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Good Doctor: Episode 1

KBS’s new medical drama Good Doctor got off to a strong start, and led the Monday-Tuesday ratings game out of the gate with a fast-moving intro that covers our premise and backstory in one episode flat.

With an autistic hero at the center of the story, it’s definitely a show with a message to tell, but thankfully it’s one of hope and tolerance, and the overall tone isn’t patronizing. It certainly doesn’t leave anything to chance though, and makes damn sure you’re on the hero’s side. As if we needed prodding to root for a guy who saves children’s lives.

Episode 1 led with 10.9%, but Tuesday’s episode jumped up to 14.0%, taking the decidedly puny Monday-Tuesday numbers into a new range. Hopefully a sign of good things to come.

 
SONG OF THE DAY

Lee Young-hyun – “Miracle” for the OST [ Download ]

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EPISODE 1 RECAP

We open at the crack of dawn as our hero PARK SHI-ON (Joo-won) wordlessly begins his day by washing up and getting dressed in a suit. He wheels a suitcase out of a tiny house in a sleepy village, and makes his way to the train.

As he walks along the tracks, a passing train brings him into a flashback. He watches as if the scene is playing out in front of him, as Little Shi-on gets beat up and called a dummy by the other boys.

Hyung comes running to the rescue and chases off the bullies, nagging his little brother not to wander away from his side. Shi-on just seems to fixate on his pet rabbit without crying or complaining.

We see that home life isn’t much better either, as the boys’ father gets into a violent drunken rage while arguing with Mom over whether or not to send Shi-on to a special institute. (Mom wants what’s best for Shi-on, while Dad doesn’t care to spend another dime on him.) Mom ends up huddled with Shi-on in the street while Hyung takes a broom to Dad to get him to stop.

Dad fumes and throws Shi-on’s rabbit cage to the ground in a rage. Dude. You’re the world’s shittiest father AND you kill bunnies? What the hell.

The next day Shi-on takes his bunny to the doctor, who tells him the bad news. He asks haltingly if that means Rabbit went to heaven, and if doctors can fix things so that they don’t have to die. The nice doctor nods. Little Shi-on decides he’d like to be a doctor someday.

He buries Rabbit on the hillside next to some flowers, and draws pictures of his dear departed friend. Hyung nags him for still carrying around the empty cage wherever he goes, and takes Little Shi-on to meet the other boys.

The other boys dare Hyung to go inside the abandoned mine, and Hyung makes sure the deal is still on: they fulfill the dare and the other boys stop harassing Shi-on. They agree to be nice to him, and so the brothers walk in, hand-in-hand.

They barely get past the rickety entrance when the mine caves in around them. It’s nightfall by the time rescue workers get down there, and it’s the country doctor again who finds them first. They get trapped in, and he puts his oxygen mask on Shi-on while trying to resuscitate his hyung. It doesn’t look like he’s going to make it.

And then sometime later, Shi-on stands on the same hillside, a plastic green scalpel in his hand.

A close-up of the scalpel puts it in grown-up Shi-on’s hand now, as he waits for the train.

He can’t help but gaze at a mother and young son eating eggs across the aisle, and the little boy comes up and hands him an egg. He demonstrates cracking it on his head, and Shi-on follows suit, only to clutch his forehead from the pain as the boy erupts in a fit of laughter.

At the same time, our heroine, doctor CHA YOON-SEO (Moon Chae-won) is in the middle of telling a scary story to a rapt audience of kids in the children’s ward at a hospital.

She gets animated as she acts out the story of a ghost creeping up behind a kid in a hospital… and the nurse gets the jump on them with a “Raaaaar!” from behind. She ends the story with: “And that ghost will get you if you don’t take your medicine!” Ha.

We cut away to a man who plops a bouquet of flowers down at a memorial—this is KIM DO-HAN (Joo Sang-wook), and so far all we know about him is that he’s angry and either there are two pictures of the brother whose ashes he’s visiting, or they were twins. (That’s just me guessing—I have no idea who died.)

Either way, he’s not happy to be there, and he leaves just as quickly as he came.

Apparently we’re just going to barrel through all our main characters in one go, because then we cut to YOO CHAE-KYUNG (Kim Min-seo), who’s on the hospital administrative staff.

The board president tells her that the university hospital isn’t a factory and the patients’ lives come first, while Chae-kyung counters that the hospital’s well-being comes first. Well aren’t you a gem.

Shi-on arrives at his stop and as he makes his way through the crowd on the platform, he begins to rattle off the route he’s supposed to take, down to the bus lines, the distance in kilometers, and the cost of each ticket.

Something makes him stop in his tracks, and suddenly he’s standing in front of a display for a 3-D TV, jaw hanging open at the cartoon bird.

In an office, a doctor looks out his window. It’s Doctor Choi, our country doctor who saved Shi-on, and he isn’t a country doctor anymore. As he waits, he flashes back to his days in that small town.

Shi-on would spend his days sitting in his office watching him work, and one day he found the little boy reading one of his medical texts. And that stack of books just kept growing and multiplying.

Back at the train station, while Shi-on is still absorbed in the 3-D cartoon, the little boy who shared an egg with him on the train wanders away from his mother and happens to stand right under a giant billboard that breaks and falls, along with the sheet of glass in front of it. Aaaaah.

It shatters and the little boy gets knocked unconscious, with glass shards in his throat and chest. Mom screams for help, and a doctor comes running up to apply pressure to the neck wound. The man checks and says the boy will be fine.

But Shi-on breaks through the crowd and says he can’t apply pressure that way to a small child. He kneels down and checks for signs that the boy is breathing, and then runs to the train station pharmacy to get supplies. He asks for a tube, which they don’t have, so he grabs the nearest ballpoint pen. Ack, not the pen-tracheotomy! I hate that TV doctor move. *covers eyes*

After sterilizing the knife, he cuts into the child’s lung and sticks the pen there so he can breathe. Oh phew. The medics arrive with equipment, and Shi-on continues to take charge of the situation very methodically, checking everything as he goes as if reciting verbatim out of a medical text.

He intubates and then has to make another incision for the IV tube, why I don’t know, other than to make sure we know it’s Very Impressive Doctoring. He saves the boy, who clearly would not have survived had the other doctor treated him as he would an adult patient.

Shi-on even calls the boy by name and says he’ll be okay now, and the crowd cheers. He goes on his way, but the mother rushes to thank him and begs him to come along in the ambulance because she doesn’t feel safe without him there.

So Shi-on rides in the ambulance, preoccupied with the fact that he’s supposed to be somewhere else right now. He asks to be taken to the university hospital, and the medic tells him that’s where they’re going. “Are you a doctor there?”

Shi-on answers hesitantly, “Yes.” That sounds like a pretty iffy yes.

It turns out that Doctor Choi is presenting Shi-on to the staff as a resident candidate, and he’s met with skeptical looks from the room. He explains that Shi-on has savant syndrome, a form of autism that’s accompanied by astounding genius.

As he explains Shi-on’s extraordinary gift for spatial memory, we watch as Little Shi-on reads his medical text and then goes outside to draw a mind-bogglingly exact replica of the human body and internal organs.

Inside the ambulance, something starts to go wrong with the child as they reach the hospital, and Shi-on presses his ear to the heart cavity. He listens for a second, and says they have to hurry.

He runs with the hospital trauma staff as they wheel the boy into surgery, and Shi-on says they have to check his heart. The other doctor dismisses him, and Shi-on is left waiting outside, unable to tell them what to look for.

Meanwhile, Yoon-seo checks on a little girl who’s afraid of her upcoming surgery, and she promises that her visit with the child psychiatrist tomorrow will help make all her fears go away.

The nurse assures the little girl she can trust the pretty doctor, and her resident sidekick HAN JIN-WOOK (Kim Young-kwang) jokes, “Who’s pretty?” He gets a punch to the gut for that remark.

