Sunday, February 17, 2008
Negligence
Even with the addition of Iryu 2 I am way behind on my postings. I went 1.5 months without posting anything although I definitely continued to watch. There are some shows that I will not be able to blog about because I no longer have the videos: Bambino, Jotei and Hotaru no Hikari fall into this category. Then there are some that I could write on, but I am not sure that I will take the time to do so: Galileo and Genshiken 2. *sigh* I will try to be better with the next dramas I have queued: LIFE, Liar Game and Hana Yori Dango (season 1).
Iryu 2
Also Known As: Team Medical Dragon
Here is a summary of the plot of the drama (for those of you who have seen season 1 you will not be surprised by it at all:
Dr. Ryutaro Asada is a superhuman doctor who specializes in cardiac surgeries. He believes in order to be a successful surgeon he must surround himself with a well-oiled team. Unfortunately in this season his initial team is split up. He is forced out of Meishin hospital with the young surgeon Ijyuuin and the cardiac medical doctor Fujioshi. The new hospital has been stripped of any competent doctors leaving Dr. Asada to assemble a "rag-tag" team from doctors all of whom have personal issues that have compromised their abilities to be successful. As before Asada is pretty aloof and doesn't really pry into the emotional lives of the doctors. But, as the series progresses each of the doctors works through their own issues and by the end Asada is able to bring into the team: a hot-shot young doctor, Seiji Toyama; a socially awkward medical engineer, Hirohito Nomura; a troubled anesthesiologist, Nanami Kodaka; and a reformed alcoholic gastroenterological surgeon, Kotaro Matsudaira.
Iryu 2 is a bit more "preachy" than I remember the first season being. There are strong overtones of hospitals seeking to achieve fame and wealth at the expense of the poor patient. However, the episode methodology has remained the same. Dr. Asada is confronted with a patient who has a dire cardiac problem. He consults with his team, usually involving the emotional growth of one of the team members. At some point the situation for the patient becomes urgent an a surgery is needed sooner than expected. The team goes in to the surgery room to do its magic and lo and behold, the cardiac situation is even more severe than expected. Instead of having to perform the procedure originally planned there is a second or a completely different (and ultimately more complex) procedure that needs to occur in order to address this heart complication. Against all odds Dr. Asada is able to complete the surgery in the limited time allowed and with the successful recovery of the patient. Hooray!
But, despite this repetitive formula I still liked the show. I read on another blog that when asked what his favorite part of shooting the second season was Kenji Sakaguchi (Dr. Asada) said "the surgeries". And I must agree with him. The surgery descriptions this season were even more elaborate often showing an animation of the surgery to be performed making it even more accessible to all of us who aren't doctors. One negative of the surgery scenes was the horrific music that would be played as the outcome to the surgery began to look more positive. That whining song in English annoyed me to the point that I would mute the sound everytime it came on. However, other than the grating music, the surgery scenes were impressive!
I learned a lot about cardiac illnesses and their accompanying surgeries. And for those who saw and liked the Bambino threesome of Kazuki Kitamura, Yuki Uchida and Kuranosuke Sasaki, you get to see them together again here (granted only in the first and last episodes...and even then, I'm not sure that all three of them are ever in a scene together....).
I give this season a 6.5
Here is a summary of the plot of the drama (for those of you who have seen season 1 you will not be surprised by it at all:
Dr. Ryutaro Asada is a superhuman doctor who specializes in cardiac surgeries. He believes in order to be a successful surgeon he must surround himself with a well-oiled team. Unfortunately in this season his initial team is split up. He is forced out of Meishin hospital with the young surgeon Ijyuuin and the cardiac medical doctor Fujioshi. The new hospital has been stripped of any competent doctors leaving Dr. Asada to assemble a "rag-tag" team from doctors all of whom have personal issues that have compromised their abilities to be successful. As before Asada is pretty aloof and doesn't really pry into the emotional lives of the doctors. But, as the series progresses each of the doctors works through their own issues and by the end Asada is able to bring into the team: a hot-shot young doctor, Seiji Toyama; a socially awkward medical engineer, Hirohito Nomura; a troubled anesthesiologist, Nanami Kodaka; and a reformed alcoholic gastroenterological surgeon, Kotaro Matsudaira.
Iryu 2 is a bit more "preachy" than I remember the first season being. There are strong overtones of hospitals seeking to achieve fame and wealth at the expense of the poor patient. However, the episode methodology has remained the same. Dr. Asada is confronted with a patient who has a dire cardiac problem. He consults with his team, usually involving the emotional growth of one of the team members. At some point the situation for the patient becomes urgent an a surgery is needed sooner than expected. The team goes in to the surgery room to do its magic and lo and behold, the cardiac situation is even more severe than expected. Instead of having to perform the procedure originally planned there is a second or a completely different (and ultimately more complex) procedure that needs to occur in order to address this heart complication. Against all odds Dr. Asada is able to complete the surgery in the limited time allowed and with the successful recovery of the patient. Hooray!
But, despite this repetitive formula I still liked the show. I read on another blog that when asked what his favorite part of shooting the second season was Kenji Sakaguchi (Dr. Asada) said "the surgeries". And I must agree with him. The surgery descriptions this season were even more elaborate often showing an animation of the surgery to be performed making it even more accessible to all of us who aren't doctors. One negative of the surgery scenes was the horrific music that would be played as the outcome to the surgery began to look more positive. That whining song in English annoyed me to the point that I would mute the sound everytime it came on. However, other than the grating music, the surgery scenes were impressive!
I learned a lot about cardiac illnesses and their accompanying surgeries. And for those who saw and liked the Bambino threesome of Kazuki Kitamura, Yuki Uchida and Kuranosuke Sasaki, you get to see them together again here (granted only in the first and last episodes...and even then, I'm not sure that all three of them are ever in a scene together....).
I give this season a 6.5
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)