"Good Doctor" Gets Healthy Ratings For Its First Episodes

It looks like there is a new winner in the Monday-Tuesday kdrama slot. This week, the KBS drama, “Good Doctor” starring Joo Won and Moon Chae Won, edged past the previous ratings winner, “Goddess of Fire: Jeonji” with a slim margin of 0.09 percent.
“Goddess of Fire: Jeonji” earned 10 percent while “Empire of Gold” earned only 9.8 percent so the competition is close.
“Good Doctor,” which was originally called “Green Scalpel,” is the story of an unusual doctor. Park Si On, played by Joo Won, is a miner’s son who was exposed to domestic violence as a child. He has a developmental disorder that makes social interactions and many aspects of normal functioning very difficult for him. He can be completely overwhelmed by simple everyday decisions such as when to cross the street.

But Park Si On is also a savant, with an excellent memory and spatial sense that helps him become a gifted pediatric surgeon.

When he is assigned to the hospital, he meets Cha Yoon Seo, a kind-hearted pediatric surgeon with a strong sense of duty. Cha Yoon Seo, played by Moon Chae Won, became a doctor at a very young age. He also works with Joo Sang Wook, played by Kim Do Han, the youngest doctor to become a pediatric associate professor. Joo Sang Wook has little patience for Park Si On’s shortcomings and assumes that his stay at the hospital will be a short one. Joo Sang Wook’s fiancée Yoo Chae Kyung, played by Kim Min-Seo is on the hospital planning board.

Reaction to the drama has been positive, not only in the ratings for the first episodes but also with netizen comments such as “I love this drama so far” and “this drama has a lot of potential.”

The competing saeguk “Goddess of Fire: Jeonji,” starring Moon Geun Young, Lee Sang Yoon and Kim Bum, tells the story of Jung Yi the first female potter in Korea, Prince Gwanghae, the man she falls in love with and Kim Tae Do, the warrior who protects her. Jung Yi has excellent pottery skills but must disguise herself as a boy to have her chance at becoming a master potter.

“Empire of Gold,” starring Go Soo, Lee Yo Won and Sun Hyun Joo, is the multi-generational story of a conglomerate that becomes the most powerful in Korea and the three people who struggle to gain control of it.

You can check out the "Good Doctor" teaser trailer below: