It’s been such a long time since I watched this drama, but then I still end up thinking about it quite often so I thought why not clear my head and write a review about it.

Since medical dramas are one of my favorites, I’m always looking for the good ones that would keep my attention without me getting bored or drifting off to sleep (which happens quite often nowadays). Good Doctor is one of those few that actually kept me interested for 20 episodes not even once allowing me to get distracted and think about something completely else. I remember how I always planned to watch it, mainly because of Moon Chae Won, but then I always kept delaying it for whatever reason. But when I finally did watch it, I was so amazed by it, it was almost like I was cast under a spell or something.

I still think about Good Doctor as a miracle because it taught me so much – about love, acceptance, friendship and basically just humanity. How important it is to actually remain a human being(!) when it comes to meeting new people, accepting them, helping them, loving them with our without their flaws, issues, struggles, painful past, etc. How many hardships one must go through until they can finally reach their goal. How one’s life can be full of struggles and despair and how important it is to just reach out a helping hand when everyone else wants to turn their back on them. There wasn’t one episode when I didn’t feel touched or excited or happy or all of these at the same time. Man, I was so touched 99% of the time and I was almost always crying. There were so many beautiful and touching scenes that I still end up remembering them just completely out of the blue. The side character’s/children’s own life story, the 2nd lead’s own trauma from the past (props to Joo Sang Wook he portrayed his character well and I loved to hate him in the first half of the drama lol), Park Shi On’s entire journey – it would be too long to count all of them. If I would have to pick only one story/scene I would definitely pick the little girl that was raised among dogs because her own aunt ignored and neglected her existence – the way Shi On treated her and how she at last told him that she loved him was probably the most beautiful, touching and memorable scene I can think of and I’ve been watching kdramas for so long and I’ve seen so many great and amazing ones - but I can't remember one that would beat this.

Good Doctor simply just owns my heart. Because it really did leave an impact on me, and it became my 2nd most favorite kdrama ever. I’ve seen episodes of the American version but I didn’t like it. Of course, it has its own strength but I couldn’t fully immerse myself into the story, not even once, whereas the original version might be flawed here and there but it actually does have a heart and the acting is so great. The child actors were all so talented I was actually surprised how all of them slayed their performance. I loved secondary charactesrs/actors – most of the time I don’t really care about the side characters but here I was actually engaged in each and every one of these characer’s development and story, even the ones I disliked. Moon Chae Won is so so amazing no matter what she’s in, she never ceases to amaze me (plus she has such a warm and nice personality off camera too.)
And Joo Won – this was the first time I actually got to see him in a drama even though I heard of his name many times and after I finished watching this drama I hated myself for not looking him up much earlier. He was so --- I don’t know if I can come up with new adjectives. He’s such a versatile and talented actor. As I’ve spent most of my childhood among children with autism of various grade due to my father’s work, I was completely blown away by Joo Won’s talent and exact portrayal of Shi On. He did very very well and he captured the conflicting emotions and proper mannerism of this character. He actually showed a very nice portrayal of autism with so much respect and care that made me love and respect him even more.

Sure, as said, this drama has flaws, but Good Doctor is that kind of drama that offers so much that I couldn’t care less about those flaws. Again, I loved the character development, the unique story line, the writing, the medical aspect of it (it was AWESOME, really) and I didn’t mind the love line between Shi On and Yoon Seo either, I think it was written and executed well and was timed well.

And overall, I’m just very thankful that I watched Good Doctor, because if I would have to pick one drama that left the most impact on me emotionally, Good Doctor would probably be IT.