It ran for 20 episodes in the summer/fall of 2013, and spawned an American remake in 2017, The Good Doctor starring Freddie Highmore as Shaun. It's generally remembered in the West for having one of the worst modern portrayals of autism out there, especially compared to the American remake.
A Japanese remake of the same name, Good Doctor (グッド ドクター, Guddo Dokuta) was aired in 2018, starring Kento Yamazaki as Minato Shindo, Juri Ueno as Natsumi Seto, and Naohito Fujiki as Seiji Takayama. It ran for a mere 10 episodes, but was well-received.
Good Tropes:
- Abusive Parents: Si-on's mother is loving and caring, but his dad is clearly ashamed to have him as a son and beats Si-on, his brother, and their mother. He conveniently disappears, leaving Si-on and his brother to an orphanage for a while. Si-on's father eventually shows up at the end of Episode 12 after he sees a hospital ad featuring Si-on, and he berates him for his condition and wishes he was never born.
- Big Brother Instinct: Si-on had an older brother who tries to help him integrate (other kids beat him up because he's scared to talk to them) and protects Si-on and their mom from their father's beatings.
- Blood from the Mouth: In Episode 13, Si-on's father coughs up blood after confronting Si-on and being sent away from the hospital at Yun-seo's request. He's then diagnosed with Stage 4 laryngeal cancer, and he forces Si-on to take care of him to repay him. He passes away from it in the finale.
- Calling the Old Man Out: In Episode 15, Si-on stands up against his father when he threatens to harm Si-on's mother when she visits him in the hospital, having seen her being beaten up by him before. However, Si-on's father doesn't budge and continues insulting and guilt-tripping him whenever he visits his ward.
- Character Tics: Si-on tends to clasp his hands in front of him and hold them near his belly when he walks. He also hiccups whenever he's in love with Yun-seo.
- Counting Sheep: Si-on tries counting sheep whenever he goes to sleep, but he struggles with sleeping even if he reaches more than 1750 sheep.
- Death of a Child:
- If Si-on's being beaten by kids and his dad alike wasn't enough, his tragic backstory has his older brother and best friend being killed after they venture into a cave and it collapses on them, Dr. Choi only able to bring one oxygen mask in before it collapses some more and traps him, too. Choi chooses to save Si-on.
- In Episode 5, the young Min-hui dies from intussusception despite the surgical team's best efforts to save her.
- Disappeared Dad:
- Si-on's father abandoned him after Si-on's brother's death, but he shows up at the end of Episode 12 after he sees a hospital ad featuring Si-on. He then passes away from laryngeal cancer in the finale.
- Yeong-seo's father passed away while on duty two years ago, and she's her mother's only family left.
- Foreign Remake:
- It got one in 2017, the American The Good Doctor.
- Now has a Japanese version also called Good Doctor.
- Harmful to Minors: In Episode 15, Yeong-seo's mother leaves her alone in the park at night to get drinks. She comes back just in time to see her daughter getting stabbed by a criminal after witnessing him attack a biker. Thankfully, the hospital team successfully operates on her, but she's traumatized from the event when asked what the criminal's face looked like.
- Heroic BSoD: Si-on faints in shock when his father finds him in the hospital after seeing an ad featuring him and berates him for his condition, just like he did when Si-on was a child.
- Hey, Let's Put on a Show: In Episode 19, the staff of the Pediatric Surgery Department put on a Peter Pan play for the sick children as part of their charity drive.
- Hollywood Autism: More like Korean Autism, which is, by Western standards, quite an inaccurate and offensive portrayal.
- Informed Attribute: Si-on's savant syndrome isn't really evident, and, further, his autism is shown so badly it might as well not exist, either.
- Interrupted Suicide: In Episode 8, Gyu-hyeon, an online child celebrity, refuses to be operated on his throat because he thinks he'll lose his singing voice. He then runs out of his ward and prepares to jump from the rooftop, but thankfully, Si-on convinces him not to jump in the following episode.
- Let's Just Be Friends: When Si-on confesses his love for Yun-seo, she tells him that she loves him too... like a little brother. He feels unsure about this development since he worries that his unrequited love for her would still linger. However, Yun-seo realizes that she was treating him like a child, so she resolves to return her romantic feelings to him after calling off her Blind Date.
