JTBC’s medical-epidemic drama End of the World
by javabeans
A Wife’s Credentials was one of JTBC’s big successes last year (although the station had a pretty great first year all around, with offerings like Padam Padam, Childless Good Fortune, Dowager Queen Insoo, and Can We Marry), and the cable station is hoping lightning strikes twice with the return of its director, PD Ahn Pan-seok, in a new medical drama. In addition to leading A Wife’s Credentials to record-setting ratings (they’ve since been broken, but 4% on cable is nothing to sniff at), PD Ahn also had great success with the smart, acclaimed medical drama White Tower starring Kim Myung-min, which just may have set the gold standard for Korean medical dramas. So you can see why there’s excitement here.
This new show is titled End of the World, which refers to the physical world rather than doomsday (perhaps Ends of the Earth may be a more accurate direct translation)—but don’t count doomsday out, because the drama is all about a mysterious epidemic that strikes, and the doctors who are at the center of the medical maelstrom.
Hmm, that’s an interesting direction to take a medical drama, and by interesting I mean WAY MORE AWESOME. (I hope.) I like medical shows in theory, but a lot of times they tend to be (1) an occupation drama that just happens to be set in a hospital, (2) set dressing for a romance drama, or (3) a standard melo that is more about themes like Ambition and Rivalry and Brotherly Strife than it is about medicine. A mystery about the outbreak of a plague, on the other hand? That could be exciting.
They’ve already cast the leading man, Yoon Jae-moon, who is a veteran of film and television, although this is his first drama lead. His many credits include Tree With Deep Roots, IRIS, Mother, The Good the Bad the Weird, A Dirty Carnival, Chaw, Midas, Quick, The Show Must Go On, General Hospital 2, and The Host—but perhaps he’s freshest in our memories as the psycho bad guy in The King 2 Hearts, Bong-gu, who always put me in mind of an angry, hoppy little gnome.
But this time he’ll be saving lives, not plotting demises. He plays the the chief of epidemiological investigation at the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Formerly an officer in the military police, Yoon Jae-moon’s character loses his beloved to the new virus, kicking off his hunt to identify and deal with the disease.
End of the World is set to air in February.
Via Osen
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1 boxtheturtle
January 6, 2013 at 12:47 PM
cool
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2 kakashi
January 6, 2013 at 12:52 PM
I managed to read medial-epic drama. well. maybe it's time for bed.
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mary
January 6, 2013 at 8:31 PM
I read medical epic drama :)
If Bong-gu is in it, maybe it will be epic.
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3 Arhazivory
January 6, 2013 at 12:54 PM
Oh wow. This sounds awesome and I totally love him! And I'm a med drama junkie! Wanna watch, gonna watch! :D
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4 Aya
January 6, 2013 at 12:56 PM
sounds more like something movie-ish
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5 whitethorns
January 6, 2013 at 1:09 PM
very interesting indeed. Much like the japanese drama Bloody Monday Season 1 minus the hacking part.
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asdjfkl
January 6, 2013 at 5:02 PM
That's what I thought!
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6 Mystisith
January 6, 2013 at 1:16 PM
I'm dreaming of a drama looking like a mix of ReGenesis and the movie Outbreak with Dustin Hoffman. I know, I know: Too ambitious. One can dream...
The premise seems appealing to me nonetheless and the persons working on the project have my trust at the moment. So I'm in.
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Orion
January 6, 2013 at 2:16 PM
"Shall I cough on you, George?"
Ahahaha. I'd love a Korean 'Outbreak' medical/action drama. Maybe this won't be it, but if it does well in that regard, someone might attempt that in the future.
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7 MsB
January 6, 2013 at 1:30 PM
For him, I'll probably watch. Plus have medical, must watch. Just don't turn into 3rd Hospital
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8 kelinci biru
January 6, 2013 at 1:52 PM
Interesting. Besides after A Wife's Credentials, i'll watch anything from the director. Technically, i haven't even finish watching A wife's, still waiting for sub. Hopefully this one will get sub. *fingercrossed
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9 Orion
January 6, 2013 at 2:13 PM
Korea needs some fresh genres. Medical disaster series sounds good to me. So would sci-fi, apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic works, "parallel world" societies, utopias, dystopias etc. I know CG costs, but you don't always need a lot of it to get things done and you couple probably do a good "real end of the world" epidemic series without it. So yes, bring on more interesting and fresh works not running on romance and melo. There's more to life than Cinderellas and evil mother in laws.
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Orion
January 6, 2013 at 6:21 PM
*could
What the heck is couple doing there? XD
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Llamaesque
January 7, 2013 at 4:54 AM
I'd love to see more science fiction in Kdrama (as opposed to fantasy, which they've clearly got plenty of these days). I just finished watching Jewel in the Palace, and one of the best parts of that drama was a two- or three-episode arc about a plague striking a village near the palace. It was amazing, and dealt with the concept of apocalypse I've never seen in Korean drama.
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10 goldeng
January 6, 2013 at 2:42 PM
I'd like to watch!! im still mad and sad because i cant find updated subs for childless good fortune and can we marry but id love to watch this one!! hope someone subs it and omg bong gu... just to remember how he delivered that character gives me goosebumps but angers me too...
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11 mskololia
January 6, 2013 at 2:51 PM
Interested.
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12 SH
January 6, 2013 at 3:12 PM
I read that the writer for this show will be Park Hye Ryun of Dream High (the original one). The premise sounds cool.
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13 biikryunri
January 6, 2013 at 3:27 PM
It reminds me of the movie Deranged....
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14 Hagar
January 6, 2013 at 5:13 PM
I love him so I'm in.
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15 ujsid
January 6, 2013 at 5:26 PM
Being a medical student I am very critical of the medical dramas I watch.. The last one that made me cry tears of laughter was Dr. Jin...now one of my goals in life as a doctor is to examine a breast in candle light while Jaejoong sings a song or perhaps discover a new life changing antibiotic like penicilin while I play with the fungus collection on SSH'S dirty socks.. So yeah I hope this drama makes some sense unlike its other Korean counterparts.. Otherwise I will stick to Dr. Jin... He is my inspiration and a perfect role model after all :p
P.S. I miss The King 2 hearts :'(
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16 rainbow
January 6, 2013 at 7:22 PM
This looks interesting....
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17 InSu
January 7, 2013 at 5:06 AM
I luv pure medical dramas. My mom got me addicted to this genre with "The Andromeda Strain" an old old USA movie.
Hard to believe a Kdrama without evil stepmoms/sisters, jealous rivals, etal.
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18 jomo143
January 7, 2013 at 6:47 AM
I think Yoon Jae-moon may be too good of an actor because he will always be the reeeeealy bad guy from Tree and the crazy bad guy from K2H.
I don't know if I can accept him in a lead role...
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19 MapleAna
January 7, 2013 at 10:14 AM
So...KDrama version of the movie Contagion? I CANNOT WAIT!
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20 Byul
January 7, 2013 at 1:35 PM
that sounds freaking awesome. and even though i'm still a little scared of bong-gu (come on, don't blame me. he was creepy.), I will tune in for sure:)
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21 Hmmm...
January 7, 2013 at 2:13 PM
To be honest... I would like to see a Korean drama that is about doomsday. Zombie Apocolyspe, Earthquake that strikes Korea, Climate change, Meteroid about to hit Seoul? Who wouldn't want to watch it?
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HaibaraChristie
April 25, 2013 at 6:23 PM
You could probably just head over to Japan for that!
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