Title: 뷰티풀 마인드 | Beutipul Maindeu | Beautiful Mind
Genre: Medical Drama | Mystery
Episodes: 14
Broadcast Network: KBS
Broadcast Period: June 20 to August 2, 2016

Synopsis:

Lee Young Oh has an anti-social disorder which is normally associated with the characteristic of a Psychopath. However, he pushed through with becoming one of the best surgeon in Korea. He’s been trying to learn how to be like everybody else but the odds are working against him especially when a series of murders begin to happen in the hospital where he works and he became one of the suspects of Gye Jin Sung. Gye Jin Sung is a traffic cop who undergone a heart bypass when she was younger and wanted to catch the killer and find justice for the death of one of the doctors who became like a second father to her, Dr. Shin Dong Jae. Gye Jin Sung quest for justice lead her to discover the true nature of Lee Young Oh, someone with a beautiful mind that reveals the true sense of being a doctor and a human being.

Characters:

• Jang Hyuk as Lee Young Oh
• Park So-Dam as Gye Jin Sung
• Yoon Hyun-Min as Hyun Suk-Joo
• Park Se-Young as Kim Min-Jae
• Heo Joon-ho as Lee Gun-Myung
• Kim Jong Soo as Shin Dong Jae
• Oh Jung-Se as Kang Hyun Joon
• Ryu Seung-Soo as Kim Myung Soo
• Gong Hyung-Jin as No Seung Chan
• Min Sung Wook as So Ji Yong
• Lee Jae-Ryong as Chae Soon Ho
• Ha Jae-Sook as Jang Moon Kyung
• Kim Do Hyun as Kwon Duk Joong
• Kim Hyung Kyu as Yang Sung Eun
• Jun Sung Woo as Hong Kyung Soo
• Mo Ri U as Lee Hye Joo
• Jung Moon Sung as Hwang Jeong Hwan
• Jo Jae Wan as Oh Kyung Jin
• Chang Ki Yong as Nam Ho Young
• Lee Sung Wook as Yoo Jang Bae
• Jung Hee Tae as Park Soo Beom
• Lee Si Won as Lee Si Hyeon
• Yeon Je Wook as Song Gi Ho
• Woo Jung Kook as Lee Kwang Bok
• Park Eun-hye as Shim Eun Ha
• Seo Jun-young as Lee Sang Joon
• Baek Seung-Hwan as Younger Lee Young Oh
• Park Ha Joon as Child Lee Young Oh
• Son Jong Hak as Oh Young Bae
• Jang Hyuk Jin as Kim Soo In
• Park Sun Cheon as Gye Jin Sung’s Mother
• Jo Byung Kyu as Gye Jin Sung’s Brother
• Lee Dong Kyu as Kang Chul Min
• Ryu Tae Ho as Coroner Yang
• Bang Dae Han as Dongjun
• Kim Beo Rae as Kang Il Do
• Heo Joon Suk as Hong Il Beom
• Baek Ji Won as Wife of Glioblastoma Patient on Episode 6
• Kang Eui Sik as Doctor in Countryside Clinic on Episode 7
• Kim Da Ye as Heart Transplant Patient on Episode 7
• Lee Jae Wook as Patient who Refused to Admit Drinking Alcohol after Surgery on Episode 9
• Hwang Tae Kwang as Choi Sang Hyuk
• Lee Do Hyun as Choi Yo Sub
• Lee Jae Woo as Jo Yoon Ho
• Seo Yoon Ah as Jo Yoon Ho’s wife
• Won Ki Joon as Yeom Kyun Ho
• Yang Hee Myung as Detective Chun
• Kim Hyun Sook as Secretary

My Review:

I watched this K-Drama because I got curious about the buzz of the unfairness of cutting this K-Drama’s number of episodes from 16 to 14. It seems a lot felt that this K-Drama is underrated, unappreciated and unjustly cut too short for what it truly deserve. Well, I must say after watching all the 14 episodes of this K-Drama, I felt the same way like all the rest. This K-Drama may not swoon me to the moon over like what DOTS (Descendant of the Sun) or Another Miss Oh or W did to me but it certainly deserves 16 episodes in comparison to a lot of K-Dramas currently out there. It has done a lot to deliver a crisp and interesting story with a lot of message for the audience to learn.

So, What do I Like About this K-Drama?

(1) I thought Doctors already delivered one of the best portrayal of medical drama, but, I was wrong. This one did as far as all medical dramas I’ve seen so far. What it did is it even raised the bar of making medical scenes more real than what Doctors delivered. If you’ve read any of my reviews, you know that it has always been one of my complaints in K-Dramas, the ignorance on how they portray medical scenes and DOTS is not even an exception. This K-Drama for all intents and purposes did their homework, although, they still falter on certain scenes but at least like the character, Dr. Lee Gun-Myung , this K-Drama did its very best and for that reason alone I already like this K-Drama.

(2) Jang Hyuk as Lee Young Oh is perfect on this K-Drama. He has truly carried the entire drama to make it great and entertaining. He truly did such an exceptional work and for this reason I felt bad that KBS didn’t recognize and appreciate Jang Hyuk’s work on this K-Drama. I love Kim Rae-Won in Doctors but Jang Hyuk deserve a better accolade, if I am to compare both medical drama’s leading men on acting per se.

(3) I enjoy the mystery element of the K-Drama. It broke the tedious boring habit of how Korean dramas portray politics within the working place. There’s even a scene I considered special because it totally took me by surprise. It is the scene during a mortality conference. It took me aback to know who betrayed Lee Young Oh and stood as a witness against him. The betrayal was so intense that I truly felt a lot of emotions during the scene. I normally don’t take the character’s evil deeds personally but this one I did. For someone who’s been betrayed not just once but a couple of times by people who “supposedly” love you is truly a painful experience, thus, I indeed feel for Lee Young Oh.

(4) I enjoy the supporting characters of the 5 doctors, So Ji-Yong, Kwon Duk-Joong, Yoo Jang-Bae, Oh Kyung-Jin, and Hwang Jung-Hwan. They are comic relief that doesn’t irritate me unlike other supporting roles from other K-Dramas that do.

(5) If there’s one brilliant thing about Korean dramas, it is its ability to render messages about people and life in such an effective manner packaged in good entertainment. We, as people, truly judge others so easily and we often think that being good is easy but it really isn’t. In fact, I’ve always said that being good is one of the hardest challenge we face every single day. Sometimes what we think is good is not really good for others in the end and we do it more often than not for our own selfish gratification.

What I do Not Like About this K-Drama?

This K-Drama is not totally perfect but it is one good show. Unfortunately, Park So-Dam as Gye Jin Sung didn’t succeed in building a connection with me. In fact on the first few episodes, she kinda irritated me but, her character doesn’t really play a lot of weight on whether the story will be good or not except being the pivotal figure of Lee Young Oh’s wanting to be a better human being and doctor. She became okay at the latter part but still wish her character was played by another actress. Thank goodness for the brilliant acting of Jang Hyuk, that every flaws on this K-Drama became inconsequential.

Would I recommend this K-Drama? Yes.

My Rating to this Drama
( See My Rating System: ) 4/5 Stars

OST:
01. Dirt (먼지) – Bernard Park
Play Me:

02. I’ll Hold You (안아줄께) – Nu Ri

For Lyrics in English, Romanization and Hangul, CLICK HERE