Hospital Playlist

     My cousin recommended Hospital Playlist to me... She thought I would like it as it was relatable to me... She did warn me that the first few episodes might be confusing as there were many characters and stories that revolved around them... So I gave it a try and I loved it from the moment go... this from someone who refused to watch Grey's Anatomy at the height of its popularity... Yes, at that time I felt that my life was Grey's Anatomy enough (minus the sex and scandals) so I didn't need to watch my life happening on TV...

     Hospital Playlist tells of 5 doctors who went to med school together and were now at age 40 working together in a university hospital... There's Chae Song Hwa, the perfect female Neurosurgeon who is tone-deaf... Lee Ik-Jun, the popular funny guy Hepatobiliary surgeon who became a single father (his son U-ju has got to be the cutest kid ever)... Ahn Jeong Won, the soft-hearted Paediatric surgeon who is hell-bent on becoming a priest... Kim Jun Wan, the asshole Cardiothoracic surgeon who is actually kind and warm-hearted... And Yang Seok-Hyeong, the divorced, introverted and "slow-witted" Ob/Gyn who wanted to start a band with his fellow friends...

     No prize for guessing who is my favourite character among the 5... although I'm actually torn between Jeong Won and Jun Wan....Jeong Won reminded me of myself back then... No, I never wanted to be a nun... I'm not even Catholic... It was his passion for his patients... His sorrow when he couldn't save his patients... And his joy when his patients get better... And his love for God... Jun Wan is the ultimate cool and efficient surgeon whom I inspire to be... but I never wanted to be a cardiothoracic surgeon... he may not have been the most empathetic surgeon, but his dedication and tenacity is something every surgeon should have...

     This drama brought back a lot of wonderful memories of med school and my years working in KK... Like Jun Wan, I had highlights on my hair in med school... which I had to re-dyed black before my Professional Exam... we didn't have a band or anything back in med school... but I did play the keyboard at church (very occasionally) during my Masters years... And I miss all the karaoke sessions with my girls when we were in KK... Looking back, I'm really amazed at how I managed to stay sane throughout my Anaes MO years... how I've managed to hold it in every time I treated critically ill patients... While watching the drama, I cried so much during those ICU/ OT moments...

     There was a female GS resident in the drama... Jang Gyeo-Ul... who was totally in love with Ahn Jeong Won... reminded me of a time when I had a crush on one of my lecturer... I found his crinkly-eyed smile so endearing... Fortunately, the crush was short-lived... I just couldn't stand a guy who talked like a Mak Cik Kiah and nagged worse than a woman... Anyway, I'm just so glad that in the end, Jeong Won realized that he was in love with Gyeo-Ul and decided to stay as a paediatric surgeon in the hospital (he initially planned to leave for seminary school to study to be a priest)...

        A friend mentioned that this drama is as realistic as it gets for a medical drama... And I do agree to a certain extent... However, I do feel there's a tad too much of office romance going on... Maybe it's just me... I've never dated anyone from work... I prefer to keep my personal and work life segregated... Or perhaps I'm such a loser that no one from work ever wanted to date... Oh well, worked out fine for me... I guess if you have such good looking Professors, the residents can't help crushing on them... I would definitely have a crush on Ahn Jeong Won and Kim Jun Wan... So there's Jang Gyeo-Ul crushing on Ahn Jeong Won... then there's Chu Min-ha crushing on Yang Seok-Hyeong and Ahn Chi Hong crushing on Chae Song Hwa... And eventually we found out that Lee Ik-Jun and Chae Song Hwa were crushing on each other since med school... I thought that was really sweet... That after 20 years, they eventually rediscovered the feelings they had for each other...

     There weren't many kissing scenes throughout the drama... I think there were only 2 or 3 kissing scenes... And I can't decide which one I loved better... There was that 2am kiss between Jun Wan and Ik Sun (Ik Jun's younger sister who is an army officer) in front of the hospital entrance... Jun Wan had just finished a surgery and was on the phone with Ik Sun while walking out of the hospital... And suddenly he saw a girl who looked like Ik Sun sitting opposite the road and started walking towards him... He thought he was hallucinating... And there was Ik Sun standing in front of him... And then he kissed her... That kiss was so sensual and romantic...

     Then there was the kiss between Jeong Won and Gyeo-Ul... She went to his office to confess her feelings for him... And also to ask him to stay... Although she knew it was not her place to do so... such courage... I thought Jeong Won was going to reject her confession... But then without a word, he just walked towards her and kissed her... YES!!!! I was so happy watching them kiss... It was like, there's still hope for a 40 year-old priest-wannabe to find romantic love in this world... I wish there will be Season 2 so that I can watch how their love blooms...

     I loved their band practice and the songs that they sang...So much feels... Listening to the OST while typing this post... I guess a part of me missed my hospital years... Coz I was serving the people... And even when I became a plastic surgeon, I really wanted to serve in the government hospital for as long as I could... But I guess life has a way of working out differently from what you've imagined... I can only say that I guess at this moment in time, I'm where I'm meant to be... And I really thank God for bringing me this far...

The Snow Queen

     So it seemed that I still haven't gotten Hyun Bin out of my system... Which was why I ended up watching The Snow Queen... This drama was probably a typical tragic melodramatic K-drama which I used to swore I would never watch back when I was in med school... Everyone was crazy about Autumn In My Heart back then and I refused to watch it... I still haven't watch it up till today... Anyway, life has a strange way of making you eat your own words...

     As expected, I cried buckets while watching this drama... I think Han Tae Woong is the most tragic male lead of all the K-dramas I've ever watched... A math genius who won the gold medal in the International Math Olympiad... But whose best friend killed himself because he didn't win the gold medal... And he spent 8 years of his life as a high school dropout who was a 3rd grade boxer because he felt that he was the reason his best friend killed himself... He couldn't live past his guilt and self-condemnation...

    And as if that wasn't tragic enough, he met the girl from 8 years ago who turned out to be his best friend's younger sister...  And of course they had to fall in love with each other and her father wouldn't approve of their relationship... Then just when they were finally together and he finally had a chance to be happy, the girl had to have malignant thymoma and died... I thought he was going to kill himself too... But thankfully he didn't...

      Thanks to this drama, I now have a new bucket list... I'm going to Lapland someday to meet the Snow Queen... I wonder if I'll be able to survive the cold and frostbite...  Han Tae Woong went to Lapland too...  After the death of his beloved...  Because she left him a message on her pager that she would be in Lapland by the time he heard her message... If I had such a tragic life, I really do wonder if I would still have the will and courage to continue living...

     But as Han Tae Woong told Kim Bo Ra when he saved her from killing herself, it is better to live... To live and suffer... To live and regret... And because of that, she lived life having loved someone, even though they didn't get to grow old together... I guess it's better to have lived and loved than never have loved at all...