Eom Ki-joon reunites with Defendant team for new SBS medical drama
by tipsymocha
Fans of last year’s Defendant will be happy to hear that the show’s PD and writer duo will be joining forces once again for an upcoming medical show. And that another Defendant alum, Eom Ki-joon (I’m Not a Robot), has confirmed a role in the drama, quite literally titled Thoracic Surgery. Thankfully, it’s still a working title that’s subject to change, so I’m hoping they get a better name before they start their run.
The drama’s tagline reads “two lives but just one heart,” which I suspect might be a reference to Go Soo’s (The Fortress) character, a fellow in the thoracic surgery department, whose mother is waiting for a viable heart for a transplant. He’ll come up against Eom Ki-joon’s character, a full-fledged surgeon in the same department who is renowned for his skills but doesn’t receive the respect he deserves because of his less-than-prestigious academic background. The two start out on good terms, with Go Soo looking up to him, but when Eom Ki-joon’s character decides to grab an opportunity to better his life and career, they start going down different paths.
Eom Ki-joon may not be pulling double duty this time with dual twin roles, but his character description sounds like something right up his alley, and I look forward to seeing him go up against Go Soo. I’m also waiting to see who will fill the female lead role, described as someone “living a second life due to a miracle,” but so far, I’m liking the cast and trust that this director (Jo Young-kwang) and writers (Choi Soo-jin, Choi Chang-hwan) will create a compelling story.
Thoracic Surgery is slated to take over SBS’s Wednesday-Thursday slot sometime in September.
Via Sports Chosun, My Daily
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Tags: Eom Ki-joon, Go Soo
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1 fishnchips
June 30, 2018 at 3:07 PM
*groans* I was happy until I saw the word ‘medical’. There are other exciting-yet-morally-challenging professions outside of medicine and law, dramaland!
Honestly. Are writers just afraid they won’t be able to pull off writing about a geeeenius firefighter who extinguished a three storey fire using only a house, an ice cream van, and his pinkie finger? Because I would watch that show.
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fishnchips
June 30, 2018 at 3:31 PM
*I meant to write ‘hose’ but ‘house’ works too tbh. I can see it now, our headstrong hero careening his borrowed-without-permission ice cream van off the roads and onto the roof of the house next door, abandoning ship as the vehicle accelerates into the blaze (and a wall or two, maybe), unleashing his masterful (and very pretty looking, thank you SFX team) oxygen-sucking concoction to save the day (not that his grumpy father-figure boss will thank him for it). And to think, all he needed was a few ice cream machines, some convenience store cleaning supplies, and a masters degree in chemistry he got when he was 12.
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WishfulToki
June 30, 2018 at 3:49 PM
Try Naked Fireman. He didn't save the day with ice-cream vans and his pinkie finger, but he was quite the goofy hero.
Seriously, I'm with you. The title itself makes me shudder.
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fishnchips
June 30, 2018 at 6:10 PM
Oo, thanks for the rec! I get so sad when I only see firemen in kdramas when someone needs a loved one to have died a sad and heroic death (Pinocchio, Secret Garden...) and I’m here like stop killing off my fave professionals!
Honestly tho, I would welcome a kdrama centred around accountants at this point. I would love to follow an earnest little math nerd trying to save the world one tax evader at a time. Just, please, no more surgeons!
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goldenaddiction
June 30, 2018 at 7:42 PM
I'm loving your imagination fishnchips!!
So...have you ever "ahem" thought about writing...dramass...hehe
fishnchips
July 1, 2018 at 5:10 AM
Haha thanks for the compliment @goldenaddiction! Alas, I don’t think it’s in me. I just like thinking up wacky scenarios 😆
mary
June 30, 2018 at 7:51 PM
Yesssss try Naked Fireman!
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fishnchips
July 1, 2018 at 9:31 AM
I was sold at ‘Fireman’ tbh. Not quite sure about the ‘naked’ tho... 😆
WishfulToki
July 1, 2018 at 3:33 PM
@fishnchips the "Naked" is totally misleading, don't let it scare you off.
bong-soo
July 2, 2018 at 9:30 AM
Hi @fishnchips. I agree with the recommendation for what I call the (not really) NAKED FIREMAN (2017). It has 4 things to recommend it:
1. Good story;
2. Only 4 episodes;
3. The lead is Lee Joon-hyuk currently in ARE YOU HUMAN TOO; and
4. I like plugging this part. LJH donated his entire salary to a firefighter's charity. Here's the story with a preview (shirtless is as naked as it gets in the drama):
http://en.yibada.com/articles/194015/20170214/lee-joon-hyuk-donates-entire-naked-fireman-profit-charity.htm
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WishfulToki
July 2, 2018 at 9:35 AM
I didn't know about 4! That doesn't happen often I think :)
fishnchips
July 2, 2018 at 9:17 PM
Yoooo 4. is super cool omd. I thank you and @wishfultoki both for recc’ing the drama so hard (tho I’m so sad it’s only four eps!). Fear not for it is now firmly on my to-watch list. 👍🏼
greenfields
June 30, 2018 at 7:33 PM
I suspect dramaland is overrun by doctors. Which makes sense given how non-doctors are lawyers, CEOs or serial killers in black, all leading dangerous lives and constantly under threat from the Truck of Doom. There can never be enough doctors in dramaland.
