This has been a head-scratching last few days for Dr. Stranger viewer. First there was the bizarre creative decision to repackage the drama into a two hour Chinese movie, with even the consideration of dubbing the voices since the Chinese audience hates subs and are totally A-OK with dubbing. Then the PD gave an interview where I swear he basically shat answers out of his nostrils and gave everyone a collective migraine afterwards. Apparently the original outline for DS was a straight up medical drama where the characters of Soo Hyun and Hoon were the leads. The initial outline was junked once SBS intervened to order the original concept juiced up on steroids with spy and romance elements since straight up medical dramas were in a ratings slump around the industry. So the screenwriter went to work and came up with the drama we saw in the beginning where Jae Hee is the lead and the first love the central premise of the spy story with a side of medical stuff.
The casting didn’t come until after the revised concept was presented as the first few scripts, so the casting choices weren’t affected by whatever the original outline was since that never saw the light of day. Park Min Young was offered the first female lead role of Jae Hee/Seung Hee, she considered for a bit during which time Kang Sora accepted the role of Soo Hyun. Eventually Park Min Young passed and went off to do A New Leaf and that role was offered to Jin Se Yeon. If anyone wants to argue that the Soo Hyun offered to Kang Sora was the lead over the Jae Hee offered to Park Min Young, I’ll have to send you to a corner. PD Jin Hyuk wanted to work with Min Young again after City Hunter and really tried to land her for the role here. The DS we saw go off the rails in the mid-section was due to another last minute rewrite when SBS saw the audiences weren’t responding to the spy stuff and all the secretive plotting so told the screenwriter to go back to emphasizing the medical aspects. I swear even the behind-the-scenes stuff in this DS is as ridiculous as what passes for plot onscreen.
Written preview for episode 17:
Seeing Park Hoon come back, Chairman Oh orders Dr. Yang to do everything to prevent Hoon from successfully completing the surgery. Dr. Yang feels conflicted. On the other hand, Hoon goes to see Jae Joon and asks him to voluntarily bow out of the surgery for the PM Jang. Jae Joon sees Hoon asking this of him and brings up the name Lee Sung Hoon and then shows him the lawsuit from twenty years ago…..
___________________________
The written preview for episode 17 and doesn’t shed any clues on the romance aspect and I think that’s intentional to keep trolling the viewers. Frankly that’s fine with me, I’m so over who the fuck ends up with Park Hoon. Seeing the preview mention Jae Joon talking with Hoon about his own past (like, something that also should have happened ten episodes ago!) is a breath of sane air. Finally the male leads are talking instead of doing dick-waving surgery battles that ought to strip both of their medical licenses. Hallelujah!
And I thought the writer behind DS was also the one who wrote Conspiracy in the Court (that was so good!). Quit watching DS ever since it started going downhill. Love reading your snipy comments though. Thanks!
Well, that explains things a bit. Then SBS is also to blame for that mess: You don’t butcher a script at the last minute (& then scrubs 11 eps by rewriting characters halfway). Booooo!
that’s the problem with ratings. they tend to butcher a good project based on peoples’ reaction making things worse than better.
they should have stick it out with the conspiracy stuff and worked around it. King 2 Hearts kinda had the same dilemma — due to political sensitivity of the plot. But real followers stick to it like gum that made others notice the beauty of the storyline.
oh well. not all drama formula works…
agree with you tho
You got to love shippers. They are going to hang on ANY and ONLY thread of hope they can with that interview. Everybody’s slogan suddenly is KANG SO RA IS LEAD! Hahahahahaha.
On what alterna-planet Kang Sora would be offered the female lead OVER Park Min Young? Park Min Young headlined four prime time dramas across all three major networks! Kang Sora got one lead in the teen ensemble Dream High 2 and then one lead in a daily. Don’t get me wrong, I love watching Kang Sora more than I do Min Young, but goodness I wish some fans would stop making shit up.
Folks who like Soo Hyun to the point of clinging to certain facts but wholly disregarding THE REST of the evidence out there are like the modern climate deniers, or anti-vaxxer spouting anecdotal evidence, or perhaps back in the middle ages when folks believed the world was flat because they could see with their own eyes that it couldn’t possibly be round. But we would all fall over if the earth was round, they said.
Park Min Young declined Dr. Stranger AND declined You’re All Surrounded (SBS really really wanted her) to do A New Leaf for the chance to work with Kim Myung Min. Period. Chae Jung Ahn accepted the second lead in that drama despite not even showing up until episode 8 LOL. The power of KMM is strong. Why Min Young declined DS is even worthy of discussion is beyond me.
Any actress worth her salt would bend over backwards and crawl like a lizard to work with KMM. Park Min Young already said she wanted to work with KMM so she took ANL. Plus she’s already been in a drama where she played two female roles ala Dr. Jin and was even a doctor already! And the DS spy stuff is like City Hunter. She would have been brain addled to accept DS over ANL where she does something totally different.