But then Mom runs in to say that the appointment with the shrink got canceled and the surgery got moved up to tomorrow, on Doctor Kim Do-han’s orders. Yoon-seo marches over to Do-han in a huff, and judging by Jin-wook’s reaction, this is a pretty regular occurrence.

She picks a fight with him but he doesn’t budge, and tells her that they’re surgeons here, and if she cares that badly she should’ve been a kindergarten teacher. Yeesh. Jin-wook does his best to smooth things out, to no avail. (Note: He calls Do-han “professor” because he’s actually their teacher and bossypants boss, while he calls Yoon-seo “teacher” in the “doctor” sense of the word.)

Do-han gets called to the trauma ward, and Jin-wook is among the residents shadowing him. They scrub up to begin surgery on the little boy that Shi-on saved, and suddenly there’s a disturbance outside.

Shi-on charges in to try and tell them what to look for, but Do-han orders the guards to escort him out. As they cover Shi-on’s mouth and drag him away, his muffled cries of “echocardiogram” get drowned out, and Do-han begins surgery without taking a look at the boy’s heart.

As all this is going on, upstairs Doctor Choi is still presenting Shi-on’s case to the board. He explains that Shi-on passed med school with flying colors and should’ve been on his way to a resident position, but the school discovered his past and took back his credentials.

What he’s proposing is that they take him on as a resident for a year on a trial basis, to undo that action. The room is full of skeptics, ranging from simply disbelieving to downright bigoted, and Doctor Choi’s insistence that Shi-on has been diagnosed as fully functioning falls on deaf ears.

Shi-on is nowhere to be found (his bag and phone are still sitting in the train station where he left them), and the decision is put to a vote. He’s denied, and Doctor Choi’s face falls. Notably, the president of the board is the only one who doesn’t vote against Shi-on.

What he doesn’t know is that Shi-on is just downstairs, unable to walk away from the surgical ward. Inside Do-han gets started, and notes that whoever treated this boy knew what they were doing. All of a sudden the boy’s heart starts to fail, and it dawns on him that Shi-on was screaming “echocardiogram” at him as he was being dragged away.

As Do-han switches gears to work on the boy’s failing heart, outside Shi-on paces with worry, and then finally calms down by imagining himself performing the surgery. We watch side-by-side renditions of Do-han and Shi-on working on the boy, and Shi-on even prepares for an eventuality that Do-han misses.

But Do-han gets through the surgery and saves the boy, earning another round of awe from his residents and tear-filled thanks from the mother. He asks about the person who saved her son, and she says he’s a doctor here at this hospital.

Shi-on sticks around just long enough to hear that the boy made it, and walks off before Do-han has a chance to catch up to him.

He finally shows up to the board meeting, where Doctor Choi is sitting alone. He snaps at Shi-on for being so late, but as soon as he sees Shi-on’s scared reaction, he softens. Shi-on says he ran late because he had to help a boy who got hurt, and just says that he’s okay now. Doctor Choi takes his hand as he prepares to give him the bad news.

The residents hear that they’ve got a new rookie on the way today, and eagerly anticipate shunting their duties off on the new guy so they can get some sleep. Meanwhile Do-han can’t stop thinking about Shi-on’s outburst before surgery.

Doctor Choi holds Shi-on’s hand as they sit outside, and asks if he isn’t hungry. He says no just as his stomach starts to growl, and Doctor Choi teases that he was going to go eat delicious galbi stew, but if he isn’t hungry…

Shi-on shoots up and asks if he means grade-A beef with caramelized chestnuts, like he’s reading ad copy off a restaurant menu, and Doctor Choi points out that he said he wasn’t hungry. Shi-on says he’s fine, but his intestines seem to have expanded. Ha, I rather like his technical medico-speak in place of everyday feelings like hunger.

The board walks out to the lobby for lunch, and they come across a group of reporters at the front desk, wanting an interview with the doctor who performed the emergency surgery at the train station today.

As Shi-on and Doctor Choi eat lunch, the news story hits, and there’s Shi-on’s face on someone’s cell phone camera, performing the emergency surgery. Doctor Choi’s face freezes and he gapes looking back and forth from the TV to Shi-on, stuffing his face full of galbi.

So then the board meets all over again, and the naysayers complain that they’ve never in the history of this hospital had a revote like this. The president points out that that video has gone viral, but it’s not just the fact that Shi-on is known as a doctor here, but his astounding skills that they need to reconsider.

It’s still tough going to get an approval, so this time Doctor Choi speaks up to ask for just a six-month probation residency, during which time he’ll take full responsibility for anything that happens because of Shi-on, and quit as chief of staff if things go wrong.

He says that Shi-on’s disability is fully treatable, but this appointment isn’t about one man’s growth, but about giving hope to all people in this country with a disability. He asks them to have an open mind.

Shi-on enters the room and takes the floor, and the board’s president asks why he wants to be a doctor. Shi-on: “The day the tree smelled of ice cream, Rabbit went up to heaven. The day the mine smelled of rusty metal, Hyung went up to heaven. Neither of them able to become adults. I wanted to let them become adults, to have children of their own and love them.”

He adds that he’d also like to make a lot of money and buy the children at the clinic a 3-D TV, because they’ve never seen anything like it before. Aw. The board’s president welcomes Doctor Park Shi-on as a resident on staff as of today, and they clap. The room is definitely divided, and Chae-kyung is among the people scoffing.

Doctor Choi beams with pride. After the board meeting, president Lee worries that Doctor Choi is being reckless, when he knows full well those sharks voted in favor only to find a reason to oust him as chief.

He doesn’t much care for power plays though, and says either way he’ll still be a doctor, so it won’t make a difference to him. She sighs that it’s like talking to a wall. Well at least we know she’s on his side.

Shi-on goes down for an interview with the TV crew, and the evil board members immediately begin to plot Doctor Choi’s demise. The frowny-faced assistant chief leads the charge, and his minion with slicked back hair does his evil bidding.

Do-han works away at his twelve-sided Rubik’s cube, sighing that he thought he’d do it in no time (show-off) but he’s been at it for a week. Doctor Pomade interrupts to introduce the new resident to Do-han’s team, and he whispers that his condition is a little… “Well you’ll see.”

Shi-on and Doctor Choi arrive, and the residents all gape—they recognize him right away as the guy who burst into the surgical ward a few hours ago. Doctor Choi prods him for an introduction, so he rattles off a life story in about thirty seconds.

The residents are a little taken aback but they engage him in friendly conversation, when Doctor Pomade cuts in, shouting in Shi-on’s ear to act properly because this is a world-class hospital. Shi-on suddenly turns to him: “Coffee. If you collect the energy from a person shouting for eight years, you can brew one cup of coffee.” LOL.

He peers down at Doctor Pomade’s nametag before finishing: “But judging by Doctor Go’s decibel levels, that time can be shortened I think.” Hahaha. The residents tamp down their laughter.

Do-han goes straight to Doctor Choi to complain that it isn’t Shi-on’s savant syndrome that’s the issue, but his childlike social skills that’ll keep him from interacting with patients and guardians properly. Do-han can’t trust his judgment, and therefore refuses to take him on.

Doctor Choi appeals to him as his teacher, and says that every single one of them is like a child to him. Do-han shows that he isn’t all ice, and asks if he’s one of Doctor Choi’s children then shouldn’t he have a say too? Doctor Choi asks him to help Shi-on for his sake, and despite all logic telling him not to, Do-han relents out of respect for his teacher.

He interrogates Shi-on on what it means to be a surgeon, and says that Shi-on’s goal for the next six months will be to figure out the answer to the question: why he can’t be a surgeon.

Shi-on isn’t even listening because he happens to see the unsolved Rubik’s puzzle on Do-han’s desk. Do-han barks at him to pay attention, and says that there are two things he won’t ever stand for: mistakes and excuses.

