Hating on a drama for poor directing, wonky script, or even bad acting, that’s all good and fine. Those are merely cogs that make the drama machine move and hardly worth getting emotionally invested in. What really chaps my hide is when the failure is with characters getting hijacked midway through after I’ve grown to care. Dr. Stranger has been operating in whiplash inducing extremes on that front. Hoon in episodes 9-10 was all about Jae Hee to the point that he was going to run away with her on a freighter ship and left Chang Yi by the side of the road. He was all “Jae Hee-ahhh” until even I was ready to shake some sense into him that he won’t solve the scary problems looming over them that way. Now a scant three episodes later and one single incident is enough for Hoon to give Seung Hee the cold shoulder. And it’s not even an incident that he has any right to be mad at her about specifically, she’s neither the reason for his conundrum not the hindrance to his medical calling.
She’s the one thing standing between him and death. What’s even more preposterous is that Hoon knows he’s a goner at any time, and so is Seung Hee/Jae Hee. He called off the surgery because Comrade Cha threatened to snap Seung Hee’s neck. Then minutes later he did the surgery, how does he know Comrade Cha wasn’t going to off Seung Hee just around the corner? He doesn’t know that but he’s conveniently put that plot element aside so that he can get on his high horse with her. How can the writer character assassinate Hoon this way? The Hoon who said “because she’s Jae Hee” when asked why he loves her buckles under one disappointment which overtakes all those years of love? Sheesh. The previews for episode 14 indicate more train wreck horrible developments to come so I’m here to warn everyone to strap on your seat belts.
Written preview for episode 14:
PM Jang hands the corruption evidence on First Hospital which was chosen for his surgery over to Chairman Oh, and also suggests that he take Park Hoon back. On the other hand, Park Hoon sees Seung Hee’s suspicious actions and no longer trusts her. In the end Seung Hee finally reveals the secret behind the nuclear tests….
Preview for episode 14:
PM Jang: Park Hoon’s mother has disappeared. Could Park Hoon that bastard have taken her away?
Comrade Cha: How could Park Hoon’s mom have disappeared? How can a person disappear at this critical juncture?
Secretary Kim: Did your side do it?
Hoon: Haven’t you thought that I’m suspicious of you?
Seung Hee: Not once have I thought that.
Park Hoon: Tell me immediately where my mom is?
Soo Hyun: Sincerely welcome back Dr. Park.
Hoon: Hey Quack, why is your expression like that?
Secretary Kim: Han Seung Hee, that woman appears to be really Song Jae Hee.
PM Jang: That’s impossible. I saw with my own eyes she doesn’t have the surgery scar.
Hoon: Now I don’t even know if you’re really Jae Hee or not.
Seung Hee: Please trust me one more time, I beg of you.
While the drama wants to keep Seung Hee’s identity under wraps, I will forever pin my conclusion that she is Jae Hee on Hoon’s heartbeat confirmation hug. He of all people knows her heartbeat, as silly as that is the drama posited already that they have the same heartbeat. So Hoon knows she’s Jae Hee in his heart, and yet he’s going to act all aggrieved around her, and based on the preview for episode 14, start not trusting her? She offered to tell him everything earlier and he told her no need because he trusted her! Then he turns around and doesn’t trust her. Why do I feel like this writer actually has short-term amnesia and forgets the dialogue and plot points he wrote earlier on. If I were Seung Hee/Jae Hee, risking my neck to protect a guy who is that inconstant, I really would feel so utterly hallowed out by a love that professes to be earth-shattering but can’t withstand much pressure. I can’t believe Seung Hee has to beg Hoon to trust her. To hell with that.
Can someone get the writer and have him strapped to a chair and forced him to watch the previous episode! It’s like he(yeah, the writer is a guy) doesn’t even care or remember what he already established in the previous episodes. And PH not trusting the woman who he grew up with and eventually proposed to? I guess that’s what you call “true love.” (=.=)
Maybe Park Hoon didn’t just get a haircut in episode 13. He got a lobotomy as well and swapped his heart for a new one that quacks instead of beats. Bummer for Jae Hee. If she suffered through all that just for a chance with Hoon and ends up with this? then she’s officially the most tragic character in this drama.
