A series of one-shot stories between Dr. Baek Kang Hyuk (Ju Jihoon) and Dr. Song Hye Joo (Song Hyekyo)
When Dr. Baek’s former med school rival, Dr. Song Hyejoo, joins the trauma center team, his usual composure is shaken—just a little competitive, and maybe a little shy. As they face emergencies together, they learn to work in sync, and they rediscover something they never dared explore before.
This will be a series of one-shot stories between Dr. Baek Kang-hyuk and Dr. Song Hye-joo (my OC; played by Song Hyekyo, because why not. Also I badly need the casting directors to pair them for a romcom or melo drama together 👉🏻👈🏻).
It’s not a story where everything is in chronological order or a continuation of what happened to the previous chapters. It’s like a series of moments.
Might include a chapter with their backstory in university and when they met again after many years when Dr. Song is introduced as the new addition to the trauma center team before I upload a series of chapter moments between them ><
I tried to keep Dr. Baek Kang-hyuk’s character as similar and accurate as I can, but you know what, 🎀 I’m just a girl 🎀 who wants to see him be a little clumsy and shy around his (secret) crush. So if it’s a little inaccurate or if you think it’s out of character, then I’m so sorry asdfsghjkg ;—; but isn’t it fun to imagine the cool (sexy) hot-tempered doctor become a fool in love for someone? Like a total loser. Frankly it’s my favorite character trope. He’s all mean and scowly with other people, and then he absolutely melts and malfunctions when a beautiful, strong, and intelligent woman (a.k.a his long-time crush) comes near him.
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy it!!🥹 I’ve already written A LOT of random chapters. And I might also include a little bit of nsfw, or maybe just suggestive, IDK I have no experience in writing sensual scenes, I feel like it’s gonna sound cringey when I do it wish me luck🥲👍🏻
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I just watched Trauma Code, because it was short and I wanted something I could zip through.
Fun Kdrama. Zippy and fast paced and the stories and characters were nice. The medical effects were good too. They looked real enough that I told @abarero I didn’t think she could do this one. The show didn’t skimp on the level of blood and guts you’d probably see in a trauma center, and none of it looks goofy. Also the sounds ew lol.
ML is kind of an impossibly prodigious Gary Stu, but no more so than someone like Gregory House, and less so than someone like Shen Yi from Under the Skin. That’s just pretty typical for this genre. He was enjoyable to watch!
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I finished watching it in 2 weeks ( i was super busy). But the series was good. The Characters were very different from what i have seen in other dramas.
I also enjoyed watching the mentor - student dynamic that they have, gave multiple learnings and comedic moments.
As the episodes went on, I felt more and more close to the characters and hoped for their success. Keep in mind there are many wtf moments, that make you question your sanity.... but sometimes you need such kind of content and then again, there is only so much you can do in an 8 episode series.
It was fun and fresh, If you are a fan of hospital dramas this one should be on your list.
I'm going to be critical for a minute because I would like to talk about kdramas' most prevalent disease: the overexplaining. You've heard of showing instead of telling? Get ready for showing, showing again, telling, telling again, and showing while telling!
I'm unsure whether it helps with the runtime (gotta reach that 60 minute mark somehow!) or if it's just laziness on the writers/directors' part but the following have become my biggest pet-peeves:
repetitive flashbacks
obvious and unnecessary dialogue
off screen narration
info dumps
characters talking to themselves (this one is not expanded on below lol, it's too specific)
Sometimes, the same points are hammered in so many different ways, it truly feels absurd. Do they think we can't understand basic parallels?
I started watching Trauma Code and The Witch, and I think they both are perfect candidates to use as examples to illustrate my argument. Note: to be fair, I've seen way worse, but they're the two most recent shows I've watched with these issues, so my memory is fresh, that's all.
It's very easy to pinpoint the exact moment a scene goes overboard in terms of storytelling. In Trauma Code, most of the key scenes where character development happens are not allowed to just simply play out without being bogged down with one, or several, of the pet peeves mentioned above. It saps any subtlety and lightness out of the scene—thus impacting overall pace and rhythm.
EXAMPLE 1 - TRAUMA CODE, EPISODE 2 (around 30min mark)
The two titular doctors, Dr Baek and Dr Han are fighting over Jae-won, a junior doctor, who they want as their protégé. Jae-won is overwhelmed about having to make a choice and can only stand by and watch as the two seniors battle it out childishly.
This is how the scene unfolds (and where it should have ended):
The seniors are verbally arguing
Cuts to the nurses gossiping about who Jae-won will choose between credentials (Dr Han) or skills (Dr Baek)
Cuts back to the office where Jae-won has trouble choosing and his gaze drifts to all the diplomas, success photos, and other achievements hanging on the wall of Dr Han's office
Dr Baek, the trauma expert, quietly notices Jae-won being swayed by all that.
Pause! This is where I think the scene should have gone differently. No more dialogue on the subject, just have Dr Baek scoff and leave, seemingly disappointed in Jae-won for hesitating; straight to the next scene, this time in Dr Baek's office. Why? Because in Dr Baek's office, he has his own "success wall shelf," with his photos and memorabilia, which we've seen him start to unpack a little bit before in the episode. And his photos obviously tell a very different story, and paint a different picture. The juxtaposition of the two scenes (actually, the three scenes, if you count the one with him unpacking) would have been enough to SHOW why Jae-won—who has followed Dr Baek out of Dr Han's office—would choose this doctor instead of the other one. But they chose the opposite of being subtle.
Instead, this is how the actual scenes goes - before he leaves, Dr Baek:
loudly and superfluously remarks, à propos of the wall, "Not one photo with a patient..."
then, follows a brief dialogue exchange where he berates Jae-won for having trouble choosing—Dr Baek prefers a doctor who will not waste precious time like that when life is on the line.