Jin-wook pulls him away from this desk to look at an x-ray, and when he comes back Shi-on is still standing there at his desk. I’ll die laughing if he solved that puzzle in those forty seconds.

Do-han sends him out and then he sees it—his puzzle, will all sides matched. Ha. He looks back and forth from the puzzle to Shi-on with a sigh. It’s going to drive him crazy that Shi-on’s smarter than him, isn’t it?

Doctor Pomade gets called in to look at one of his patients, who’s in pain after surgery. But he doesn’t so much as stop to feel a pulse before just declaring that it’s a common side effect of surgery and he’ll be fine. We geddit. He’s evil.

Yoon-seo gets drunk, and either she’s preempting her hangover by hooking herself up to an IV as she drinks, or this is a hospital-themed bar with IV cocktails. Yunno, literally.

I’m thinking it’s the latter, since the other thing can’t be legal (even though it’s kind of brilliant), and she calls the bartender “uncle” while he listens to her complain about Do-han like it’s nothing new. Do-han calls to ask where she is, and she says library but he immediately knows she’s drinking at a bar.

She asks if he’s calling to make her feel better, but no, he’s calling to tell her to think about what she did wrong, even while she’s drunk. Pfft.

He tells her to stop before she gets too wasted because she has a surgery in the morning, and then hangs up, leaving her more flabbergasted than ever. She tells the bartender to mix ALL the liquor in this place for her next drink.

Shi-on arrives in his new dorm room and takes a look around.

Do-han comes home to find someone’s there, and Chae-kyung comes out of the shower. She tells him about the board meeting and says she tried to stop the Shi-on thing, but Doctor Choi put his chief of staff position on the line. Do-han sighs at that, not having realized that his teacher put his job on the line too.

Yoon-seo staggers down the street, drunk and ornery. Ha, I like her.

In his room, Shi-on lights a candle on a stack of chocopies. Is it your birthday too? It sends us into a flashback, where Hyung sings happy birthday to Little Shi-on and tells him to blow out the candle on a stack of chocopies.

He gives him a kid’s play-doctor set as a present, and says that Shi-on will become a doctor someday, “Because you’re my little brother.” Awwwww. Shi-on nods and holds up the little green scalpel, “Yup, because I’m hyung-ah’s little brother.”

Hyung tells him not to believe anyone who calls him a dummy, and says that Shi-on is much, much smarter than he is. Hyung tells him to become a great doctor someday, and feeds him a chocopie.

Back in the present, Shi-on blows out his candle and munches on a chocopie, when suddenly Yoon-seo opens the lock code and walks right in. Wait, they can’t be roommates, can they? I mean, lord knows I certainly hope so, but I’m guessing it’s a mistake.

She just goes straight for the bed and starts stripping down, and Shi-on stands there, mouth hanging open as the layers come off. This is pretty hysterical.

She climbs into bed and he tries to wake her up to say that there’s been some kind of mistake, but she just bolts up and tells him to shut it, thinking that she’s still talking to imaginary Do-han in her drunken state.

She falls asleep, and he paces back and forth, not knowing what to do. He gazes at her as she sleeps, and then we cut to morning.

A scream. Yoon-seo bolts up in bed, gaping at Shi-on who’s standing in front of her in nothing but boxers, brushing his teeth like nothing’s the matter.

Hahahaha.

 
COMMENTS

I didn’t expect a rom-com ending to the episode, but hey, I’ll take it. That was a pretty zippy first episode, that is if your tolerance for a hero’s sob story is rather high. They did lay it on thick with the bullies and the dad and the bunny AND hyung’s death on top of it all, and the only thing that didn’t tip the scales for me was the fact that it went by really quickly, and it wasn’t told in that melodramatic way that’s trying to wring tears out of you. I don’t think Shi-on’s situation needed to be that dire for us to root for him, since all we really needed was Hyung’s warmth. I’m just grateful that Doctor Choi is a surrogate father and a good person, because I don’t think I could watch an entire drama of Shi-on getting bullied at the hospital without warm-hearted people by his side.

That’s pretty much the thing that makes this show work—it’s going for heartwarming more than high drama, and Shi-on feels like a fully capable young man who doesn’t need to be coddled. I was wondering how the childlike personality would fit with the job (I certainly don’t disagree with Do-han’s worries even if he is kind of an ass about how he expresses things.) but they seem to be going for a frank, childlike honesty, not a man who functions as a child. And the attendant humor that comes from him saying what he’s thinking even if that breaks the social rules, well that’s just gravy. He and Yoon-seo already seem alike in that respect, so I can imagine they’ll bond over their mutual lack of filters when it comes to dogging their superiors.

Joo-won strikes a fairly good balance with his performance, much of which is silent. But he never pulled me out of the moment, and the way I read his character made me think that Shi-on could feel every emotion but lacked the ability to express them. I have no idea if that’s accurate as far as the disability goes, but it worked for me on a basic character level. And Moon Chae-won is just likable from the start, so I don’t imagine that’ll change much. I always enjoy when she’s playing a spitfire.

The show looks gorgeous and feels slick, though a lot of the fancy medical moves are wasted on a viewer like me, who’s like, blood, blood, artery, technobabble, yeah, yeah, no matter what medical show I’m watching. The important thing is the character beat, and for the premiere all we really need to know is that pediatric surgery is TOTALLY DIFFERENT, ya hear, and that Shi-on is as good in action as he is with the books. The train station incident was way too convenient a device when it was the thing that caused his residency revote, but it was necessary to show us from the get-go that he’s not just book-smart, but fully capable of making quick decisions in a trauma situation. I just hope the show doesn’t throw a flying billboard at every child in his path from here to the end of the series.

So far the performances and the directing feel solid, while the writing feels standard. There’s a lot of falling back on convenient tropes to set up a sympathetic hero, his cold new boss, a political hospital dynamic—all boilerplate workplace drama stuff. But of course what keeps it all fresh is the hero, and for once there’s a genius in dramaland who’s actually a genius and not just a jerk who’s good at stuff. I know.

We’ll be weighing in on other shows before deciding what to stick with, so no promises on recaps until the dust settles from premiere week.

 
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I am just getting a real kick that Kimura Taro is the director of the hospital at which Gaksital is working, and Abe is one of the other residents. :D

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They got reincarnated, DUH!!!

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LOL, that's what I was thinking! I was so happy to see Abe omg. T__T <33333

My eye shall be looking for more Gaksital people in the upcoming episodes, haha~

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haha. told you the young Boon Yi/ Mokdan is on this show too. her real name is Kim Hyunsoo. she's the one at the counter looking at Shi-on on Episode 2. I think she had little crush on Shi-on. hahaa. :D reincarnation ?? some feeling never changes LOL. ;D

one of the nurse name Nurse Nam is Seo Eun-gi's (Moon Chae-won) Secretary Hyun in Innocent Man. reincarnation again ?? hahaa. okay, I love KBS's shows. seriously.

hopefully GF will recapping this till the end. and welcome to all Bridal Mask fans to gather here. nice to meet u guys after a year, ehh. ;)

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I knew she looked familiar but couldn't figure it out. LOL!

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Awesome!

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lol. thought the same thing. i know they were all bound to work together at some point again, but i think the whole "enemy is now hero's friend" thing got me chuckling the most. haha.

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and to think Abe is his sunbae in this drama!!! I love it!

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karma. they have to make up for their past mistakes.

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hahaha, I got Gaksital vibes when they showed little boy burring bunny and later thinking about his brother on the hill with flowers...

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Nooooooooooooooooooooooo............wae wae?

Must you bring this up? *sobs* But you are so right. Reminds me of Kangto pounding his heart at Kangsan's tomb and then clawing at the dirt on Boonyi's mount.

