Reasons why Hospital Playlist is a good post-work day show

Welcome to the first in my series of Korean drama (kdrama) reviews!

I’m noticing that Netflix (not affiliated, just curious) is slowly incorporating more kdramas into their platform. I know a lot of people might still be hesitant to dip their toes into the kdrama, not knowing what kind of experience they’re subscribing to.

So I’m here to wave away those cloud of doubts as an Experienced Kdrama Watcher and First Time Reviewer.

A quick synopsis

For those familiar with anime, this is a “slice of life” drama. For the uninitiated, a slice of life story includes snapshots of the day to day of the main character(s). In this case, the story centers around five doctors who have been friends since med school.

And why might you want to want to spend your life watching other people’s lives?

The beauty of slice of life — two stars and one wish

Star: Low drama, high connection

If you’ve heard anything about kdramas, you’ve probably heard that that drama part leads first. A show like The World Of the Married is stressful to watch because of (spoiler alert) conflicts, ongoing betrayals, arguments etc. Shows like that always keep you on edge, tense.

But after writing a large exam and having just made all the changes to my PhD to make it doable despite the pandemic, I needed a break. I didn’t want to feel the stress of another human being, I wanted a feel-good kind of show.

Hospital Playlist is just that. Yes (!), being a doctor is a high stress job, but the heartwarming part is the heart-warming support that these five doctors have for each other.

Despite their busy schedules, they always make the time to eat together.

(Read: lots of lovely food spread/ mukbang shots!)

I don’t have anyone quite like that, with most of my closest friends living in all corners of the world. It would be so cool to have a Squad like that.

They even have classic Kdrama set ups that typically devolve into conflicts, but instead resolve them in the most low-conflict way possible.

(Spoiler alert: one in particular is the classic “chaebol family head dies, inheritance fight begins”. Except in this one, each person decides what they truly want to do with their life and chase that, instead of the money, leaving the person who wanted to be in that position to take on the role.)

Star: Heartwarming relationships

Another thing I found truly beautiful in this kdrama was the depiction of connections: friendships, family, relationships.

This kdrama breaks depicts friendships across genders in a refreshing, supportive way.

In many kdramas, and honestly, in many tv shows, we see this common theme that a male and female friend always end up developing feelings for each other. The most refreshing part of this is being able to see a scene where this is actively debunked; where the male friend acted to protect the female friend just as a female friend would, without having it “come from a place from wanting to date her”.

This is my filter, but I truly believe that when people frame friendships with other genders as a “waiting spot” for developing further romantic relationships, it really takes away from the quality of the actual friendship. After all, the best friendships are ones without ulterior motives, and when you genuinely care for each other.

In a time where pandemic restrictions have made it really hard to connect regularly with friends, with most interactions being in the form of Zoom meetings, I found myself so grateful for these heartwarming friendship scenes. I miss my friends so much more, but recognize that in staying in, minimizing contact, we are protecting the exact people described in this show.

I am protecting my local Song Hwas, Ik Joons, Jung Wons, Joon Wan and Seok Hyungs. The doctors who work tirelessly to keep us safe, who sacrifice so much of their sleep and time so that we get access to healthcare.

Wish: more episodes

This season ended up being only 12 episodes, which is shorter than the average drama, which is up to 16 episodes long.

However, it’s not necessarily a short drama, considering that newer kdrama slots are no longer just 45 to 60 minutes; the episodes can be from 75 to 90 minutes, with the finale being 2 hours long!

The good news is that with Netflix picking up kdramas, more of them are being renewed for second seasons. Kdramas used to be only one season long. Now, shows like Vagabond, Love Alarm and yes, importantly, Hospital Playlist are being picked up for a second season.

I’m so excited to see how that turns out!

Because I’ll sure need some more post work day de-stressing writing my PhD thesis!

Author bio: Lucy (The Egg Girl) writes about mental health in academia, planning life hacks, and weird pieces that straddle between poetry and…memes. Now, apparently, she additionally writes about kdrama, in fully formed sentences, contrasting how she usually consumes this media: as livetweets (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. A thread of Hospital Playlist memories

Feel free to tweet me your thoughts about this kdrama!