LIFE ~ Is Saving Lives at a Hospital Optional?

“LIFE” is a 2018 Korean drama series, with 16 episodes, categorized as a Medical drama with Romance and a possible Mystery, and streaming on both Viki and Netflix.

SUMMARY: The doctors at a prestigious hospital butt heads with the hospital director whose only concern is making money. The hospital is part of a major corporation, and it needs to generate profit. Otherwise, why is it running? Surely not to save lives! That’s so cliché.

♦ The Greek God is a Doctor?

In “LIFE “, Ye Jin-Woo is an emergency medicine doctor who is patient-centered. In other words, he cares very much about saving lives, even if the patients who come to the hospital for treatment can’t pay the bill. WHAT? You didn’t turn away a homeless patient? Are we running a charity? That’s pretty much the attitude of Koo Seung-Hyo, the hospital’s newly-appointed CEO. To say that he’s extremely profit-driven would be an understatement. Any entity that is part of the corporation he works for must make a profit, OR ELSE! He’s a businessman. If saving lives doesn’t make money, then why should he be concerned?

• EXAMPLE: The hospital and the insurance company are both part of the same corporation. He is willing to sell the medical records of the patients to the insurance company. WHY? Because they can use that information to DENY PAYMENT of insurance claims. For the CEO, it’s just math. Why think about the morality and ethics of the transaction? The numbers in the financial records must be BLACK, not RED. No matter what!

Is it any wonder that Ye Jin-Woo and Koo Seung-Hyo were at odds from the moment they made eye contact with each other?

Koo Seung-Hyo decided to transfer doctors and nurses from specific departments to rural hospitals without discussing the matter with the “affected parties”.

The doctors agreed to have a meeting to discuss how to handle this abrupt change in staffing. Koo Seung-Hyo came to the meeting. He was NOT INVITED, but he came anyway, offering to answer their questions. But he also offered to try to make them feel bad and look selfish for not wanting to leave their “comfortable” job at a Seoul-based hospital to provide their services to needy poor people in rural areas. Clearly, he was the SAINT, and they were the SINNERS.

Ye Jin-Woo managed to gain access to the hospital’s financial reports and exposed the real reason specific departments had been TARGETED FOR PERSONNEL TRANSFERS. The report indicated that 3 departments were in the RED. Meaning they were not generating a PROFIT. Koo Seung-Hyo’s decision had nothing to do with being COMPASSIONATE and CARING. It was ALL ABOUT MONEY!! But that wasn’t what he said at the meeting.  Who’s the SINNER NOW?

Koo Seung-Hyo was very angry that Ye Jin-Woo brought certain matters to light. He went back to his office and told his executive assistant to process Ye Jin-Woo’s termination papers immediately! The assistant is surprised. WHAT? The doctor who looks like a Greek god? You want to fire him?

Will Ye Jin-Woo simply accept termination and walk away quietly?

This seems like one of those moments where an opponent takes a stand and makes a declaration to The Enemy by saying: Of course, you know … THIS MEANS WAR!

Main Characters:

• Ye Jin-Woo (played by Lee Dong-Wook, “Bad and Crazy”, “Tale of the Nine Tailed 1 and 2”, “A Shop For Killers”, “The Fugitive of Joseon”, “Hotel King”, “Strangers From Hell”, “Harbin”, “The Recipe”)
• Koo Seung-Hyo (played by Cho Seung-Woo, “Go Go 70s”, “Divorce Attorney Shin”, “Sisyphus: The Myth”, “Stranger 1 and 2”, “The King’s Doctor”)
• Lee No-Eul (played by Won Jin-A, “Steel Rain”, “Hellbound”, “Melting Me Softly”)
• Ye Sun-Woo (played by Lee Kyoo-Hyung, “KICK KICK KICK KICK”, “Seoul Vibe”, “Uncle Samsik”, “May It Please The Court”, “Happiness”)
• Joo Kyung-Moon (played by Yoo Jae-Myung, “Land of Happiness”, “Kingmaker”, “Song of the Bandits”, “Vincenzo”, “Strong Girl Bong-Soon”, “Confession”)

Where to Watch: Viki (free) and Netflix

Viewership and Rating:

• IMDb: 7.5 out of 10 stars
• My Drama List: 8 out of 10 stars
• Viki viewers rated this series 9.1 out of 10 stars
• Google users shared a public rating: 4.7 out of 5 stars
• Letterboxd: 3.4 out of 5 stars

My personal rating is the same a the Viki viewers.

“LIFE” – This series presented a complicated and complex plot right from the start. You had to know how it was going to end. Not to mention it had two of my favorite South Korean male leads and they are not “eye sores”. It was worth watching just to look at them. LOL. The soundtrack was just so-so; not that memorable.

LINKS OF INTEREST:

“Life” (라이프) | K-Culture with Jae-Ha Kim

Netflix’s Korean Drama “Life”: A Review | Epiphanyblog

‘Life’ takes viewers behind-the-scenes of hospital | The Korea Times

K-Drama Premiere: “Life” Spiritlessly Begins The Story Of Problem Laden Hospital Struggling With Capitalism | Hello KPop

Life – Review | The cat that watches TV

‘Grim Reaper’ Lee Dong-wook to save ‘Life’ in upcoming drama | K-POP HERALD (In an interview the actor Lee Dong-Wook stated: “Grim Reaper takes dead people, but this time I am saving lives of people who are on the verge of death,” … “The previous work was fantasy, but this time it is very realistic.”)

TRAILER/TEASER:

tv, KDTeaser. “Life (Korean Drama) Teaser 1,2 & 3 Full Video.” YouTube, 8 July 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXyPKGYnB1k.

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