'CSI' meets 'House' in local medical thriller

Ryoo Deok-hwan stars as Dr. Han, a forensic specialist in the TV medical thriller "God's Quiz Season 2", which airs on Fridays on cable channel OCN. / Courtesy of OCN

By Kwon Mee-yoo

A doctor who has characteristics of both Gil Grissom from "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" series and Gregory House from "House" has returned to the small screen to find rare diseases and solve crimes.

The first episode of the second season of "God's Quiz" aired last Friday on cable channel OCN, introducing a series of crimes involving self mutilation.

Five dismembered body parts from different persons were found throughout Seoul City and the police and forensic doctors are criticized for not being able to catch the culprit.

The case sees Han Jin-woo, a genius but eccentric neurosurgeon and forensic doctor, return from recuperation to examine the dead bodies with roman numerals inscribed on them by the killer.

The difference between Dr. House and Dr. Han is the thin line of life and death. House tries to find out about rare diseases to attempt to save the patient, while Han tries to discover rare diseases to find the murderer and solve the crime.

The title refers to a local saying that rare diseases are like quizzes God gives to humans so as not to become too arrogant.

Han himself suffers from a rare disease. His disease is indeed rare as there are no explicit symptoms or causes, which urges him to delve into the research of such conditions.

Promising actor Ryoo Deok-hwan plays the gifted doctor.

"People still do not recognize me on street after the "God's Quiz" and other movies", Ryoo said at a press conference last week.

"I think the drama or movie I appear in is in the spotlight more than I am and it could be a bonus for me as an actor".

He said the second season will explore how far the evil part of human nature could go.

His team consists of forensic scientists Jo Yeong-sil (Park Joon-myeon) and Kim Seong-do (Nah Yoon). Actress Yoon Joo-hee plays Gang Gyeong-hui, a detective who mainly investigates the crimes. A new profiler Min Ji-yul (Lee Seol-hee) joins the drama this season, adding more diversity to the cast.

Lee Jung-pyo, new director of the second season, said he concentrated on supplementing the first season.

"The second season of "God's Quiz" will not go in a totally different direction from the first one. The first season introduced the characters and I am trying to build them more strongly", Lee said.

The first season also brought controversy as some of the cases described in the drama were similar to actual crimes such as the suicide of actress Jang Ja-yeon.

"In the second season, we will blend in such cases rather than reenacting actual ones. We want to go beyond just an investigative or medical drama and reflect social phenomenon and give people something to think about", the director said.

The first season dealt mostly with inherited rare diseases including Guillian-Barre syndrome, reflex anoxic seizures and Savant syndrome.

More rare diseases, such as Fabry's Disease, Kleine Levin Syndrome and congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis, will be featured in the second season.

The drama airs at midnight every Friday on OCN.