Hospital Playlist (2020)

Really loved dramas that take time out in developing each and every (main) character's personality, backstory and difficulties. HP took it a step further and created this enviable friendship that many of us would want to be part of (minus their hectic work life...) On that regard, the writers have also tried hard in imbuing and showing us that being a doctor is not all glitz and glamour, with numerous life & death decisions to be made on the spot, along with the numerous hours of work shifts put in (which there's also a hint that doctors who care tend to overwork). Felt that in the current circumstances, perhaps an episode or two could have been dedicated to infectious diseases (but that's just my wish at this point!)

Nothing to say about the band music tbh. Really excellent concept of finding all the catchy past hits and bringing them back to life. I also liked how the screenplay adapted with the flashback scenes giving us some Reply series feels.

Overall, really good series that you can enjoy comfortably. Looking forward to the cast's chemistry again in Season 2!

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Maravillosa!

Este drama es algo más que una historia de médicos y de operaciones con detalladas explicaciones de enfermedades y con largos minutos dedicados a operaciones. Es más una historia personal de las vidas de 5 amigos cirujanos que trabajan en el mismo hospital y que mantienen una gran amistad que ha perdurado a través de los años, desde que se conocieron en su primer año de universidad hasta ahora que con 40 años trabajan en el mismo hospital. Las actuaciones son maravillosas, nada sobreactuadas, muy realistas, los personajes , su historia de vida, su pasado y su presente están muy bien explicados. Cada capítulo te lleva de manera magistral por sus vidas, conoces su trabajo, su vocación como médicos y su relación los unos con los otros y con sus pacientes. Los casos médicos están muy bien explicados y emocionan, los secundarios se lucen en sus actuaciones pero no es un drama médico al uso, que se centre en la intriga médica, más bién nos explican historias personales. Empatizamos tanto con todos los protagonistas, que nos emocionamos, reimos y lloramos con ellos como si fueran nuestra familia. En una época en que las series, (al menos las occidentales) tienden a mostrarnos personajes torturados y oscuros, protagonistas con historias amorosas y personales tóxicas y complicadas, "Hospital playlist" nos describe a personas con mucha luz y bondad y esto es esperanzador y un soplo de aire fresco!!!! Espero con muchas ganas la segunda temporada!!

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Outstanding, but infuriatingly unfinished

It's a brilliant, incredible yada yada show. The perfect casting meets with with the best creative talents the kdrama genre has to offer. There are plenty of 10/10 reviews very accurately depicting the awesomeness of the show, so I'll keep it short.

The reason why it's not 10/10 for me is because I have gotten into kdramas specifically due to the fact that kdramas tell a somewhat coherent story in 16-20 episodes & usually they are light on the filler and the good ones give the audience closure. This show has been written with a second season in mind & it ends with a cliffhanger. The cliffhanger itself is not that offensive, but two of the three most important storylines are hanging in the air, unfinished. So yeah, the last episode was quite the maddening experience.
I really wish Netflix stopped trying to influence how kdramas are made..

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Overrated - Not worth the hype, time

Still wondering why both seasons of Hospital Playlist are so highly rated. I tried so hard to understand the hype, and eventually dropped Season 1 after 4 episodes, 9 months later. Heard from others that Season 2 was worse, so Season 2 is a no go for me.

I have enjoyed medical dramas, and was looking earnestly to this much hyped Hospital Playlist. Alas, it was such a let down from get go at episode 1 with repairing the flickering light in someone's house (p/s: 4 episodes on, i still don't register who appeared at the start of episode 1), and it didn't get much better from episode to episode, that i simply have to drop it.

This drama is both a drag and a struggle - at a 90min run per episode, there is zero plot, and perhaps just 1-2 sprinkles of slice of life moments per episode.

For endearing slice of life moments, watch Move to Heaven and Racket Boys - there are plenty of slice of moments in much compact, compelling run.

For good chemistry among the cast, the coaches and racket teams in Racket Boys sizzle with good camaraderie and positive vibes. The cdrama The Untamed (陈情令) is also a standout with a bunch of passionate cast and crew bringing each and every character to life, and the viewers on an emotional roller coaster ride.

