I was deeply immersed with Luke Cage, but with a few episodes left,
my watching was temporarily brought to a halt by Beautiful Mind. It was so
good that I couldn’t stop watching it, deferring my time on it instead of
finishing Luke Cage. Just like with Bring It On, Ghost, I never expected that I would like it so much.
Actually, the K-Drama I was about
to get into next was W – Two Worlds. I had already seen the first three or four episodes,
and I found it promising. However, some
friends who had seen it ahead of me dissuaded me from continuing, since they
said it gets real bad later on. In
addition, the reactions I read from some K-drama forums and blogs were not enthusiastic
enough for me to stir my curiosity.
Thus, I dropped W. Someone recommended that I go watch Beautiful Mind instead. So I did... and I was blown
away by how interesting it is.
Beautiful Mind centers on a genius neurosurgeon named Lee Young Oh
(Jang Hyuk). He’s highly intelligent, skillful,
and observant – allowing him to quickly and effortlessly diagnose a
patient. However, he also lacks the
ability to empathize or feel emotion. Thus,
for all his life, he has practiced keenly reading people’s subtle body
languages in order to determine what they feel, so that he can react
properly by simulating appropriate emotional responses.
A series of suspicious deaths happening
in the hospital he’s working in results to him meeting an idealistic, optimistic,
and by-the-book traffic policewoman named Gye Jin Sung (Park So-dam). The two would initially dislike and come into
conflict with each other. But after
further encounters, they gradually get closer – bringing Young Oh the
opportunity to feel emotions for the first time.
Beautiful Mind is everything Doctors
wasn’t (the comparison can’t be helped).
As a medical drama, the former really utilized its medical aspect much more
excitingly than the way the latter did. It’s a legitimate medical thriller. And its set of doctor/nurse supporting characters is more likable and
fun than that of Doctors. Beautiful
Mind particularly has this group of doctors that I call the “Power Rangers”
(a reference they made to themselves in an episode), and their gatherings, which tend to involve
lots of gossiping and bragging, were always amusing.
I read that this series is supposed
to be inspired by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. In fact, its early working title was supposed
to be “Dr. Frankenstein.” However, I fail
to see an obvious, clever connection between this drama and the classic horror
novel, so it was a good thing it never went that route.
A better reference for Beautiful Mind is House (one of the my most fave TV shows ever). Dr. Lee is an
obvious parallel to Dr. House. Both are
brilliant physicians that always tend to be the smartest man in the room,
always smoothly providing the correct solution to difficult problems which have baffled others. Both are cynical
pragmatists who have no problem of offending anyone with their logical but tactless
comments. Both are arrogant, impatient,
and audacious due to their intelligence and troubled personalities. However, Dr. Lee’s unpleasant attitude is
probably more “acceptable”, since it can be traced to a disorder – he’s
supposed to be an anti-social psychopath – while House is more of a straight up
A-hole.
As for the romantic aspect... romance really doesn’t have a strong presence. The
focus of the narrative is mostly on Dr. Lee’s struggles. I feel
that Gye Hun Sung has a far lesser arc than Dr. Lee. Sometimes, she’s like more of a plot device
than an actual character. Still, she is
a charming, bright presence as the love interest.
Their romance isn’t as well-developed as I would have liked it, but it’s
still very adorable and compelling. I
like “slow romances” a lot, and the series delightfully took its time before there was a spark.
My only real problem about this
series is that it only has 14 episodes.
It was supposed to be 16 episodes but it was cut to 14 due to low
ratings. Kind of frustrating that, on
the other hand, Doctors got 20. The last few episodes quite suffered due to
the cut. The pacing nearly became bothersome, and the quality of the writing dipped just a little bit, though
noticeably.
Nevertheless, Beautiful Mind successfully delivers the
necessary worthwhile characters, twists, suspense, and heart to tell an
enjoyable story. It’s a great K-drama
all in all (it’s tied with Signal as
my favorite Koreanovela this year).
Everyone
who has watched this show will find it very rewarding – something worth keeping
in the heart for a while, like a soju bottle cap ring and a lotto ticket kept
in a drawer.
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