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Dropped: Surgeons (外科風雲) (2017)
This felt like a pretty typical medical drama and I think that's the biggest reason why this drama didn't capture my attention. There did seem to be a politics aspect to it which I would have loved, but I don't think it clicked for me.
Spoilers for first 7 episodes.
Story
This drama set the stage as a revenge story. Our hero, Zhuang Shu, was the son of a nurse who was framed for medical malpractice of giving a patient the wrong dosage. It's implied that her life went to shambles.
Zhuang Shu then returned to China as a prestigious doctor, having studied and practised in California. He returned to the hospital his mother worked at, where the doctor who wronged his mother remained. Zhuang Shu arrived at the hospital on the recommendation of Yang Fan, a doctor in upper management.
Lu Chenxi was another doctor who worked at that hospital. She was a talented doctor and surgeon, but she had issues with politics and dealing with people. She considered Fu Bowen to be her mentor.
I understand that Zhuang Shu and Lu Chenxi were both set up to be main characters, each with their own set of goals. Zhuang Shu wanted to seek justice for his mother, and Lu Chenxi had a lot to learn about office politics. I found myself much more drawn to Lu Chenxi's story, which was more hospital-based, while Zhuang Shu's story was just a politics one.
I wasn't the biggest fan of Zhuang Shu and Lu Chenxi's interactions. Zhuang Shu seemed rather perfect and patronizing to me. As well, the whole deal with them being roommates felt a bit too romcom for a medical drama.
As I mentioned, this drama just didn't really have anything that grabbed me. So that's why I decided to drop it.
Production
Surgeons had pretty basic Cdrama production value. I was thinking that it would have higher quality production considering Jin Dong was the star but it really was your typical lighting, typical cinematography, typical quality of extras, etc.
Characters
Zhuang Shu
I remember reading how a sector of people felt that Jin Dong was pretentious about being classy and I felt that his character came across this way. Zhuang Shu was a doctor who was completely flawless. He was the best at his job, he was the prestigious new star of the hospital, he could even handle office politics excellently despite having just joined the hospital, and gave advice to Lu Chenxi about it.
I couldn't find anything about his character that was flawed and it made him difficult to want to care about. What are the stakes? Everyone is always on his side.
I compare him to the character he played in the First Half of My Life, where he was a successful businessman, but we saw that he was not always the most ethical and he was very judgmental of certain characters. Even if he was right in his way of thinking, I liked seeing him clash.
Zhuang Shu barely clashed with anyone. He sort of clashed with Yang Fan but it didn't really slow him down.
Zhuang Shu: Too Pretentious For Me.
Lu Chenxi
Lu Chenxi was a surgeon who was gifted but very frustrated with patients. Extremely easy to relate to to anyone who has worked in any customer facing role.
I thought she had far more interesting of a hook to the beginning of the story, because we saw her more in action. I bet she spent a lot of time doing work that she didn't want to be doing (as many people do at their jobs) and it was interesting to see what kinds of difficult patients made her blow up.
She had a close relationship with Fu Bowen, and a combative relationship with Yang Fan. Though Zhuang Shu also had relationships with these two older figures, I felt that Chenxi's were a lot more tangible and interesting because we saw her interacting with them through her work.
Chenxi was made to be more excitable and I think Bai Baihe did a good job making her believable but also fun haha.
Chen Shaozong
Chen Shaozong was another doctor at the hospital but he was more of a comedic relief character. He was always having love troubles.
Yang Yu
Yang Yu was a nurse at the hospital. She was the more mature counterpart to Chen Shaozong I guess.
Fu Bowen
Fu Bowen was the doctor who according to Wikipedia, was the doctor who framed Zhuang Shu's mother, though it was not him who Zhuang Shu had seen accusing his mother of her crime.
Yang Fan
Yang Fan was upper management at the hospital. He was shown to be a person who cared more about politics and money, which Chenxi did not like about him.
Chu Jun
Chu Jun was a young doctor. We were first introduced to her when Lu Chenxi chastised her in front of her colleagues for making a decision that she didn't agree with, but had been okayed by Yang Fan.
Chu Jun was rather timid. I think she was sort of scared of doing the wrong thing which was why she relied on getting okays from her mentors. As well, she had a massive crush on Zhuang Shu who had praised her.
Themes
Of the first seven episodes, I think the strongest theme was medical politics, relating to relationships with patients, medical liability, and office politics.
Of course, dealing with patients is difficult. How do you draw the line between letting the patient decide on their own and recommending a decision to them? What happens when you deal with a patient who doesn't believe you?
In one scene where Yang Fan spoke with a patient, I think he wanted to push the patient towards doing a surgery elsewhere.
And office politics was a big theme, as seen in the relationships between all the doctors, and how sometimes the medical truth is what the doctor at the top says it is.
