Uma Dose Diária de Sol (2023)

Underwhelmed

I love Park Bo Young and this drama was pretty high-rated on Mydramalist, but ended up being not my thing. I finished it but I wish I didn’t invest my time in it at all. It was about mental health, all 12 episodes of it, but it went absolutely nowhere with everything else.
Mental health is a very important topic. We all experience depression and anxiety at some point, we have family members that have PTSD or intellectual disability. It’s very important for the society to be educated about this but reality is that people could not be more indifferent to those strangers with mental health issues. I know firsthand about this, having an autistic family member. I learned a lot from this drama when doctors were explaining conditions of their patients’ health in detail. But all subplots were unrealistic and shallow, and went nowhere. Also main female character was very sympathetic and caring but mentally weak and did not make good decisions and it affected other people. You need special training to be psychiatric nurse. The way you act, the words that you say…

10 for acting, 4 for the plot.

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Mental disorders trigger warnings

One of the most realistic ones I've seen on the painful topic of dealing with mental health disorders from both sufferers and caregivers perspective. Up until around the halfway mark, I had thought the poster image for this drama is quite deceiving. This isn't a happy, feel good drama and comes with a lot of trauma and mental affliction trigger warnings of all kind including unaliving oneself. It also explores the impact all of these have on their loved ones which I'm sure will hit close to home for a lot of the viewers.
However as the story progresses I began to see it's not all dark and gloom and it does a great job portraying both sides in their daily efforts to get better, be happy humans or sometimes just get through the day. As is often the case in real life, some of their stories are successful, some are not but by the end of the show I no longer felt tricked by the poster image.
The deliberate light romance doesn't take away from the essence of the issues they're trying to bring across, focusing instead on deeper, more heartfelt emotions. It does start to drag a little in the second half but I still found it absolutely worth watching and empathized with all the characters right till the end.
Some might find this boring, just understand this is a slice of life type drama so if this isn't your thing you can just skip it. But if you or someone close to you has worked in this field, then you know that a lot of what you see in this drama does actually happen and the toll it takes can be incredibly hard to overcome.

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One of the best drama of 2023 HIGHLY RECOMMEND

I just finished watching this drama and I would give it a 9.5/10. They showed a story which is unique compared to other Kdramas. They gave awareness of the situations that a person with mental health goes through. All the Characters were portrayed perfectly by the actors and the acting was just chefs kiss. This drama made cry so much the last few episodes. The Friendship in this drama is something else and I’m glad that the director didn’t make the love triangle complicated. Usually people say that male leads are the one that shows green flags but in this drama SML he was one a greenest flags no offence. And the cast was perfect? hands off to that, they made the perfect choice by casting PBY as the FL(as always the queen SLAYYED!!)
The only problem with this drama is that the romance was mainly focused on the second couple rather than the main, they could have showed us more of the main couple. And idk if it’s only me but I didn’t feel that much of a chemistry between either of the couples especially the main couples maybe it’s because of the less scenes between them (but the FL and SML showed more tbh?and I think I fell in love with Jang Do Yoon?). Either way this drama took spot on my TOP 5 drama of 2023. ??

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED ‼️‼️

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Watch it for the acting

I enjoyed the last couple of episodes more than the rest, though they still somewhat left me dissatisfied.

What I liked:
Acting was excellent. I love Park Bo Young. The only time I don't like her acting is when she cries. It is loud and it's overdone, so it makes me want to laugh. She did better in this drama. She still had a couple of over-the-top moments, but her moments of quiet crying were very touching. Plus, she had the perfect, calming voice for her character's job.
Lee Jeong Eun as Nurse Manager Song. I love this actress. She's got that tough exterior and that inner softness/caring. Plus, she has a great voice.
Noh Jae Won as mental patient Kim Seo Wan. This was a tragically beautiful character, and he did an amazing job. As he struggled between fantasy and reality, there was a wonderful sweetness (or maybe innocence) about him. His relationship with PBY's nurse Da Eun was terrific to watch.
Relationship between Da Eun and longtime friend Yu Chan. I'll admit, in my heart I thought they would be a better match for each other. So supportive of each other, with the fighting that often comes with people that have known one another forever.
-special effects were good. Physical displays of what was going on in the person's mind.

