The thing is, I've never watched a medical drama and I don't know why it's such a big franchise! The drama aspect is less intense than most the shows I've watched. Sure, the progression in -- and --'s relationship is cute and the novelty of all the romances (so far) being negative ones is good to. But most the action and tragedy comes from the hospital environment. Being in a hospital not only comes with high stress levels but also all those life-or-death situations. Exciting! However there is just one thing that stops me from enjoying medical dramas: operation scenes. I'm not particularly squeamish and people can get bloody and broken boned all they like but I'm not prepared to see some one with a gaping chest while blood and guts are clumsily flung about. How does anyone find that entertaining? It's really off putting when most of the show is based around operations! But that's enough ranting about medical dramas. I'm a fair critic, I'll (try) to judge it for what it is.
So let's talk characters. Obviously a show like this has a lot of characters walking in and out, patients who we're not all that interested in. But I will just mention that the patients are nicely varied in age, sex, occupation and personality and of course there is a host of reasons for why they are in hospital. Little things like that really help make the show more alluring!
Moving swiftly on to the main characters: they are all so precious! Our two lead characters are interns so they are still pretty ignorant and naive. I'm really happy to see a drama with a significantly dominant female. I suppose it's because she's not supposed to be the love interest but either way Jae-In is much more confident and assertive than Min-Woo. Jae-In is pretty distressed to find out her boyfriend was cheating on her, but she recovered and never moped about it. Min-Woo is easily flustered. He is still tormented by the patient that died under his watch and has yet to fully adapt to hospital life. He has too much empathy for his patients and although he's a keen observer, it'll be a while until Min-Woo is confident enough to become a successful doctor. But the best part is just how well the two complement each other though. When one is being unreasonable the other will notice. If one is struggling the other will help out. I don't think the character's have realized it yet but they have become perfect friends and I really hope they don't become a romantic item because that would really ruin the dynamics between them!
Although I have nothing to compare it to, I genuinely think that Golden Time is a good medical drama. It's quite interesting that they use all the medical jargon and use captions to define some of the more obscure terms. Not only does this make the drama sound more authentic but it's also gives it educational value! Another point worth mentioning is that Golden Time has been praised for highlighting the authentic problem with Korea's health system that they do not have enough trauma center's. This verisimilitude, although perhaps more relevant to natives, makes the show even more convincing. As a foreigner, it makes exciting as a cultural look into Korea's health system. Ergo Golden Time is both heavily educational and pragmatic, two positives that I always love to see! So whether you like medical dramas or not is totally your decision but if you are looking for one I would recommend Golden Time - not that I've got much choice of course - the characters are lovely and really know how to grab your attention. They are incredibly life-like and really evoke your empathy and in the end, isn't that the most important thing in any drama?
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