Kolorful Palette: Healed [Healer]

by Fanderay

Over the last year I’ve left so many dramas unfinished that it feels a bit surreal to enjoy one all the way through to its conclusion, and then feel that bittersweet emptiness when the credits finally roll. Perhaps Healer wasn’t perfect, but it was always consistent and hit me in all the right spots. It did a lot of things right, but what made it really stand out was that it did so little wrong. Birth secrets and tortured pasts without incessant moping or repetitive flashbacks? A compelling love story without a love triangle or circumstances absurdly tearing the leads apart? I’d like some more of that please.

I watched the last four episodes in one sitting (I prefer to binge when it comes to dramas) and I initially planned on drawing a scene from the finale, but I couldn’t resist the cuteness of this shot. It might be hard to tell, but it’s from Episode 18 when Young-shin joins Jung-hoo inside the Elder’s house after he’s drugged with incense. I love that they’ve just gotten through this incredibly stressful situation and are sitting on the floor in a strange place with possible medical attention required, but instead they’re all about snuggle-time. It’s not even dramatic we-just-started-dating-and-can’t-help-ourselves snuggling. It’s just them being comfortable with each other and naturally doing what seems appropriate to them in that moment. They may have attempted to be normal for a while, but they will always have their quirks, and that’s a big part of why they’re perfect for each other. Crazy situations come their way and it doesn’t even faze them.

I think a big part of why I love the whole no love triangle thing is that it speeds things up and we get to see more of the real relationship and how these two people actually work as a couple after they’re officially together. In most dramas it’s more about the journey to the beginning of the true relationship, but we don’t get to see much beyond that. Because Young-shin and Jung-hoo are rock solid from early on we get to see how they support each other and how they interact once they’re already comfortable with one another. This scene really showcased that, and I love the way they switch so naturally between more sentimental moments and playfulness. Their whole relationship progression is so much better than a dozen wrist grabs and some push/pull that goes on for ages.

Of course none of it would work if Park Min-young and Ji Chang-wook weren’t so great together. This is by far the most comfortable I’ve seen Park Min-young in an onscreen relationship, and I’m curious to see how she performs in her next role to see if she’s just maturing as an actress or if Healer was just the perfect part for her (or perhaps Ji Chang-wook was the perfect man?). I honestly wouldn’t be surprised to find out they’re dating IRL. For those who didn’t watch until the end of the credits, look how cute they are!

Ji Chang-wook was no slouch in his role either, and he managed to pull off an extremely multi-faceted character with ease. Bong-soo’s dorkiness and Healer’s derisive looks at deserving thugs never ceased to put a grin on my face, and the merging of Jung-hoo’s personas happened so seamlessly I never even noticed it happening. Such diversity within a character is another thing I’d love to see more of (assuming it’s pulled off equally well and doesn’t feel forced).

The actual drawing of this scene turned out to be a bit of a nightmare unfortunately. Usually drawing on the computer is full of perks and tools to make life oh-so-much easier. But then technical problems happen and I want to throw my computer out the window. I won’t go into the details since they won’t make much sense unless you use Corel Painter (and I’m pretty sure I’m the only person on the planet who uses it) but basically I spent 5 hours troubleshooting the problem, only to discover that I had somehow changed a layer setting that was irreversible. For the record, it’s pretty much the only thing in the entire piece of software that’s irreversible, and it was only possible because I was using digital watercolor this week. The end result was that I could no longer use digital watercolor and had to finish with other media (I added a paper texture to make it all combine a little better, and I think it worked?).

I’m pretty sure the whole thing happened because I have a sticky key somewhere that contributed to a magical hotkey combination I don’t know about (but pretty much every action has hotkeys in these programs, no matter how ridiculous). I noticed later that the software was acting a bit possessed and changing tools without me pressing anything, so hopefully this doesn’t happen again. It shouldn’t since this could have been avoided if I had just been using iterative saves like an intelligent person instead of just saving over the same file constantly, but I haven’t needed to use a previous save in well over a year and it drives me a bit bonkers having 20 versions of the same file, so I got lazy. Sometimes I swear that technology is sentient and just waits for us to drop our guard. I’d better backup all my photos and important documents before catastrophic hard drive failure strikes!

Thankfully I always write my posts after I finish the drawing, and talking about Healer is an excellent way to feel better. I’m even starting to feel positive about all the useful things I learned while troubleshooting! I’m not feeling quite so positive about the previews for Blood but I suppose not every drama can be squee-worthy. Thanks for the ride Healer! I think I needed you.

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