Things that let me down:
Being in the medical profession, I have a difficult time suspending disbelief, especially since this was a medical drama. Where do I begin?
-she transfers to the psych unit because her previous boss told her to? (Unbeknownst to her, her boss was trying to get rid of her.) It takes a special person to work in a psychiatric unit, and she knew NOTHING about psychiatric disorders, not even bipolar disorder, which is something that everyone has at least heard of.
-she doesn't use gloves when giving injections or drawing blood.
-it's a locked psych unit, but the patient rooms each have a refrigerator in them, and the patients are allowed to have pretty much whatever they want in their room. There were multiple people in a room, if a person wanted to hurt themselves or someone else, they have access to pretty much anything.
-You leave with a psych patient to take her to the bank to open a savings account?
-it's a locked unit, but a patient can get to the roof without anyone knowing? Add to that, there are cameras all over the place and no one saw anything.
-I realize it was a short series, but many of the psychiatric disorders were glossed over and oversimplified. The grown woman that has a contentious relationship with her mom, and all it takes for the woman to be healed is for the mom to bring her the correct kind of fruit. She's miraculously cured and gets discharged. Pep talks seemed to "cure" some of the characters.
-PBY character depression. Came as a result of a tragedy, but was definitely more than situational depression, especially since she tried to kill herself. She had been working on the psych ward for some period of time, her case was so severe, and the voice overs showed that she was aware, to a certain degree, that she wasn't behaving right. She didn't seek help.
-I'm sorry, she would not be able to go back to work on a psych unit after having the issues she had. The writers made it seem like she was "cured" as long as she took her medication. Being on a psych unit would be a constant trigger for her.
Then there were the relationships:
-I don't usually have SLS, but she should have ended up with her longtime friend. I was bothered by the fact that the doctor liked her because looking at her made him stop cracking his knuckles, but when they were apart, he went back to cracking his knuckles. She was a panacea for his behavior, that's a lot of pressure for anyone. Yeon Woo Jin as Go Yoon was good, and he's just so cute when he smiles, but I didn't feel their relationship at all.
-2nd couple. She had absolutely no self-esteem, and I could see why after we met the nightmare of a mother. It seemed to me he was always the one doing the work in the relationship. Very unbalanced. Don't even get me started on the fact that she decided to go away for a year. These writers will do anything to include time skips, people leaving, etc.

So, I'm glad I watched it, but was, overall, disappointed. At least I can cross it off my watch list.

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Social Commentary or Mental Health?

If you want a drama to accurately represent and inform viewers about mental illness, then this is not for you. If you want reasonable characters and complex dialogue, then this is not for you. If you want mature characters who are expected to act their age, then this is not for you. If you enjoy a watered-down and amateur screenplay about human interactions that also deals with mental issues, and tries to hide its flaws with overbearing moralizing, occasional comic relief, and a flurry of needless romance, then this is right up your alley!

Although the shows has a stellar start with interesting safety facts and quirks about working in a psychiatric facility, that is about the extent of where the facts regarding mental illness are informative. At one instance, the show briefly mentions the scientific and physical (neurochemical/anatomical) issues about mental illnesses, but by the very next scene, it completely dispels or forgets the physical and tries to mainly attribute the cause to mostly or solely societal pressures and injustices. In other words, it is the overbearing mother, the despotic manager, or the predatory capitalistic society that is causing our mental health crisis. And the universal remedy is that people just need to take their meds and have others accept them; or, for those suffering from severe OCD, fall in love and be cured! This is a completely naive picture that a introductory course in psychiatry will quickly dispel. To make matters worse, the "prescriptions" aren't scientifically backed advice but are seemingly a mixture of the writer's dogmatisms, sociological assumptions, and attempts at psychoanalysis. The patients become the victims of the overused trope: "society is the problem." Therefore, society must change; not the patients. Once their external environment changes, the patients, too, magically begin to improve.