Except this time, Joo Won has to express all his grief and sadness without the usual kind of intensity he is famous for. But, he is doing so fine.

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aaaaa kimura taro.. i racked on my brain thinking where did i see that nice doc..

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Yeah. Who knew kimura taro and lee kangto could be so adorable together.

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IKR??? Kenji would be jealous....

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you mean Shunji?

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This comment just kills me with glee and nostalgia!

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here, here

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what the... I was in deep concentration with the drama that I forgot that! :D

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it felt weird to see Kimura Taro becoming the nice mentor of Gaksital though...especially after the torture scene I watched some time ago...

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hahahaha me too ^^

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This is like a gaksital fan reunion LOL

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Lol me too!
I was like whoa Kimura Taro is now the father figure of Lee Kang To! Will be hard to adjust lol, but fun :p

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I waited SO. LONG. FOR THIS!!! omg, so happy you're recapping it!!! Shi On's backstory, especially the speech about the rabbits made me cry, SO SAD TT>TT and how can Joo Won be any cuter, acting like a kid, AND smart at the same time??? Thanks for the recap, SO EXCITED for this drama... oh and wasn't it hilarious at Shi On tried to kill the teacher guy in his past life in the 1930s? i laughed at the irony of that for a while xD

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I loved Hyung-ah. OMG, he's such a wonderful person. Imagine how much better the world would be had he lived. Tear.

I actually found the background story told very economically. Also, it totally seemed necessary as a motivation - it's not like he'd have been so committed to becoming a doctor, had he not had a significant loss.

Honestly, a lot of students become interested in medicine initially as a result of losing someone important.

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I loved the cinematography in addition to Joo Won's and Moon Chae Won's acting. I am totally sticking to this show.

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Same here!! I kept checking all day on Monday and Tuesday for this drama. And I so glad that you will be recapping it. I am so excited and happy - it's just what I was in the mood for. Thank You :)

@celloangelninja - Yea I totally laughed at that irony. But I do think that there is more to it then them just being teacher and student/pupil.

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Yeah I feel like it's kinda like a (NICE) step-daddy kind of relationship, and it's ADORABLE, like almost the whole show. I mean, you have Joo Won. Acting like.. *waves arms at the episodes*

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I have to say, this one had a SOLID start. I loved the fact that they are giving individual with developmental disabilities a chance. I also like the disapproval from the other doctors because that makes it much more realistic consider that’s how the world view those with disabilities. His journey is going to be a rough one, but guess what? I’m sticking around till the end. Off to check out the next episode!!!!!!!!! ^^

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Oh! In addition, I LOVED the way Shi-on handle the doc that was yelling at him. I'm also impressed with how the surgery has been handle, even in emergency Shi-on knew the basic knowledge of safety first. Had it been like Golden Time, I would have dropped it.

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That wasn't handling, though. That was him being socially unaware. He was just stating a fact, not as a comeback.

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I cannot say that I really agree. As a pure drama, it was OK, but I saw several mistaken medical "facts" just in the first 20 minutes. For me, if you are going to do a medical-based show, at least get the basic facts down. The two major ones were (1) when giving aid to the little boy, he talks about "bone marrow injections" - WTF? (2) later on, his mentor says several times that Autism is curable, when in fact it is not - it can be controlled somewhat, but it is definably NOT curable.

Also, I thought that the portrayal of being drunk by Yoon-Seo was pretty bad.

At this point having only seen the first two episodes of each, I am giving "Her Legend" 60%, and "Good Doctor" 40%.

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I caught the "Is his Autism cured?" thing and it drove me nuts. If you are trying to open people's minds to disabilities at least get your facts straight. I'm not a medical person and know next to nothing about autism, but I do know that much. How can a hospital full of doctors even think that? The only thing I thought is perhaps it was a mis-translation. I watched it on Dramafever so... if anybody who watched it raw or with a different translation believes it was said differently I'd sure like to know.

I on the other hand will be watching this show quite happily. Joo Won's portrayal of autism was convincing enough to hook me while retaining his endearing adorableness. I also really liked the way they handled his past... not dragging it on for 3 or 4 episodes, but weaving it into his day to day reminiscing.

I'm hooked.

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Give me the timing in the episode and I'll give it a shot. =P I don't particularly wish to watch the drama until there is an all clear on the autism from someone with better experience on it. =P I don't need a raise in blood pressure.

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The autism depicted is pretty unrealistic. In real life, this guy would not be functioning nearly as well as he does, unless he had had some intensive behavioral and communication therapy in the past and had a caregiver who could help him take care of everyday things. I did enjoy the first episode in spite of myself, though, so I have decided that in this drama autism=endearing quirky behavior.

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I feel like those were blunt comments from the evil board of evil doctors. :P Not everyone was talking about it in that way.

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I agree with you about the "curing" thing. I have an 11 year old with autism and I was really excited about the potential for this one. I feel like they are spreading half truths about autism, though. I will be very disappointed if they "cure" him by the end of the season.

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Just to clarify an IO or intra-osseous iv insertion into the bone marrow is a real thing in pediatric medicine. As a nurse I was surprised that they used this and used it correctly. It is rare and the needle used is huge which is why the paramedics wouldn't have one. As for a source - I just finished nursing school and am a RN-BSN.

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If people would stop zoning out the moment they explain the procedures, then maybe they could stop criticizing the medical aspect of this drama. They explain it well when you actually pay attention. It's true that it may not be a hundred percent accurate to real life situations but it doesn't go as far as absurd. I would have to agree with the point about autism having a cure, though. It's controllable with meds and therapy but I don't think there's a cure for it. I think it's giving false hope on that part.
Anyhow, I do think this show has a lot of strong points and it's very exciting. I look forward to every episode. Thanks for the recap. :)

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The boys who plays the young Shi On is so adorable. GF, I hope you recap next week's episodes too:)

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I was actually amazed how spot on his acting is in relation to Joo-Won. They are in sync, playing the same character. Amazing job from both of them.

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Joowon & choi rowoon (young shi-on), both of them have cute dimples and also he look alike joowon when he's kid. Good job for casting people

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He IS adorable, yes!

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totally agree! that kid is a gem by himself!

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Ah, I hope the dust settles in Good Doctor's favour! ;n; Been waiting for this recap hahah.

Thank you, GF!~

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but, all the new dramas look good and promising. I wonder how our "good recappers" will choose. or, would they opt to sacrifice their zzz's and recap everything instead? that would be delightful on our part though.

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I'm a sucker for these types of dramas where the underline story focuses on human integrity. I also love the ost, it's really got me hooked.

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Gosh, I have been waiting for this drama for a while, and after I saw the first episode I've been checking for the recap every half an hour!
I can't wait until Shi-on starts proving himself to those around him. I really hope this gets recapped (although it's totally up to javabean's and girlfriday's schedule)

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Unfortunately, I think only Lee Jong-Seok has the ability to clone himself.

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Yeah, I need to figure out how he does that. And looks adorably magical all the time. And rips my heart out on a weekly basis.

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I am on the fence as there are so many dramas premiering this week.....maybe I'll watch it later.....if I'll get time....

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Yup, that is my problem. I can't spend 24/7 watching them all, and with all the new K and J ones coming out this month I am not sure this one will make my list of "must see".

Besides this one, "Her Legend" also premiered, and it is looking better than I expected. Since I no longer watch YTBLSS, I am filling that time with ISYG, which is actually getting much better as it moves along. The J-drama "Doctors 2" looks promising, but only seen the first episode. I am liking the J-drama "Jumbo" also, though it tends to follow the American method of wrapping everything up each episode, so not a lot of carryover to the next week.

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Right, Wednesday shows are going to keep me busy. Already watching Sword and Flower and I'm looking forward to the 2 new shows premiering today.