Well, that what happens when Voldemort and Death Eaters take control of the script writer.
As you may know, they even eat JSY alive.
I’m not even her fans, but I hate You-Know-Who and her follower for doing all the things that successfully destroy the drama.
The Hoon I know has died, my only hopr is Jae Joon now.
Please don’t let Jae Joon be with cheating Voldy…
And just let Hoon die, I don’t care anymore
I never been so exhausted from watching a drama in my life! It appears that Hoon is always the damsel-in-distress in Hoon and Jae Hee’s relationship. And most of the time, it’s Jae Hee who protects him from his idiocy while he run around flirting and having a jolly good time. Where’s the Hoon from ep 1 and 2?! Furthermore, Soo Hyun following him like a shameless, thirsty woman isn’t helping the case either. (I want her to find out that Jae Hee is alive so she can leave Hoon alone!) I guess all of the love that he had for JH disappeared along with his old hair. I’m riding this crazy train for one final ride then I’m off to greener pastures.
Lmao can’t agree no more. True love my a**. Forget destiny, red string of fate by blood, because she’s Jae Hee, I will search the whole world and find you, ur father doesn’t like me but he can’t change our destiny. Pfft Hoon-ah, all of them disappeared in thin air he moment he doubt JH/HSH. (This is how frustrated I am with Hoon’s character development.)
Maybe writer is forcefully trying to change ships himself. WTH.
Just kill off PH love interest, let PH move on and be great as a surgeon. I watch this drama for its medical thing. can’t the writer just focus on that. it will be a greater drama if there is no political conflict. i can’t figure the genre for this drama.
Kill off his love interest? Then i suggest to kill off soo hyun as well..only then he can be a great doctor since soo hyun is just another needy hopeless quack that cheated on her faithful fiance after all..
I don’t even know the purpose of Soo Hyun. She’s like a pimple that no matter how much you want to get rid of her, she keeps popping up.
And she even had the audacity to get mad at Jae Joon! The nerve of that girl!
i don’t care anymore. i just want him to focus. haha
i think the writer got lost in his own writing…or swayed by the media or something, maybe drugs? lol…i don’t know n e more with this drama… i actually stopped caring so much for it when we are halfway into it. I just want it to end already…& for Joseon Gunman to air so that i can get rid of this aftertaste i feel from watching Dr. Stranger…
Lol, I think he was on crack while writing the scripts. Someone give the writer some badly needed lessons on characters 101.
xD…IKR?
y is park hoon treating soo hyun better than seung hee? wat shit is this? he once lived her to the max but now he changed so much! that’s idiotic though . n nonetheless , seung hee was trying to protect him! omg.
I think the real jae hee is either dead or still locked up in the concentration camp…and I won’t be surprised if the plot turns out that dr han is actually jae hee’s long lost or evil twin sister :X I just thought of it when the prime minister said he didn’t see any surgery scars on her… coupled with the fact that she still has two kidneys and they never really established that she is jae-hee by bringing up their past. x.x
At this point I feel quite lucky about deciding to NOT watch this show (I don’t trust or like the mixed genre), but I’m still following the plot trough forum and recaps (at first because of LJS). I’ve read this is based on a novel named “Doctor from North” or something and in that very same novel Hoon and Soo Hyun end up together and, yes, I think this is crazy too because if they wanted the same for the show they should have definitely tone down the epic love story/destiny in the beginning or give Hoon a different purpose in his life, different from JH, because I personally didn’t like his obsession, but of course I can’t believe he is now so easily sick of her either and if the changes were decided based solely on public appreciation (how can you build a life long love story in a way that the general public can’t unitedly root for, me first), they could still have done a better job and just focus of other things (there’re plenty) rather than romance. That said, I personally can’t blame SH for falling over someone else even if she’s engaged (it happens in real life too), falling for him in 13 episodes (there’s no a time limit or something) or crying because she misses him (in dramaland it happens ALL THE TIME), but the fact that she’s still in denial and hugging JJ while crying over another man, I think these things are quite awful and they show how the writer is not sure himself of what he’s doing and he’s like testing the audience reaction, before making her take a real decision and THIS, for me, is the problem, you listen to the audience, but you still must have an idea of where the story is going as a writer and if you’re good enough the audience will follow and trust what’s happening, even if their ship is sinking, because you made it coherent and things couldn’t have happened in a different way. I’m not really affected anyway so I’ll see just how all this mess will go until the very end~
OT – Did you watch High School King, the first episode was just really good~ ^^
Agree. I can watch soo hyun being confused, fallen in love and in denial but not made use of Jae Joon. Still, it happens in real love when you don’t know what you feel and you’re too stubborn to admit.