- Loophole Abuse: In Korea, nobody with a mental deficit (including autism) is allowed to take the board exams and become a doctor. Even though he was "declared normal" when he was 17, and passed the boards with remarkable scores, the medical board find out about Si-on's diagnosis and retroactively disqualify him. This starts the show, because Choi is aware of a clause that allows anyone who is deemed fit to practice by an experienced doctor to be legally declared as fit to practice no matter their situation, so he brings Si-on to his hospital as a resident to prove his abilities.
- On the Next: The end of each episode shows a recap of it in stills followed by a preview of the next. The previews aren't done in Episodes 13, 14, 18, 19, and 20, however.
- Parental Abandonment: Si-on's parents abandoned him after his brother's death, so they were sent to the orphanage. His mother even wrote him a letter claiming that she'd be back later to pick him up. They both show up later on after seeing a hospital ad featuring Si-on, and his father still hates him for his condition while his mother tries reconnecting with him and confesses that she lied about the letter. This leads to Si-on disowning her, believing that she's just as bad as his father, but they eventually reconcile in the finale.
- Poor Communication Kills: After his operation, Dong-jin ends up vomiting the day before he's discharged, but doesn't tell the doctor until the last minute because he misses his family and doesn't want to stay in the hospital any longer. He tells Si-on to keep it a secret, then when Dong-jin's mother confronts Yun-seo about it, he admits that he should've told her sooner but he "forgot" about it to save Yun-seo's face. Naturally, this upsets Dong-jin's mother and causes a rift between Si-on and Yun-seo.
- Roadside Surgery: It takes a while, but after introducing young Si-on's troubles in flashback, adult Si-on performs lifesaving surgery on a boy at a train station where a sign fell down. It's one of the cleaner examples, though, since there was a pharmacy kiosk in the station and a first aid team and paramedics with quite a bit of surgical kit and antiseptic got to the scene quickly.
- Rubik's Cube: International Genius Symbol: Si-on, being a savant, can solve a 4x4 Rubiks cube in 10 seconds with his eyes closed.
- Shipper on Deck: In-hae notices that Si-on has a crush on Yun-seo and gives him advice on how to court her. She's disappointed when she finds out that Yun-seo only likes him like a little brother.
- Shout-Out:
- In Episode 7, part of the Season 1 theme song of Pororo the Little Penguin plays as Si-on's ringtone.
- When Yun-seo shows Si-on a picture of her Blind Date, he comments that he looks like Voldemort.
- When Dr. Kim treats Yeong-seo, Si-on assures her not to be afraid of him, for he's like Won Bin.
- In Episode 17, the hospital kids play with battery-operated Red and Yellow toys.
- Sneaking Snacks: In Episode 15, the hospital kids hide junk food under their gowns and sneak off to one corner of the hospital for a snack. Si-on quickly catches them and reprimands them for it.
- Tastes Like Purple: The one autism-related attribute that is shown well is how Si-on remembers events as "on the day when X smelled like Y". However, it's a bit different to the X being normal and Y being weird, since the ones he uses are pretty normal (train tracks smell like rust, trees smell like ice-creamnote ). It's more like his autism just makes him focus on smells more and remember things through them, which isn't particularly unusual with many people. Still, it's supposed to seem like this to audiences.
- Tragic Keepsake: Si-on keeps the green toy scalpel that his long-dead brother gave him as a birthday gift when they were children. It's what inspired him to become a doctor.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: After his operation, Dong-jin gets indigestion and vomits bile in the restroom, with the contents being shown in the toilet and also in the tissue, which clues Si-on in that he's suffering a small bowel obstruction from complications after his pancreatic surgery.
- Wild Child: The Patient of the Week for Episode 6 is Eun-ok, a child with messy hair and dirty skin who walks on all fours, can't speak, and bites Si-on like a stray dog when he tries examining her. Her aunt abused her by raising her like a dog in her dog farm, and Eun-ok developed Reactive Attachment Disorder. After being treated, she's taught how to speak a few words for easier communication.
- Xanatos Gambit: In the pilot, the different members of the board discuss how eventually letting Si-on in after an almost unanimous 'no' was one of these. Choi said he'd resign as hospital director is Si-on failed, which some of the power-hungry deputies are more than happy with. One mentions how she kept voting 'no' to protect Choi; a Dr. Jerk tries to encourage people to make Si-on feel unwelcome so that he "won't last a month".
