TV CHOSUN weekend miniseries ‘Doctor Shin’
“Writer Phoebe is a genre unto herself! Writer Phoebe’s trademark deadly immersion has begun!”
As Jung Yi-chan pressed ahead with a ‘brain change’ surgery between Baek Se-ra and Song Ji-in in TV CHOSUN’s weekend miniseries ‘Doctor Shin’, the ‘goosebumps smile ending’ as Baek Se-ra awoke after the operation delivered a shock.
Episode 2 of TV CHOSUN’s weekend miniseries ‘Doctor Shin’ (written by Phoebe (Im Seong-han)/directed by Lee Seung-hoon/produced by Scene&Studio, TME Group), which aired at 10:30 p.m. on the 15th (Sat), maximized the thrill of unpredictable twists as past and present crisscrossed around Momo (played by Baek Se-ra)’s scuba-diving accident, flashing back and forward six months. First, while Shin Ju-shin (played by Jung Yi-chan) kept watch over Momo lying quietly in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, he was visited by his friend Ha Yong-jung (played by Ahn Woo-yeon). When asked about Momo’s condition, Shin Ju-shin lied that the oxygen therapy had almost cured her and deflected with, “No visitors except her mother,” arousing suspicion.
And then, recalling the happy time of making passionate love with Momo at a midwinter villa, Shin Ju-shin felt conflicted. The process by which he won Momo’s heart and they became lovers then unfolded. After their first meeting, Shin Ju-shin suddenly showed up at Momo’s house with a bouquet and, unfazed by Momo’s prickly demeanor, blurted out a fast-forward proposal, saying, “I want to marry you.” Momo bristled at it as “impulsive,” but she was swayed by Shin Ju-shin, who sincerely looked after her, an actress who could not even eat as she pleased.
Momo confided her fondness for Shin Ju-shin to her mother Hyun Ran-hee (played by Song Ji-in), but Hyun Ran-hee objected because Shin Ju-shin was only 13 years apart from her in age; in the end, after being scolded by Hyun Ran-hee, Momo went to Shin Ju-shin’s clinic to return the suitcase full of jewelry left by his mother that he had sent. However, Shin Ju-shin lifted Momo up as she tried to leave, laid her down, and expressed fierce affection, saying, “I will be everything to you. Let us live as husband and wife, just ordinary. Is love anything more than that?” Afterward, Shin Ju-shin went to the pool to see Hyun Ran-hee and asked her to help him date Momo, and Hyun Ran-hee, contrary to her true feelings, gave her assent. But once she parted from Shin Ju-shin, Hyun Ran-hee imagined his bare body and slipped into a risqu reverie by herself, creating a mysterious mood.
Meanwhile, rolling back six months before Momo’s accident, the drama depicted the reunion of Geum Bara (played by Joo Se-bin) and Ha Yong-jung. While preparing to depart for Italy, Ha Yong-jung was checking an interview article when he learned from the originally scheduled reporter that the journalist who had interviewed him was named Geum Barathe very person he used to call ‘Baby’ as a child. Ha Yong-jung postponed his departure to meet Geum Bara, and Geum Bara likewise faced Ha Yong-jung again while masking the tender thought, ‘How could I forget?’ The two broke the ice by talking about their mutual link, Ji An-hee (played by Cha Ji-hyeok), but Geum Bara felt hurt when Ha Yong-jung drew a line, saying, “You are a younger sister before you are a reporter.” Ha Yong-jung felt proud that Geum Bara had grown up well, and Geum Bara swallowed hard her earnest longing, ‘I have missed you so much.’
Later, as James (played by Jeon No-min) showed gallery director Hyun Ran-hee a painting by Paul Kim (played by Ji Young-san) that he had bought, scenes of Geum Bara appreciating Paul Kim’s works and of Paul Kim returning to Korea from Germany stoked curiosity.
Then, back in the present, when Momo, who had undergone the brain-change surgery, struggled to open her eyes, fragments of memories stored in Hyun Ran-hee’s head burst out and flickered past. Watching the recovery room on CCTV, Shin Ju-shin was startled to see Momo awaken and headed there, just as Momo looked at Hyun Ran-hee’s body lying on the adjacent bed and formed a grotesque expressionthe ‘goosebumps smile ending.’ Whether the brain-change surgery between Momo and Hyun Ran-hee by ‘God’s hand’ Shin Ju-shin was a success, or whether their swapped fates are now in motionthe shocking, unforeseeable turn of events heightened the tension.
After the broadcast, viewers reacted, saying, “So this is why people keep saying Phoebe, Phoebe. Before I knew it, I was holding my breath as I watched.” “I heard she wrote it after mustering up courage from watching ‘Get Out’! As expected, a masterpiece has arrived.” “It is strange and bizarre, yet incredibly satisfying to watch! There is no way not to look forward to the next episode.” “I am being drawn in in a strangely irresistible way. What is this feeling?”
Meanwhile, episode 3 of TV CHOSUN’s weekend miniseries ‘Doctor Shin’ will be released simultaneously on TV CHOSUN and Coupang Play at 10:30 p.m. on the 21st (Sat).
