How Hospital Playlist healed in ways most medical dramas don’t: Can Resident Playbook carry that legacy?

I’ll be upfront: My understanding of medical dramas comes mostly from Greys Anatomy. I spent a good 16 seasons riding the emotional rollercoaster that would make Final Destination proud. I watched terrifying hospital shoot-outs, bomb blasts, plane crashes, ferry ride accidents and more. Romances flared and fizzled, too and you couldn't really get invested in a couple, because who knows if they'll survive the writers whims?

There’s no such thing as healing with medical dramas as I came to learn, you just sit nervously biting your nails hoping that the next doctor who walks in isn’t going to die, or get their heart broken. You decide which is a worse fate.

And then Hospital Playlist, came along. It was a little disorienting. What do you mean it’s a show purely about heartwarming friendships and wholesome romances?

Nobody vanishes mysteriously, and breakups happen offscreen with quiet dignity?

What?

I had a mild existential crisis, ironically accompanied by a warm, woozy feeling.

Hospital Playlist, felt like that warm glass of milk you have before being tucked into bed. In terms of the feel-good factor and life lessons, it was a little reminiscent of Scrubs, another medical dramedy. The way to viewers hearts is through friendship and that’s exactly what this show offered: Rich, healing friendships. In the first episode itself, the expectations of usual hospital dramas are subverted, by abandoning the usual hardened mechanics regarding medical politics, funding and the usual. It understands the feeling that sometimes you really don’t want the harsh realities; you want to believe it can be softened.

 Just a smidge.

And, that’s what this cocktail of romance and friendships is there to remind you. There are all kinds of romances, the old cherished favourites, and especially the good old friends-to-lovers arc. There’s the earnest Song-hwa, whose close friendship with Ik-Jun is finally rewarded with romance, much to Ik-jun and fans relief.  There’s also the couple termed ‘Winter garden’---Ahn Jeong-an and Jang Gyo-eul, played by Yoo Yeon-seok and Shin Hyun-been. They have a K-dramaish Christmas reconciliation, which is as tender as it is sweet to watch.

We aren’t spared heartbreak, but it’s quiet, and yet you feel the heaviness of it all, especially for the long-distance couple Ik-sun and Jun-wan, played by Kwak Sun-young and Kim Jun-wan.

While the romances are the comforting flavour in the show, it’s the chemistry between the five friends that just overshadows everything else. There’s laughter, tears on the difficult harrowing days of loss and grief, and solace is found in a lunch box.

And there are countless lunches.

Season 2 of the show might have stumbled in storyline at points, but overall, it was still a touching, heartwarming watch with worthy pay-offs. As Resident Playbook, the spin-off, kicks off on a slow, but promising start, it remains to be seen if it makes you feel the same…like you just had a glass of milk before sleeping.