Daily Dose of Sunshine Indeed --- This is why I am drawn to K-dramas

Wow, just wow, I am overwhelmed by this drama. What a gem! The story, the acting, the cinematography, the imagery, the colors, the brilliant and creative visuals inside the minds of those who have mental illness and those working so hard to help them reach that healthy spectrum and how it affects them mentally but most importantly emotionally. Where to start: I will begin with the story and the message and then talk about the different actors who touched me throughout the journey. I loved how it loudly and clearly called to attention how thin the line is between mental health and mental illness and how important it is to understand that mental health is a scale, and there is no clear-cut line between what is considered normal and abnormal. We all experience various emotions and struggles in life, and seeking help is not a sign of weakness but rather a courageous act of self-care. I read somewhere that has stayed with me where the writer said that mental health is a continuum, and we all fall somewhere along the spectrum. Another thing that this drama did very well is bring much-needed awareness to the importance of quality health caregiving, spending time with patients, listening to them, interacting with them, and not just giving out prescriptions to maximize time.

I was particularly drawn and impressed by this message -- asking for help is not a weakness, no matter how much a taboo it may be, and debunking the idea that mental health is only relevant when one is struggling with a mental illness. I loved the message, I loved the delivery, and I loved the importance of clarity of the message. I also loved how it raised the question of who cares for mental health carers, from doctors to nurses. The show did a great deal of showing snippets of this with trainee Nurse Ji Seung Jae and others. But the best was how it gradually showed the bond caregivers create with patients while helping ease their mental illness and the constant exposure to human suffering, and sometimes death can lead to mental illness. Jung Da Eun's loss and how she tethered the mental health scale was, to me, the core of this drama. And how her mind naturally decided to lean into Kim Seo Wan's world for her grief was a touch of brilliance. Just because someone (doctor, nurse, layman) may seem perfectly normal on the outside, it doesn't mean they aren't suffering from a hidden mental illness, and it doesn't mean they are crazy; it just means that life has become so difficult to handle that they lose touch with reality for some time and need help finding their way back. How long that takes doesn't matter; what matters is that they make it back all the way.

Now, actors Park Bo Young, Yeon Woo Jin, and Jang Dong Yoon were brilliant together; their friendship with each other separately and eventually together was uplifting to watch, as was Chang Ryul as Doctor Hwang Yeo Hwan—his struggle with love and acceptance along with Nurse Lee Hye Won. Her mother is an entirely different story. It seems every K-drama must have one of those; I have come to accept it. I wish the message with those types of mothers, fathers, and siblings is to cut ties with the toxicity. Just because they are family doesn't mean they deserve to be in your life. I wish to see this loud and clear in kdramas and pray it translates to life, back to Bo Young, Woo Jin, and Dong Yoon, among others. I loved the bond they had as kids and how they built on that and, in adulthood, worked in the same field more or less and cared for each other's mental health, be it in a professional or personal setting. I don't typically like how kdrama depicts love triangles because it doesn't do it correctly. A love triangle is when one person in a romantic relationship with someone is at the same time pursuing or involved in a romantic relationship with someone else. It is not a love triangle when one person loves a second person, who loves a third person; to me, that's just unrequited love. But that's just how I see it. That said, I loved how neither of them, especially Song Yu Chan, let it come in the way of his friendship with Jung Da Eun but, more importantly, Dong Go Yoon.

All the actors were impressive, but three stood out to me the most: Jeon Bae Soo as Nurse Yoon Man Cheon and, last but not least, Lee Jung Eun as Head Nurse Song Hyo Jin. The care and reserved passion Nurse Yoon showed to the patients and his colleagues, especially Da Eun, won me over each time. What a great actor, indeed. The other was Noh Jae Won as patient Kim Seo Wan, a fantastic actor. How he articulated Kim Seo Wan's struggles, bridging the world in his head with the reality on the ground, was utterly brilliant. Kudos to the writer; ingenious. He had me all twisted up in him and the world he created for his peace of mind. I was also totally impressed by his physical changes as he took us on that journey with him, which is why losing him was such a blow. I understood how and why Da Eun's mind decided to deal with it the way it did. As for Head Nurse Song Hyo Jin, she was a rock throughout everything that happened despite having to deal with hurtful stigma on her sister and, ultimately, her. Nothing is worse than defining one by one's illness rather than who they are as an individual. The same goes for Da Eun; having to deal with discrimination from the families of mentally ill patients, she was trying so hard to help for being on the spectrum herself. That was hard to watch, but I loved her determination more than anything, not letting it trigger or pull her back. I pray this drama is a stepping stone to overcoming the stigma of mental illness, helping many of us speak out against stigma, and instilling courage in others facing similar challenges as outlined in Daily Dose of Sunshine. I highly, highly recommend this drama!

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