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goldenaddiction
June 30, 2018 at 7:43 PM
LOL! Also, if the Dr to other people ratio in dramas was the same in the real world we would be out of the shortage for Drs!
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fishnchips
July 1, 2018 at 9:47 AM
I have the feeling that one day we’re going to get a meta scene in a medical drama where dozens of ER staff members from across the country have gathered to protest under a giant banner that says ‘Medical Professionals Against Trucks On Public Roads’. Poor people probably haven’t been home to see their families in weeks.
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greenfields
July 1, 2018 at 10:01 AM
Sadly Trucks have got jobs to do, and the right to do them. Even if the govt banned Trucks on Public Roads due to popular demand, I suspect it would be overturned in the Courts. After all, in many countries, the right to earn a livelihood is a fundamental right.
Just because one Truck is doing all this killing, should other Trucks suffer? Why can't dramaland's police catch the serial killer that goes by the name of 'Truck of Doom' for once?
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bong-soo
July 2, 2018 at 9:36 AM
During the run of RADIO ROMANCE I offered a defense for the so-called TOD in that drama. That truck got a bad rap.
fencejumper
June 30, 2018 at 10:28 PM
I'd watch your drama @fishnchips ! I'm tired of medical dramas too and hospital politics too.
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fishnchips
July 1, 2018 at 7:05 AM
It boggles my mind how dramas can focus on so many different professions when it comes to the food sector —secret kimchi family recipes, bread makers, pasta chefs, noodle restaurants, more secret kimchi family recipes, coffee shops, chocolate shops, foodie insurance salesmen— but when it comes to the rest of the workforce it’s like. ‘Here, have another medical drama. Oooh, or another law drama! If you’re lucky, we might even give you characters who work for The Best [Insert-Good/Service] Company In Korea!’
Lol, to be completely fair tho that’s not to say good dramas don’t come out of these categories. It’s just seeing the same patterns over and over again that’s mind-numbing, esp in medical dramas. Another slimy director embezzled funds, another respected doctor covered up malpractice. Another star surgeon finished another Very Hard surgery in record time. Another maknae’s just had another mental breakdown. I don’t blame us for going ‘gimme someone new!’ at this point lol.
Honestly, like...give me the cleaning crew ahjummas conspiring to find out who got rid of The Chairman’s last will and usurped his grandson’s rightful inheritance. Let them furiously band together for sweet little Min Hyuk who never looked down on them, who they practically raised between sneakily given caramels and advice about girls. Have them storm into conference rooms with shrieks of love and fury, brandishing their mops and spraying cleaning agent into the faces of anyone who gets in their way. I promise I’ll be so delighted I won’t even say a word when we find out it was Secretary Choi, in the copy room, with the shredding machine.
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fencejumper
July 1, 2018 at 12:17 PM
YASSS! 👏 Someone please hire @fishnchips . I need her glorious ideas on my screen. I'm so done with: It’s just seeing the same patterns over and over again that’s mind-numbing, esp in medical dramas. Another slimy director embezzled funds, another respected doctor covered up malpractice. Another star surgeon finished another Very Hard surgery in record time.
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fishnchips
July 1, 2018 at 2:11 PM
Aw, thanks! I’m glad my wacky lil scenarios entertain someone else as much as they do me. ☺️
bong-soo
July 2, 2018 at 9:42 AM
Thank you @fishnchips for my Monday laugh out loud moment. You have a great imagination. There has got to be a place for you in kdrama land.
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fishnchips
July 2, 2018 at 9:22 PM
Aw, you’re welcome! Thank you for the compliment lol. And may you have many laugh-out-loud moments every Monday! I feel like it should be a rule that people get Monday pick-me-ups to get them through the start of the week, be it a kdrama ep or a kdrama scenario haha
luzitania
July 1, 2018 at 8:51 AM
I laughed so hard at your made-up kdrama. I would watch it too to be honest. :D
That's why A Poem a Day was so refreshing. Still medical but showing an aspect no one really considers.
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fishnchips
July 1, 2018 at 9:37 AM
Lol, thank you. We should send a petition to KBS tbh entitled ‘Give us geniuses in other professions!’
Ooo, I might just put APD on my watch list. Lol I was staying away bc I’ve had it up to here with all things but medical, but the feeling you described was the exact same way I felt about <i/Live. It was so nice to see another aide to the usual cop drama, one that showed all the sad and tiring aspects to a job that’s done by normal people, not superhumans.
In hindsight I think shows this year have given me hope that dramaland’s started thinking about shining a light on all those vital yet scorned professionals in not-so-glamorous job and unfair lives who’re just doing their best day in and day out. (Ngl tho. I still want my cleaning crew ahjumma detectives.)
