Doctor Cha Jeong Suk (2023– ) User Reviews

Decent Show with Good Acting

[OldGuyUS · 7/10 · 31 August 2023]

No Spoilers, just some pros and cons.

Pros

The acting was very good. I would call out Kim Kyung-Chul for his portrayal of Sea In-Ho, the jerk husband. Of course we don't like his character, but he did a truly superb job of navigating jerkiness and having regret. I would also call out Jo Adam for her role as Jeon So-Ra. It looks like she does not have a lot of acting experience, but the way she portrayed a cranky, domineering personality was quite subtle and skillful.

I liked the storyline and the message they were trying to communicate.

Everything that happened in the story was believable, even if unlikely.

Cons Somehow the series did not draw my wife and I in as much as our favorite KDramas. Despite some touching scenes, we were not too emotionally invested in the characters.

The ending was O. K., and I think sent a nice message, but again we were sort of just, "Oh, it's over. What will we watch next?" Rather than feeling like we would miss the story and characters. The story just sputtered to a halt. There a number of things they could have done to tie everything up to a greater extent.

So overall, not bad, but not great. So a 7 ranking.

One for female independence

[trishlibn · 8/10 · 7 June 2023]

I thoroughly enjoyed this series. It has a lot of humor although it deals with serious issues. A 46 year old wife and mother has a serious illness which causes her to re-examine her life. She decides she wants to finish her medical residency after 20 years. She gets accepted at the hospital where her husband is a surgeon. She soon finds out that he has been carrying on a long affair with a female doctor. Doctor Cha has to figure out how to deal with her jerk of a husband, her spoiled mother-in-law, her children, and her new relationship with her surgeon. Although some are disappointed in the ending, I liked it. I'd give it an 8.5.

Living a long life is punishment too

[alaningle7 · 7/10 · 5 June 2023]

Doctor Cha returns as a first year resident twenty years after leaving the medical profession to raise children after getting married. Her husband has been cheating and has a child from before they were married and this is the story of how she comes to terms with her changing life and the fact she has serious health problems. The Dr played well by Uhm Jung-hwa is a great character but the writers touched on lots of subjects and characters but gave little depth to any of them, it felt like they had a tick list to cover a scenario and then move on. I was particularly annoyed at how they all treated the illegitimate daughter and then tried to make it right with a few scenes in the final episode. Kim Mi Kyung plays the mother as she always does and I mention her as even though her roles are usually minor she always makes the character believable. So great characters, well acted but let down by poor script.

A diamond waiting to be discovered

[mpmunoz-62990 · 10/10 · 29 April 2023]

Although I have only seen 5 episodes, I was hooked after the first 15 minutes of the 1st episode.. I adore the cast which is truly amazing and believable. I was first introduced to kdramas on Netflix and my playlist is mostly filled with them! I wish the USA would learn from kdramas on showing the respect between the cast and giving the audience a chance to use their imaginations instead of showing every sexual detail. Everybody should give Dr Cha a chance before forming an opinion that you will ultimately regret. The only problem I have with this show is that it's only shown on the weekends!!

Entertaining family drama

[muraliwizard · 10/10 · 1 May 2023]

Lots of good drama, not necessarily your run-of-the-mill medical drama, the medical setting is simply to make the drama more interesting. Episode 6 was almost edge-of-the-seat kind, fun to watch. Give it a chance, you won't regret.

It is binge watch worthy, so if you would rather do that wait until mid June '23 for all episodes to be out.

The characters do justice to their roles, acting is excellent. There are some cringe moments, but if you are willing to ignore them, you will enjoy watching it all.

The story advances with every episode with a good pace, it is not too much talking and not much happening.

Another pointless story with horrible characters

[barrytookas · 17 May 2023]

I am not sure why, but it is appearing to be more and more obvious that although Korea seems to possess some of the best actors in the world, it is also home to the lowest possible standard of writing.

