Korean Drama Review: BRAIN

by hersheygo

Since I’m in between jobs right now, I recently picked up this Korean medical drama called Brain. It’s from KBS2, and it stars Shin Ha Kyung. It was shown in 2011, and when I was trying to find a review of it on the internet, I couldn’t find any. I found this disappointing as dramas far less outstanding than Brain receive a whole slew of reviews every day. I felt that it was my responsibility to come up with a review for it, but as I haven’t reviewed dramas or movies that much, I doubt I’ll be able to come up with a detailed and comprehensive article. But I’m going to do my best.

Brain is a drama about neurosurgeons. But not neurosurgeons and their daily lives in general. It focuses on a neurosurgeon, the protagonist/antagonist of our drama. His name is Lee Gang Hun (played by Shin Ha Kyung, a recent Korean actor discovery for me—more raves about him as I go along with the article) and he is not your regular neurosurgeon. He’s arrogant, confident, a pain-in-the-ass, overbearing neurosurgeon who is very ambitious, but at the same time he’s one of the best neurosurgeons in town. As a matter of fact, Lee Gang Hun is second best, as the best neurosurgeon was one of his professors, Prof. Gim Sang Chul (played by Jun Jin Young).

I’m not going to tell the story, but here’s a quick synopsis of the drama: Lee Gang Hun is a man who is as smart as he is hardworking. In every brain surgery he performs, he does his best and does unconventional treatments and procedures that Prof. Gim Sang Chul and the other neurosurgeons often protest about. However, Lee Gang Hun is some sort of a genius and he’s never felt unsure of any procedure he’s done before. He does all brain surgeries successfully, but even though he’s the best in his batch, hospital politics refrained him from having the position he’s been aiming for—Assistant Neurosurgeon Professor, and instead, this was given to his financially-advantageous nemesis (whose dad also happens to be a high-ranking Korean doctor). Feeling the prejudice of everything, our antagonist/protagonist then does everything to get the position of Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery.

I was hooked by second episode of the drama series. I was hooked, not by the story, but by the edge-of-seat-scenes when they performed neurosurgery (the music helped a lot too, it kept your heart pumping as the critical stages of the surgery happened.) But what drew my attention most was Shin Ha Kyung’s performance. He was brilliant in this drama. He was Lee Gang Hun, he was an arrogant surgeon, and my eyes were riveted on him whenever he was onscreen. He brought out feelings in me—I admired him when he was being a perfectionist, I hated him when he was being an ahole, I loved him when he showed his inner feelings, I pitied him when he was at the lowest point of his life, and I felt triumph as he got back on the horse and sat higher than ever before. Before this drama, I’ve never heard of Shin Ha Kyung, and suddenly I couldn’t get enough of him. I had the Shin Ha Kyung syndrome, and I needed my fill of him at least once a day.

The drama would have been enough to get me interested just by their main actor, but it delivered in other ways too. Other characters and leads were given cute short stories as the series went along, and their characteristics added a comedic and sweet touch to the drama. I found the love story between the nurse and the neurosurgeon really addictive, as well as Shin Ha Kyung’s sisters love story with the young, cute, narcoleptic, bespectacled 1st year neurosurgeon adorable (in fact, I’m hoping they get to y have their own drama soon, with them as the lead). I also couldn’t take my eyes off the handsome neurosurgeon whose ambition caused his loyalty to falter and regret his decisions at the end.

Brain’s storyline is not that original, or even outstanding. However, the scenes, the acting, and the music were what made me rave for it. Shin Ha Kyung consistently acted well—in fact, acting-wise, he’s my most favorite Korean actor as of the moment, and I know I’ll never forget this drama because of him.  The drama has a punch to it, and until the last episode, you’ll find yourself crying at sad scenes and laughing at comedic scenes and feeling triumph at the last scene. It’s absolutely amazing, and all I can do is gush about it even though I haven’t finished it yet. Lee Gang Hun’s love life is also a major highlight in this series—his love interest, Yoon Ji Hye, played by the youthful-looking Choi Jung Won, never once wavered her love for him, and the love story was not overrated at all. It was kind of low-key, which made it much sweeter and cuter.  No big confessions of love, or tear-jerking reunions. Instead, what they showed was sincerity in every scene. Shin Ha Kyung had good chemistry with his co-star, and their love scenes are really cute and funny and dorky, in some way. It’s fun watching Lee Gang Hun trying to suppress his feelings, and come on, an arrogant perfectionist falling in love—you’ll know that’s one of the things to look forward to in this drama.

Brain makes you feel all emotions. It has all the characteristics you’ll love in a drama. It’s funny but not in a trying-hard-to-be-funny way. It’ll make you cry and laugh at the same time. The music will also sweep you off your feet at times, and endings or climaxes will make you grit your teeth. I recommend you to have the whole 20 episodes first before you start watching—you might bang your head over the wall when an episode finishes and you don’t have the next one right away. This drama has a lot of heart, in fact, it’s an epic drama, and I can totally understand why it won the 2011 KBS Drama Awards and why Shin Ha Kyung won Best Actor.

Other reasons to watch this drama include: You’ll learn a little bit about surgery, I think most of you will even aspire to become a surgeon once you start watching it, ha-ha. Also, all the characters are good-looking in their own way, but you can watch out for Jo Dae Shik played by Shim Hyum Tak, Dong Seung Man (the most good-looking one for me) played by Lee Seung Joo and adorable Yeo Bong Goo, played by Kwon Se in, my personal favorites. But no matter how handsome these guys are, they’ll never compare to Shin Ha Kyung, whom I have given the moniker, the God of all Korean Actors for the meantime, since he will now forever hold a small part of my heart.  I also love his eyes which convey all his emotions amazingly—and if you do watch this drama, don’t forget to notice how pink and smooth-looking his lips are. He also has an amazing body, his clothes fit him really well—he is just really damn good-looking, illuminated a hundredfold by his acting prowess.

Anyway, I really, really recommend this drama. It’s one of my favorites and I ensure that you’ll get addicted with just a few episodes. I’ve already raved about it to my Mom, a Korean drama addict herself, and I’m also forcing my younger sister, who’s not much of a Korean drama fan, to watch it, too. In fact, I want everybody to watch it and see for themselves what I’m talking about!  I have no doubt that Shin Ha Kyung will sweep you off your feet once you watch it!