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At First Glance: Yong Pal




Hey guys, I just started watching Yong Pal 용팔이 a few days ago and decided to share with you guys a brief overview of the drama so far.

Yong Pal 용팔이 is a 20-episodes SBS drama starring Joo Won, Kim Tae Hee, Jo Hyun Jae and Chae Jung Ah. Yong Pal has been receiving pretty good ratings in South Korea, reaching a 20% viewer ratings for the 6th episode. Furthermore, this drama is Kim Tae Hee's comeback drama since My Princess and Jang Ok Jung. As for Joo Won, this will be his latest drama this year following Naeil's Cantabile last year. 


Yong Pal 용팔이 is a story about Kim Tae Hyun, portrayed by actor Joo Won, who is a third year resident doctor at the Han Shin Medical Centre (HSMC) Hospital. Tae Hyun is known to be a talented surgeon at the hospital. However, Tae Hyun often goes for private house calls requested by rich people and sometimes gangsters who are running away from the police. In return for his private house calls, he is rewarded with high fees for his services. Tae Hyun treats any of his clients, regardless of whether they are criminals, as long as they can pay him well for his services. The reason why Tae Hyun is working so hard to earn money is because he needs to support his sister, who is suffering from liver and kidney failure. Tae Hyun needs the money to pay for his sister's kidney dialysis at the hospital 3 times a week. Tae Hyun is known as 'Yong Pal' to all his clients. 


One day, Tae Hyun unexpectedly found himself associated with Chief Lee, portrayed by actor Jung Woong In. Chief Lee works for the Chairman of Han Shin, Han Do Hyun, portrayed by actor Jo Hyun Jae, who is the older brother of the heir of Han Shin Group, Han Yeo Jin, portrayed by actress Kim Tae Hee. Chairman Han had kept Yeo Jin in a deep sleep for three years on the 12th floor of the HSMC. Only a few people involved is aware of the fact that Yeo Jin is in a induced coma. Thus, Yeo Jin has been locked and trapped in a deep sleep on the 12th floor, whilst being looked after by Chief Han and a nurse. 


As a result of being recognized as Yong Pal by Chief Lee, Tae Hyun agrees to do anything that Chief Lee wants him to do in order to keep his identity as Yong Pal a secret. Thus, Chief Lee promotes Tae Hyun to the 12th floor, which is specialized for only the VVIPs and VIPs of HSMC. As a result of his promotion, Tae Hyun is no longer a resident doctor of the surgeon department of HSMC. Instead, he is in charge of going for personal house calls arranged by the hospital's 12th floor.  


Tae Hyun then meets Han Yeo Jin, the real heir to Han Shin Group, after requesting to be allowed into the private room where Yeo Jin is locked up in a deep sleep. The private room used to be only restricted to Chief Lee, the nurse and Chairman Han. One day, Yeo Jin awoke from her induced coma and tried to kill herself. While Chief Lee had to perform surgery on Yeo Jin in order to save her, she met Tae Hyun, who was hiding in the surgery room next door. 


Following that incident, Yeo Jin awoke another time from her deep sleep and offered Tae Hyun money in order to save his sister in return for helping her to escape from being locked up and put into an induced coma on the 12th floor. Tae Hyun agreed to help her in return for the money, and thus the battle between Yeo Jin, who is the real heir of Han Shin Group and her brother, Chairman Han begins. 




Thoughts on the drama so far... 

I would say that the extraordinary mixture of themes, which includes medical, thriller, action , melodrama and romance all in one drama is one of the plus point of this drama. 
The fact that they combined a range of themes has made Yong Pal 용팔이 a one of a kind drama. Another interesting part about this drama is the part where they perform surgery outside of the operation theater(OT) throughout the drama during the private house calls. 
However, I feel that the plot of the drama is a bit confusing up until the recent 6th episode. Right now, it still seems difficult to determine as to who is on the 'good' or 'bad' side. 
Apart from that, the flow of the drama has been quite smooth, with a commendable development of the characters so far. The chemistry between Joo Won and Kim Tae Hee has been getting better as there is still not much scenes between the two main leads. 


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