I started watching this drama primarily for the cast - Kwon Sang Woo, Ju Ji Hoon, and Jung Ryeo Won, in particular (some of my favorite actors) - but even so, was still pretty interested in the premise of it. It actually started off pretty well - established the characters, the potential main conflict, romantic pairings - but then it became very draggy and slow as the first half of the series unfolded. I felt like nothing was truly happening, just back and forth running to the Vice President which in turn made the Top Team consistently volatile. I felt like the politics got a little too heavyhanded that it took away from any actual focus on the Top Team's functioning. I wanted to see more medical cases that involved the patients in the story without a myriad of extenuating complications brought about by the VP. I guess that was kind of the point, for the VP to keep pressuring the MTT, but it just got too tedious when every single episode that was the problem. The Top Team never even truly got running before it was immediately torn down, so in that regard I was disappointed.
Large disappointments also arise with the plot (always meandering, never really focusing on and finishing each problem), but the character development was extra dismaying. We never got in depth backstories, no true insight to any of their intentions. No one really grew. The closest I'd say to have developed would be JJH's character Chief Han: we knew he has high ambitions primarily because he wants the approval of his father, we have the angst of his alcoholic single mother dying, we have him struggling with administration's expectations of him and his personal principles. KSW's character Park Tae Shin started off promising, but felt kind of forgotten in the second half of the series. Nothing really happened with his own mom angst, he was completely out of the MTT altogether so he mostly didn't fit in the main conflict anymore, which is quite confusing when he was billed to be the main lead? What I'm most mad about was JRW's character Seo Ju Young, though. Here was a potentially amazing female character: brilliant in her field, independent, ambitious, a prime example of a woman who's worked so hard to be strong so that she could excel even in a profession dominated by asshole men (mostly Chief Jang). I'm guessing they wanted her to kind of be like Cristina Yang from Grey's Anatomy in the way that she prioritizes her career and by doing so is seen as an emotionless robot. From her character introduction and initial episode appearances, they wanted her backstory to be something family related as well. What happened to that? Halfway through the series it was like she had no family at all. Nothing was really fueling her character by the end of the series. In the first half she at least had her ambition, but as the series closed her interest in keeping the Top Team running was entirely devoid of any reason. It was utterly disappointing to see considering she was my favorite character coming off the first few episodes.
Romance wise, I was actually extremely pleased with how the lovelines turned out. I'm moreso saying this in terms of Chief Han and Seo Ju Young getting together as compared to Park Tae Shin and Choi Ah Jin (Oh Yeon Seo's character, who, as sad as I am to say it, was pretty much a useless character and only used as a prop. Like wth with that brain tumor nonsense at the end of the series? I will say they're cute, though, but thats mostly because Oh Yeon Seo is cute). In the beginning, I was seeing the connection between PTS and SJY - the cliche of "upbeat man changes cold and standoffish girl" - and was pretty okay with it. I didn't feel too invested, but I could see their potential. So I get it when people say that the turn of main lovelines from PTS/SJY to Chief Han/SJY was kind of confusing, because I also felt like midway through the series they just completely dropped developing the PTS/SJY relationship - they barely interacted, and when they did it was just to discuss a case superficially. But I feel like HSJ/SJY made the most sense to become the romantic endgame of the show - they have history, going all the way back to med school, that really propelled their relationship to me. Of course that shouldn't be the main criteria for a couple to end up together, but in terms of personality and work ethic, I think they were also perfectly matched. I see that people were saying that it didn't make sense because they always felt like SJY never showed any signs of reciprocating Chief Han's feelings, but in my opinion there were signs that she had a soft spot for him just as he had for her (his was just softer's, lol). You could see it when she smiled at seeing HSJ be happy about receiving praise from his father, which seems to imply that she knows how much he craves for that approval. She also seems to know the nature of his relationship with his mother (when she crashes their private dinner), and the issues he has with it, ergo asking him out to dinner to cheer him up. You could see how endeared she was to see him eat so sloppily too lol, as if it humanized him to her after so long of keeping up their professionalism. From my POV it wasn't that she lacked any feeling for him, it's just that she was always hesitant and, I feel, purposefully distant from him because she didn't want people to continue to think that the only reason for her success is because she's riding on his coattails and affections. That's one of the main conflicts with them so I think that's the reason for most of their emotional distance. I do like that she could be a pillar of strength for him by the end, especially with his mom dying, kind of turning the tables to the fact I've mentioned: it's not her that needs him, but the opposite. Chief Han's subtle proposal in the last episode was amazing, but mostly due to the fact thaf SJY was asleep while he was saying it haha! It was such a perfect way to close their story. As much as I liked their romance, I still came out of watching the series wishing that JJH and JRW would do another drama together with an actually good script, because they had great chemistry in MTT but was just failed by the writing.
