Thank You, Doctor (2022) 谢谢你医生

Summary: The cool and mysterious Xiao Yan (肖砚) decides to join the EICU team, or Emergency Intensive Care Unit, at the Tong Shan (桐山) hospital. Bai Zhu (白术), a cardiothoracic surgeon, is also sent to the EICU after complaints from patients. Xiao Yan肖砚, Bai Zhu白术, and a few other doctors make up the EICU team, led under team lead Lu Ping An (陆平安). The team are faced with many ethical and medical quandaries on how best to serve their patients. As the drama progresses, Xiao Yan 肖砚 and Bai Zhu 白术 begin to see the similarities and bright spots within each other. The two begin to put away their prejudices and biases against each other. Individual stories, relationships, and trials are told through the patients and doctors of the EICU.

This drama is based off the book ICU48小时 or 48 Hours in the ICU

 

Total Episode Count: 40

Initial Airing Date: November 4, 2022

Platform: CCTV8, iQiYi, Tencent, Youku

 

Final Rating: 6.5/10

A serviceable medical drama that shines when it focuses on medical cases but squanders it’s two leads with meandering plot lines with loose ends and an annoying supporting cast of doctors.

The pacing of the drama moves at a brisk pace with its medical cases, sometimes too fast. For each case, the drama does raise some interesting ethical questions on how to treat the patients which does force the characters, patients, and us the audience to ponder the correct path forward. However, the majority of the cases move by so quickly that we barely get time to digest before we are whisked off to the next case.

The drama was at its best when it gave the cases more breathing room and showed the motivations for the different players involved.

The character that I felt had the biggest growth was actually the head nurse Jiang Shan. Her journey with her husband was a highlight of the drama. I think Yang Mi did a decent job as the outwardly guarded but inwardly altruistic Xiao Yan. I think the overall problem is the script in which it really didn’t give the doctors much depth. The paper-thin script for the characters really did hinder the back half of the drama.

 

Xiao Yan 肖砚– Yang Mi 杨幂


An emergency medicine doctor, she is a mysterious doctor who returns from abroad. She comes from a wealthy medical family that has led her to be very independent and practical. She pursued her studies abroad after high school and joined a Swiss hospital after completing her studies. The death of her fiancé Lin Zhi Yuan was a turning point in her life, leading her to resign from her position in Switzerland to come work at the Tong Shan hospital.

Bai Zhu 白术– Bai Yu 白宇


A very talented cardiothoracic surgeon, he is nevertheless stubborn and arrogant. He believes that only by taking chances, will there be miracles. He strongly believes in pursuing any path forward to save his patients which often puts him at odds against his coworkers. His teacher transfers him to the Emergency department in hopes of changing some of his perspectives

Jiang Shan 姜杉 – Wang Yi Nan 王一楠  


The head nurse for the Emergency department. She is the organized and capable marshal of the department. All of her co-workers respect the warm-hearted and generous head nurse. Her husband suffered an accident right before their marriage, rendering him immobile. Despite all the odds, Jiang Shan, refuses to leave her husband and stays with him until the very end

Lu Ping An 陆平安 – Li Jie李解


The department lead of the Emergency department. Everyone calls him “Mama Lu”. To better serve their patients, he decides to lead the new EICU at Tong Shan Hospital while espousing Safety First. He oftentimes has differing perspectives from Bai Zhu and Xiao Yan but during times of crisis, he does not hesitate to take the mantle of leader to protect everyone in his department.

 

 

Plot Overview:

Xiao Yan (肖砚) is a doctor who’s spent years volunteering with aide organizations such as Doctors Without Borders abroad. On one trip, her fiancé dies while trying to save a patient. Xiao Yan (肖砚) decides to head to Shanghai to learn more about her fiancé’s past. There, she joins the EICU team, or Emergency Intensive Care Unit, at the 桐山 hospital. Bai Zhu (白术), a cardiothoracic surgeon, is a rising star at the 桐山 hospital. However, his arrogance puts him into some trouble, and he’s sent to the EICU instead. Xiao Yan (肖砚), Bai Zhu (白术), and a few other doctors make up the EICU team, led under team lead Lu Ping An (陆平安). The rest of the team comprises of Xu Yi Ran, Bai Zhu’s best friend, Tang Hua, and resident Chen Zhi. They are supported by the head nurse Jiang Shan and fellow nurse Lin Zhi.

