Resident Playbook

This is a fun show. Perhaps not as good as the Hospital Playlist series from which it was spun off, with four leads who collectively and individually don't match up to the megawatt charisma of the five leads of the parent show. By confining the leads to the Ob-Gyn section of the Yulje Hospital, the variety of cases is not as great either. But still an enjoyable watch with an engaging cast. I am looking forward to a medical show in which the senior doctors treat the younger ones with a little more patience and kindness - there's one saint in this show and a lot of abusive behavior. Just as abusive parents beget abusive children, abusive doctors make miserable role models for their subordinates and will turn even the best of them into similarly abusive replicants. I'm wondering what our four residents will be like when they do a follow-up show in a few years time.

I must also protest the incessant and obtrusive Subway product placements. Leave aside that I consider Subway one of the less desirable fast food chains, and even accepting that eating fast foods is the lot of first year hospital residents and, this being a Korean show, meals are always needed to fill up every episode, I just don't want any product, even one I like, to be in my face the way it is in this show. My recommendation: fast food forward through every Subway-infected scene. You won't miss one morsel of the plot. If we must have product placements, please may we have a bite more subtlety?

(april 14, 2025)

The storyline is good and the intro was showing the backstory of why Go Younjung has currently no passion in life and interest. It explores the career path she took and how is she dealing it realistically just like in real life. I would love to see more medical terms and the operations to solve diseases. Additionally, I found people see the movie somewhat slow or boring but guys, this is a medical drama it's not like those lovely lovely kdrama that we often see. I mean that's why there is genre in the first place right? I can't wait for saturday and sundays, 2 episodes is out just now, so let's wait further to before sharing our criticism ^^.

A spin-off of Hospital Playlist, Resident Playbook is centered around 4 1st year residents, as they go through the chaos in their daily routine of hospital life.

Although the story starts well, with day-to-day medical emergencies encountered by doctors in real life. While the show was good, but it didn't meet my expectations and was a par show compared to another medical drama released this year, The Trauma Code.

The main characters didn't have an impact and while I love Go Youn Jung, she didn't seem at her best with this drama. The positives include good real-life medical setting with a sense of urgency and chaos and honest part played by the side characters. The negatives I would say are the leads, as expectations were high from them and a bit stretchy runtime with less emotional impact.

Overall, Resident Playbook is a good medical drama show that shows a real side of medical life, but couldn't reach the heights of being excellent due to a stretchy runtime with little plot and disappointing main leads.

My Rating : 3.5/5.

When I first started watching this series, I had my doubts. While I enjoyed the first few episodes, I found them to be just OK. The acting was great but the story was somewhat plodding. The medical cases were fine but the main characters were rather one dimensional and that doesn't really change until toward the end of the season. Having seen Go Youn-jung in Alchemy of Souls, I know she has a much broader range than what is shown in the first part of this series so I blame the directing. Fortunately, in the second half of the series, the actors are allowed to start showing growth with their characters and the show becomes much more engaging.

A big part of the series are the stories of the patients themselves. Those become very engaging and will take you on a roller coaster of emotions...from joy of a birth to the passing of a cancer patient. The stories cover a wide range of OBGYN cases. The actors for these stories are excellent and bring a great deal of feeling to the show.

Another aspect of the show is the steady stream of cameos. While I wasn't familiar with all of them, the ones I did recognize brought another interesting angle to the show. I especially liked bringing in some of the leads from the predecessor show for guest appearances.

Finally. They did a great job with wrapping up the season appropriately while leaving the door open for a second season to follow the residents thru their second year. I really hope we do see a second season!

The first episode didn't impress me and looks liked another cliche medical drama but I didn't give up and watched the other episodes and I glad I did it.

Like the four residents don't caring about the patients in the begining I didn't care about the residents but them I realize the main characteres are not the residents but the patients. They are the teachers who show the residents not to be doctors but human beings.

The emphasis the writers give to the patients are the strenght in the show.

They are not passive characters, they tell the residents what is wrong.

The resident O I Yeong (Go Youn Jung) is the character who represents better the transformation, being heartless in the begining to cry with the patients with the time. Highly recomend the show.

After watching 9 episodes one character who grow on me is the resident Kim Sa bi (Han Ie ji). She is emotionless like Spock and is very funny. The episode when she turn into patient is hilarious.