Overall, I'd say Medical Top Team was an okay watch. Not completely terrible, but definitely far from stellar. Watch it if you have a lot of free time, but if not, there's really not much you're missing out on (shallow moment, which I'm allowed to have at least once in a review!: besides Ju Ji HOON looking the best he's ever done, of course.)
Large disappointments also arise with the plot (always meandering, never really focusing on and finishing each problem), but the character development was extra dismaying. We never got in depth backstories, no true insight to any of their intentions. No one really grew. The closest I'd say to have developed would be JJH's character Chief Han: we knew he has high ambitions primarily because he wants the approval of his father, we have the angst of his alcoholic single mother dying, we have him struggling with administration's expectations of him and his personal principles. KSW's character Park Tae Shin started off promising, but felt kind of forgotten in the second half of the series. Nothing really happened with his own mom angst, he was completely out of the MTT altogether so he mostly didn't fit in the main conflict anymore, which is quite confusing when he was billed to be the main lead? What I'm most mad about was JRW's character Seo Ju Young, though. Here was a potentially amazing female character: brilliant in her field, independent, ambitious, a prime example of a woman who's worked so hard to be strong so that she could excel even in a profession dominated by asshole men (mostly Chief Jang). I'm guessing they wanted her to kind of be like Cristina Yang from Grey's Anatomy in the way that she prioritizes her career and by doing so is seen as an emotionless robot. From her character introduction and initial episode appearances, they wanted her backstory to be something family related as well. What happened to that? Halfway through the series it was like she had no family at all. Nothing was really fueling her character by the end of the series. In the first half she at least had her ambition, but as the series closed her interest in keeping the Top Team running was entirely devoid of any reason. It was utterly disappointing to see considering she was my favorite character coming off the first few episodes.
Romance wise, I was actually extremely pleased with how the lovelines turned out. I'm moreso saying this in terms of Chief Han and Seo Ju Young getting together as compared to Park Tae Shin and Choi Ah Jin (Oh Yeon Seo's character, who, as sad as I am to say it, was pretty much a useless character and only used as a prop. Like wth with that brain tumor nonsense at the end of the series? I will say they're cute, though, but thats mostly because Oh Yeon Seo is cute). In the beginning, I was seeing the connection between PTS and SJY - the cliche of "upbeat man changes cold and standoffish girl" - and was pretty okay with it. I didn't feel too invested, but I could see their potential. So I get it when people say that the turn of main lovelines from PTS/SJY to Chief Han/SJY was kind of confusing, because I also felt like midway through the series they just completely dropped developing the PTS/SJY relationship - they barely interacted, and when they did it was just to discuss a case superficially. But I feel like HSJ/SJY made the most sense to become the romantic endgame of the show - they have history, going all the way back to med school, that really propelled their relationship to me. Of course that shouldn't be the main criteria for a couple to end up together, but in terms of personality and work ethic, I think they were also perfectly matched. I see that people were saying that it didn't make sense because they always felt like SJY never showed any signs of reciprocating Chief Han's feelings, but in my opinion there were signs that she had a soft spot for him just as he had for her (his was just softer's, lol). You could see it when she smiled at seeing HSJ be happy about receiving praise from his father, which seems to imply that she knows how much he craves for that approval. She also seems to know the nature of his relationship with his mother (when she crashes their private dinner), and the issues he has with it, ergo asking him out to dinner to cheer him up. You could see how endeared she was to see him eat so sloppily too lol, as if it humanized him to her after so long of keeping up their professionalism. From my POV it wasn't that she lacked any feeling for him, it's just that she was always hesitant and, I feel, purposefully distant from him because she didn't want people to continue to think that the only reason for her success is because she's riding on his coattails and affections. That's one of the main conflicts with them so I think that's the reason for most of their emotional distance. I do like that she could be a pillar of strength for him by the end, especially with his mom dying, kind of turning the tables to the fact I've mentioned: it's not her that needs him, but the opposite. Chief Han's subtle proposal in the last episode was amazing, but mostly due to the fact thaf SJY was asleep while he was saying it haha! It was such a perfect way to close their story. As much as I liked their romance, I still came out of watching the series wishing that JJH and JRW would do another drama together with an actually good script, because they had great chemistry in MTT but was just failed by the writing.
Overall, I'd say Medical Top Team was an okay watch. Not completely terrible, but definitely far from stellar. Watch it if you have a lot of free time, but if not, there's really not much you're missing out on (shallow moment, which I'm allowed to have at least once in a review!: besides Ju Ji HOON looking the best he's ever done, of course.)