Overall
I guess medical dramas just aren't for me. That, and the production value of this drama just wasn't enough to keep me engaged.
Spoilers for first 7 episodes.
Story
This drama set the stage as a revenge story. Our hero, Zhuang Shu, was the son of a nurse who was framed for medical malpractice of giving a patient the wrong dosage. It's implied that her life went to shambles.
Zhuang Shu then returned to China as a prestigious doctor, having studied and practised in California. He returned to the hospital his mother worked at, where the doctor who wronged his mother remained. Zhuang Shu arrived at the hospital on the recommendation of Yang Fan, a doctor in upper management.
Lu Chenxi was another doctor who worked at that hospital. She was a talented doctor and surgeon, but she had issues with politics and dealing with people. She considered Fu Bowen to be her mentor.
I understand that Zhuang Shu and Lu Chenxi were both set up to be main characters, each with their own set of goals. Zhuang Shu wanted to seek justice for his mother, and Lu Chenxi had a lot to learn about office politics. I found myself much more drawn to Lu Chenxi's story, which was more hospital-based, while Zhuang Shu's story was just a politics one.
I wasn't the biggest fan of Zhuang Shu and Lu Chenxi's interactions. Zhuang Shu seemed rather perfect and patronizing to me. As well, the whole deal with them being roommates felt a bit too romcom for a medical drama.
As I mentioned, this drama just didn't really have anything that grabbed me. So that's why I decided to drop it.
Production
Surgeons had pretty basic Cdrama production value. I was thinking that it would have higher quality production considering Jin Dong was the star but it really was your typical lighting, typical cinematography, typical quality of extras, etc.
Characters
Zhuang Shu
I remember reading how a sector of people felt that Jin Dong was pretentious about being classy and I felt that his character came across this way. Zhuang Shu was a doctor who was completely flawless. He was the best at his job, he was the prestigious new star of the hospital, he could even handle office politics excellently despite having just joined the hospital, and gave advice to Lu Chenxi about it.
I couldn't find anything about his character that was flawed and it made him difficult to want to care about. What are the stakes? Everyone is always on his side.
I compare him to the character he played in the First Half of My Life, where he was a successful businessman, but we saw that he was not always the most ethical and he was very judgmental of certain characters. Even if he was right in his way of thinking, I liked seeing him clash.
Zhuang Shu barely clashed with anyone. He sort of clashed with Yang Fan but it didn't really slow him down.
Zhuang Shu: Too Pretentious For Me.
Lu Chenxi
Lu Chenxi was a surgeon who was gifted but very frustrated with patients. Extremely easy to relate to to anyone who has worked in any customer facing role.
I thought she had far more interesting of a hook to the beginning of the story, because we saw her more in action. I bet she spent a lot of time doing work that she didn't want to be doing (as many people do at their jobs) and it was interesting to see what kinds of difficult patients made her blow up.
She had a close relationship with Fu Bowen, and a combative relationship with Yang Fan. Though Zhuang Shu also had relationships with these two older figures, I felt that Chenxi's were a lot more tangible and interesting because we saw her interacting with them through her work.
Chenxi was made to be more excitable and I think Bai Baihe did a good job making her believable but also fun haha.
Chen Shaozong
Chen Shaozong was another doctor at the hospital but he was more of a comedic relief character. He was always having love troubles.
Yang Yu
Yang Yu was a nurse at the hospital. She was the more mature counterpart to Chen Shaozong I guess.
Fu Bowen
Fu Bowen was the doctor who according to Wikipedia, was the doctor who framed Zhuang Shu's mother, though it was not him who Zhuang Shu had seen accusing his mother of her crime.
Yang Fan
Yang Fan was upper management at the hospital. He was shown to be a person who cared more about politics and money, which Chenxi did not like about him.
Chu Jun
Chu Jun was a young doctor. We were first introduced to her when Lu Chenxi chastised her in front of her colleagues for making a decision that she didn't agree with, but had been okayed by Yang Fan.
Chu Jun was rather timid. I think she was sort of scared of doing the wrong thing which was why she relied on getting okays from her mentors. As well, she had a massive crush on Zhuang Shu who had praised her.
Themes
Of the first seven episodes, I think the strongest theme was medical politics, relating to relationships with patients, medical liability, and office politics.
Of course, dealing with patients is difficult. How do you draw the line between letting the patient decide on their own and recommending a decision to them? What happens when you deal with a patient who doesn't believe you?
In one scene where Yang Fan spoke with a patient, I think he wanted to push the patient towards doing a surgery elsewhere.
And office politics was a big theme, as seen in the relationships between all the doctors, and how sometimes the medical truth is what the doctor at the top says it is.
Overall
I guess medical dramas just aren't for me. That, and the production value of this drama just wasn't enough to keep me engaged.