I might have to marathon this later. Medical dramas ain't my favorite genre.

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Thanks so so much for the recap, girlfriday!

I watched this episode like 3-4 times (and cried a bunch of tears) and seriously got hooked to the drama. Somehow I'm trying to understand as much as possible all the medical terms by reading about them in wikipedia. After all, it reminds me of my dream once I was a little kid - being a doctor :)

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It was likable because of the actors. The writing is a bit questionable. I mean come on, stop saying you can cure autism. A treatment and a cure are two different things!

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That was one thing I was confused about. I don't know much about autism so I was surprised when they said it was curable?

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GF used "treatable" in her recap, so maybe their related words or a word you can translate a couple of different ways. I was unhappy when I read "cure" in the subs since it isn't a condition to be cured. However, "treat" can include therapy or improving social skills, etc.

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Hands up. Them subs got ripped when the team hit 100%.

The correct line was actually changed to "treatable". I am just commenting on it because it was ripped before the editing team got to it. And the correct lines are there today.

Just commenting because the writer is better than I thought. I wasn't expecting that much in depth comments even about autism.

However there were some pretty ignorant and bigoted statements coming from the Hospital Board members. I can't believe some of them are doctors.

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I kind of suspected it was a case of not very good subbing or translation, but like you I thought that a lot of the board members statements were just plain stupid and just an effort to show them as the "evil side".

It looks like the latest trope is to portray 95% of all cops as stupid, and 95% of all hospitals as enclaves of power hungry doctors that don't care about patients.

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That's a relief. The "curable" just about had me turning it off.

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Same here.

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True... I read cure too but then again, it must've just been difference in translation. This is why I love reading recaps after watching an episode.

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The word is actually "treat" but I noticed in viki they used the word 'cure". In Korean, trust me, the word they use is "treat", as in treatment.

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On Hulu/DramaFever they also used "cure". Did not check the GoodDrama one.

I suspect that sometimes the translators are rushed and not really getting the context on some dramas, so we end up with this. Just like many Korean and Japanese dramas look a bit odd to Western viewers because everyone is saying "sorry" all the time, when often a better translation would something like "excuse me"

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Noo~ It's that the translation on dramafever suxorz. They are lazy with their translation. Especially since viki tends to beat them hands down. The accuracy is higher on viki.

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I agree that Viki is usually better, but I like to watch these on my TV as streaming (with ROKU), and Viki has yet to come up with a working ROKU app.

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Yes, don't inspect the writing too closely or else...

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Yeah, that thing about "curing" autism knocked about 20 points off of my favorable chart, and the thing about doing bone marrow injections (or infusion, depending on the translation) earlier was for sure a WTF moment for me.

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Er I don't know where you're watching it from.

But I thought it was an internal jugular vein. IJ cutdown.

The he was talking asking about an IO needle. That was the same scene.IO needle insertion does go into the bone marrow. It's the IO gun anyway so it's not as if you have to use brute force like we needed to do previously.

It's subbed to what is said, whether we agree on the managment plan is another matter. Only saying this because we have about 3 medical people on viki checking the subs for accuracy after the subbers are done.

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It was Drama Fever, and from reading other comments I suspect that it is a case more of bad translation rather than bad medicine.

I really wish you guys at Viki would get a working ROKU/streaming app for TV so I can watch it on the big screen. (though I sometimes plug my laptop into it with the HDMI cable).

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Just wanted to shoutout to the people at Viki you guys are amazing!

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This story is like a fiction more than reality, the writer could mislead the viewers about the symptoms of autism. Most autistic adults couldn't apply any insurance, driving licenses aren't allowed, some even need medicinan for entire life. I have learned Autism spectrum from my friend's son.

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Absolutely. You have to think of his autism as not real, but a cutsey charater trait, or you could pull your hair out.

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I wouldn't go so far as saying the writer got everything right but so far, it's pretty good. There are some things that's still iffish or puzzling which I hope will pan out right eventually.

Beyond your observation on one autistic person, read and find out more about the spectrum. There are also quite a number of people here, who have worked with autistic people and have spoken up.

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It's been a while since the very first episode of a drama sucked me right in. I LOVE THIS SHOW!
I never really liked Moon Chae Won in anything, because the things that I watched her in she's always playing the mean characters. I saw the beginning of Nice guy but couldn't finish it becaus of my schedule, but i know she gets nicer. The only other thing I watched her in was Shinning inheritance and well...her character made me frustrated to say the least, but I LOVE THIS side of her! It's so different and bubbly and just cute! I really like her character.

I thought I'd be on the rebound trying to replace Paksa adeul with another doctor, but not at all! I am sincerely enjoying this drama so far...it seems different from other medical dramas...i can't put my hand on it. And man...Joo Won...do I even need to say anything else? Phenomenal actor!

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Off topic but I gotta say I wish dramabeans recapped Heartless City. I loved that show, and Baksa is definitely unforgettable!

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Me too! Heartless City was great! I fell head over heels in love with Jung Kyung Ho. He was just great!

On a side note I really enjoyed the first two episodes of GD. Si On is just adorable and Yoon Seo is simply refreshing! I hope the rest of the series is just as good as the first two episodes.

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Agreed!

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totally!

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You must have not heard/seen The Princess' Man, yet. :P

Moon Chae Won's character in that is fantastic. One of the best heroines in dramaland.

Dramabeans actually has a series review on that- so I'd HIGHLY recommend checking it out.

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I thought i was the only one!!! I wonder if JB/GF/Gum watched Heartless City. I hope to at least hear their opinion on it in a future podcast.

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I liked this one more than I expected I would. And that is definitely due to the actors more than anything since the story is pretty much spoon fed to us. Still, it does seem to have a heart and that's what hooks me into a drama, so I'll keep watching for now.

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One of my biggest fears when I heard the premise of this drama was that it would portray autistic individuals in that patronizing and one dimensional way that the media tends to do. Will have to watch the episode to see if that's the case, but from the recap it seems like Joo Won is being his usual lovely self and doing a great job. Thanks!

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Ah--that's good. I was worried about the whole "child-like personality that (apparently) comes with this disability" trope. But I'm glad it's just him being blunt. Why can they never just say "blunt"?? Lol, gotta spice it up, I guess?

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It does seem good! I was saddened at first when Joo Won picked this role, but I'm willing to give it a try. Not a big fan of medical dramas.... I've been traumatized by brain fetuses.

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I know right. Brain fetuses do that to you. You wish it could be unseen, but alas, the force is too strong on that one.

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why are you sad that Joo won picked this role?

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a medical drama....and i actually sort liked the premiere! i can still do without the surgeries and stuff, and it does feel a bit corny, but the visuals and the story itself are so good i couldn't help but keep watching.

also....JOO WOON AND MOON CHAE WON

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woops, i meant JOO WON*

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The actor playing young Shi-on blew me away.

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I literally was just sitting here thinking, "Well, too bad DB isn't covering this one." Then, WABAM. Recap. Ha.

Augh, this show just warms my heart. I saw those tropes too, and the plotting behind the story, but I'm okay with it because the hero and secondary characters just warm everything out of my heart.

Very slick production and pretty. Good music. A sweet, lovable hero. Fiery, kind-hearted heroine. Handsome doctors (guh!). Hilarious nurses (puahah, Nurse Jo). Dramatic, funny, cute, sweet, human.

I'm in.

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Solid start for sure. I'm not familiar with this director but the director's style is very likeable. Moon ChaeWon's character is awesome. The childhood story was a bit meh but the clips go by fast enough to not bore yet long enough to express the sentiment that it desires. I think I'm going to stick with this as my Mon-Tues drama (at least for now). show don't fail me part way in *crosses fingers*

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I predict I will be addicted to this drama. Jut finished episode 2 and now i'm clamoring already for episode 3 and 4. It just tugs the heartstrings. Plus Jo Won's portrayal of a savant autistic is so point on. Kudos to him. Working on the medical field, I say the more realistic the surgeries are (was disappointed they blurred some scenes :D), the better although i'm sure not everyone shares this sentiment of mine. LOL This is only my second medical K- drama so I hope it doesn't disappoint like the others have been. So far, nothing has come up to par Grey's Anatomy to whom I have been following since season 1 but I hope the writers give me 20 episodes worth my time.