When it would seem the only plot development that the writer can come up does not suit the already established personally of a lead character, no problem, just get the character to change personality, no one will notice, and it seems that the viewers giving 10/10 ratings do not. There are some good plot ideas here, but they are ruined by no real reference to anything already established in the story. What is the point of watching/reading a story when most of what you now know about the story is no longer relevant. I would suggest just watching the last episode of Korean Dramas, as the last episode never makes sense after watching 16 episodes anyway, so save yourself some time.

Addendum: After watching this till the end, I cannot understand how these Korean writers can stay working. There is totally no consistency with the characters, the many plot ideas go nowhere, and the characters that you grow to despise for their narcissistic behavior are still unchanged at the end and have not received any consequence for their despicable actions. The final scene where there is supposed to be some kind of "we all just love each other" moment, is ridiculous, and out of place given the previous 15 episodes. There were so many times I had to fast forward to continue watching as the scenes and characters were to painful to watch. This was a real dud!!

This is a gem.

[xykatexy · 7/10 · 16 February 2024]

First of all, I have to specify that this drama targets a slightly older demographic: women in their 50s, 60s- however, it can very comfortably be watched by everyone. Still it speaks the most to women, especially married women in more patriarchal societies.

It's a story of a mother of two who, after a near-death experience, turns her life around. A housewife of 20 years, she decides to go back to medical profession and soon realizes her husband is a narcissistic liar and a good-for-nothing ****bag.

There is many frustrating moments in the drama, as Dr Cha navigates the new circumstances. I got annoyed so many times that she doesn't simply cut the cord with everything that's dragging her down- but I'm soon lead to realize that people are much more difficult to deal with. Even when her kids decide to hide big secrets from her, at first I'm annoyed, but soon I understand them. In the last two episodes you even feel some sympathy to the husband and the mother in law.

People are colorful and not pure evil or pure good, and many times they make bad decisions- this drama relies very much on that. The entire sequence of events is so very realistic. Most heart-warming interactions in the drama are non-romantic, human instincts of giving a hand or a word of comfort to those who need it. The entire drama reminded me of a saying "Homo homini lupus est", but turned into "Homo homini homo est".

Overall- this is a great drama, slice-of-life, human in all the mistakes, selfish and selfless acts characters make. It's a comforting weekend motivational type of a drama I'd especially suggest to women.

Dr. Cha is the Woman of the Year!

[andromeda623-296-91898 · 10/10 · 21 May 2023]

Dr. Cha is the woman many of the Millennials are, the ones who started with a promising career and was left behind not because not being smart but because life happens and many of us, had to choose priorities as being wives or being career woman. Some women were successful in this because their spouses were very supportive, but we all know that all Dr's Cha, are the one who gave all for their spouses and the spouses did not support at all so it went downfall. The story is amazing, is great and thank God is not another Grey's anatomy, but a story that affects woman millennials society, and since humanism is a thing that explains how and why we repeat stupid behavior like this even if is in the Pacific Ocean area or In the Atlantic we are all victims of our own condition. And I hope women take this in consideration to not repeat what having a relationship to please our parents doesn't really help us in the future. So, lesson learned. Now, the other side of the story I really think the financial future holds in the women and men returning to their main educational roots, and I believe the universities, do need to take their idealist hypocrisy regulations and shove them on a hole in the dirt and let the new ones grow. We need more new regulations that benefit people like me in their 40's and smarter that the current clueless student population.

A sympathetic heroine to root for

[wheatley-20230 · 6/10 · 5 January 2024]

A series about a downtrodden wife and mother breaking free from her philandering husband and abusive mother-in-law might have culminated as a joyful celebration. However, this series fails to hit such heights. Nevertheless, it gives us a sympathetic heroine to root for, if you can forgive her initial failure to fight back.

That sympathy for Doctor Cha's plight carries you through the series. Unfortunately her husband is often depicted as a comic character, which, for me at least, dissipated somewhat the emotional power of the story. Nor does the final episode help, with overly easy conclusions to each of the plot strands.

Nevertheless I did watch it through to the end and do not regret having done so.

