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omonatheydid
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The series will revolve around Park Hoon, a South Korean who was captured with his father and grows up in North Korea. He is trained to become a genius doctor, and though Park Hoon lands a job at the best South Korean hospital after defecting, he is treated as a foreigner. To find his lost North Korean first love, Song Jae Hee, he does anything to make money.
This has been a head-scratching last few days for Dr. Stranger viewer. First there was the bizarre creative decision to repackage the drama into a two hour Chinese movie, with even the consideration of dubbing the voices since the Chinese audience hates subs and are totally A-OK with dubbing.
Then the PD gave an interview where I swear he basically shat answers out of his nostrils and gave everyone a collective migraine afterwards.
Apparently the original outline for DS was a straight up medical drama where the characters of Soo Hyun and Hoon were the leads. The initial outline was junked once SBS intervened to order the original concept juiced up on steroids with spy and romance elements since straight up medical dramas were in a ratings slump around the industry.
So the screenwriter went to work and came up with the drama we saw in the beginning where Jae Hee is the lead and the first love the central premise of the spy story with a side of medical stuff. The casting didn’t come until after the revised concept was presented as the first few scripts, so the casting choices weren’t affected by whatever the original outline was since that never saw the light of day. Park Min Young was offered the first female lead role of Jae Hee/Seung Hee, she considered for a bit during which time Kang Sora accepted the role of Soo Hyun.
Eventually Park Min Young passed and went off to do A New Leaf and that role was offered to Jin Se Yeon.
If anyone wants to argue that the Soo Hyun offered to Kang Sora was the lead over the Jae Hee offered to Park Min Young, I’ll have to send you to a corner. PD Jin Hyuk wanted to work with Min Young again after City Hunter and really tried to land her for the role here. The DS we saw go off the rails in the mid-section was due to another last minute rewrite when SBS saw the audiences weren’t responding to the spy stuff and all the secretive plotting so told the screenwriter to go back to emphasizing the medical aspects. I swear even the behind-the-scenes stuff in this DS is as ridiculous as what passes for plot onscreen.
The writer of ‘Doctor Stranger’ sang praises for the acting of Lee Jong Suk and Park Hae Jin.
Park Jin-woo, who wrote the script for SBS drama ‘Doctor Stranger’ spoke to reporters at a press conference, talking about the two actors and not holding back his praise.
He expressed, “Lee Jong Suk is really good at acting. He is able to come up with actions and things not even in the script. The winks to convey his emotions, that’s not in my script.”
Writer Park Jin-woo expressed his apologies that even though ’Doctor Stranger’ got 1st place in its time-slot, its ratings are significantly lower than Lee Jong Suk’s previous dramas.
He said in an apologetic tone, “[Lee Jong Suk] had been in a lot of works that broke 20% in ratings, I seem to have held him back”.
The other main actor Park Hae Jin had come from a warm role in ‘You from Another Star’, this time he is taking the opposite kind of character — a cold Han Jae-joon. A new side of him has been discovered through the drama.
Writer Park Jin-woo added that Park Hae Jin “did really well”, especially praising his pronunciation. “He pronounces my script really accurately and acted it out, I am grateful.”
Top Comments:
(+56, -1) Park Hae Jin. Lee Jong Suk. Both actors who had an important point to prove with this follow-up piece of work… Especially as a fan of Lee Jong Suk, we know how he put everything on the line and worked hard for this role. To see it go from the high expectations in the beginning down to this now, how can you say these words so easily… I am really so angry I could scream at the writer and director… If the writer really feels sorry for the two actors, please collect your wits for the final episodes… please… I beg you~~~ㅠ.ㅠ.
(+55, 1) You should thank these two actors for everything, and do well in the last four episodes… The female lead just swings from side to side and break her character… let us see Hoon show his true powers and become a real doctor
(+53, -1) The writier must thank the actors!!! The script is nothing… Even the actors must feel irritated when acting out the script.
(+53, -1) Writer Park, if you know all this, you should be so thankful. Will be watching this until the end for Jongsuk-ssi. Just wrap up the ending well please.
