Netflix K-drama midseason recap: Doctor Slump – Park Shin-hye, Park Hyung-sik carry the burden in a mental health drama with few new ideas

• While featuring a better take on mental health than most K-dramas, Doctor Slump is not offering much in the way of innovative storytelling
• Park Shin-hye and Park Hyung-sik are well cast but have to do much of the heavy lifting in a show that focuses a lot on their relationship and very little else

This article contains mild spoilers.

Lead cast: Park Shin-hye, Park Hyung-sik

Latest Nielsen rating: 8.17 per cent

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Among the latest hot trends in the Korean drama industry has been the acknowledgement of the mental health toll exacted by South Korea’s stressful and highly competitive society.

Series such as It’s Okay to Not Be Okay have emerged over the years seeking to break down the stigmas in society surrounding mental health. Of late, these shows have grown more frequent and more specific in their depiction of mental health issues.

Netflix’s 2023 drama Daily Dose of Sunshine even went so far as to explain various mental health conditions in detail, outline how they can be brought about by societal pressures, and even suggest road maps as to how people can deal with them.

Doctor Slump: Park Shin-hye, Park Hyung-sik in medical K-drama on Netflix

The popular new medical series Doctor Slump does not greatly add to this current social discussion that other shows have not already done in some detail.

Rather, it takes the positive mental health angle of these modern shows and combines it with two of the industry’s most enduring genres, the medical drama and the healing drama, though even on that count it cannot exactly be said to offer up a particularly new dramatic concoction.

Though its issues are current, the show is largely relying on the draw of its stars to attract and keep an audience. Given its very popular marquee names, that was always going to be a safe bet. True to form, Park Shin-hye and Park Hyung-sik acquit themselves well in pleasing but admittedly very familiar parts.

Park Hyung-sik as plastic surgeon Yeo Jeong-woo in a still from Doctor Slump.

Stars alone a show doth not make and in the case of Doctor Slump, the leads simply have too great a load to carry on their backs, ironically not unlike the lead characters themselves, who are bogged down by the pressures surrounding them.

The show sets up a compelling premise of driven youths who push themselves in their studies, excel academically and do everything right on the road to success, and yet their best efforts wind up stymied by forces beyond their power to control.

In the case of Nam Ha-neul (Park Shin-hye), her career as an anaesthesiologist plateaus early when her superior keeps stealing her hard work and making sure she gets passed over for promotion.

Park Hyung-sik (left) as Jeong-woo and Park Shin-hye as anaesthesiologist Nam Ha-neul in a still from Doctor Slump.

Yeo Jeong-woo (Park Hyung-sik), on the other hand, excels with a successful plastic surgery practice and a major fan base, thanks to the popularity of his online videos and his benevolent social media presence.

But his good fortune comes crashing down on top of him when he is framed for medical malpractice after a Chinese casino heiress suddenly dies on his operating table.

Both characters, who were competitive adversaries in high school, suddenly find each other again as adults at their lowest points, after Jeong-woo unknowingly moves into the rooftop flat above Ha-neul when his court case forces him to sell his flat.

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Ha-neul is diagnosed with clinical depression and, after quitting her job, she decides to take a break. Her family, especially her mother (guilty that she may have pushed her daughter too hard), try to be understanding. They even throw Ha-neul a misguided “depression party”, serving up foods that they have read are good for depression.

Meanwhile, Jeong-woo eventually learns that he is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the death on his operating table. Even after being exonerated and joining the clinic of his pal Bin Dae-young (Yoon Park), he continues to struggle, finding it hard to steady his hands and perform surgery.

Story-wise, that is pretty much it throughout the 10 episodes of Doctor Slump that have aired so far.

Park Hyung-sik as Jeong-woo in a still from Doctor Slump.

Instead, the show focuses on Ha-neul and Jeong-woo as they become each other’s greatest supporters through long drinking sessions or impromptu trips. One of those journeys sees them drive cross country to the East Sea, a classic image of escapism in Korean media.

Disconnecting from the world around them, the pair rely increasingly on one another. This is especially true of Jeong-woo, who at one point bristles at the suggestion of seeing a psychiatrist (“I’m not that weak”), only to reverse that position in the very next scene. A few episodes later he tells Ha-neul: “You’re like my anxiety medication.”

Doctor Slump’s exploration of mental health in the modern Korean workplace is undoubtedly well-meaning, and certainly more level-headed than the more sensational depictions of bipolar disorder in the recently concluded melodrama My Happy Ending, but its message might have more impact if it was tied to a more robust story.

Park Shin-hye as Ha-neul in a still from Doctor Slump.

There is still time for that to change, but with only six episodes to go, the end of the runway is in sight.

Doctor Slump is streaming on Netflix.

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