#Han Suk-Kyu

[tinnchan]

DR ROMANTIC 3 (2023): Episode 1 & 2 directed by Yu In-Sik

[splinteredsoul]

Tell Me Something (1999)

dir. Chang Yoon-hyun

[mrdarcywow]

#DrRomantic3 - Episode 1

[passionforfiction]

Dr. Romantic: The Way to a Dream Come True

Dr. Romantic is made up of three seasons with a lapse of 4 years between the Season 1 and Season 2 and a 3 years lapse between Season 2 and 3. The first season we are introduced to the regular Doldam Hospital and new arrivals: Kang Dong Joo and Yoon Seo Jung. Master Kim helps these two young doctors and his regular staff to sharpen their skills and find realize their dreams. We see their growth as professionals and as human beings, while healing people and fighting to keep the hospital open. This first season ends with Kang Dong Joo and Yoon Seo Jung heading to new challenges but leaving a hope for their return.

Second season, Master Kim and his regular staff are still healing people while fighting to maintain the hospital running. We are introduced to three new doctors: Cha Eun Jae, Seo Woo Jin, and Yoon Ah Reum. In this case we have doctors returning and a doctor from a capital hospital, Park MinGuk becomes Holdam Hospital director as part of Chairman Do's attempt to take Master Kim down. But at the end we leave the hospital with a secure standing (no one can touch the property) and Dr. Park decides to partner with Master Kim and work together towards making Master Kim's dream come true - have a trauma center in the hospital.

Season 3 seems to be the conclusion to his story. Now they have the trauma center building connected to the old part of the hospital and they are about to open, but they need government funding to help run the center since this is a non-profit hospital. The staff is divided into two areas and those working at the trauma center will need to deal with their new director. Master Kim's Plan B - Dr. Cha Jin Man, who is also Dr. Cha Eun Jae's father and later Plan A - Kang Dong Joo.

I must admit that I was so excited to see Kang Dong Joo back and to see that Yoo Seo Jung returned, along other doctors that were part of the staff in the previous two seasons. It is satisfying to see Master Kim's dream come true: have the trauma center ran by his students.

You would've thought that he would want to run the center - after all, it was his dream - but he decided to stay in the old part of the hospital and have the another person run the trauma center. I loved the love stories and the new young characters. It was a really sweet way to bring this story to an end.

This story is one of my favorites on the doctors-drama category. A most watch, the three of them. I would watch them back to back, that way I would catch on things I probably missed since I saw them when they came out and time has past between each viewing.

[byneddiedingo]

Green Fish (Lee Chang-dong, 1997)

Cast: Han Suk-kyu, Shim Hye-jin, Moon Sung-keun, Mung Gye-nam, Kim Yong-nam, Han Seon-kyu, Jung Jin-young, Oh Ji-hye, Son Young-soon, Song Kan-ho, Lee Moon-sik. Screenplay: Lee Chang-dong. Cinematography: Yong Kil-you. Film editing: Hyun Kim. Music: Lee Dong-jun. 

A young man (Han Suk-kyu) finishes his military service and returns home, but on the way there he gets involved with a beautiful woman (Shim Hye-jin) with underworld ties. Fine performances and razor-keen editing animate this fascinating noir drama leavened with dark humor and superbly atmospheric cinematography and music. 

[teashh]

One of the things I love about kdramas is that it really subverts what masculinity is supposed to be. You see the loser who's down bad for the female lead (Lovely runner, queen of tears, Love Next Door, Strong Girl Do Bong Soon, the Judge from Hell), you see the soft masculinity in hometown cha cha cha, summer strike and Doctor Slump and extraordinary attorney woo, the protective kind of masculinity in any of Ji Chang Wook's and Ahn Bo Hyun's works, the reassured and confident masculinity of Seo Kang Joon in Undercover High school and Lee Jun Hyuk in Love scout, the playful masculinity in Twinkling Watermelon and Crash Course in Romance, the stoic but gentle masculinity in Doctor Romantic and Hierarchy, and the "I care about you and only you" kind of masculinity in Vincenzo to name a few.

This is progress from the old kdramas and I get that it's fictional and in real life, some of these actors are assholes. But in the era where Toxic masculinity is rampant, I think we can turn towards kdrama to have some inkling of what kind of man we should strive to be and what kind of man we should want. This should not something we see only in fiction. We should raise our sons (I'm 21) to be like this so that one day it's not just a concept for fictional love stories.

[yeo-rims]

[spontaneousellipsis]

Life is about turning into different roads. Whether you want it or not, you have to face the reality placed in front of you. You can’t find the right answer every single time. But Teacher Kim always said this... “Do not give up asking the questions about why we live and what we live for. The moment you give up on that, the romance in life ends.”

DR. ROMANTIC (2016) dirs. Yoo In Shik and Park Soo Jin, wrt. Kang Eun Kyung

[kdramastuff]

[leedongwook]

“I told you I wanted to be a colorectal surgeon. Did I say anything? That’s why I’m asking you to stop trying to change my mind. Were you about to? Why? Do you want to stay here? No way! Not at all. I told you no! I really don’t like this hospital. I hate it! I never have tinme to go home or play games. Instead, there are people. I’m not the type to get along with people anyway. I’m an ISFP. My disposition is ... What are you even saying? It means I don’t get alng with strange people in a strange hospital. Then why did you almost change your mind? Is it because you like me?”

Dr. Romantic 3  낭만닥터 김사부3 // Episode 10 + 12

[splinteredsoul]

The Contact (1997)

dir. Chang Yoon-hyun

[theinfinitedivides]

i need to fucking lie down.

[passionforfiction]

Dr. Romantic Series

Rewatching these three seasons one after the other has helped me appreciate the details I missed when watching each after the years of separation. I loved going back to the first one and then seeing that Kim Sabu kept in contact with Kang Dong Joo, Yoo Seo Jung and Do In Beom now that they were doing different things. I also made the connection between the mother of the paramedic in season 2 with season 3 as she appeared now and we can see her relationship with Seo Woo Jin. And of course the return of Kang Don Joo and Yoo Seo Jung is so much sweeter! I really love this series. Each season brings something new and just watching how Kim Sabu helps each of his students become better doctors and nurses, it warms my heart. The relationship between them all, the friendships and their love for what they do is in deed a beautiful romance.

[shihlun]

Lee Chang-dong

- Green Fish

1999

[teashh]

The most badass character in all of Kdrama history is Kim Sabu. You cannot convince me otherwise. He will eat up all the mafias, chaebols, officers, detectives and soldiers for breakfast.

(Rewatching Dr Romantic for the 170th time)

[yeo-rims]