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[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Emergency Couple" Episode 19

This episode is devoted to Chang-min's hands. It's pretty much exactly as dirty as it sounds too. The humor in "Emergency Couple" can get crude sometimes, but it helps a lot that ithe drama's heart is in the right place, even if Chang-min is not very good at finding Jin-hee's. The same brand of cheesiness as usual, then. But now that I can empathize with the leads the general tone comes off a lot better

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I do think Chang-min and Jin-hee have learned a little bit from their ordeals. Note Chang-min's immediate reaction to the patient with a dirty mind. It has the same echos of his abrasive impulsive character as before, but he quickly gets it under control and finds a way to deal with the guy that doesn't necessitate another appearance in front of the ethics board. It may not be nice to tell lies but in this case it sure beats the alternative.

This also lends some credence to Jin-hee's insistence that her desire to start again is coming from somewhere genuine. Chang-min is making more of an effort, not to impress her, but because he really seems to want to improve. Take the entire story hook involving the baby. Chang-min could have refused the request pretty easily. He chooses to help out because that's the nice considerate thing to do. Considering he's working in an ER Chang-min could have pretty easily come up with an excuse to just do something he wanted to do instead.

The only trouble with all this is that this is the first episode I can recall actually seeing any evidence of this character growth. Up until now the trajectory has been jerk, moony-eyed over Jin-hee for no apparent reason, worrying about his dad, and now, finally, progressing somewhat into becoming a competent physician. That's a rather sudden direction take with only two episodes to go. Still, it's effective characterization that I enjoy, so I'm not going to begrudge the drama for shifting gears in the right direction.

As for Cheon-soo...I'm not really sure what to make of him. The guy's the second romantic lead, yet has little apparent interest in actually doing anything about it. This makes Ji-hye's sudden outburst all the stranger. Even in the fantasy sequences Cheon-soo is awfully laid back about his participation in the storyline. I think expecting him to put a whole lot of effort into pushing the narrative forward might be asking a bit too much, even if it's the only real obvious conflict the drama can finish with.

Review by William Schwartz

"Emergency Couple" is directed by Kim Cheol-gyoo, written by Choi Yoon-jung and features Song Ji-hyo, Choi Jin-hyuk, Lee Pil-mo, Choi Yeo-jin and Clara.

 

 

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