Highly Creative & Captivating Story With Hilarious & Heartfelt Moments, Plus Brilliant Acting

[reunitingall · 10/10 · 10 June 2023]

I've never written a review for a K-drama that I haven't finished watching yet, but the highly creative episodes 8 and 9 so far are definitely worth the focus, energy, time, efforts, and sharing.

One of the scenes of Episode 9 caused me to laugh the hardest I've ever experienced my entire life, so much so that my abs hurt, and I gave up trying to refrain from busting out laughing really loud while my husband is sleeping in the bedroom.

Episode 8 is hands down the most authentic, refreshingly honest, and impressively BOLD episode I've ever seen from all the great Korean dramas I've watched.

Congratulations and thank you to all the co-creators of this K-drama, especially the authentic, honest, unconditionally kind, compassionate, empathetic, highly intelligent, deeply wise, discerning, animated, hilarious, courageous, feisty, assertive, bold and/or very talented actors and actresses, who made the incredible story come alive.

Like other great K-dramas, this is a brilliant combination package of invaluable and interesting themes mentioned above.

A good drama

[hareeshduddupudi · 7/10 · 18 June 2023]

As a korean drama lover ,I felt it was a good drama.

But a 12 episode would have been a good choice for this drama.

If anyone are new to korean drama , you may feel a bit lag from episode 11.

To keep in short, It's a good drama , where from one side wife sacrifices her profession to raise their children, meanwhile the husband having an affair with his first love.

The drama between the two families will be good , especially between the children.

Coming to the cast, the main leads nailed the acting, especially the male lead where he suffers between two families to maintain and hide the affair from the wife.

I love Doc Cha! More series like this are greatly needed!

[martntn · 10/10 · 14 May 2023]

I love this excellent series and we need more like it. It deals with marriage, serious medical, and family issues. The series is also very funny & cute, so I laugh a lot.

I love the actors, and they are doing a very good job. Cannot wait to watch the rest of the episodes. This series is very entertaining and deals with a wife of 20 yrs in her 40's whom returns to finish her medical residency and her feelings of family support & new relationships.. Please Directors make a 2nd season for Doc Cha and more family comedy series and movies with Fantasy comedies of Immortals and fairytale beasts or gods.

Some great moments, but Dr. Cha's husband seems to be in a different TV show

[janet444-1 · 7/10 · 23 December 2023]

The first few episodes of this show drew me in. Now I'm addicted, but I'm often frustrated by certain aspects of the show.

What bugs me most is the performance by Kim Byeong-cheol as Dr. Cha's husband, Seo In-ho. It could be the way he's being directed, but it's as though he thinks he's in a farce while everyone else is in a comedy drama. His expressions are exaggerated. At one point, when he gets upsetting news, he faints by falling over sideways in a straight line. This is during a serious scene.

In contrast, Park Joon Geum, as In-ho's mother, Kwak Ae Shim, is an absolute QUEEN as she portrays a hard-to-hate but opportunistic woman who demands to be pampered by her family, including DIL Dr. Cha. She effortless adds humor to every scene, and it doesn't feel forced or interrupt the flow or feel of the scene.

I should add that Uhm Jung Hwa, who plays Dr. Cha herself, offers an endearing performance as a compassionate newbie doctor who is learning to value herself.

There are many moments that make the show worth watching, some heartbreaking, some hilarious. But it's definitely an uneven ride, with so many situations that could be resolved if people just stopped trying to hide the truth. It's also frustrating for other reasons, but I won't include spoilers.

I'm about to begin the last 3 episodes of this 16-episode series. I sincerely hope it has a satisfying ending, but I don't know that yet.

I've only watched a few other "K Dramas," and I haven't sought them out because they are K Dramas. I watched Extraordinary Attorney Woo, which is an exceptionally good show. I wasn't going to watch Castaway Diva because I found the name off-putting. But when I found out that Park Eun-bin, who plays Atty Woo, was playing the main character, I watched it. I found that to be another very good show. Dr. Cha is not a bad show, but it has its flaws. If you haven't seen the other too yet, I'd say opt for those first.