The EICU team is surprised at Xiao Yan’s efficiency when she joins the team. Due her past experiences abroad, Xiao Yan spends a lot of time trying to get to know her patients and believing patients have the right to choose. This is very different from Bai Zhu’s approach, who believes that medical research should dictate his diagnoses. The two constantly butt heads on the past forward for patients including whether tell a young girl that she’s terminally ill. This becomes most evident when the two come across a deadly car crash and have to rush to save the victims. Xiao Yan prioritizes saving the greatest number of patients but Bai Zhu focuses on one patient.

 

The Head Nurse’s husband, Mr. Jiang蒋先云 , was involved in a car crash years ago that resulted in him being paralyzed from the waist down. Despite this, Jiang Shan, continues to be his primary caretaker and the breadwinner in the family. The two receive some devastating news when Mr. Jiang finds out that he has late-stage pancreatic cancer. Mr. Jiang doesn’t want to continue to burden his wife but he’s saved by the EICU team. Surprisingly, it is Bai Zhu who tells Mr. Jiang to not give up on life. Xiao Yan, on the other hand, believes that each patient has the choice to choose.

At the same time, Bai Zhu’s son Xiao Guang is rushed to the EICU. Everyone’s surprised to see that Bai Zhu has a son, but are even more shocked to see just how positive and sincere the boy is. He has the rare disease Thalassemia, and despite all odds, has lived to the age of 8. The rest of the team gradually change their attitudes towards Bai Zhu after understanding that it was his perseverance that resulted in Xiao Guang’s life.

In Shanghai, Xiao Yan tries to find the memories of her fiancé’s past but constantly comes up short. Bai Zhu is the one that helps Xiao Yan find her fiancé’s old home. As the drama progresses, Bai Zhu finds himself more and more attracted to the cold yet kind-hearted Xiao Yan. Unfortunately, Xiao Yan needs time to move past her previous relationship.

Throughout the drama, we also see snippets of the lives of the other doctors and nurses in the EICU.

 

Overall thoughts:

Overall, I thought it was a serviceable medical drama that really shone on strength of its cases. The cases move at a brisk pace that gives us the viewers a lens on the difficult choices that patients, loved ones, and doctors need to make.

I don’t want to spoil too many of the cases, and I mentioned a couple during my plot review, but another one that sticks out to me is when a social influencer decides to head to the hospital to get “views”.

This is the second medical drama that I’ve seen this year and what’s interesting is that these dramas tend to put people in a better light than I expected. For example, during car crashes, there is rarely a hit and run, but at-fault party does his / her part to try and solve the problem. Maybe I’m cynical about these things but it is heartwarming to see people to take responsibility. When the drama does show some despicable characters, it just makes it more jarring.

The drama does its best when it does allow the cases shows the motivations of each character, whether it’s the patients or the doctors.

I thought the two main leads of Yang Mi and Bai Zhu did a serviceable job but unfortunately just don’t have much to work with. Yang Mi is this cool and calm motorcycle riding doctor that shows up to work but no one knows anything about her. Yang Mi plays the part well but the problem is that we really don’t get to see or learn anything else about Xiao Yan. Yes, she does find peace with regards to fiancé but her relationship with Bai Zhu was a big question mark to me.

Bai Yu I thought went a little overboard in the arrogant / haughty doctor vibe in the beginning. He does mellow out after the first couple episodes though, especially after we learn more about his personal life and relationship with his son.

 

The supporting cast of characters was…not great. There was like only 1.5 characters that I rooted for – the Head Nurse and the team lead Lu.

Which goes to my overall problem of this drama – it’s too sterile. It’s too clean. This is an EICU unit. It’s supposed to be intense; it’s supposed to be bloody and hectic. I don’t feel like I saw much of that. At the same time, it’s also way to sterile with the characters. No one is really fleshed out except for the Head Nurse and that was because we had to spend time with her and her husband.

I was particularly annoyed at 2 characters – Tang Hua and Chen Zhi.

Tang Hua is a young ICU doctor, who I literally never saw doing any work. All she did was just wander around with Xiao Yan and then loudly comment her disgust towards the actions and attitudes of the patients if they didn’t behave in the “righteous” manner such as paying for all operations or dropping everything to pay attention to a family member in the hospital. I thought it was very unprofessional. I was hoping for growth from this character, but no, she continues to loudly voice her opinions. Even though she apologizes when she realizes her prejudices were wrong, she nonetheless continues to make them.

The next character is Chen Zhi. He’s a MD / PhD who, I think is in residency with the team. He had zero confidence in anything that he was doing and was constantly looking around for approval. He thought he found it with Tang Hua and decided to pursue her. Tang Hua repeatedly tells him that they are not a good fit but he disregards all of her words and continues to barrel through and pursue her despite her protestations. He just came off as creepy the entire time. He always had a sad look on his face and always asking – how can I do better or how can I make her like me? I honestly wanted to punch him in the face towards the end. Dude – you’re a grown man. Own up professionally and take the hint from the girl. Once again, little to no character growth. Every chance he got was given to him by other people and he only stopped pursuing Tang Hua when she forcefully had to tell him.

I wish that the script was able to do service to the cast of doctors like they did with some of the patients. Otherwise, those scenes were a slog. 

As for the ending, it just left me scratching my head because I had no idea what happened.

Overall, it’s fine as a medical drama and something to put on in the background but there are better medical dramas out there.

Let me know what you think!

Cathy

 

 

 

 

Novoland: Pearl Eclipse (2021) 斛珠夫人

Summary:  The young girl Hai Shi (Yang Mi) was set as bait to procure naga pearls which set off a chain of events that changed her life. 

Following the death of her father and her escape from soldiers threatening her family, she is taken by Fang Zhu (William Chan) to train in the capital as a man and his student. 

As Hai Shi grows up, she must balance her love for Fang Zhu and the threats to the Empire. 

 

 

Overall rating: 6.5/10

An engaging mystical setting, strong visual effects, high quality production value and a relatively strong secondary cast makes for a fun show that unfortunately is set back by a lackluster script and cliched, often forced conflict.

As a fan of Yang Mi for more than a decade, I gave this drama a shot immediately because, well, it’s Yang Mi. I’ve watched every historical drama of hers in the last 10 years and am always rooting for her to do well. This drama only has a 5.2 rating on DouBan which I personally think is a little low but that does not mean it is not popular. On Teng Xun or QQ which has sole airing rights to the drama, the show hit 300million+ hits by the series finale. On Weibo, every day the show aired and even in the days immediately after its finale, there were plenty of top posts trending from the drama. 

Yang Mi and Chen Wei Ting/William Chan participated in a couple rounds of marketing where they did photo shoots together and live streamed to promote the show which was fun to view as Yang Mi and William Chan worked together years before in Gu Jian Qi Tan (Sword of Legends).

The biggest surprise actually came in the relationship between secondary characters Emperor Xu and his concubine, Ti Lan. 

 

Story: Set in a mythical land, the young girl Ye Hai Shi (Yang Mi) was set as bait by her father to procure naga pearls, tears of Chinese mermaids. Young Hai Shi was saved by the mermaid after her father tried to kill her for those pearls which led to Hai Shi being bestowed a special connection to the mermaid. 

Upon returning to her village, she sees the village threatened by soldiers seeking the naga pearls. In trying to escape the attack, she is saved by a passing Fang Zhu who takes her to the capital. There, she grew up as a boy and trained with her adoptive brother, Fang Zhuo Ying, to become a bodyguard for the Emperor Xu. 

As Hai Shi and her brother grow up, they help their teacher, Fang Zhu, who in reality is Fang Jian Ming, the Duke of Qing Hai and the Emperor’s best friend, complete missions to protect the Emperor and the Zheng Empire. 

Main characters:

Fang Hai Shi (played by Yang Mi) – Originally from a pearl harvesting village, she became the student of Fang Zhu after her village was threatened by soldiers. In the capital, she trained to become an elite bodyguard for the Emperor as a man but also slowly developed feelings for Fang Zhu. 

