♦ There are Two Places You Should Never Go: A Prison and a Hospital
In “Doctor Prisoner”, two doctors are constantly at each other’s throats. One doctor you can sympathize with, even though you may not approve of his actions. The other doctor you hate instantly, right from the start. By the time this series is finished, you’re just praying that you never get sick and have to go to a hospital for treatment.
Amid the doctor wars, there is another doctor who is just trying to find her little brother. One doctor was treating him to make him sick and the other doctor tried to treat him to make him better. Then one night, he just disappeared.
All of this bizarre insanity is taking place in two settings: a prison and a hospital.
Doctor Na Yi-Je (played by Namkoong Min) is a doctor who became a prisoner. At one time, he was a top-notch surgeon. He’s the kind of doctor you want to treat you because he treats you like a human being. It doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor. Sadly, he could not save his own mother. She was denied surgery because rich folks were squabbling about how important they were.
He felt guilty about what happened to his mother and carried a heavy burden of guilt. Nevertheless, he kept working. But one day, while he was trying to save a pregnant patient, a nasty rich kid dared to interrupt because his sister had a small scratch on her face, She needed to be treated first!
Na Yi-Je refused and one thing led to another. The next thing he knew he was serving a prison sentence for medical malpractice. When he came out of prison he was on Mission Payback! He manipulated the wealthy people until he landed the job as Chief of a prison medical clinic.
Prisoners in prison have “layers” and of course, the wealthy prisoners, the VIPs, are set apart. Those are the ones he planned to exploit and manipulate. While he was serving time in prison, he gained a reputation for being a good doctor. The non-wealthy prisoners praised his skills. So when he had served his time and became chief at the prison medical clinic, they were happy!
However, once released from prison, he specifically targeted wealthy prisoners. They liked him because he was good at “making up illnesses” so that they could get compassionate medical leave and be released from prison. They paid him handsomely for this “unethical service”.
But it wasn’t about money. He had a bigger goal in mind. He planned to take revenge and get back at those people who were responsible for the deaths of his mother and others, and who had caused him to lose his medical license.
As soon as you meet Doctor Sun Min-Sik (played by Kim Byung-Chul), you wonder why he isn’t in prison because clearly, this guy is a criminal. Not just him but his family is running a criminal enterprise in the form of a hospital. They make money because he send patients from the prison there to receive treatment. It’s a complicated web and there are a lot of investors.
Sun Min-Sik was the chief at the prison medical clinic until Na Yi-Je figured out a way to push him out of the job. From that moment on they were constantly trying to outthink, outsmart, and outwit each other. They are hellbent on destroying each other. The tension between them is fierce!
Doctor Han So-Geum (played by Kwon Na-Ra) is a psychiatrist. She took the job working in the prison where her brother was supposed to be serving time. But he has gone missing without a trace. All of her efforts to locate her brother have been thwarted by Doctor Sun Min-Sik. But now Doctor Doctor Na Yi-Je is in charge.
She does not approve of what Doctors Na Yi-Je and Sun Min-Sik are doing, i.e. making up “fake illnesses” for wealthy prisoners to get compassionate medical leave. She does everything that she can to prevent that from happening.
Han So-Geum doesn’t want to take sides with either of them and prefers to work independently. But Na Yi-Je convinces her that he can help find her missing brother. At this point, she does not know if her brother is dead or alive. Nobody else is offering to help her find him.
Na Yi-Je tells her that he has given up everything to achieve his goals. All she wants is to find out what happened to her brother. But is she willing to give up everything to find out the truth behind his disappearance? Because there is a lot more to his disappearance than what meets the eye.
TV series like “Doctor Prisoner” are the reason why medical K-dramas are becoming more and more popular. The first episode immediately grabs your attention. When you see the inequality and the injustice in medical treatment for patients, and the financial crimes and criminal networks operating in both prisons and hospitals, you might be afraid to leave your home. LOL.
No joke! It was some scary stuff going on!! Whether the person was in prison or out of prison, darn near everybody was a criminal! It was awful!! Yet, you might find yourself rooting for Doctor Na Yi-Je.
Here is the way it is described via a post in the KOCOWA+ Blog:
“Namkoong Min plays Dr. Na Yi-Je, who has been forced to leave his hospital after he was made into a scapegoat. Bitter and wanting revenge, he gets a job at a prison where he has access to powerful, wealthy criminals he can use. He begins providing false medical reports for his entitled clients, with the intent of earning their trust so he can get the information he wants. He doesn’t mind dirtying himself, because the justice system he once trusted has proven to be fallible.”
Not saying the things Na Yi-Je did were right. But you can surely understand his motivation.
My personal rating for “Doctor Prisoner” is 9 out of 10 stars.
TRAILERS/TEASERS:
KOCOWA TV. “When a Doctor Goes to Prison [Doctor PrisonerㅣTeaser Trailer].” YouTube Video. YouTube, March 18, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56DheNEPHyE.
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