Started with a 10 but goes downhill after a while and never recovered

[hanalisss · 5/10 · 5 June 2023]

Great start and great idea.

The beginning is strong and extremely funny! I laughed so hard at so many of the scenes.

Acting is extremely good too, their skills are superb.

Tells you the story of a family and specifically a mum/wife who is basically mistreated, slaved and disrespected by her whole family and of course cheated on big time by her husband.

And that's basically the main and key plot (or should i say only plot) of the whole series.

One day our female lead has enough and decides to start being selfish and for once live the life she wants and get back her career as a doctor.

All of those ingredients could have made a fantastic story of empowerment and liberation but it fails tremendously.

The female lead is so weak throughout the whole drama it's sad to watch. She never stands up for herself and she keeps swallowing offense after offense and not once the has the right comeback against the ones hurting her.

Maybe this is a societal thing in Korea but where I come from, the whole idea of 2 grown women chasing after a weak, narcissistic, indecent and pathetic man and forgiving everything he does to them is just ridiculous.

Then, perpetrates constantly patriarchal gender roles like single mothers cant raise their children without a father figure and that a stay home mum doesn't contribute to the household and owes herself to the husband for providing for her and the kids, when the reality is a stay home mother is the only reason ( and invaluable asset) why the man can actually have a career and a family at the same time...

The series starts dragging the plot all the way until the end and it becomes VERY frustrating, nothing ever really evolves or changes, everyone is just trying to keep a secret from someone and that's it.

The characters are literally one dimensional and they have little development. All of them are bad, hateful and selfish at the beginning and in the last few episodes everyone is good and all is forgiven.... They literally change personalities from day to night.

I also need to add that the second male lead could have been written way better, at least the story and relationships between him and the female lead, he is completely irrelevant when the show finished.

This had a lot of potential, and is not that's bad, is just a pity, they could have done better.

So many unlikeable characters

[mr-susan-chung · 9/10 · 7 May 2023]

I basically hated everyone on this show except the hot Dr. And the son. The main character is a spineless sop. The mother-in-law, her gaslighting husband, her Uber brat daughter, and that sociopathic mistress and her singular facial expression which edicts someone throat looks like an aneurism is imminent. It was genuinely hard to watch. But I kept watching, hoping Dr. Cha would get a damn backbone and tell everyone off.

Each episode was a drawn out replay of some concept from the previous. Yet she never stands up for herself. I do not know if I'll be able to get through the entire series.

I hope all the wrongdoers go down in a burning hellfire Easy to pass over show.

Funny touching look at adultery

[phd_travel · 9/10 · 6 June 2023]

There are lots of laughs in this series. There have been many serious shows about adultery like World of the Married and some half comedy half serious like Love Marriage and Divorce. Dr Cha uses laugh out loud comedy to deal with the cheating and it's effect on the whole family. It's involving and delightful to watch especially the entertaining way they highlighted the role of the unappreciated wife mother and daughter in law which must have resonated around the world. It's been done before but it's done particularly well here.

The cast members are mostly terrific. Uhm Jung Hwa as Dr Cha shows she is one of the best actresses out there. Her role in Our Blues was superb. Hope people look up her earlier series and movies. Kim Byung Chul is quite perfect as the cheating husband. Even better than his role in Sky Castle. What a face he has. Great that Min Woo Hyuk a talented musical actor got such a prominent role as Roy Kim. Funniest love triangle. Only fault about the ending is that they didn't end up together. It's realistic that he shouldn't be with someone older and ill who couldn't give him a family. But it would have felt good if they could have been together at the end. Like how in Love Marriage Divorce the wived got better new husbands as a reward for their suffering. So the end felt like a let down.

The show was so successful internationally and has obviously struck a chord with audiences everywhere. It's great that many people all ocer the world watched a K drama that wasn't violent like Squid Game. Dr Cha and Good Bad Mother are the best shows of 2023 so far.

