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Pierce Conran

Lead cast: Go Youn-jung, Shin Si-ah, Kang You-seok, Han Ye-ji
Latest Nielsen rating: 3.99 per cent
Four years after Hospital Playlist season 2, we return to the Yulje Medical Centre for the spin-off series Resident Playbook. Only this time it is about an entirely new set of characters at a different branch.
Leading the new faces is rising star Go Youn-jung (Moving) as Oh Yi-young, a medical school graduate who quit during the first year of her residency. Saddled with debt and with few other prospects, she is compelled to give it another go.


She returns to Yulje Medical Centre’s Jongno branch, joining three other residents in the obstetrics and gynaecology department.
While the protagonists of the original series worked in a variety of departments, the choice by this series to focus on the one that delivers babies is a telling one. South Korea has by far the lowest birth rate in the world – a problem which, if not rectified soon, could spell economic doom for future generations.
Yi-young is the most jaded and exhausted member of the group; her trials and tribulations will hit closest to home for most viewers.
By contrast, her colleagues possess more exaggerated character tropes meant to reflect some of the personalities and concerns of Generation Z.

They are the pretty Pyo Nam-kyung, played by relative newcomer Shin Si-ah (The Witch 2: The Other One), the peppy Um Jae-il (Kang You-seok, When Life Gives You Tangerines) and the bookish Kim Sa-bi, played by Han Ye-ji in her first major role.
Nam-kyung, the fashionista of the group, must suppress her stylish urges during long shifts in doctors’ scrubs.
Her darkest moment in the show comes during a particularly gruelling day when she bumps into a fashionable friend in the hospital cafeteria. With dark rings under her eyes and milk stains all over her uniform, she is mortified.
Jae-il’s positivity and eagerness make him the brightest member of the group, but his constant questions quickly irritate the senior doctors.
Somewhat confusingly, the show hints that he is a former K-pop idol who keeps waiting for people to recognise him – they do not.

Sa-bi was a star student and her book smarts occasionally help her at Yulje, but her complete lack of social skills hinders her interactions with patients.
The exaggerated contrast between Sa-bi’s sharp intelligence and limited social awareness is largely played for laughs, but so far this has undermined her as a character.
Although Hospital Playlist focused mainly on slightly older characters, fan favourite Choo Min-ha (Ahn Eun-jin) was also a resident doctor in obstetrics and gynaecology.
Appropriately, Ahn returns for a cameo in Resident Playbook at a crucial time for Yi-young, when she is on the verge of throwing in the towel.

Of course, this spin-off series focuses on new resident doctors put through the wringer by the other doctors at the hospital. In those first few weeks, each of the protagonists thinks about whether they are cut out for the job.
Their rare breaks are typically interrupted by calls and their break room table steadily piles up with rotting food they have not had time to eat.
It is not just the long hours but also the unfair treatment. They are constantly scolded by their superiors, harangued by patients and blamed for others’ mistakes.
This is where Resident Playbook begins to look like Hospital Playlist, as misunderstandings and grievances pile up during episodes until problems are resolved and people start apologising to each other.

After just about making it through each episode, these first-year residents are vindicated while learning valuable lessons.
The change in narrative is reflected in a shift in the credits. Lee Woo-jung and Shin Won-ho, the writer and director of Hospital Playlist, respectively, are credited as the creators of Resident Playbook – which is directed by Lee Min-soo and written by Kim Song-hee, formerly a junior writer.
The biggest change is the absence of the “playlist”. Whereas the original show mixed medical drama with romance and karaoke, the spin-off is about the young doctors learning the ropes.
The characters will probably have to learn to give up their hobbies and personal lives.
Following an inevitably chaotic start – it is never easy adjusting to a new job – Resident Playbook should focus on turning its caricatures into characters.
Resident Playbook is streaming on Netflix.


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Go plays one of a group of new hospital resident doctors learning the ropes as this K-drama gets off to a chaotic start


Go plays one of a group of new hospital resident doctors learning the ropes as this K-drama gets off to a chaotic start.


Netflix K-drama Resident Playbook: Go Youn-jung leads Hospital Playlist spin-off series

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Go plays one of a group of new hospital resident doctors learning the ropes as this K-drama gets off to a chaotic start

Go plays one of a group of new hospital resident doctors learning the ropes as this K-drama gets off to a chaotic start