it better" scenario.

I would suggest this drama to any new or old K-Drama fan. Maybe not as a binge (there are some filler episodes that are kind of mean to get through), but definitely to either fall in love with K-Dramas or find your love for them again.

Leia Mais

I actually, genuinely enjoyed watching this. The acting is on-point, the humour is peak, the bromance is *chef's kiss* and there are tons of wholesome moments sprinkled throughout the drama which melted my heart. I also enjoyed watching the character development of the main guys, and it was incredibly lovely to see the layers of them slowly peel off. However, I must admit, the last few episodes felt rushed yet slowed at the same time, I have no idea how else to describe it, and the romantic relationship felt a little off to me, not going to lie. I just feel like more time was needed for an understanding to occur and the romance to be settled in considering the ML was, literally, a ghost most of the drama.

In addition to that, I was uncomfortable the way ghosts casually used (or borrowed, or whatever you want to call it) a human's body for their purposes and then, discarded it, leaving the human confused and frightened. Having consent to do so is another thing, but the way the cleaning lady's body was used, especially, gave me the chills. I found her bafflement to her environment after being returned her body scary, not funny (this reminds me a lot of !TRIGGER WARNING! drug rape after-effects !TRIGGER WARNING! so please be cautious regarding this.)

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A+ Bromance, D- Romance

This had the potential to be really good, but got bogged down by the annoying romance storyline with Dr. Cha and his ex-girlfriend (and the exact same cut scenes of their relationship ten years ago...). I adored the bromance between Dr. Cha and Seung-Tak, and the ghost storyline and medical storylines were both very good, but I couldn't make it through any more of the romance. That aside, the villains were pretty 1-D and didn't add much to the story. So, I dropped this at episode 12.

TLDR:
+ bromance and acting of two male leads
- poorly done romance
- underutilized female leads
+ ghost/medical storylines

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Bromance yes. Romance no.

I loved the premise from the start. The cast works well together. Except the FL. If she’s even that. I’ve never seen a worse performance in my life. She’s supposed to be a strong doctor but she’s trembling and crying and walking about like a small child. Physically she moves like she’s timid. And her expression never changes. It’s as if she’s the one in a coma.
Overall I’m enjoying this but I could gladly forget the utterly unnecessary romance plots.
The MLs are growing on me. That makes up for the poorly written and acted female characters who seem to be here only to worry and react to Dr Go.

Leia Mais

Enjoyable

Such a good cast who were a pleasure to watch.
There were both witty and some very moving scenes, although I didn't often feel the tension that I think I should have.
It felt quite drawn out at times and became melodramatic, with some scenes being repeated (when used to reflect or for background on the story as it progressed), too often.
The plot was lacklustre and lacking somehow, although I can't quite put my finger on why.
I found myself losing concentration and interest during the overly long and repeated operating procedures and other scenes that didn't feel necessary to the plot. For a top hospital, too many of the surgeons and senior staff seemed incompetent and lacking in confidence.
I am not a fan of Uee, but this was one of her better characters, for sure.
Overall, this was not a bad watch, but neither was it memorable, or a drama I'd return to.

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