For medical genre, watch HK drama The Last Breakthrough (天涯侠医) from 2004 on doctors without borders, or the more recent 2019 Big White Duel (白色强人) peppered with life at the emergency dept and medical politics.

Even Singapore medical dramas The Oath (行医) on western medicine and TCM, and You Can Be an Angel Too (你也可以是天使) and The Caregivers (Missy 先生) on nurses are much more watchable and enjoyable. (p/s: why aren't Singapore dramas included in MDL?)

The only takeaway from me is the two OSTs: Aloha and Canon. Yet, i had actually singled those two OSTs just from sampling (read: listening only about a minute per song) the OST album a friend bought, even before i started on the drama.

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I'm absolutely hooked on this drama. I'm only on episode 6 right now, and not all the episodes are aired yet, but this has been such a strong drama from the start. There are no villains, and the story mainly focuses on the characters and their journey through life together.

One of the strongest points that I absolutely am in love with is that our group is all in a band, and the songs that they practice with are all OSTs. The show brings us, the viewer, through the characters' medical school lives in the 2000s, thus bringing up all the memories associated with that era. Although I was barely alive during that time, the way the director portrayed their friendship and the oldie songs just made me nostalgic for memories I never had!! This drama might resonate better with the older crowd and those who have childhood memories of life in Asia.

The only gripe I have with Hospital Playlist is the large amount of character introductions and world-building in the first one or two episodes, but that simply can't be helped with a story of this scale. Otherwise, this is on the top of my list of favourite dramas for now. The OST, the characters, everything brings a silly smile to my face.

I strongly recommend this as a light-hearted piece, though it may be a little hard to follow with the large amount of characters. However, once you're invested in them, you'd want to watch it again to catch the little details you missed the first time around. I never rewatch dramas, but I will definitely be rewatching this one, especially if season 2 comes out.

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Masterfully produced drama with the odd chinks in the armour

I deliberately waited for the hype to die down before I watched this but seeing season 2 is in the pipeline I thought I'd better get a move on. By the way, when I wrote this, there is already 12 pages of reviews so I don't expect mine to stand out but seeing that I binged the show in 2.5 days, I thought I should at least leave a few words for prosperity. :)
No doubt many of the reviews have highlighted the skilful story telling, the direction. the stellar cast, friendship, the feels, etc, etc. I totally agree with the bulk of the sentiments and it was an ode to the doctors, nurses and allied health professionals (standing ovation). However, I did find a few chinks in their shiny armour.
First of all, the show started very confusingly. The size of the cast and the physical setting was just too big. This drama had five central characters plus each had his/her staff and then you have administrators, other doctors (both senior and junior) and nurses in at least five departments (not counting ER). The hospital was also huge physically. You just don't feel like you know how the place worked. You were bounced from people to people, location to location. This did get better after a few episodes when you start to recognise faces and group them into cliques (this is from a non-Korean point of view).
Some reviewers have commented on this show being realistic. I am not going to argue every case but I found a lot of the time, surgeries were carried out on patients who literally had a consult the day before. That level of availability would be the envy of the whole world.
Finally, I wished the drama would deep dive into some of the issue de jour. From migrant worker health care to child abuse to injury/death by overworking (and more) were touched upon but almost all of them came and gone within a few scenes and not always with a resolution.
Otherwise, the show was designed to hit you with the feels and they definitely delivered. You would expect no less from the team that brought us so many top notch hit dramas.
BTW, it begs the question, was it a medical drama with a strong romance undertone or a rom-com set in a hospital?
Acting - fantastic.
Production value - excellent.
OST - loved it! You gotta laugh at the joke they played on the FL.
Rewatch - absolutely (maybe not every episodes)
One final thought, the last episode was extra long and I appreciated that they gave all the characters time and space to tidy up their own story arcs but while some questions were answered, more were left hanging so please bring on season 2! Ppalli ppalli!

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A gentle, funny and thoughtful drama with a big heart...

