We’ve got a new medical drama on the way this week, as MBC’s Hospital Ship sets sail for small-town adventures in doctoring. I’m curious to see how much the hospital-on-a-ship concept will differ from the usual fancy hospital full of politics, and whether the warm human drama that was promised will come through.
Hospital Ship
Time slot: Wednesday & Thursday
Broadcaster: MBC
Genre: Medical, human drama
Episode count: 40 (half-hour episodes, 20 hours in total)
Reasons to watch: This is Ha Ji-won’s first drama in two years since the very disappointing Time I’ve Loved You, so it would be really nice to have her comeback be a good one. I mean, it has to be better than her last drama, right? She’s reuniting with the writer of Hwang Jin-yi for this, so that’s definitely a promising collaboration. It also has a premise that reminds me of Romantic Doctor Teacher Kim, which is a good thing: A talented big city surgeon heads to the sticks and finds doctoring in this new environment to be frustrating, but steadily grows into a true doctor. I’m not sure about a romance with Kang Min-hyuk, but if they can make her character’s growth arc as a doctor compelling on its own, that would be reason enough to watch for me. I’m hoping for a lot of cute friendships and a fun, ragtag crew—surely living together on a ship will speed those relationships along?
Bon voyage!