Except koala, you have done your share of second lead shipping, I read your reviews of I Miss You which has the first love and trauma even worse than in DS. There you kept insisting the heroine shouldn’t be with the male lead/only made sense with the second lead despite all conventional kdrama wisdom saying the opposite. Why call people names when they do the same thing for another drama as shippers?
(I was rooting for IMY second male lead too so I feel your pain, just saying that other people can feel that way about other dramas)
Thanks a lot for the written preview :-). I love watching Doctor Stranger & cant wait for the next episode. I’m watching it because I’m a fan of Lee Jong Suk & for me it’s a great drama though I agree with you gals that there are many flaws in the script & story, but stil the effort and dedication of the stars/actors of this drama especially Jong Suk are more than good enough to make this drama a big hit & worth watching! All my support to Lee Jong Suk!
Now people can stfu and accept reality. (Yeah, no I’m dreaming)
It was OBVIOUS from the beginning who was supposed to be the lead. Except the writers then decided to screw it up. Yeah obviously people weren’t buying into the spy stuff, cuz you barely focused on it and threw people off with random ass flirtiness that doesn’t need to exist =.= Jesus christ.
Has this drama crossed over to makjang territory yet? Apparently SBS has a really short memory in regards to their promise to ban makjang from their dramas.
I wished Park Min Young accepted the role of Jae Hee/Seung Hee. At least, she would have crushed KSR and her quacking ducks.
Wow, great comment!!!
Jst waiting to see how ds dramais goin to end…disappointed:(
Jst waiting to see how ds drama is goin to end…disappointed:(
Stay calm koala its just a drama, you should write your own story.
Oh Goodness!! I truly hope episode 17 is a Park Hoon and Jae Joon filled episode. It’s BEYOND time that the situation that connects this two men comes to light and the truth of the matter is revealed. I know it a long shot for it to be cleared up this easy.
Should have jumped off this train wreck when it started derailing but it seems I am a sucker for pain and agony..lol
Better hope that Soo Hyun fans stop with the nonsense of Soo Hyun being the lead. Trust me, they aren’t going to stop until the drama ends, even with facts shown to them. But it’s about time they start dealing with these Hoon and Jae Joon.
kang sora is second lead.
hope kang sora ends up with PH <3<3<3
I wish she did at first too.,but not anymore.i don’t want her to get involved in this strange drama.
quack couple fwaiting!?
2md lead FTW!
2nd lead > 1st lead
Everything was perfect with Doctor Stranger except for the scripting aspects. Well, Korean Dramas have to learn one thing. Don’t change the script halfway, instead just play it the way it was supposed to be and you’ll have a much more beautiful story. If ratings decide the movie, might as well get the audience to write their own scripts, direct the show n act in the drama. A consistent drama with strong story play is way better than dramas that are putting people through the roller coaster rides. That’s how I read it when I watched DS. Some of the medical errors shown in the drama were very glaring and to make a great drama, the finesse on the details have to be excellent.
Well, people. Get ready to bang your heads on your desks tonight. And I thought this was going to be a good episode…
Park min young probably read the script and realized that her screen time will be limited…that’s why she turned down the offer. City Hunter 2 would be fantastic! DS I gave up…it’s just very painfully depressing to see Park Hoon flirting scenes with Soo Hyun….The endless competitions to qualify for PM or president operation is draining me.
Sigh…I just hope that all these shipping wars will not cause people to hate on one actor or actress. The fan is the problem…not the actors and actresses. All of the actors and actresses are trying their best to make DS work, so please don’t hate on the actors or actresses for their fans behavior. That’s all I am hoping for now that DS has disappointed me.
This may sound harsh but have you been living under a rock? People, especially the Soo Hyun fans, have already been bashing on Jin Se Yeon for like the pass 16 episodes.
Wow I guess I imagined all the Soo Hyun bashing in the comments up there then…Jin Seyeon’s fans have been equally busy trashing the character KSR plays and are now stooping to bashing the fans and almost on thevactress herself. All while crying about how they are so persecuted.
Soo Hyun deserves bashing at this point. The way her character is right now is utterly discussing. I’m sure you have no idea how much JSY’s fans have to put up with the bashers, do you?
and jae hee fans haven’t? please go check tumblr and youtube videos.
Looks like the PD tried his best and got tired of the network”s nonsense. Cannot blamehim, just end this early so they all can sleep.
The way people are riled up because of this ridiculous mess of a drama is beyond me. Ya’ll need to take some chill pills. Peace.
Waiting for that recap of yours, Mz.Koala! Can’t wait to see what you have to say!
i don’t know why you are ranting so much tbh, didn’t you read the novel already?
What’s with all the bashing, just a drama lel