Hospital Playlist is a gentle, funny and thoughtful drama with a big heart. The casting is perfect, being both age appropriate and believable as doctors and friends of over twenty years. I enjoyed how the writer gradually reveals the character and back-stories of the five leads across the twelve episodes.

The friendship between the five leads is well written and authentic. In real life, most of us have friends dating back to our student days despite not knowing every detail of each other’s lives or what they’re thinking. The writer has captured this, showing how the five of them accept each other without question. The one-to-one exchanges between the lead characters are quiet and thoughtful; and the eating, goofing around and band practice scenes with the five leads together are fun. I love the songs the band play each episode and applaud actress Jeon Mi Do’s (Song Hwa) singing - it can’t be easy for an accomplished singer to sing off-key without over-doing it.

Lee Ik Jun (Jo Jung Suk) is my favourite character; he's caring, selfless and the glue of the group. He also cares about his co-workers, his patients and their families, to the extent that he learnt sign language so he could communicate to his patient's young son. Time and again we see him putting other's needs before his own, first as a father, and as a friend and doctor. I love the scenes between Ik Jun and his son Woo Ju (Kim Jun). Woo Ju is totally adorable and the exchanges between father and son reveal another side of Ik Jun.

I also like the two mothers Rosa and Young Hye. In K-dramas the mothers of that generation are often portrayed as totally helpless with viewers left pondering the disconnect between their mothers' flaky characters and those of their children. But Rosa and Young Hye are both strong, smart and funny and would be the sort of mothers to have raised Jung Won (Yoo Yeon Seok) and Suk Hyung (Kim Dae Myung).

I dislike Jang Gyeo Wool and Ahn Chi Hong. The writer tried too hard to make Gyeo Wool special, for example, making her the only resident in a department of 8+ general surgeons – this is totally preposterous for a hospital the size and prestige of YULJE. There’s also zero chemistry between Gyeo Wool and Jung Won and the actress playing Gyeo Wool can’t act to save her life! Chi Hong is wet and his behaviour after Song Hwa turns him down is creepy and stalker-ish. Yuck!!

I enjoyed Hospital Playlist and seeing how and why Ik Jun, Jun Won and Suk Hyung became who they are. Since the characters Jun Wan (Jung Kyung Ho), despite his romance with Ik Jun’s sister and Song Hwa are still a mystery to me, I hope Hospital Playlist 2 will reveal more.

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Ok IM AMAZED

I watched hospital playlist a while ago and I still can't seem to forget the characters. The characters and the plot had a huge impact on me. This drama made me laugh, cry and feel all sorts of emotions. I probably rewatched it like 3 times. Its that good. NOW IM JUST WAITING FOR SEASON 2!!! The main cast is just........ CHEFS KISS. And of course the supporting cast. My favourites scenes were those of seok-min and seo-bin. If you dont know who i'm talking about, its the neurology cheif resident and another resident who are always with song-hwa. I really wanna know if they end up together or not. I guess i have a huge thing for secondary couples.


Season 1 left us with many questions. What does song-hwa think about ik-jun. And why did ik-sun package the present back to jun-wan. Ahhhh im so curious.

Anyway, Hospital playlist is straight up FIRE. thats it.

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I was never a fan of medical drama but Hospital Playlist changed me

LIKE

The relationship between all five doctors - they are just bunch of children outside of work (sometimes during work too)

Even the relationship between So Ra, Jong Su and Jeon was fun

When Jung Won crying to Peter and was told the same answer each time - the patients Jung Won needs to face each day it's actually heart-breaking at times

Poor Ro Sa - her whole family is well...

When Ik Jun showed up at hospital with Woo Ju

When Hong Do was sharing the same reason as Yoon Bok why he wanted to be a doctor

When a patient asked Suk Hyung about her disease and his response - I'll never forget that

When Ik Sun waited outside for Song Hwa

One of Ik Sun's patients' families forcing the daughter-in-law to help her husband - that scene omg

DISLIKE

So good I have nothing.

MUSIC - personal fav

Oh! What a Shiny Night - Mido and Falasol
Me to You, You to Me - Mido and Falasol
Aloha - Jo Jung Suk

REWATCH VALUE

Definitely yes

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