The drama reeks of victim mentality. It is constantly upbraided by passive aggressive characters, and the writer's constant virtue signaling, as if it's profound knowledge, becomes nauseating very quickly. What this drama portrays for the "mentally ill" are those who have had their worldviews, ambitions, goals, and desires destroyed by societal pressures. Then, it throws in various mental illnesses ad-hoc. These may describe various cases, as traumatic experiences can trigger underlying issues or make one more susceptible to developing mental illness, but the environment is rarely the cause. Someone down on his luck can experience bouts of depression without suffering from clinical depression. Someone may find difficulty trying to focus due to a stressful environment without suffering from ADHD. Someone may lapse into a fit of rage without suffering from anger management. Unique experiences can naturally cause you to react outside of your control especially if you are unfamiliar to them, but they do not force your physical make-up to change and leave you in an inelastic, neurochemically impaired state. Consequently, traumatic experiences do not describe all cases of mental illnesses, and especially for ones requiring long-term stays at a psychiatric ward.

The mentally ill isn't exclusive to members of society who have had difficult and restricted lives or those who have failed at their chances for glory. They exist for all types of people and can happen to anyone, anytime: with or without reason, poor or rich, successful or unsuccessful, sociable or reclusive, physically fit or unfit, etc. Like, seriously. What will the writer claim was the catalyst for John Nash's schizophrenia and psychosis? Too much success? For possessing too much mathematical prowess? Or, Robin William's depression? Too great of a comedian? For possessing too much fame and wit?

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Just okay

The acting is fine. Everyone did their job nicely. If this was a romantic comedy, then I would probably give it a higher score. As for the mental health part of it, it is sorely lacking. I have personal experience with mental health and let me say it is a lifetime commitment of healing that isn't entirely about taking your meds. I'm not saying that taking your meds isn't important. Of course, it is. However, there is way more to healing than just taking medicine and writing in a book. There were good stories, but they simplified the healing process to the point of ridiculousness.

Anyway, there is my 2 cents worth.
I won't be rewatching this ever. Which is kind of sad considering the acting and the potential.

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It may not be boring for fans of slice of life genres, but this is not my cup of tea.

Jung Da Eun is transferred to the psychiatric ward of her hospital, she tries her best learning how to help and care for her patients. Disclaimer: I don’t have the experience nor knowledge on the subject matters so there will be no commentary on whether the portrayal regarding the mental health issues is relatable, accurate or not. But I would not recommend it to anyone struggling with their mental health, as the graphic depiction of self-harm and suicide might be triggering.

First impression, the drama seems to be an exact opposite of Daily Dose of Sunshine, it’s more like Daily Dose of Chaos. As the story unfolds, the trauma and mental health problem of everyone is shown, not only patients but also the caregivers. You'll follow these characters through their rollercoaster of emotions, some hitting their sunshine moments, while others navigating their twists and turns. I find the show is unique in showing the hallucinations from the patients’ perspective, some are quite comedic.

With the pacing, I honestly feel bored upon the halfway mark, but it may not be boring if you can relate with the characters emotionally, I just find it lacks engaging moments. Also, the solutions for the patients’ issues feels oversimplified, that their problems are solved with new habits, simple actions or short conversations, while often recovery needs time, even with all the desperate efforts. I get that it want to show good arcs and delivers feel-good vibes by the ending though… Or else, it might be too depressing to watch.

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Good but not great

This is a good drama and I liked it more than I thought I would. I was not interested in a hospital drama since Hospital Playlist. This is not the place to compare those two dramas. Daily Dose of Sunshine does something we see not often enough in Kdramas: It's topic is mental health and mental disorders set in a psychiatry. I think this topic is really important. At the same time there is a need to not only scratch the surface. Here are my thoughts on this show:

What I liked:
- It's sweet
- It's been a while since I saw Park Bo Young, her character was relatable and likable
- I was really invested in the second couple (Sadly more than the main one)
- Covers mental health
- They should bring out a Fantasy drama :) (Those who watched the show will know why)
- From nurse to client, shows everyone can develop a mental disorder
- The pleading for more awareness

What I disliked:
- The story felt very linear and predictable, even boring at times. That's because many of the "cases" in this drama were resolved in the same way. Sometimes not deep enough and too quickly solved for my taste.
- The Work with the clients felt completly flat. At some points the message seemed like "Take your medicine and you will be happy again". I did not like this simplicity. I would have liked to see the doctors work more with the clients and the process of the long way to recovery (see with the case of panic disorder, was resolved quite quickly)
- At first I was interested in the main romance plotline, I even liked both male leads. But after a while I lost interest and the plotline seemed unnecessary. The second couple was more interesting.