Dear Ms Koala, I am lost. Even the recaps are confusing me. I know it’s the writer and he has lost the plot. But even with the recaps I am getting confused where this story is going.
Im sorry but why is it so bad for hoon to have doubts about jae hee?
we still dont know if its her….and why that much negativity towards soo hyun?
Maybe you all are like 15 and never were in love.Plus shes not engaged to JJ and he didnt even love her from the beginning.He used her to get close to her dad and get revenge.
Im shipping quack couple to death and i hope they are endgame….i cant stand jae hee .
And im sorry but people change..and if people change then love changes too.
You all just cant accept the fact that hoon is doubting jae hee now…i was waiting for this since ep 8-9.
wowowow chill there .
this is not about hoon x soohyun or hoon x jaehee but the inconsistency of the character developments in this drama and the storyline .
i think you might as well read again what’s the description box telling viewers about this drama
“As a child Park Hoon and his father were kidnapped by North Korea. In North Korea, Park Hoon was trained to become a doctor by his father who was already a doctor. Park Hoon become a genius like chest surgeon.
Park Hoon begins to work as a doctor in South Korea’s top hospital, Myungwoo University Hospital but he feels like a complete outsider. To bring his lover from North Korea, he does antyhing to make money”
There you go and the early episodes were enough to telling us that JaeHee take a big part in Hoon’s life . He is so obsessed over her . Not to mention the so called “you and your soulmate have the same heartbeat” and the red string of fate by blood .
The shipping wars in this drama is so ridiculous to be quiet honest. At this moment i don’t care who Hoon will end up later , i just want the writer solve the mysteries that left behind and what happened to JaeHee after she fell from the bridge . If SeungHee is really JaeHee then why she doing such things and become a North Korea spy ? But i believe that SeungHee is indeed JaeHee . It’s about time for the writer telling us more about JaeHee and those politics problems in this drama . I want to know what North Korea insisted that the one who must do the surgery for PM Jang is Hoon . What happened to Hoon’s mother all these past years . I don’t need those cray cray scenes about unnecessary flashback and spending almost 45mins to watch someone getting confused about her own feelings and cry over a guy because she misses him . I’d rather all the mysteries to be revealed soon as what the eps 14 summary written above .
Of course Soo Hyun can fall for someone else but she needs to break-up with her current boyfriend and stop using him as an emotional crutch.
And what’s with trying to dismiss people with opposing opinions as children who’ve never been in love? Way to ruin your own credibility.
I didn’t bother to reply because some of the shippers can’t seem to accept that for some of us, this drama is not all about the love lines. Not to mention comparing us to teenagers is just not the usual tone in this blog. Which shows us they think or lump us into teenage fangirls. Nothing wrong with being a teenager but it’s just I know a lot of us are adults and are parents.
Seriously i hate Park Hoon character. Just because of one surgery you abandon jae hee/seung hee. I just hope that seung hee will have her own happiness eventhough without park hoon. She need an happy ending. I hate park hoon but i will alwaysove lee jongsuk
I honestly think the only true love in this drama will eventually be jae hee/seung hee who sacrified everything for the one she love. She even willing to die for this guy and am not surprised if she’ll do it again in the future. Has lots of love for her character.
