My Week in Dramas 25 January 2024

I am Nobody (2023), The Trauma Code (2025)

The friends-to-lovers trope is making something of a comeback and that’s evident in a series of short C dramas featuring a pair of characters who have been “friends” since high school — it’s Lou Yanjing and Li Zhi. That is until they end up in bed together after a weepy drunken evening. Previously Li Zhi was attached to another guy — a worthless fellow who drops her like a hot potato when the birth daughter of the family returns. Lou Yanjing, who seems doomed to be the supportive friend, the typical second male lead, becomes the male lead once the other guy forfeits his right to that title. Scumbag ex may be a placeholder or he might… by implication be a temporary derailment and a course correction is needed to nudge things back into place.

Although not the first, the Taiwanese drama In Time with You has become the template for many Asian dramas employing the time honoured trope. The leads go through plenty of ups and downs as well as significant others but in the end the guy who knows her best, who has been steadfast in his affections since high school gets the girl. There are several Lou Yanjing and Zhizhi that I know of. Here’s one, here’s another and another and another. I hear there are more but they’ve either been deleted or haven’t shown up on my radar.

Speaking of Taiwanese dramas, a while back I stumbled upon this gem of a remake of Fated to Love You starring popular douyin actor, Bai Fangwen. He’s not classically handsome but his performance here is absolutely riveting. There’s little doubt that he’s many times the actor that many a mainstream actor would love to be. In this adaptation, the indecision of the male lead is portrayed with poignancy. It is in all probability the shortest version — going slightly over 2 hours — but the impact is not lost.

Many think that Fated to Love You is about the growth of the FL. I, however, take a different perspective on this. To me it is about a man wracked with indecision and torn by many loves. He’s not a bad man per se but he’s put in an untenable situation of having to make hard choices. No one, not even the CEO can have everything. He cannot please everyone. Despite what the title suggests, the drama is really less about fate but more about choices that are consequential. Once certain things are set in motion, there’s no turning back to what might have been.

Late to the party but I finally made my way to I am Nobody that first aired on Youku in 2023. As a fan of superhero stories I was always keen to take a stab at it but there was always to take my attention elsewhere. Although marketed as a show about a lad who has superpowers, its heart beats wuxia and assumes that the audience is in on the joke despite the contemporary garb and accoutrements. This one has it all. A tragic past, inter-sectarian rivalries, dubious female characters, the changing of guard, jianghu-shattering conspiracies, a future that forebodes doom. Classic wuxia is the hero’s journey writ large. A young talent, reluctant pugilist is dragged kicking and screaming into the limelight almost against his will. He’s a hidden sword and there’s pedigree behind him. With comedic flair Peng Yuchang is well-cast in the protagonist role as he goofs his way into fame using his long cultivated survival skills play sleight of hand with his opponents. I haven’t made it all the way to the end yet but I have high hopes for this pick since it has garnered a second season and there’s talk of a third.

There are many reasons I’m fond of special abilities stories. Partly it has to do with the question of how individuals use their super abilities and then there’s the issue of how abilities or talents (to use a New Testament word) are unequally distributed. In the Gospels Jesus tells a parable of a master who distributes his wealth among his servants in unequal measure before going on a trip. When he returns, the master commends the first two servants for being faithful in using what they’ve been given. The third literally buries his talent for fear of his master.

The Spiderman notion of “great power comes great responsibility” is really the triumph of a Jesus idea spread far and wide to the ends of the earth because throughout history the default position is to use power to grab more power. Or to use power to advance self-interest. The notion that the powerful are endowed with abilities to take responsibility for the well-being of others is really not a “natural” feature of the human race. Or accountability to a higher power. It has to be taught and inculcated. Because as the short C dramas attest, power is a commodity in the Cinderella story. Cinderella is powerless against those who would abuse or exploit her. So what she needs is a far more powerful backer to punish her adversaries in her stead. He doesn’t do for just anyone — only for the mother of his children or the woman he loves. He’s not out there punishing all the bullies of the world. That’s what revenge stories are about and why they resonate. It’s about accruing power to dismantle established power. Or in some cases to decimate it. Likewise the Cinderella story in this short dramas is about regaining power that’s been stolen and then her subsequent reinstatement among the highest in the land.

The modern “superhero” is a rare creature who serves the greater good. When he or she misuses that power, the world is in disarray. When he or she rejects that power ie. buries it for one reason or another (like Spiderman 2), the world is a worst place for it. In fact evil is allowed to run riot.

This is likely the story of I am Nobody. The university-age boy Zhang Chulan who eschews the power he’s been given has to come to grips with how that power should be used in a world that is far bigger than himself or the team of people that he’s gradually building around him. Like any good wuxia, the people around Chulan are equally awesome. The creative use of super abilities is reminiscent of the long-running One Piece. Or name your favourite manga here.

A man who understands this fully is Ju Ji-hoon’s Baek Gang-hyeok of The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call. Dr Baek is a “superhero” of sorts. He is a top-notch trauma surgeon who wears the crazy belief that saving lives is paramount to all the politics surrounding medicine like a badass badge. As someone who has spent years honing his skills in war torn countries with an organization like Doctors without Borders, he is the man to shake things up at Hankuk Hospital. And oh yes, it doesn’t take him long to ruffle feathers. On his first day, he arrives at the scene of an emergency barking orders to lesser mortals and hands out nicknames gleefully. Then he heads off to his inauguration ceremony to give his colleagues a tongue lashing.Dr Baek has a truly radical agenda of saving lives in opposition to the status quo and he means to make it happen. But of course medicine is an expensive endeavour.

Ju Ji-hoon is insanely great in the role. And I mean it literally. To say that Baek Gang-hyeok doesn’t play by the conventions is an understatement. Of course these days Ju Ji-hoon could be considered a veteran of the screen and he certainly shows his acting chops here. There are Romantic Doctor resonances that ring out especially when Gang-hyeok schools his hand-picked apprentice Yang Jae-won (Choo Young-woo) in the art and science of trauma medicine. Jae-won is torn at first but gradually allows himself to be talked into changing specialties. Life with his new mentor is rough for the lad whose natural inclinations is to play safe but I predict that he’s found his hero’s journey with a gifted teacher by his side.

I’m enjoying it so far. It moves fast and Dr Baek reminds me of the equally unorthodox J drama doctors that I’ve enjoyed over the years. It’s highly entertaining and it’s fun to watch Dr Baek change his world one patient at a time.