The Kim Ji-won-led drama reportedly reached a 14.9% viewership rating by its second episode, drawing increased attention following its premiere.
The series follows a doctor who is urgently hired as a temporary physician to respond to gaps in medical services caused by a doctors’ strike. The production team has previously emphasized that the medical content is fictionalized and that the drama is adapted from a 2012 original work.
As the story was adapted for a Korean setting, the drama has included direct criticism of issues such as doctors looking down on nurses, operating-room CCTV legislation, patients being transferred between hospitals without receiving treatment, and harm suffered by patients during medical strikes.
Some medical professionals have criticized the drama’s depiction of doctors, arguing that it presents the medical field in an overly simplistic and negative way.
One social media post argued that the drama reduces real medical workers to one-dimensional villains, while another medical professional said they submitted formal viewer feedback to SBS over what they described as unrealistic medical settings and portrayals of doctors as incompetent or unethical.
The post also noted that the drama includes positively portrayed doctors in addition to its more critical characters.
Netizen Reactions
The sampled comments largely pushed back against the doctors criticizing the drama. Many argued that fictional works should be treated as fiction and compared the backlash to the warm reception previously given to idealized medical dramas such as Hospital Playlist.
1. The anesthesiologist was fine though ㅋㅋㅋ And the intern seemed innocent and motivated. If they’re getting triggered by a line calling out doctors blinded by greed and their lackeys...?
2. ㅋㅋ Who told you to take patients’ lives hostage and go on strike? People around me were practically dealing with funeral after funeral when you guys went on strike.
3. Seeing them get this worked up makes me think the writers must’ve done a good job. I should start watching this week ㅋㅋㅋ
4. By that logic, wasn’t Hospital Playlist also a distorted idealization? They didn’t say anything when doctors were portrayed positively ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
5. I know an anesthesiologist, and they said there really are doctors who act like psychopaths...
6. Hospital Playlist was ridiculously funny too, and this one is funny as well. It’s like some Japanese chuunibyou reenactment drama — sloppy as hell and cringey.
7. Back during Hospital Playlist, they were seriously milking the emotional appeal for all it was worth ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
8. ㅋ Did they leave Hospital Playlist alone because that one was realistic? Fiction should be treated as fiction. What are they even talking about? How do they deal with hearing even the slightest criticism of themselves?
9. Of course the medical community isn’t going to like a drama that takes jabs at them. They’ll probably latch onto any excuse, big or small, to tear it apart. But that’s part of the fun of watching fantasy. The more this happens, the more dramas that consider the patient’s perspective should succeed. I’m rooting for Doctor X.
10. Why are doctors so ridiculously fragile? They get so f*cking triggered ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ They’ve probably watched dramas with prosecutors and chaebol villains just fine while saying, “It’s fiction” ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Seriously, how coddled do you have to be to nod along to fantasies like Hospital Playlist and then throw a fit the second a drama criticizes doctors? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
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