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The surgeries aren't blurred on Viki. Where do you watch it on?

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I have to say I watched this drama with a cautious heart after the whole L7CS ordeal, but boy was I surprised with how this show tugged at my heartstrings! I was so worried about Joo Won's portrayal of autism and was scared he'll overact the "personality of a 10 year old" part. But so far, I'm loving his subtle expressions and the occasional stutter. Can I say that he's perfect for the role? I'm not sure if any drama will portray autism with 100% accuracy, but after episode 1, it's obvious the team did adequate research about the disability! Joo Won has won me over again. .<

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This!
I was worried we'd have some overacting on joo won's part since the boy does have a tendency to do that in his other roles.
But i am pleased to report that like GF, in this first episode, his acting never took me out of the moment. He was shi-on all the way, and there were no cringe worthy moments.
His acting here is very nuanced, and you've got to give him alot of points for that.You can tell that joo won did alot of research and observing.

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lol, you're totally wrong. my brother is autistic and I'm really starting to wonder if Joo Won spent any time with autistic people. He should watch Rain Man to see how a real actor deals with autism.

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Actually, I've worked at a summer camp for children with autism before, as well as tutored a grade 8 student who had autism. Since this disorder has such a wide spectrum, there is no way for an actor to portray every degree of autism all at once. There are those who are highly functional, and there are those who are on the lower end of the spectrum. I'm saying that Joo Won is doing a decent job here considering that his acting is believable, and I have personally interacted with a kid who behaves similarly to him. Everyone who has autism has their own unique way of communicating, and no one will behave the same way. That's what's so interesting about this disorder. =)

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Hello first time commenting here!

I agree with picklemonster. I have 3 first cousin and 2 second cousin that have different levels of being "special". 2 have autism, 1 have hearing disability and 2 have been categorized as different level of mental retardation - different from autism.

I have some background with them as I am also a Nurse RN, MAN (Masters) and Teacher with background on Special Education.

I live close by my 3 cousin: technically next door and interact with them everyday.

Si On Savant syndrome is actually only mild that's why he could function on the almost normal level plus he was lucky that he met up with a doctor that strive to give him a hand.
His condition was categorized as treatable because in the writers story he was level 3.

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By the way I think it would be preferable for me if they use the term - "controlled" for his condition.

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sounds you're jk just like your name states because it's impossible for someone with an autistic brother to not know that autism has a spectrum.

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Wonder if Joowon asked buddy Park Ki Woong for pointers on his character. lol.

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Did you see their tweets?

PKW tweeted to praise the drama and cast. He went on to say he played a similar role but Joo Won played it better than he did.

JW tweet back to thank him and say it was because he is his hyung's dongsaeng. Awwwwwwww...... it reminded me of little Park Si On's line "...because I’m hyung-ah’s little brother."

It maybe coincidence but nonetheless so heartwarming

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Oh, yes, the first time I saw Park Ki Woong was when he played an autistic-savant (with numbers) in Story of Man, and boy! What a powerful performance! That he could play at the same level of thespian skill a totally different character in Gaksital leaves me in awe of this young actor. He's certainly one of the best in his generation of actors.

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which episode of story of man/the slingshot did he show up?

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awww... adorable.

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So, I have a fair amount of experience working with people with autism. I am by no means an expert, but I do have a thing or to say about it. PLus, my sister's job is working with people with autism. I help her out sometimes. Yeah.

Just to be a butt, I'm going to say that "autistic hero" isn't PC. "Hero with autism" is. I cannot tell you how many times I've gotten in trouble for saying that at work.

I totally blathered on about autism on my site, so I'll just suffice to say that Joo Won is amazing….and the autism needs to be better represented. But what are you going to do?

There were a few key autistic gestures in the show, the OCD behaviors (fixation on the 3-d movie and the rubik's cube and the inability to leave the OR or even think of the possibility to find a phone to call his mentor)

As for a man who functions like a child…he IS. One of the key descriptors is developmental age. That is his social level and its a veritable worry of Do-han's. Not a childlike honesty. He really has elementary social skills.

Joo Won's portrayal of the disability was pretty accurate in terms of bodily behavior. Some things, like spatial awareness and a sense of time…uh, not so much. But that's more in writing

"Joo-won strikes a fairly good balance with his performance, much of which is silent. But he never pulled me out of the moment, and the way I read his character made me think that Shi-on could feel every emotion but lacked the ability to express them." YES! EXACTLY. That is autism. They feel as we do. They do not express as we do.

Also, autism isn't something to be cured, it is something you teach someone how to deal with.

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Thank you for this. I hope your sister do watch and post about it too, like you said she might do.

So, let me ask, a love line would be a no, right?

Since he has a mental age of 10 years old. Yes, he might fall in love, but it is all the innocent child love... nothing about sexual desire.... about adult relationship.

I confess I'm so worried about this possible love line between JW and MCW characters. Sigh.

I did read about Autism and falling in love/being on relationship... however here JW character has 10 years mental age, so I don't see how they can make a love line here...

Also, I dislike how some people here don't know what a person with autism might react to or act and are saying JW is being amazing and getting it rght. Just because they think they know what people with autism might act like through movies...

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Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

But I believe that Si On does NOT have the mental age of a 10 year old child. He has the mental age of a person his age, but he has the SOCIAL SKILLS of a 10 year old child in that he doesn't know how to interact in a "grown-up" manner or at least one that society deems as grown up.

I, for one, would LOVE to see the love line between JW and MCW's characters as it would show that those with autism are NOT mentally handicapped persons, but rather fully-matured human beings with issues dealing with other people.

If I'm incorrect on this, I'd love to be corrected.

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You are right. Park Si On does not have a mental age of a 10 year old but it's his social skills which are underdeveloped. Perhaps another aspect is that Park Si On has the innocence of a child which is not necessarily the same as having the mental age of a child.

The thing that remains unclear and I will love the writer to develop it well is how Park Si On comes to see Cha Yoon Seo as a woman(kdrama speak). Not as a good colleague or friend but as a lover.

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Please read below, JW himself said his character has a mental age of 10 year old.

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source?

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He has autism. He is not impotent or unable of feeling affection or attraction.

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From my sister: People with autism feel love and everything just the same. They express and deal with it differently. Maintaining that kind if relationship would be hard but is possible.

From me: Si-on does not have the intelligence level of a 10-yr-old, you guys are right. He has the intelligence level of a savant. But as intelligences work, his intelligence is in certain areas. A major component of autism is the lack of social awareness. Things like sarcasm and propriety are not something they even consider. A person with autism can be taught to consider those things even if he doesn't understand why he has to.

As for sexual desire, he's a DUDE of course he feels it. And love, he's human, he feels it. How he manifests that love will be VERY interesting. It's up to Yoon-seo to accept and and figure out if its something she can deal with. He can be taught to show his love, though, because he isn't a fool.

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If the show does it well, this could go down as one of the more interesting love story in kdrama, don't you think?

I anticipate many sweet and funny moments. Fingers cross.

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Could be ridiculously sweet.

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Hi, thank you so much. I think you got me wrong because I know people with autism have feelings like the other people do and do fall in love. I actually tried to search about people with autism that fell in love and got into a love relationship, however, my main issue is not that he is a person with autism since I read they can have relationships too even if it is hard to (like you said).