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no subject
Date: 2014-07-02 07:49 pm (UTC)I honestly thought that Soohyun is supposed to be the main female lead until like episode 10, lol. I didn't want to believe that a character like Jaehee could be a lead, even in a Korean drama. I was mistaken.
Eh, too bad, I'd have loved to see the medical drama. OR the spy stuff. Just consistently written (and maybe with a better actress for Jaehee?)
I'm glad that we finally see some progress and people are starting to get what they had coming. Jaejun finally doing something. Soohyun will hopefully get a character push because of these events.
no subject
Date: 2014-07-02 08:03 pm (UTC)I can't really say much about the plot since I haven't seen 18 yet, but I'll come back to this post after I catch it later today. When will this show
finallyend?no subject
Date: 2014-07-02 09:31 pm (UTC)For further information I suggest to check out soompi (http://forums.soompi.com/discussion/2021748/current-drama-2014-doctor-stranger-%EB%8B%A5%ED%84%B0%EC%9D%B4%EB%B0%A9%EC%9D%B8/p511)'s forum, however it's full of wank and delusional fans.
According to the novel, Jae Hee will distance herself from Hoon after finding out that he killed her father, she loses faith in him. She starts anew with another man, who took care of her, when she was separated from Hoon. Hoon ends up marrying Soo Hyun, however he's never truly happy, as he still longs for Jae Hee. However some parts are different in the novel e.g. Hoon and Jae Hee already get married in NK and expect a child, Hoon falls in love with Jae Hee, when he meets her at the concentration camp etc.
no subject
Date: 2014-07-03 05:24 pm (UTC)ugh i hate the writer and the director right now.
no subject
Date: 2014-07-04 05:06 pm (UTC)I wish they could have followed the book or stayed true to their own original script line and not some weird hodgepodge between those two.
no subject
Date: 2014-07-02 09:20 pm (UTC)Ehh...I'm over this drama, I just want to finish it now. But I'll forever love the first two episodes and just forget the rest.
I can't even really blame the characters b/c damn these script revisions made everything so inconsistent. I wish they could have kept the original spy/medical drama after the first revision.Y U SO STUPID SBS AND AUTHOR :(
Do we really have to go down with the noble idiocy plot in its dumbest form? Nobody is believing the "i h8 u b/c killed my dad" card, she basically confessed his love to him in the 16th episode and now Hoon is supposed to believe that she hates him lol. It's a crucial point but it's coming way toooo late. I'm glad Soo Hyun is not anymore lovesick and Jae Joon is given his time to shine.
My predictions for the ending: Jae Hee will sacrifice herself. Jae Joon suddenly cancels everything and stops his revenge because of Soo Hyun. Hoon will be working in another hospital and live with his mom in a foreign country and either there will be a flash forward where he's standing in front of Jae Hee's grave or we'll see the silhouette of a women waiting for him and everyone will make predictions if that is Soo Hyun or Jae Hee or wait plot twist it's actually Agent Cha. Bleeeh.
I just realized WHY AM I WASTING MY TIME BY WRITING THESE LONG ASS COMMENTS ON THIS DRAMA.
btw: Dispatch released some great stills, I swear when I make the final post. I'll be adding the new photos, because they are the only positive thing about this drama besides LJS' face.
no subject
Date: 2014-07-03 05:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-07-03 05:36 pm (UTC)like did you read about the press conference they did, they were like we were trying to keep the mystery alive till the very end but sbs told us not to because the ratings are dropping hurgghh koreans are so impatient lolololol
ugh the trollfest right now. i feel so bad for ljs, he seems upset as well but probably can't say much because he's still the lead... (although it doesn't show on screen).
no subject
Date: 2014-07-04 05:18 pm (UTC)I was really happy for LJS, he finally got a lead role and all reports said the story will focus on him but lmao instead I got a whiny female second lead who got way too much screen time, a female lead, who suddenly took over the male lead's part and a second male lead, whose potential remained undeveloped. I hoped this drama would be the medical version of City Hunter..oh well.
no subject
Date: 2014-07-04 07:34 pm (UTC)it's ridiculous how many character disappeared from the show cuz of jae hee. agent cha is gone, dr. eun is gone, chang yi's mom and mr. lim, dr. choi... god all these characters the writer wrote off to make jaehee more awesome just backfired.
no subject
Date: 2014-07-04 08:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-07-03 02:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-07-03 02:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-07-03 04:29 am (UTC)JAEHEE WHY. I was ok with either girl really ending up with Hoon but this is just so flat if jaehee's just gonna give up on him. i hate when that happens in dramas. also hoon wtf, he rarely speaks up for himself anymore.
i've always thought jaejoon was really annoying but i'm glad he's moving the plot forward since hoon/his mom/jaehee is all we've seen for the past few eps
only positive thing I have is I freaking love nurse min as a side character and her subplot with the baby daddy. after 18 episodes of hating on dr. yang, finally he's taken himself out of the iron grip the higher ups have on him and is trying to do the right thing. i really wanted nurse min to dump his ass but at least he wasn't totally heartless. i was so happy when he smiled at hoon giving up the surgery and handing in his resignation letter.
i've also taken a liking to chi gyu after being a thoughtful bro to his sister. that case honestly made me tear up...
no subject
Date: 2014-07-03 05:27 am (UTC)So far the only thing that's keeping me watching is the actors and how it will end.
no subject
Date: 2014-07-03 05:34 pm (UTC)because how dare jae hee blame hoon for killing his father for the sake of her life, when hoon clearly regrets it and is traumatized by it (along with five years of inhumane practices in nkorea) when jae hee had put countless number of people to danger (chang yi's mom, mr. lim, etc) for her stupid mission, and her supposed love for hoon. that love is not healthy and is completely illogical.
why the fuck is hoon physically and verbally abused every episode, hoon gets slapped or hit somehow every other episode, and they call him a murderer for trying to save a patient while they themselves are risking the patient's damn life by waking him up prematurely, jae hee tells him he doesn't deserve to be called a doctor when that's his greatest fear, and chigyu's sister says she'll blow a hole in his head when his own dad died precisely because someone blew a hole in his chest and he had to watch it himself.
where is the fucking logic in this drama when people get shot and kidnapped left and right and no one fucking notices it even though they're standing in daylight in korea and not some downtown LA where gunshots happen daily and did people notice that they're recycling surgery scenes?
furthermore i am incredibly pissed at jin hyuk pd and park jin woo writer because turns out they really don't give any damn about this drama at all, they already sold the rights to china, got their money, and will earn more money by re-editing the damn drama into a movie, focusing on the romance between jae hee and hoon (when there really is none?). how dare they try to insinuate that the actors are less than anything good, when it's really only jin se yeon who's ruining the show with her constipated facial expression. these assholes want to do some fucked up historical drama about lee soon shin and i hope it never happens because these fuckers don't deserve to do another drama.
no subject
Date: 2014-07-04 05:27 pm (UTC)I already heard that this writer's earlier works...sucked but the director made a few dramas I liked :(
no subject
Date: 2014-07-04 07:36 pm (UTC)and with jin hyuk... i feel like he was never that great of a director, he just picked the right projects and did what worked, but it wasn't extraordinary. but at least he tried with his dramas, and this one just lacks the talent and the effort :/
no subject
Date: 2014-07-04 08:20 pm (UTC)MTE. I wouldn't be so angry, if they didn't call the drama Doctor Stranger and didn't promote Hoon's story arc and his will to do anything to save his first love in the first place.
I really like Park Kyung Soo's work, his female characters are strong and the male ones don't become suddenly irrelevant and the plot doesn't suddenly turn into a hodgepodge. Well, I really admired Lee Yo Won's character in Empire of Gold.
I can see, where you're coming from, Jin Hyuk seems to have a lot of luck with his projects and Doctor Stranger doesn't come close to his other works in terms of directorial work and effort. The first episodes were good but then...nothing.