She can do better

[bagrantham · 9/10 · 29 May 2023]

Straight to the point, she is portrayed as someone without ambition, pride or self worth. I understand the family matters, but most Kdramas has the wife in a servant role not just taking care of husband, children but at beck and call of the mother in law..

She has no money of her own and in this drama her name is not even on the deed of the home they share. And her mother in law does not what it there either.

When they find out she needs a liver transplant he does not offer and the mother in law is against even the thought of him donating.

She overhears their conversation and stop, this should have been her the brick wall to walk away from not the children, but for sure the husband.

After the surgery, she decides to return to complete her residency but the husband is adamant and determined she should not. It's as if her brain function is asleep and never truly questions his motive. No one at the hospital other than her son, the doctor that performed her surgery and the women is having the affair with knows she is the wife. You can probably guess who came up with the ridiculous idea and why.

Dr. Cha shares with her friend that she and husband have slept in separate beds or she may have said rooms/ no sex for 10-12 years and if that isn't a red flag; especially, if there are no health issues. It makes one wonder how did she rank so high in medical school?

As we know no secret stays a secret for long. The daughter finds about the affair first, then the son and MIF; they decide not to tell her ... WTF. But low and behold the entire hospital knows he is having an affair.

Only when she discovers that her daughter know does her light bulb go off. However, she does not know that he has a daughter with the other doctor, living a double life and actively having sex.

All in all it is a good watch. We get a chance to see the character development not just in her but her son who never wanted to be a doctor and the drama seems to be moving in the right direction.

Almost forget the doctor that performed her surgery has witnessed her husband's bad behavior and lack of care in addition to knowing about the affair; he seems to really like her. I just hope at the end she takes time to find out who she is and what she wants above anything else.

Go watch!

Heartfelt, devastating with moments of comedy. A story about finding your inner strength and starting anew

[jennalyndaet · 9/10 · 13 June 2023]

This tells of a woman whose life was completely turned upside down after a near death experience. Being a dedicated wife and mother to her family for 20 years, she's decided to begin anew. To finally do things that makes her happy and pursue her medical career that she abandoned after having a child at such a young age. But there were hurdles and family betrayals along the way. Spectacular acting all around!

The comments saying that the main heroine is dumb and clueless. Well yes. She is naive and ignorant. Imagine having a child while you're still a teenager and being stuck at home solely to take care of your family and ensuring their happiness. Knowing nothing else, slaving away only for them. Imagine not having a job for 20 years, anyone would be severely lacking in skills. Imagine giving your heart and soul to someone you love, you'd ignore all the signs that she/he's betrayed you too because you still have that tiny speck of hope that it's not true. She had some major character developments along the way and it was so satisfying to watch and cheer her on.

Starts Out With a Bang Gradually Goes Downhill

[PalmBeachG · 8/10 · 5 June 2023]

Really looked forward to each new episode in the beginning but the series gradually goes downhill as time goes on. The husband is a cheating jerk who cheats at work right in front of his wife and son and co- workers at work. His wife loyally raising his children for 20 years before restarting her career at the hospital where her husband and cheating mistress works. A brat secret love child tops it off. Plenty of pity and blame and illness - and went bad in my opinion with an unsatisfying ending. Am glad Netflix is adding more K-Drama for us lately however saw a few others that had some better script.

Waste of my time

[kbalido-46998 · 4/10 · 14 May 2023]

I like the story, the writer really bad on characters telling. To write a character of a wife with an illusions of weak and timid wife to the point she lime a doormat of her husband and his family. It's ridiculous to write a story about her not being aware about her husband being. I hate her character she's so weak and useless, can't even protect herself and she can't even recognize lie from the truth and she call herself a doctor. Aaarrggg, this show is a waste of my time. I thought it would be a good story but sadly first time that i am very disappointed in a show. I wasted episodes for nothing as i have been.

Solid K Dramedy

[jk-692-236394 · 8/10 · 6 June 2023]

This is the story of a rather naive, but very kind lady, who is married to a doctor, who is a cold jerk, a mother in-law who treats her like a slave and two indifferent spoiled children. She thinks her life is perfect, and she thinks she is happy. As a viewer you are rooting for her to "wake" up and do something about many various issues that get revealed as the show goes on. The show took it's time to get there, but once I settled into it, I could see why. It made for a more interesting show.

