Tara contacted me because she had Many Wonderful Things to say about Healer, a Korean drama she fell in absolute squee-love with. Read on to learn more!
Hi, this is TaraR, and I’m a pretty regular lurker at the website. I also absolutely love the podcast. I don’t usually do this, but having finished watching my very first Korean drama series, I just had to rave about it to a romance fan, because I know no one else will get it. So apologies in advance for the squee-age that follows.
So, long story short, I got bullied into watching this show called “Healer” by a friend who is knee deep in the Hallyu wave and mad about Korean shows. I don’t know what I was expecting, really, but it certainly wasn’t this. It was fast, and suspenseful, with cliffhanger episode endings, while being unusually character-driven for a plot-heavy series.
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The story centers around three very different characters: a “night-courier” (I read this to mean mercenary who’ll do any job you need doing for an obscene amount of money) who’s real name is Seo Jung Hoo but goes by the code name Healer; an internet entertainment/tabloid reporter Chae Young Shin; and the older famous star reporter Kim Moon Hoo.
Beginning with the introduction of these characters and their lives, the audience is immediately made aware of some past connection between them through a photograph of 5 friends that reappears from time to. As the series progresses, these three characters find themselves linked together (and to the people in the photograph) in unexpected and shocking (read: exciting) ways, while trying to uncover a mystery from 20 years ago which resurfaces and exposes their connections to one another. I canNOT say any more than this ’cause I don’t wanna spoil it, (and seriously, everything is a spoiler after the first episode) but structure-wise the narrative was pretty perfect. Although I felt that the ending was a bit rushed and could have done with even ten more minutes of epilogue, there weren’t any loose ends or unresolved conflicts. The writer of the show, Song Ji-Nah, is apparently very well known in Korean television for her highly rated award winning dramas and series. As one reviewer noted and I agree, this series in particular was a writer’s drama rather than a director’s drama.
Yes, the romance was a prominent part of the plot and really not separable from it, but I am most impressed by how the mystery and suspense aspect of the story unfolded alongside it.
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Here’s what I appreciated: the story never went for the easy instances of prolonged pointless made-up angst. Not only did it have enough real angst and conflict generated by events beyond the control of the present day characters, but incidents and scenes moved along at a fast clip, meaning that moments of anxiety, guilt, anger or depression were given only enough time and space to make a proper impression before the plot hurried along to what’s next. Time wasn’t wasted, for example, on misunderstandings that might be cleared up if people only talked. Yes, a lot of people are hiding a lot of things, and that’s at the center of the mystery plot, but those secrets come out one after another at a good pace and it was great watching the fallout from each rather than spending most of the time in “Why don’t you figure it out already?!” zone.
The romance was just too good for words, simply because even the smallest details about the characters are slowly explained in the course of the story. At the beginning, the hero’s dream is to amass enough money to buy a private island in the South Seas where he can retire in peace, far from human civilization. We ultimately learn how he arrived to this point in his life where he wishes for such total isolation and disconnection. I loved how his encounter with the heroine and her “normal” world of “normal” people brings him out of this self-imposed isolation and pushes him to connect.
Towards the beginning of the story we see Healer and his alter ego as separate compartmentalized personas: the bumbling reporter-in-disguise Park Bong Soo and the rebellious devil-may-care Healer. But with each episode, the personas begin to blend together until Park Bong Soo begins to act decidedly Healer-like or Healer has moments of awkward clumsiness. By the end of the series, the audience is made to feel that the different aspects of the character have been reconciled into one Seo Jung Hoo. I think it’s safe to say that the hero was the best part of the series for me. Actor Ji Chang Wook is alternately adorable as Park Bong Soo and a total badass as the Healer. I want to make a poster of his smirk and hang it on my wall.
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The heroine I liked a little less. She had a few TSTL moment, I’ll be honest, and I didn’t like her for her so much as for how HE saw her–as someone who is upbeat and optimistic despite the trauma and pain that life has thrown her way in the past. Her initial representation as a quirky carefree tabloid reporter is very quickly stripped away to reveal the childhood trauma it serves to hide. It felt a bit ham-handed at the beginning, and quite out of the blue, but it all falls into place as a part of the larger story and what happened 20 years ago. If there was ever any moment where something did not make sense or questions remained unanswered, it was not so for long. Even the reason behind the heroine’s penchant for singing at random moments is given some context. There’s no sex scenes or even any nudity, really, but the longing and attraction just play out so well across the scenes that I never missed them. In fact, the one scene where the hero and heroine are in bed was so unbearably sweet I had to pause and giggle to myself for a bit.
The character of Kim Moon Ho, the famous and older reporter, was brilliant. Caught between wanting to uncover the truth about a 20 year-old incident and his loyalty to the brother who raised him, his character’s journey is truly complelling in the sense that he finds out the difference between just thinking you have principles and having those principles tested. His character is the one faced with the bigger moral dillemmas and the greater struggle. I liked that he doesn’t always come off perfect and does in fact make mistakes along the way. An argument can be made that he is infact the real hero of the show. Actor Yoo Ji-Tae just pulls it off so well.
But my favorite character has GOT to be that of wild-haired foul-mouthed Jo Min Ja, the hacker extraordinaire who is Healer’s boss.
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(the polite honorific for a middle-aged woman, roughly translates to madam) through most of the series, Healer has never met or even seen her, although the audience does from the get go. Her signature cackle, crotchety asides, acerbic observations and comments, all delivered directly into Healer’s earpiece, added an interesting levity to even tense scenes.
And yes. All of that in 20 episodes. So I guess to American viewers it would be a miniseries? But that’s just semantics. To me it was a 20 hour movie that I just couldn’t stop watching. It was a refreshing break from 24-episode-seasons of shows that never wanna end. I watched the whole thing on YouTube (which has not so good resolution but pretty decent subtitles) but I am told that it should be available on DVD in Asian stores.
Sarah: Ok, so do you want to watch this? BECAUSE I DO. HOW DO WE FIND THIS?! I asked Tara, and said, “I’m guessing the YouTube version is not exactly legal, right?”
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Tara: Yeah, legality is a major problem with Asian programming. We get Korean channels as a part of the package where I live so I try not to feel too bad about hunting for good subtitled episodes online. Only a few really popular shows ever get released on DVD here after being aired.
Plus, good English subtitled videos are mostly found on fansites (i.e. illegally) where fans take on the translating and transcribing themselves. I have heard some of the highest rated ones tend to appear on Netflix for a limited period of time so you can check there. It will be under “subgenres” category I’m told (Netflix is not available in my country). I can also see pre-order links on certain Asian websites which might be an option–here’s one that lists June 2015 as a release date for a director’s cut version in blu-ray.
For people who just want to try a preview, the YouTube links might be an option. But I advise against it… the first 30 minutes hooked me but goooood.
K Drama Time Machine:
Are you a fan of Korean television shows? Any legal means that you’re aware of to find and watch the shows you’re curious about?
Amanda found it on DramaFever, which is most
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