Sunday, November 3, 2013

DOCTOR X ~ GEKAI DAIMON MICHIKO















Fall 2012

Doctor X - Gekai Daimon Michiko is a drama about a talented freelance surgeon named Michiko Daimon (Ryoko Yonekura) who is hired at Teito University Hospital during a time when the medical landscape is undergoing drastic changes. Specifically, university hospitals are suffering from a drop in talented medical staff including surgeons who are quitting due to harsh working conditions. Dr. Daimon has amazing skills as a surgeon, but she hardly cares about office politics and the power struggles that other doctors are intently focused on. Due to her ill-mannered nature and her unwillingness to do work that is not necessary for anyone with a medical license, she quickly develops an image of being anti-social and selfish. Still, her skills as a surgeon is unmatched and the hospital must turn to her for help. Unfortunately, as she tries to go about her business, the medical staff tie her to a dark mystery which may lead to her downfall. Is she the infamous Doctor X?

Recommendation: (Spoilers are contained below) This was quite an exciting medical drama and I do recommend it because it's definitely not boring. After watching it, I really wanted to give it 5 crowns, but something about it was amiss which I will delve into later. I really liked the story due to various themes about power struggles, hierarchical structures, ethics, and gender roles in the workplace. There is also an interesting mystery aspect to the drama that played out well. The character, Michiko Daimon grew on me and I empathized with her situation and why she chose her current lifestyle. Each episode ended in a way that left me wanting to watch another episode to see how she could help save another life. I think the acting was average though and I wasn't sure why Yonekura Ryoko won the academy award for best actress. She wasn't bad, but I thought she wasn't really great either. I also couldn't stand Kaneko Terayama, the HR manager played by Shigeru Muroi. She was just annoying. The director did do a good job making this an exciting drama, especially since the viewer cannot tell what is going on during surgery scenes. Of course this drama is fiction and I'm not a doctor so I don't truly know how talented Dr. Daimon really is and whether or not other doctors could diagnose and perform surgery the way she does, but the drama pulled me in and I was hooked. I don't want to be picky but, there were some specific things I didn't like about the drama which I blame the director for. I got a little tired hearing the narration about the current challenges facing university hospitals during every episode. I didn't think that was necessary. Also, in the last episode, I just couldn't believe that Chairman Teshihagara could prevent every media member observing the surgery done by Dr. Daimon on Dr. Torii from printing it in the paper. I mean one media member did print it, but that member was from a gossip magazine and he was paid by the chairman to do so. Finally, what really gets to me is the fact that Dr. Busujima had ample opportunity to destroy the surgery consent form signed by Dr. Torii, but instead he hid it in a book? That to me was a strange mistake and one that I just couldn't excuse. Dr. Busujima knew how valuable that document was and hiding it was just foolhardy. So, despite the drama being a must see in my opinion, I can't give it a top notch rating. I am going to watch the second season which is currently airing. I hope the script is a bit tighter than the first.

Story: 1.0
Acting: 0.5
Directing: 0.5
Character Development: 1.0
Emotional Factor: 1.0

4.0 Out Of 5.0 Crowns

No comments:

Post a Comment