My issue is that Joo Won himself told on an interview that he has a mental age of 10 years old. I also hoped it is that he has social skills of a 10 years old like you guys said, but JW himself that plays the character said his surprised by this and was like ''Really?'' character mental age is 10 years old and JSW even got

So, children of 10 years old do fall in love and all, but most of times it is the innocent kind and if it is true he has 10 years old, it would be creepy for MCW character be in a grow up relationship with him, imo.

watch the interview below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuRVEZEqEgU

Host: I heard that JW was a special doctor

JW: I have autistic tendencies and mentally I'm 10 years old.

Surprised JSW: Ah, really?

JW: Really.

Host: You don't know?

JSW: The mentally was 10 years old?

Cast: Yes.

Host: Then what did you think was 10 years old? His looks?

JSW: His social abilities (like most of us here thought so)

So, this made me think that JW mental age is really of 10 years old together with his skills. JW himself said it.

That is why I'm against the love line.

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**but JW himself that plays the character said this and JSW even got surprised by this and was like ”Really?”

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Then that is my contention with the show. Everything about Si-on says high-functioning person with autism and the 10-year old mentality would not fit. So there is a serious flaw in the character sketch. Not that I'm surprised. Dramas tend to portray things wrong. Monstar totally mutilated cello and classical music, but I still loved it anyway!

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Let's hold our horses. So far the writer seems to have thought through quite a number of things. if you have watched ep 2 you will know what I mean. I am quite confident he will not make it a romance between a 10 yr old and adult

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I wholeheartedly agree with your comment except the part where you said "And love, he's human, he feels it." Not all humen feel romantic love (family love? yes, but not romantic love). Aromantic is a thing, y'know.

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I'll be following your posts for the accuracy factor... I'm really curious on how Korea is shaping up on civil rights in general...

No pressure or anything.

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Ok! That means I have to talk to my mom, too. She's a therapist! So between my therapist mother, my music therapist sister, and me with my experience in the field, we should be able to give you some accurate information! I don't know much about how it's dealt with in Korea or in terms of civil rights. I'd be interested in that. Here in the US, we have a total mixed bag.

Yay kdrama for making me think!

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Why is autistic hero not the same as hero with autism?

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The moment I saw a Dayan Megaminx cube, I knew it would be solved by Shi On. I felt like took it from 'Pursuit Of Happyness' with Will Smith.

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me too! I was reminded of that movie lol

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Ha, i also loved that scene from pursuit of happyness.
What a memorable one.

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So much gaksital revival! I was like what? Abe?
I was originally nervous about how joo won was going to portray his character but he chased them away for me with his pure hearted portrayal and innocence. His eyes in his acting did it for me as girlfriday said that he can feel everything that is going on but can't express himself ah la low EQ. His acting always blows me away. And child shi on... Who are you!? The scenes were shot Bequtifully and looks like 2 spunky intelligent strong women in the mix. President and paediatric doctor. Plus, warmhearted feelies. I'm in!

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recap good doctor pleeeaseeeee :D

plus it has Joo-won xD

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I was instantly hooked when watched the first episode. I've always been a fan of Joo Won and I loved his previous dramas. He's a great actor and I can't wait for more!

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Such an emotional first episode. Gah. Si on’s childhood. The rabbit. Hyung. His first day at the hospital . The birthday (cup) cake. By himself. Waterworks.

What a fabulous performance by Joo Won. I am in love with this medical drama already.

It is hard to tell in the professor is going to be a friend or foe of this savant doctor.

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I believe the professor will eventually be a friend; or Si On's biggest supporter (next to Yeon Soo, of course). A matter of time and character development. ;)

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Thank you for the recap! I do agree with Raine, though, that it's really important to use people-first language ("hero with autism"). Can't wait to watch this! Not really a fan of medical dramas, but this seems interesting enough. Thank you again~

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i loved this! i was really craving joowon since i haven't seen him in anything since gaksital (pass on civil servant lol) and he's AMAZING, as always. he portrays the character very well, and i'm also loving all the gaksital people ;D the cinematography is beautiful.. cant wait for next week!

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Oh, I'm going down with this ship. I was not sure what to expect of this drama, but it's tugging my heartstrings... And it's rare for me to feel as moved as I was by the first two episodes in comparison with other dramas. Joo Won is a gem and I'm really liking his portrayal. Hopefully this show will continue to be good!

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I haven’t watched any drama with Joo Won in it (I know, it’s crazy) but I think this would be my first. Moon Chaeyoung I have always liked, and her character in this drama, I think, will be fun to watch. I agree with you on his woe back story being excessively woeful, but I understand that losing his awesomely sweet hyung was the blow he needed to pursue medicine. It’s just that I’m now imagining what could have been if his hyung lived and we would be in for a treat of explosive and sweet bromance between the two of them. Sigh dramaland, always piling on the misery stuff.

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I meant Moon Chae-WON. Who the hell was i thinking, anyway. Haha.

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Ditto. Haven't seen any drama with Joo Won too but so far he has blown me away already. You can see clearly that he did his research about autism.

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oops *see

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then u guys shall watch Gaksital/Bridal Mask . Joo Won's performance in that show is really amazing.

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I'd love to, but sadly, I have no more time. And between Gaksital and a good on-going/recently concluded rom-com, I'd go for the latter. I want them dramas fluffy and feel-good.

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I finished Gaksital in two days. 28 episodes 28 hours, 14 hours a day on the weekend. It's the kind of show that you just can't stop once you've started watching and it has brutal, absolutely brutal cliffhangers.

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Oh wow!! You should definitely check out Gaksital/Bridal Mask - he was phenomenal in it....I've seen him in Baking King Kim Tak Gu (his first drama role) and he was really good as well...also did well in Okayago Brothers (if you like happy, this is it)....unfortunately couldn't stand Level 7 Civil Servant....but I've been a follower of his for a while haha

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What's wrong with L7cs?

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Thank you for the recap! I just might start watching this. I'm happy if Joo Won is playing Shi-on as "feeling every emotion but lacking the ability to express them," because in my experience with autism that is true. A young girl I know with autism (not a savant, though) is like that. She doesn't speak, at least not with properly formed words, which makes it especially frustrating for her and her assistants.

I like Moon Chae-won as well, and the drama looks like it could be pretty entertaining. I haven't watched a medical drama all the way through yet, so we'll see if this one stays interesting.

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its so rare that a show can hook me right from the start. this show is definitely one of the few.

Hope there will be recaps for this drama in the future!! =]

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The first episode was quite good.In his previous work (God's Quiz), the writer focused on making the stories more heartwarming than medical and that's why they were so enjoyable.Hope he continues this story the same way.

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joo won such an amazing actor. he played this part so well. I was crying and I know its not really but just beautiful work. cant wait for next week ep.sooo good ahhhh

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At 1st I don't think I want to follow this drama but then I read somewhere that park ki woong compliment joo won acting in good doctor so I was curious.. and I watch it.. okay! The feeling is the same when I watch shark 1st ep..it's dark/sad but you want to know..it keep dragging you to watch it till the end.. that's what I feel bout this drama.. so I want to follow till the end.. like I said b4 (in other drama recap) I kinda fun to watch dark drama instead of typical korean drama where the lead actor rich and arrogant then fall in love to lead actress who is naive and kind hearted.. it fun to watch but sometimes I just need to refreshing my mind to watch sad drama.. ^^
And thanx to dramabeans to recap this drama ♥♥

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me too i don't like typical drama, i watch shark too n i like it

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I know your comment is ages ago and you've probably already done so but if you haven't watched Bridal Mask you should give it a try if you like Park Ki Woong and Joo Won. They play the hero/villain of the show and they did it extremely well.

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Thank you for the recap. I don't know what I was expecting. Another serious medical drama I guess. However I am so happy it's touching and actually have characters I may support.