At the moment Hoon doesn’t deserved her at all and the hell with this guy.. So Hyun can have him they deserved one another …urghh can’t stand these two cheaters at the moment…
I feel like I need to clarify here that I’m neither a hoonhyun or hoonhee shipper. Because every single time I write something about either soohyun or jaehee, i’m automatically labeled as a shipper. Gdi, i’m not. I don’t even care about parkhoon’s love interest.
i don’t get the sudden hate on Soohyun. Sure she isn’t all that loyal to Jaejoon, but right from the start, the JJ/SH relationship had been a very big question mark. Did JJ really love SH? Now that we know he does, sure, it doesn’t go well for SH. But right from the start, she herself already wasn’t sure about the relationship. Which was what made her sway, wasn’t it? She wasn’t getting the love she needed from JJ, she didn’t feel like he cared. And when PH is the only doctor in the hospital who believed in her, I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s swayed. It wasn’t even a one episode thing where she just suddenly fell in love with PH, it had been going on for some time so I don’t get the sudden hate.
And about Jaehee, tbh, Hoon did /not/ get any confirmation that she’s Jaehee. Other than her heartbeat (which really, wtf?!) and her confirmation (which obviously she can lie about it). So, what’s wrong with him having his doubts? Especially if jaehee isn’t acting the way he thought she would be. His idea of ‘Jaehee’ and the ‘Jaehee’ he’s seeing now don’t match. The JH he loves probably lives in his memory, she isn’t there anymore. He has changed, and so has she. The Jaehee he is fixated with lives in the past, it probably isn’t love he’s feeling for her anymore. That Jaehee he thinks he loves is probably just something he’s holding on to to keep himself together, but when that Jaehee he sees isn’t that same Jaehee, why is it wrong for him to feel frustrated?
tbh, everyone’s annoyed at hoon. even i am. i am annoyed at him for being so daft about everything that’s happening around him. it’s not only jaehee/seunghee/mission, even the fact that soohyun likes him. he doesn’t even know and so he continues goofing around her and sending out all the wrong signals. but even then, this is a very unpopular opinion right now, but i really prefer hoon right now rather than when he was just mindlessly looking for jaehee. i’ve never been a fan of characters who are overly obsessed with the love of their lives so…
oh God, can’t agree more with you.
yes, i prefer hoon to MOVE ON. whatever it is to make him act as normal person, and not make him as his gf puppet.
idk why all of people here seems angry to soo hyun. -____-”
what’s wrong with end up with another girl rather than ur first love?
in baker king, kim tak goo didn’t end up with the female lead, and it’s okay.
in architecture 101, the male lead also didn’t end up with han ga in.
and in real life tho, my friend dating someone for 9 years, but in the end she married someone else, and well.. nothing wrong with it.
Again, all I want to say is, can people stop trying to use SeungHee being Jae Hee not confirmed as an argument? That doesn’t matter ONE BIT because the drama has made it CLEAR that Hoon himself believes she is Jae Hee. Has there been any sign which says that he suspects that she is not? I don’t think so… =.=
It’s really not about shipping who and who anymore, it’s really about the writing of this story. I honestly think this drama is going downhill that I could care less who ends up with whom. But Hoon suddenly giving up on Jae Hee just makes no sense after YEARS of his heart tied to hers. You don’t simply cut the strings and “CHANGE” like that….
It’s make sense to me. even a couple who already married for years (more than 10 years) could get divorce, why hoon can’t move on? he might be just realised that his love from jae hee already gone. it’s all possible.
If a drama gave me one scene of a happily married couple and in the next scene, with no explanation, showed them divorcing, I’d think it was horrifyingly bad writing. Same here. Could Hoon move on? Sure, anything is possible. Has the drama shown it in any rational, ‘human beings act like that’ fashion? No. Check out Thank You – there was never any doubt Jang Hyuk’s character madly loved the gf who died in ep 1. And yet the whole drama was about him moving on with Gong Hyo Jin’s character. It worked because it was written well and made sense. Hoon acts in a way no person would act in RL.
Have you seen Nice Guy? That was a classic drama where Kang Maru was seen moving on from his first love and loving Eun Gi. Kang Maru was obviously in love with his first love and even took the blame for her murder. BUT when he met Eun Gi, he didn’t suddenly fell in love with her. It takes time and years to do that. Moving on isn’t easy as it sounds! Hoon knew Jae Hee for most of his life and has been a BIG part on establishing Hoon’s identity. And for him to suddenly get up and “move on” is absolutely absurd.