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PYC
July 2, 2018 at 5:59 AM
Naked Fireman is a goofy watch. If deeper fare is your thing, then Live is a must about cops, up there with My Ahusshi as two of the very best.
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fishnchips
July 2, 2018 at 9:20 PM
Thanks for the additional rec! I already watched Live and loved it to biiiitss ugh. Lol tho I love both deep and goofy dramas so Naked Fireman is safe 😄 (and, okay, admittedly I’m also totally biased bc I love firemen lolol.)
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transient
July 2, 2018 at 10:06 PM
How can you groan at the possibility of blood splashing and CPR performed with the doctor straddling the patient? *winks*
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2 giocare 🌻💛
June 30, 2018 at 5:05 PM
I can already picture him looking absolutely dashing in scrubs but why medical??? Can we vote to let go of medical dramas ??
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suk
July 1, 2018 at 5:54 PM
Career dramas might inspire the younger generation, and I guess Korea is in need of thoracic surgeons these days. Marketing strategies for society ;)
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3 risa
June 30, 2018 at 5:24 PM
I looked up the writers, Choi Soo-jin and Choi Chang-hwan-- they co-wrote Defendant which I didn't watch but seemed to get a lot of "meh" reviews from Beanies who did. Choi Soo-jin was also one of the writers who adapted City Hunter from the manga. With Jo Young-kwang directing and Eom Ki-joon playing one of the leads, this'll be quite a Defendant reunion.
The premise sounds pretty dated and medical dramas tend to be boring, so I'll probably skip this one. However it'll give me an opportunity to reminisce about the last time I saw Eom Ki-joon playing a doctor: the awesome Dr. Poopypants from Scent of a Woman.
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kellie
July 1, 2018 at 2:23 AM
No "meh" here. I ranked Defendant #3 among k-dramas last year. Eom Ki-joon's deranged character was a bit on the ridiculous side, popping up everywhere to torment Ji Sung when he could easily have just killed the guy, manipulating everything from the police to courts to prison staff. But the prison episodes were really well done, like an hors d'oeuvre for Prison Playbook.
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bong-soo
July 2, 2018 at 9:52 AM
I agree @kellie. My top 2 dramas for 2017 were DEFENDANT (made me a Ji Sung fan for life) and SECRET FOREST.
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miss h
July 1, 2018 at 7:59 AM
I really liked Defendant. I thought the writer + PD combo did a great job. If they can bring the tension of Defendant to this drama, I can see it doing well. I just don't care for medical dramas.
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4 greenfields
June 30, 2018 at 7:35 PM
Too little info to tell if i want to watch this, though I do like Uhm Ki Joon. A lot. Sadly I was one of those that dropped Defendant, so my initial thoughts are that I probably won't.
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5 mary
June 30, 2018 at 7:54 PM
I bet Eom Ki-joon's character gave the heart to the lead girl who's probably a chaebol or daughter of the hospital director or something, and Go Soo's mom died before she can get another heart.
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transient
July 2, 2018 at 10:07 PM
There, the drama summarized in one line
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6 poliwag
June 30, 2018 at 7:55 PM
Anyway I came at news of Kijoon fading back into existence after 10 billionty five years in musicals what's kicking I'm going to watch this and put up with Go Soo
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7 Bebe | Nessa❣️
June 30, 2018 at 8:11 PM
Another medical drama *yawn*.
A (medical) drama comeback for Go Soo.... Okay, you’ve got my attention.
A (medical) drama comeback for Go Soo AND you’ve got the writer(s) of “Defendant” PARTNERING UP WITH UHM KI JOON AGAIN??????????
SEPTEMBER PLEASE COME NOOOOOOOOOOW ~~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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8 suk
June 30, 2018 at 9:45 PM
A friend who doesn't watch drama: What are you watching right now?
Me, an intellectual: Thoracic Surgery
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mary
July 1, 2018 at 4:55 AM
LMAO
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WishfulToki
July 1, 2018 at 3:56 PM
It will sound more intellectual than me saying: "Mr. Sunshine".
That's for sure.
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9 korfan
June 30, 2018 at 11:53 PM
I know this is another medical drama but with Eom Ki-joon as the baddie things can get quite interesting. Then there's Go Soo. I haven't seen him since Empire of Gold, and while you can't really describe him as being a full-blown villain in that one, he didn't shrink away from sinking to questionable levels to get what he wanted .... and it was a treat to watch.
With these two actors going head-to-head, it may turn out to be a pleasant surprise. We'll see.
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10 juncipop
July 1, 2018 at 6:13 PM
He's a really good villain! I love to see again as a protagonist-antagonist. The likes of Kim Seo-hyung in 'Temptation of Wife,' Soo Ae in 'Queen of Ambition' and Jung Woong-in in many Kdrama.
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11 bong-soo
July 2, 2018 at 10:03 AM
I am not familiar with Go Soo's work at all. I am familiar with
Um Ki-joon' s great performance in DEFENDANT. All I can say right now is: "CHA MIN-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOO".
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