She realizes she is lonely and being taken advantage when she has a medical crisis. She used to be a doctor before you got married. She decides to return and be a resident at age 46. Which they act like that is on deaths door for an age. The almost all male panel who decides if she can be a resident. Was glaringly ageist and misogynistic. It is disturbing to see the patriarchy that these shows have going on. She does however get into the hospitals residency program. I did not enjoy some of the early scenes where she does act a bit dumb, which was hard to take, since she got a super high score on her exams. Also her horrible husband is undermining her and calling her clumsy a lot, which was very unpleasant. There is a very handsome doctor who helps her on her path, and is lovely to look at too. The show evolves over the 16 episodes. It started out more as a comedy, and then went much heavier into the drama midway and for the duration, with light touches along the way. I binge watched it in 3 days. I do not think there will be a season two, because they did a lovely job at the end wrapping everyone's story up. I felt satisfied like I watched a good movie.

Hello A very beautiful series

[hassankargarkhoramabadi · 10/10 · 25 December 2023]

Hello A very beautiful series, this series contains good educational tips for young and old. Besides, its comedy makes the series not boring.

The good choice of actors has made this series very strong I gave this series 10 points because the story of this series as well as its characters made me eager to watch the next episode.

The story of the series teaches us life lessons and wants to say that betraying others has bad and irreparable consequences on families, it also tells you that you are a being who can handle your life in difficult and difficult situations and recover from those situations. Pass hard Thanks to the director, cast, crew and Netflix.

I've given it an 8 but is so many flaws

[chilligrrl · 8/10 · 1 March 2024]

I like this show, mostly for its comedy and dealing with sad topics and life and jealousy in a good way. What I hate though is the absolute spousal abuse, gaslighting, constant degradation of women and the FL who is such a wet blanket who can't defend herself, apologises all the time and blames herself, when everyone else is just so awful around her. Really REALLY awful. She's book smart but life dumb.

If any job interview actually stated you were too old to apply, their illness might affect them and should go back to being a housewife they would have the pants sued off them. This wasn't even turned into a joke. It was written seriously.

The ML has had all her overdone facial fillers go to her brain, and can't accept she's a human being with something to live for and achieve. Periodically she'll show strength and hit back, but then she becomes all docile and dumb woman again. It's absolutely frustrating and loses 2 stars from me for appalling mysogonistic scriptwriting.

Jung Hwa Uhm delivers again.

[kmhlbeavis · 9/10 · 27 July 2023]

This is a must watch series. The only reason that I didn't give it a ten was because the photo to promote this series is misleading. I was looking foward to her slapping the husband upside his head but I guess it wasn't in the script. She is beautiful, sexy and everything else. The story was good except for some spots where they dragged it a little bit too long. The husband is funny and dumb at the same time. He makes me laugh when he pronounces the other doctors last name Kimberly. The kids are kind of dorky especially the boy and the mistress I don't know what to say. The roles should have been reversed as usually the mistress is prettier than the wife. That wasn't the case here. Anyway it's worth watching and you won't be disappointed.

Yet another unoriginal medical drama

[keikoyoshikawa · 1/10 · 26 April 2023]

"There is nothing new under the sun." That's a quote from some 2000 years ago. Sadly, it is so true when it comes to rehashed plots and characters in modern day entertainment. And so here we have yet another medical drama with the predictability of breathing.

The writers also forgot the basic tenet of a good story - have interesting characters. And no, forcing your main character to have a medical condition does not make them interesting. But it does make them boring and unoriginal.

There are so many cliches in this series that it's really difficult to get through each episode. It does make me wonder who approves these TV shows, knowing that there's nothing new or interesting. And Netflix is throwing billions of dollars at them.

Do yourself a favor and skip this series. If you need a medical drama fix, go watch "Doctor X" or "House" instead.