I really hope this drama is 16 eps I can’t take much more of this stupidity.
She wanted to tell him everything but Hoon refused! If he’s changed his mind about that why doesn’t he just IDK tell her so! Can Hoon’s sudden cold shoulder routine please be an attempt save Seung Hee from Comrade Cha’s revenge for doing the surgery. It’s the only way I can buy this heel turn in characterisation.
I seriously hope that park hoon will be to get her with seung her in the end. NOT. soo hyun ..
I think the plot is fine. Since the beginning there have been signs that Hoon has been suspicious of Seung Hee being Jae Hee. His reaction toward the “heartbeat” test was actually that she was not Jae Hee, but later he convinced himself that she was. Another sign is the way he continues to stare at the video of Jae Hee in prison, even speaking to it while Seung Hee is in the room. SH’s resolve as an agent over being a doctor makes him doubt her more, that’s why he’s being distant. It’s as if deep down he knows she’s not the one, but wants to believe that she is and is slowly coming to terms with reality. However, JH or SH I do agree that the distance he’s put between them is pretty extreme since her life is in danger.
People calm down, it’s just a drama…not reality…
This is just the imagination of one person…a writer…nothing worth being worked up about.
The writer is the one to blame for everything…a lot of people don’t connect with Seung Hee/Jae Hee character because it’s underdevelopped…even when she was Jae Hee, they barely show only couple of moments of them together; we don’t know her background even as Jae Hee, and this is why most people didn’t understand Hoon’s obsession with her at the point of forgetting his duty as a doctor.
Remember that his dad sacrificed himself so that Hoon can live as a real doctor…On his last breath he told him never to forget that he was a doctor, but the moment Seung Hee/Jae Hee came into the picture, he was nothing but a babbling ” jae hee ahh” idiot.
And he completely lost himself and became oblivious to everything around him…And I think episode 13 was an episode to have him reflect about what he has become as a person.
He’s now realizing that there are other things in life besides SH/JH..like his duty as a doctor; his mom etc…
I don’t think any of that is unusual even in real life…Even for people going with the first love theory, him being this obsessed is not healthy…there has to be a point where he has to take a step back and rationalize his feelings otherwise he just becomes an idiot like we saw in the previous episodes…
and I think this is what created most of the anger in viewers…and they put the blame on SH/JH because she was taking his manhood away.
He did not care about saving lives anymore, he did not care about his friends that have always been there for him (Chang Yi) and so on.
The writer definitely screwed up, but I think they are trying to straighten some things up, especially Hoon, because afterall, he’s our hero, but as of now, he has not lived up to that title.
Having said that, it makes sense for him to reflect and not be his joky self for couple of episodes.
As far as shipping is concerned, I just think that if Seung Hee is Jae Hee and that she was not a spy, they will end up together, and I don’t thing it’s irrational for him to doubt her at the moment; he’s human after all and we don’t want a hero that is completely blinded by love…Besides she’s not a very warm character. The writer better rectifies that if he want them to end up together…He himself told she should smile more.
But if she turns out to be a spy or a twin as some people have suggested, then I don’t see why he should not end up with Soohyun who’s always been there for him and with whom he’s always having fun regardless of what’s going on around him.
Second love do exist in real life also.
People should read your comment. It’s all make sense.
and here my opinion (it’s only my opinion and sorry if it’s wrong) :
from first, hoon actually not trust seung hee for 100%. He still live in jae hee memory, and feel sorry to her, that’s why he try to believe seung hee as jae hee for 100%. His crazyness over jae hee mostly because he felt sorry to her.. he want to believe that everything will turn back to normal.
But then after the surgery, he might be just realized that seung hee is different to jae hee. and then, he started to realized the real world of him, rather than always live in the past, and stuck with all his love to jae hee.
And that’s why he don’t trust seung hee anymore.
And, it’s not weird at all if he treat soo hyun so nice.
He might be just thinking of her as good friends, who is somehow clumsy, has a weak heart but always trying her best, innocent enough but kind person.
So what’s wrong if he treat someone like her so nice?