Good but not great and a lots of room for improvement.

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Good but not great

Like a lot of Kdramas this was a good show that would have achieved greatness if they dropped the romance altogether. The mental health issues and the professions and industry in general were portrayed really well. The non-romantic aspect of the daily lives of the nurses were also really good, particularly the episode that focused on Lee Sang-hee's character (that story would have had way lesser impact if it wasn't for Sang-hee though, one of South Korea's most criminally underrated great actors). It was funny at times as well and had amazing visual fx.

The romance, however, is uh, very problematic. Unacknowledged power-dynamics issues, rich guy-poor girl story, white knighting, coming on a bit too strong that borderlines of creepiness, anchoring one's mental health issue on somebody else entirely (cracking compulsion disappears when girl is around) etc. all tied-up neatly by the big red bow of romcom--a typical kdrama pitfall. If you want a drama that talks about poignant societal issues and also handles romance well with a touch of comedy, this really isn't it. Try Because this is My First Life or Hospital Playlist or Crash Course in Romance instead. If you can stomach the iffy romance, then give this show a try.

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Good Drama but needs Trigger Warnings

Side note: Going into this drama, I didn’t expect how deep and dark this drama was meant to be. I think neither the poster nor the trailer did justice to how heavy the topics discussed in the drama were. I feel like some sort of trigger warning should’ve been put out prior to releasing the drama.

Pros: I honestly really liked the romance between the leads. The ML was very understanding and I thought his presence was a good diversion from the topics discussed. I also thought the cinematography (e.g. colorful psych ward, sunlight shining through, clouds when depressed, the FL house/neighborhood, etc.) was beautifully done.

Cons: I didn’t understand how the second romance plot line contributed to the whole picture about mental illness. It was interesting to watch the nurse gain her freedom and find herself by the end of the drama, but I feel like I would’ve liked more from their story line. Additionally, imo the story would’ve benefitted from 4 more episodes? More detailed discussions/examples of mental illnesses would have truly added to the emotional sensitivity and understanding the writer wanted to portray.

Overall: This was a beautifully done story with an emotional depth that would take a while to fully encode. I probably will not be rewatching this drama in the near future, if ever. At this point in time in my life, considering my mental health, I sought out for an escape, instead I was engulfed in a sensitive storyline requiring a lot of venerability.

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Good for your Mental Health

I think beyond Romance, my favourite topic for a KDrama has to be Mental Health. Some of my favourite dramas fall into this category, and i'm gonna spoil the review (but not the show) by saying Daily Dose of Sunshine shoots to the top of that list.

For a start you've got a great cast, led by Park Bo Young who never falls short. Lee Jung Eun is another favourite and is superb in this drama as well.

One of the writers, Lee Nam Gyu, was also one of the writers on "The Light in your eyes", another beautifully told mental health drama.

The basic plot of the story starts out looking like a "case of the day" type show but evolves rapidly.

My takeaways from this, were that the story was there to highlight that everyone, no exceptions, and without any warning, can start to feel under the weather. Whether it's the patients that come in - or the nurses and doctors themselves.

It pays particular attention to Depression and Panic attacks but there's a range of other ailments including self harm that are included as well.

On the warnings front, I would advise that there is actual suicide and attempted suicide as well as graphical depiction of self harm. Let that show you however that these are topics taken extremely seriously, and viewed from all perspectives.

The other aspect I liked was the "other side" of mental health, stigmas associated with those who have had treatment and are now classed as in recovery, but how they are so poorly treated by society - even by those who are themselves either getting treatment or are caring for those who are.

Each episode tugs the heart strings, beautifully acted and I loved how it was told. I've binged this over 2 days because honestly I just couldn't stop pressing "next".

I class this one as quite re-watchable too, there's probably more to see from a second viewing and while there are things that happen which obviously won't have the same impact the second time around, you'll see them from another perspective and perhaps see things building up earlier.

Highly recommended, there are lessons for us all here.

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