# Dr. Romantic (2016)

> An eccentric, brilliant surgeon trades a top Seoul career for a provincial hospital, where he mentors a team of young doctors.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/60040

## Facts

- Seasons: 3
- Episodes: 52
- Episode runtime: 60 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama
- Created by: Kang Eun-kyung, Yoo In-sik
- Network: SBS
- Cast: Han Suk-kyu, Yoo Yeon-seok, Lee Sung-kyung, Ahn Hyo-seop, Jin Kyung, Seo Hyun-jin, Im Won-hee, Byun Woo-min
- TMDB rating: 8.4/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6157190/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: mild
- Tone: warm, sincere, earnest, uplifting, tense

## What critics say

Critics and audiences broadly agree that the series is a warm, acclaimed medical drama carried by its charismatic lead and emotionally resonant mentorship story.

## Synopsis

Dr. Romantic (2016-2023) is a South Korean medical drama created by Kang Eun-kyung and Yoo In-sik for SBS, running three seasons and 52 episodes. Han Suk-kyu plays Teacher Kim, an eccentric, triple board-certified surgeon who walks away from a prestigious Seoul post and lands at a provincial hospital, where he becomes a mentor to a group of young doctors. Yoo Yeon-seok plays Gang Dong-ju, and Lee Sung-kyung plays Cha Eun-jae, among the junior staff whose training and personal lives drive much of the drama. The engine of the show is the tension between the mentor's uncompromising standards and the pressures of an understaffed rural hospital, where every episode brings trauma cases, emergency surgeries and difficult choices about what medicine owes the people who cannot afford to wait. Its shape is an ongoing serialized ensemble rather than a case-of-the-week format, so relationships and professional growth build across seasons. Set in contemporary South Korea, it is a sincere, warm and sometimes bittersweet drama that foregrounds idealism, compassion and the cost of doing the right thing. Fans of Grey's Anatomy, Hospital Playlist and The Good Doctor will find resonance in its mix of surgical stakes and heartfelt mentorship.

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- [Doctors (2016)](https://ember.film/tv/58497)
- [Doctor Lawyer (2022)](https://ember.film/tv/122915)
- [Good Doctor (2013)](https://ember.film/tv/51603)
- [Doctor-X: Surgeon Michiko Daimon (2012)](https://ember.film/tv/41758)
- [A Miracle (2019)](https://ember.film/tv/78672)
- [Hospital Playlist (2020)](https://ember.film/tv/81126)
- [Medical Top Team (2013)](https://ember.film/tv/55656)

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