It's definitely fast paced and thank goodness for that. I thought the whole train station scene was a bit over the top. It's like the coat hanger for a chest tube and the hollow pen thing in mid air.

After having said that, I have seen ceilings crash onto people. Guess it may happen. Giving the show the benefit of the doubt.

I remember vaguely that the bar owner's name is Byeong Soo, it's a bar where the hospital's doctor use as a library. In the character description on the KBS site.

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I just wanted to say thank you, ck1Oz, for you and your team's work on Good Doctor. Especially getting the subs out so quickly!

If it weren't for you guys and your hard work, a lot of us wouldn't be able to watch and enjoy these dramas.

Thanks again!

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Thanks on behalf of everyone. The translators work really hard especially with the medical words

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well, walls do crash when I run into them. but I wasn´t even there! wtf. btw people raise up their hands to something falling. if they dont, there is something wrong with their brain. I have a large scar on the right hand to prove it. it is an instinct. glass door or something falls, you protect your face and neck so it is highly unlikely for a shard to hit it. however, arms, elbows, knees. 3 times out of for I got hurt from those places. one case it was my foot.-

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I think that "hollow pen" plot device has been used on 100 different dramas and movies, from all over the world. I vaguely recall at least half a dozen US shows with basically the same thing. At least in this version he sterilized it with alcohol :)

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Everything is just perfect so far.
Its impressive. Everyone should at least watch this first episode.

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I heart Joo-Won.

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found the background story really cheesy. I guess I´ll wait and see. cohabitation is like the....most cliché thing ever...
I dont get the feel yet

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ok, episode 2... I´ll stop here. the story gets better, but I can´t watch medical dramas. whata is the point if I keep my eyes closed most of the time?

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Don't be afraid, this body is just a 'car'. A more subtle car.
And if you're nervous at the sight of blood, just think of it as ketchup. You like ketchup, don't you? ;)

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well, imagining peoples´guts as food....that would be even more ... I dont understand, how children do it. take something gross like earth worms, imagine it is spagetti and even put it in their mouth.
yeah, I have to try and imagine it is ketchup. ketchup, ketchup. it is ketchup. it is ketchup.

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I see your point, Redfox, and you're right in this sense. I'm actually a veg, so I don't see anybody's guts as food, peoples' or animals'. But I don't identify myself with my body either. My body is my body, but I myself is different from it. I am a soul within my body, not those guts and bones.

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I know, body is a body but.... there is also a soul inside body tissue. like the hair and nails....
ah there is no rational explanation

I suppose a drama is at least fake. or not. can never tell. there are also these 911 /112 shows about real life emergency room work. now those I would never.... broken bones etc. prrrh.

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Actually - it probably IS ketchup. Or something close enough. If we are going to be meta about it. LOL. I saw all those guts and all I thought was ...er...sausages? I'm clearly not cut out for medical dramas.

That said, I like the tone and treatment of this one. Will stick around for a while to see how it unfolds. Hopefully well!

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Just have to add I was a United States marine for 4 years and drinking with iv's is a commen ritual especially days before hikes and the next day we'd wake up with no hangover and still fully hydrated lol

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Yes, I was told by my ex-roomate who was a med student that this is quite a common practice among med students who party all night then need to work the next day.

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hahah. I've heard marine friends say they did the iv thing too!!

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I haven't caught this yet. Waiting for a few more episodes to air, so I can marathon them and decide if it's worth watching.

Just did a whizz-down through the recap looking at the screencaps. The child actor playing Shì-On, in one of the pics above, he reminds of Kim Minyul from Appa Odiga. So cute.

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Thanks for the recap. I just finished watching the first and second episode and would just like to mention that the political dynamic inside the hospital is really going to piss me off. I wish Good Doctor didn't have to include that backdrop because honestly I feel as though it eats up time, frustrates me, and just gives more air time to Doctor Pomade who, for the record, is extremely unattractive.
And also, yes, the boy at the train station seemed a little too coincidental but it did shed some insight into the fact that Shi-On really does have potential as a surgeon and is not just some robot. Seeing his knowledge be put to work is something I feel will be very important for the audience in the future midst an entire hospital staff of disbelieving surgeons.
Overall, I found myself enjoying the first episodes of this drama. Aesthetically pleasing and well paced (so far). I so dearly despise dramas that take the first half of the episode to introduce us to characters and get things going.
Thanks for the recap!

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I agree that all the "political dynamic" ass-iness of the hospital personnel and board is liable to piss me off as well.

And the billboard incident? Earlier this year, an airport sign at Birmingham Airport actually DID fall, killing a child and injuring others in the family, so this scene, while convenient for the story, did not feel contrived.

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Moon Chae Won is so beautiful!

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I can' wait for the next episode >///<

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Thank you so much! I really liked the first episode. I feel like crying when his brother comes up! I really hope the show keeps doing this good!!!

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I was curious to see if the first episode of this show would be recapped... This is the first show since That Winter The Wind Blows that I'm watching along with live (well, as close to live as can get; gotta include the hours it takes for the subtitles), and I watched it on a whim. What a good decision that was.

'Heartfelt' is probably the word I'd choose to describe the tone of the show. Joo Won as Shi On is a just fantastic. Now, I'd seen a couple of Joo Won's projects (though Gaksital not one of them); I was never particularly wowed by him, but that is starting to change with this series. It's a tough role and requires the actor's entire being to make it real, and he succeeds in my eyes. He's a hero with autism as was pointed out in a comment above, and that is a perspective that is so unique in the drama landscape. It provides a different way of seeing the world that is welcomed.

Now, yes, on closer inspection, Shi On does have a bit of a sob story background - but the show got me invested in his character from this first episode. That doesn't happen often. I cried over it! And it didn't feel disingenuous.

The biggest challenge and conflict is clearly going to be the prejudices and biases and misconceptions that Shi On experiences. Autism makes communication and socialization different. And that's exactly where Shi On is running into conflict. It's completely real, unfortunately. But, it's not just him - Do Han also communicates differently. He's blunt, cold, unforgiving, a perfectionist who doesn't tolerate mistakes, and emotionally distant, too. But, I'm looking forward to the moment when he will have Shi On's back. It's coming; I can feel it. That is the dynamic I'm secretly watching for.

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if he somehow is "cured" of autism i'm going to HATE this drama. it has gone of to such an amazing start!!! i'm hooked... but Autism is not curable and if he somehow is miraculously "cured" im going to scream.

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Yeah, that's the only issue I take with the drama. There is no cure for autism as far as I know. It's a condition people live with and can manage, but never goes away or is completely curable.

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it is a condition..
though, there have been and still are, many cases in which autistic people slowly open up and change out of their so called "autistic ways." This meaning that, they appear to "grow out of it" to the point they seem to be "cured." Of-course it takes a lot of patience, trust, and time.
They can revert back to their "own world" (i like to call it this way since, people with autism are normal, just that they view things differently than us.) when they feel stressed, crowded, or emotionally overwhelmed suddenly (it happens to our leading man).

I have an autistic friend.. and no one knew he was autistic until he told us.

OVERALL,

I love this drama!!!
and I do not think they will ever "cure" his autism..
I think what happens is, he slowly opens up to everyone, and everyone opens up to him (looking past each others differences.)
so cute x_________x

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It's an error in translation. The original word used is "treat" not "cure". And slight spoiler for the end: His autism wasn't cured.

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If Do-han and Shi-on successfully achieve bromance by the end of this drama, I swear, the cuteness will kill me. I can already see it: Do-han defending Shi-on against ugly Doctor Pomade not because of his pride but because of his brotherly affection for Shi-on. Aaaahhhh.. Okay, I will stop now. But I'm definitely crossing my fingers.

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Oh, it's going there. We all know it. It's going to cause our hearts to burst

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It is. It really is. Oh, I can't wait.

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Oh, definitely waiting for this to happen too.:>

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