Fang Zhu/Fang Jian Ming (played by William Chan) – The Emperor’s most trusted advisor and best friend, Fang Zhu is the Duke of Qing Hai and responsible for the safety of the Emperor. Due to previous tragedy, Fang Zhu and the Emperor are linked by an ancient bond to keep the Emperor’s line safe. 

Emperor Xu (played by Xu Kai Cheng) – The Emperor of the Zheng empire who lost his beloved wife, Zi Zan, during a coup that also killed two of his brothers. Post the tragedy, Emperor Xu became easy to angry as his grief could only manifest inwardly. 

Ti Lan (played by Chen Xiao Yun) – Princess from Zhu Nian sent to the Zheng Empire to marry, she is the spitting image of her sister Zi Zan. This triggered the Emperor’s grief and therefore suffered heavily at his hands.

Fang Zhuo Ying (played Wang Sen ) – Another student of Fang Zhu and adopted older brother to Fang Hai Shi, he also grew up in the Capital to serve the Emperor. In reality, he is royalty from a northern clan.

Zhi Liu (played by Yuan Yu Xuan) – A young woman in charge of palace embroidery, she and Fang Zhuo Ying developed feelings for each other. But before they could express their affections, Zhi Liu suffered a devastating blow due to an attack in the palace.

 

What I liked:

Emperor Xu’s realistic portrayal of inwardly manifested grief. 

Di Xu to me is one of the most interesting characters in the drama. He is the centerpiece which all of the other characters revolve around. As a young prince, he had a best friend in Fang Jian Ming and a doting wife in Zi Zan, a princess from the neighboring nation of Zhu Nian.  There was not a whole lot more he wanted. 

But all of that changed during the Coup of Prince Yi which caused the death of Fang Jian Ming’s entire family and the death of Zi Zan who was pregnant at the time. Emperor Xu was also gravely injured which forced Fang Jian Ming to enact the Bai Xi ritual in order to save his life, thereby connecting the two lives forever. 

Stricken with grief over the death of his beloved wife and unborn child, Di Xu, who ascended the throne after the death of his two brothers involved in the coup, became suicidal and explosive with anger. He was snide and condescending to pretty much everyone around him. In essence, he is a man who lost his entire family and is a burden to his best friend but must take on the role of Emperor. 

This all came to a head when Zhu Nian, the nation where Zi Zan came from, sent her younger sister to marry him to continue this alliance between the two empires. But, this younger sister, Ti Lan, is a spitting image of Zi Zan. 

In any other drama, I could see Di Xu suddenly fall in love with this sister, Ti Lan, simply because she looks like his lost love and then be manipulated because the nation of Zhu Nian must have known what the were doing sending Ti Lan. Instead, in Pearl Eclipse, the Emperor fully knows that the two are not the same. So instead, he is extremely explosive towards her and punishes her often times without her knowing why. It’s simply because she reminded him of his tortured past. 

Now, in absolutely NO WAY should any woman EVER accept a man who puts his hands on her so that portrayal by the Emperor is NOT to be condoned. A lot of what he did would be enough to put him in jail by today’s standards but I appreciate that the Emperor is extremely clear headed knowing these two are entirely different people. This is also a portrayal of a man who clearly never processed his grief and let it manifest inwardly which led to his explosiveness. This paved the way for the Emperor to develop his feelings for Ti Lan that may have been influenced by Zi Zan but is still independent of her. That’s actually more respectful of Ti Lan than if he pretended she was someone else.

The Emperor is further complicated by the fact that while he does want to die to be with his wife, he feels a sense of responsibility to his people to be at least, a decent Emperor who provides for the people.  It’s difficult to see at first because the earlier episodes are all about him being abusive towards Ti Lan but when it comes to court and his job, he takes it very seriously. 

After realizing that he’s grievously hurt Ti Lan as a direct result of his grief, he learns that his anger stems from wanting to feel again but also not wanting to feel because of memories of the past. Once he moves past his grief and accepts that he must walk out of the past, he becomes a doting and loving husband once more, this time to Ti Lan. 

