Rain is back. This time in a melodramatic medical-supernatural drama which whilst casting its net far and wide towards a wider audience demographic , isn’t without its flaws either.

The plot is set mainly around a working hospital. Previously mentioned Superstar singer-actor Rain stars as Cha Young Min; a first-rate doctor who is renowned in the hospital for his prodigal skills. However despite his impressive clinical acumen, Young Min is notorious for his cold personality and acerbic tongue directed towards colleagues and patients alike.

Nevertheless, everything changes for Young Min when he’s involved in a fatal accident. Whilst his physical body is rendered in a comatose state, Young Min discovers that he is now stuck as a living ghost anchored to the grounds of the hospital.

Perhaps by a whim of fate, Young Min stumbles upon a shocking revelation: he can possess the body of amateur resident doctor Ko Seung Tak ( Kim Bum). The grandson of the hospital’s founder,
Seung-Tak is nearly Young-Min’s polar opposite. He’s laidback, disengaged with his duties as a doctor but secretly cares deeply for the well-being of his patients and wards.

As Young-Min and Seung Tak are forced to share the same body, they begin to help one another grow as well as unravel suspected foul-play in their midst…

Screenwriter Kim Eun Hee is likely most known for her previous works ‘ Winter Sonata’ (2002), ‘ My Fair Lady’ (2009) and ‘ Live Up To Your Name’ ( 2017).

Similar to her previous repertoire of melodramas and cliche-ridden narratives, ‘ Ghost Doctor’ isn’t inescapable from its shoehorned storylines or some character archetypes. The villainous motives and goals of the antagonists could feel somewhat monotonous, whilst the attempts to influx subplots with romantic chemistry between the main leads and their potential love interests could feel vapid also.

Of course this isn’t to entirety critique Eun Hee’s screenplay. Whilst there were noteworthy niche moments , there were some refreshing takes upon niche character tropes; Seung-Tak ( as the “ affluent heir”) standing out in particular.

In addition to this under the directing reigns of Boo Sung Chul ( ‘ My Girlfriend Is A Gumiho’, ‘ The Heirs’ and ‘ Your Honor’), ‘ Ghost Doctor’ is able to maintain a crisp narrative with enough bromance, arbitrary medical knowledge terms and vocabulary and comic relief thrown-in order to keep viewers entertained.

Whilst there are notably moments where the series could darken quickly under the weight of the established supernatural and medical subtext, the series rarely delved deeper beyond a basic plot-level into these issues. Naturally this allowed more opportunities in order to offer lighthearted respite, but did provide fewer narrative moments in order to truly diverge further away from niche setups or tropes also.

Then of course there’s the discussion surrounding cast choices. Indeed, the casting choices of a-listers Rain ( ‘ Full House’, ‘ I’m A Cyborg, But That’s Okay’ and ‘ Please Come Back, Mister’ ) and Kim Bum ( ‘ Boys Over Flowers’, ‘ Mrs Cop.2, and ‘ Tail Of The Nine Tailed’ ) as the main leads will likely remain one of the major attractions of the drama.

Kim Bum and Rain offered fairly solid performances throughout. Whilst overblown script moments and dialogue was admittedly apparent at times in ‘ Ghost Doctor’, the duo’s onscreen bromance was one of the surprising highlights of the series.

Costarring alongside Bum and Rain was singer-actress Uee ( ‘You’re Beautiful’, ‘ Ho Goo’s Love’ and ‘ Marriage Contract’) as main female lead and Young Min’s old flame from the past, Dr.Jang Se Jin.

Whilst Uee’s performance was decent, her character’s development was admittedly greatly restricted by plot. Angst-ridden opportunities in order to explore the seemingly egocentric Young Jin’s backstory, gave way to notable inconsistencies between wasted character development moment for Se-Jin, as well as notably lukewarm chemistry between Uee and Rain onscreen.

Alongside Uee, there is also idol-actress Son Na Eun ( ‘ Twenty Again’ , ‘ Cinderella and the Four Knights’ and ‘ Dinner Mate’) as Seung Tak’s potential love interest Oh Soo-jeong. Na Eun’s onscreen chemistry with Bum was admittedly sweet in parts, but slightly inconsistent; lacking screen time in order to explore Soo-Jeong as a sentient character, as we as delving deeper into their potential relationship.

However, a shoutout must be given to supporting cast members playing the meddlesome “ ghosts” Im Bo Mi ( Yoon So Hee- ‘ Sword And Flower’, ‘ Witch’s Love’), Choi Hoon Kil ( CIIPHER’s Choi Seok Won- ‘ Phantom School’ ) and Hwang Kook Chan ( Han Seung Hyun- ‘Haechi’), with actor Sung Dong-il( ‘ Miss Hammurabi’, ‘ The Cursed’ and ‘ Pawn’) particularly standing out as mysterious ghost at the hospital, Tess. Yet similar to other characters in the series, the subplots and backstories surrounding the ghosts were only brought up when necessary; compacted and intriguing side stories, but nevertheless restricted within the compacted narrative.

‘ Ghost Doctor’ notably differs greatly between its first-part and second-half. The first-half spent time tried to build up dilemmas and characters, whilst the second-half attempted to heighten and intensify the obstacles set out for the main leads.

Naturally this did emerge as a double-edged sword for the execution of the narrative. It allowed some time for viewers to get to know characters and setups, but it could often feel as though by the halfway point , the intense and climatic buildup were somewhat fizzled out and disengaging for audiences .

Conniving Vice President Han Seung-won ( Tae In Ho) served as one of main antagonistic forces of the storyline. Whilst his limitations to fulfil his
role as one of the main plot obstacles are explained, Seung-Won was the epitome of “villainy for the sake of it”; heinous and manipulative, but rarely possessing an edge of fleshed-out characters, or decisive motives along the way.

As a consequence the latter-half of the series admittedly felt somewhat rushed and disorientated in parts. The attempts to drag out certain plot points and scenarios often led to the second-half feeling stretched too thin. The antagonistic and potential climatic buildup felt bedraggled in later episodes by an attempt to quickly wrap up events also.

Under the directing reigns of Boo Sung Chul, ‘ Ghost Doctor’ notably possessed a glossy tone. It did become apparent at times that the editing for the series was somewhat amateurish in parts. During certain episodes of ‘ Ghost Doctor’, a seemingly professional and slick sequence could be suddenly be debased by the presence of unsystematic editing in-between scenes and sequences.

Of course this isn’t to say that the cinematography was unwatchable or entirely mediocre. The filming quality was still professional, if a little uninspiring at times with limited camera angles and tones rarely standing out.

The accompanied OST offered viewers with an array of dulcet soundtracks . Whilst some of these tracks could admittedly feel a little generic, there were a small number of impressive compositions placed during key moments and scenes, such as CNU ( of B1A4)’s vocal and instrumental version of ‘ Fly Away’.

‘ Ghost Doctor’ is highly reminiscent of the offbeat series of supernatural and fantasy K-dramas which arose in popularity during the 2010s. Naturally anticlimactic and limited writing opportunities did serve as one of the drama’s prominent letdowns . However, whilst the ending certainly delivered a sweeter tone for viewers, lacklustre romance and certain writing moments may be disappointing viewers also. Certainly a decent binge-watch.