It’s fine.
the plot seems kinda messy, but if u think again about it, actually it’s all make sense. Not like the writer turn to be crazy, lost his mind, or else.
this is one of the best comments i’ve read so far.
What are you thinking, all deleted any quack hoon shipper.
To be honest, Jae hee is an old story, all you don’t know love in real life. First love is shit and won’t get you anywhere.
well, i think seung hee is jae hee but she is actually a secret agent. she might be playing with park hoon’s heart at first but then she falls for him. thats what i think hehe. but of all, i hope park hoon will end up with quack!
I think they should explain what happened to jaehee after she fell from the bridge, and I don’t understand hoon’s bipolarity! She took a bullet for him people!! Not something anyone can easily do.. I really feel bad for her, all the pain she went through for years.. Being taken away into a place where they experiment things on her then ends up taking her father’s kidney to survive that alone is tragic. But him telling her he can’t trust her.. I mean she’s doing all this for his sake.. If I were in her place I’d be torn up inside out.
You’re right. Who on earth could take bullets for another human being if not for love? If Seung Hee is not Jae Hee, then it’s arguable that she doesn’t deserve Hoon’s care and love back. But if she is, then she doesn’t deserve the other shipper’s bashing and shit. I’m very tired of all the confusion and little screen time given to Jae Hee. Fine, if she’s not the first female lead. But in case she is, then stop showing me that innocent, confusing, and goofy face of Soo Hyun. I’m hating her though. Just to be fair. So much screen time for a 2nd lead is irrelevant to the plot development and distracting.
correction – *not hating her*
Ameeeeen to that ! Hhoooona wake up jae he is suffering a lot to save u and u are ruining everything , I’m scared that he realises that tooooo late !!! And return to be her bitch .
What the actual fuck??? Is Seung Hee Jae Hee or isn’t she???? So there is no scar, ok fine. What about the damn medical records Hoon stole like 8 episodes ago or something? Were they falsified or something? Why is SH constantly brooding whenever Hoon and Quack are together. I am done trying to make sense out of anything anymore in this show. NOTHING makes any sense anymore. Why are they torturing the viewer whith these poorly written conspiracies that NEVER gets answered. As mentioned in previous comments; I just want to know wth happened to JH after she fell from that damn bridge. When it comes to outright redardedness, this show by now probably even have the atrocious show Fashion King who previously was my standard when measuring how utterly stupid the writing in a drama can become, beaten by a mile. Give me some answers you schizophrenic scriptwriter! :S
Jae Hee character has all the ingredients that makes an interesting protagonist. Soo hyun character is boring and predictable. The fact that the writer is giving quack way too much airtime is definitely indicative of where this drama is heading…which is such a shame. Please recommend me a good drama to watch…how is Angel Eyes?
Angel Eyes was very cute and had an adorable main couple. There wasn’t a ton of plot – it was more of a mood piece – but that didn’t bother me.
AE was great but somehow lost steam towards the end. It is mostly attributable to the lack of an actual meaty plot. But just as dangermousie said, it’s more about going through the feelings of being in love and the theatrical angst (as any kdrama does) that accompanies it. Still, It’s light compared to most romance of the same vein and genre. Aside from the slightly prolonged conflict and uncharacteristic moping from the otherwise very lovable OTP, it’s an alright investment of drama watching time.
I agree also. B4 I come to tis website, i am trying to search the official website for tis drama so tat can leave some comments. At the beginning Park hun lives for Jae Hee, that is the main point,and this should not be changed. Can i complaint to scriptwriter tat the part of park hun n jae hee is too less than expected since seung hee appears in the hospital. Frankly i think the scriptwriter should add more mysteries about seung hee instead of emphasizing “cute?lv part?” of soo hyun n park hun.. I hope seung hee is jae hee in the end. This supposed to be the key point to lead the flow of drama to be more interesting ! Pure lv plsss~~
I’m also wondering if this writer is the same one for Mirae’s Choice?????? LOL…
Maybe they’re related. It explains the mess-up plot of DS.
I wonder if we are not allowed to be angry at our true love or fight for that mattger. The way I see it is he was angry at her and did not like it she is hiding things from him it is not like he stoped loving her. He was agonizing over the fight they have.