Supportive Friendships – (1) Emperor Xu/Fang Jian Ming, (2) Fang Hai Shi and Fang Zhuo Ying, (3) Fang Hai Shi and Ti Lan

Fans and marketing focused too much on the couples of this drama but I don’t think emphasized the extremely supportive friendships showcased in Pearl Eclipse. And by friendships, I think they’re more like brotherhoods and sisterhoods. These relationships stayed true throughout the drama which was incredibly refreshing and heartfelt. 

Emperor and Fang Jian Ming – these two grew up together and went through hell and back. Sure, Fang Jian Ming always felt a level of guilt for his actions that led to Zi Zan’s death and therefore dedicated his life to the Emperor, but the two often only need a glance or a motion towards one another to signal that something is afoot and either action or inaction is needed. This level of understanding is what makes the Emperor so complicated. He needed anger management but trusted Fang Jian Ming with his life. 

Fang Hang Shi and Fang Zhuo Ying – These two were both adopted by Fang Jian Ming to train together as teens. I personally loved their sibling interactions with each other. Zhuo Ying always looked out for his younger sister who the world thought was a man but only he and Fang Jian Ming knew the truth. Their sibling banter were some of the funniest dialogue in the drama and it seemed so natural. Who doesn’t want to have a big brother like Zhuo Ying?

Ti Lan and Hai Shi – Ti Lan knew from the very beginning that Hai Shi was a woman after ill placed hands on Hai Shi during a harrowing escape revealed the truth to Ti Lan. Though their stations were quite different, Hai Shi tried to look out for Ti Lan while she could and Ti Lan did the same. When the two ended up in the imperial harem together, their open conversations as sisters were incredibly satisfying as there was no hidden agenda between the two of them, just sisters looking out for each other and wanting the best for each other. 

 

What I didn’t like:

Fang Hai Shi/Fang Jian Ming’s back-and-forth relationship

Ok. Yang Mi, I love you, but the chick you portrayed needs to just CHILL.  Hai Shi has the hots for her teacher, which fine, but she is refused by him multiple times and she STILL does not relent. Every time she DOES give up, Fang Jian Ming does something that makes her think he actually does have feelings for her and returns to him. This level of stubbornness is generally not attractive.

He also needs to be more heartless in his refusal of Fang Hai Shi. Maybe I paid too much attention to Di Xu and Ti Lan’s relationship that I never felt the love Fang Jian Ming felt for Hai Shi was as natural. Is it just because they spent a ton of time together?

 

In any case, I thought the relationship was rather forced, or at least the drama was rather forced. There have been plenty of dramas where communication was the antidote to all problems and so the miscommunication and secrets in this drama seemed like it was too cliche. 

It did seem like there was tension for tension’s sake because that’s what tugs at heartstrings. 

 Acting – 

I’m probably going to be pummeled over the head with this but I thought that out of everyone in the drama, Yang Mi’s acting was the most problematic. Perhaps it’s because she didn’t use a voice actress this time which is commendable but for most of the drama, I just felt that I was watching Yang Mi say her lines. There were several instances throughout the drama where this was abundantly clear and a perfect example is when Hai Shi has a conversation with Ti Lan towards the end of the drama. The two women are chatting as good friends but when Hai Shi gets up to leave, everything she says is like she’s saying memorized lines. There’s not a whole lot of emotion. 

I don’t know, I feel like everyone else’s acting I could get into but Yang Mi, for the most part, I just saw Yang Mi. Not Fang Hai Shi. Her previous roles were much better in this regard.

 

Summary: Overall, I at least “chased” this drama to the end and still watched the drama through its entirety. That’s more than can be said about a few other dramas this year where I tried to watch it and gave up. You can tell the cast and crew put effort into trying to make this drama look good and the script was also changed from the storylines from the book that this drama was based on to be more palatable to current audiences. However, I did still think this drama was lacking in perhaps heart, primarily from the main leads. I would say give this drama a go since it does feature Yang Mi whom I love though do not be hesitant to recognize that there are areas of improvement that would have made this drama into an even better one.