That first point is completely superfluous, as we've already seen Dr Baek's unpacking the photos AND we will see him reminisce about the people he saved right after, when he's in his own office with Jae-won. The second part—the dialogue—can easily be transposed to the next scene for better flow, in Dr Baek's office, where he goes over his achievements and Jae-won can relate to him, finally.
It's hard to explain, but if you watch the two scenes in their entirety, I think it's pretty clear how they could be edited differently to make sure the extra stuff doesn't hinder the story, and to avoid being so heavy-handed, almost "didactic." The audience naturally infers things; the "clues" are there. I GET IT. Don't explain it to me, this is a TV show, not a school presentation.
EXAMPLE 2 - TRAUMA CODE, END OF EPISODE 2
This scene was a nice way to (almost) end the episode and signify the beginning of Jae-won's start as a trauma surgeon, following his new mentor's lead.
The problem is... the scene doesn't end there. It continues with the double combo of off screen dialogue over flashbacks of scenes we've already seen—to really make sure we UNDERSTAND what we are seeing, I guess.
Because we've seen Jae-won sprint several times, in different scenes, long enough and with a focus on Dr Baek (via reaction shots), it is shown that Jae-won has the potential to be a good trauma surgeon and that Dr Baek notices it. The running is used, judiciously, as a signifier for his readiness for action, and his understanding of urgency. As the audience, we understand it's a core characteristic for Jae-won: he cares. And when Dr Baek plainly replies, "Cause you run well," it made sense! Because we have context; we can make the connection easily. A simple reaction shot of Jae-won having the expected emotion (surprise, or understanding, or whatever the script calls for) would have sufficed before moving on to the next scene. It would have been perfectly clear, and they would have kept the impact of that one-liner effect.
Instead, we get:
flashbacks with no added perspective (i.e they use the exact same shots from earlier in the show, slap a filter on it and call it a day)
Dr Baek's off-screen dialogue, "Every time I saw you, you were running." spoken directly to Jae-won and as we literally re-watch the aforementioned running flashbacks.
Right after, we get actual the closing scene for that episode: Jae-won internally monologues over a shot of him strutting behind Dr Baek as they walk through the trauma department, looking proud and ready for a new chapter in his life: (paraphrased) "Since then, I had a deep conviction in my heart. If I continue to do as I do now, and follow Dr Baek in his footsteps… I'll also become a doctor saving lives." I swear; remove that voice-over and nothing is lost: we understand exactly what is said, because we watch the action happen on screen, with NO WORDS SPOKEN. Because actors… are acting...
How tedious. How unnecessary. You know that feeling when someone says something and somebody next to them repeats the exact same thing? It's like... they just said that, damn.
EXAMPLE 3 - THE WITCH, EPISODES 1 & 2
Honestly, these first two eps were a mess of overexposition, bad pacing, and clumsy editing. They could have been condensed in one episode easily, making it more palatable.
They decided to start in the present only to spend 95% of ep1 and 2 in the past, through giant flashbacks. Why not just start your story in the past, and THEN, flashforward to the present? All the background info on characters and initial mystery can be set up in the first episode to create enough curiosity for us to watch more.
In episode 2, there is an entire flashback sequence where the female lead, Mi-jung, is experiencing shitty things (rejection at school, loneliness, fear, etc...) and Mi-jung's voice-over narrates... exactly what we're seeing on screen. Straight up, a shot of her crying over a student's death and her voice very helpfully explaining to the audience, "I felt guilty." Come on.
(By the way, this scene? Already shown in episode 1, in its entirety, but from the male lead perspective. What's that? Do they use different shots? No, the same ones.)
Or a scene where classmates are gossiping and suspicious of her because it seems like bad things keep happening to boys around her + her "helpful" voice-over going, "Unusual accidents kept happening at school." Yes... we just saw that... they just said that...
Or a montage of her at school being ostracized and boys keeping a wide berth, while she drones on that, "The guys who got hurt started avoiding me..." Wow, such insight.
And the funniest moment: when her classmate tells others that Mi-jung has to be a witch, and her voice-over goes, "Someone started a rumor about me being a witch..." OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!! Who is this off-screen narration for??????
In fact, they pushed the redundancy to its extremes to the point where ENTIRE scenes are repeated (with very little extra info) from one episode to the next. Same shots/angles and everything, just pure copy/paste. There is a slow-mo scene towards the end of episode 1 that is so unnecessary long (I timed it, it's FOUR MINUTES!!!!!) I have to suspect they were short of a few minutes to fill the episode. Watching the two eps back to back left me with a profound sense of emptiness. There was a lot of fluff and no substance, in terms of story telling.
ANYWAY.
Rant over. Sometimes, a character's thoughts should remain just that, thoughts. Voice-overs are absolutely valid, but they have a place and time (just like flashbacks). They only work when used in very specific instances, and I really think they should never ever be used as a "subtitle" or "caption" for the actor's work. I don't need translation. Same thing as when the writers make the characters talk to themselves so they can explicitly voice their thoughts/feelings...
This isn't theater. I'm not sitting all the way in the back, in the dark, unable to see the stage actor's expressions, unable to hear if they don't project their voice enough. I don't need loud asides to follow along. The camera is a storytelling tool in and of itself! It doesn't need much more, I SWEAR. It doesn't even have to be the best acting lol, as long as the emotion/meaning comes through—I'll take it from there. Anything added after or over that to "clarify/explain" feels tacked on, heavy, awkward, and imposing.
Sometimes, the watching experience for a drama is akin to the creative team pulling on my arm like crazy to shove me around like a reluctant child, so I go exactly where they want me to go; whereas to me, good writing and directing strives to be subtle enough to gently pull back the curtain on its characters and story, and leave some room for interpretation. Let me explore. That's it.
