Hospital Playlist ended its first season with a bang!
tvN’s Hospital Playlist hit its best personal rating with a record of 14.1% viewership for its finale last May 28, 2020. Thus, the series became the ninth highest-rated Korean drama in cable television history.
The series has been consistent with its high ratings and a weekly trending Twitter topic as well.
It’s no surprise that Hospital Playlist is everyone’s favorite. It has an amazing storyline, great teamwork by Director Shin Won Ho and Writer Lee Woo Jung, and the realistic portrayal of each character brought to you by the amazing cast.
Hospital Playlist is definitely a heartwarming drama you need.
Hospital Playlist is composed of 12 episodes which are shorter than the average K-dramas and every episode runs for approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes. With that short number of episodes and long-running time, trust me, you’ll still want more!
Even the finale runs for exactly 1 hour and 53 minutes! With that long finale episode, fans were left satisfied and happy!
Hospital Playlist tells the story of five doctors, all in their 40’s, whose friendship dates back to their pre-med years.
The drama shows the lives of the five doctors in and out of the hospital.
In case you didn’t know, Hospital Playlist is part of the Wise Life series directed and written by Shin Won Ho and Lee Woo Jung, respectively.
The first installment is Prison Playbook, also called Wise Prison Life and the second installment is Hospital Playlist, also called Wise Doctor Life.
If you ask me, I can list plenty of reasons why you should watch Hospital Playlist but here are 10 reasons why Hospital Playlist is THAT drama:
1. The lovable characters
You will love our five main casts! Each of them has this lovable personality that you’ll definitely hold on to.
They are all doctors who work at Yulje Medical Center. They are great doctors who care so much about their patients, but their personalities are all different.
Lee Ik-jun (played by Cho Jung-seok) is an assistant professor of general surgery, is the funny one. He has a son named Uju, who is so adorable!
Ahn Jeong-won (played by Yoo Yeon-seok) is an assistant professor of pediatric surgery, who loves kids so much.
Chae Song-hwa (played by Jeon Mi-do) is an associate professor of neurosurgery, is the only girl and moderator of the group.
Kim Jun-wan (Jung Kyung-ho) is a chief professor of cardiothoracic surgery, is very blunt but actually cares for everyone.
Yang Seok-hyeong (Kim Dae-myeung) is an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology surgery, is awkward but a loving son.
Aside from our main cast, there are many characters inside and outside the hospital too. We’ll also get to see their stories and their roles to the main cast.
2. #FriendshipGoals
I especially love it when a K-drama shows a great friendship among the characters. The friendship of our main cast is going on for 20 years and counting.
Some of them have already known each other since their childhood like Ik-jun and Jun-wan, Jeong-won, and Seok-hyeong.
Their friendship goes way back when they all met in their pre-med years while they are all escaping a gathering. It seems like they were all destined to meet that day!
And since Song-hwa is the only girl in the group, some, or maybe all, of the guys have had crushes on her in the past.
But their friendship is much more important than that. They are always there for each other no matter what life brings them. Whether it be a friend who has a cancer scare, goes through a divorce, or has a sick family member. Each one of them has different ways of showing their love and care.
They have each other’s back no matter what. Totally #FriendshipGoals!
3. A refreshing take on medical dramas
If you’ve been watching medical dramas long enough, you know that they can be overdramatic at times. But since Hospital Playlist is a feel-good and lighthearted drama, it will be different from what you’re used to.
There’s no corporate and political war, and no bad hospital director (we actually love our hospital director Ju Jong-su). The medical emergencies are not as extreme and there’s no unnecessary panic in the hospital. Everything is just chill, but you can still see how life in hospital works.
Additionally, the story of each patient is also being told but they don’t extend for too long. They’re short but it’s something that will tug your heartstrings.
And most importantly, all of the characters have lives outside of the hospital. That’s where the 4th reason comes in.
4. The band
Their band is what I always look forward to every week. They sing different songs every episodes!
In case you didn’t know, some of the cast actually plays instruments while some took their time to learn for the drama. Talk about dedication! That’s what makes their characters more authentic!
Each song they play, there’s a backstory relating to their life experiences even from when they were young.
Even with their busy schedules as doctors, they still find ways to hangout together and play music!
Watch all of their band performances in the video below:
5. Funny scenes
The humor comes naturally in each character. From the beginning of the drama, we’ve already seen Ik-jun in that Darth Vader incident wherein he had to operate wearing that.
It doesn’t show on the premise, but Hospital Playlist is a bit funny. The drama has the right balance between the heavy moments with the light comedy.
Watch this video for the funny scenes from the drama:
6. It’s unpredictable
We never know what’s going to happen next!
For instance, even from the get-go, we don’t know who’s gonna end up with who. We see different love lines from the characters.
You just have to watch and see what’s going to happen!
It’s a beautiful process to see what will happen next and what the next episode unfolds.
7. The ships
Of course, there’s some romance involved too!
Like what I mentioned, you never know who’s gonna end up with who. Throughout the drama, you’re gonna ship the characters, and eventually, you’ll end up happy! You have to watch the drama and you’ll see what I’m talking about!
8. Beautiful OST
I am so in love with the drama’s official soundtrack!
The drama features the best line up of songs. Most songs are renditions of classic songs such as Aloha, Confession Is Not Flashy, and Me To You, You To Me, which the main cast sang themselves!
They even formed their own band called Mido and Falasol!
And last June 4, Mido and Falasol held their first live stream performance on Youtube! Watch them perform some of the songs from the drama!
9. The cameos and familiar faces
Cameos are unexpected and funny at the same time!
There are plenty of familiar faces you’ll see in this drama especially from the Reply series, thanks to the creators!
10. There’s season 2!
It has been confirmed that Hospital Playlist is coming back next year for another season!
We are all satisfied with the ending, but we want more!
I can’t wait for the season 2 and excited to see how the story is going to flow!
Have I convinced you yet? Go watch Hospital Playlist now!
Hospital Playlist is available on Netflix! Watch it here!
Images courtesy of Netflix