Dr. White おわり

 Well, it was a lonnng stretch, but I was FINALLY able to finish watching the medical drama “Dr. White”, and WOW, it was freakin’ GREAT and totally worth the wait!

I’m not usually a fan of these medical dramas (ubiquitous though they are) because they always follow the same beats: corrupt higher-ups and snarky supervisors, irate and belligerent patients, and the same formula of each enemy one by one becoming an ally as the hero/herione proves his/her worth, and I had the same reservations going into this one.

But there was something special about Dr. White, and the dual identity of the mysterious Byakuyako (Minami Hamabe) as both wide-eyed and innocent waif and cold and precise super-diagnosis deliverer made for some highly entertaining and imaginative scenarios!

Despite my misgivings, both the individual patient cases as well as the overarching “mystery’ of where Byakuyako came from and who was after her, fascinated til the very end, and I was so glad to have the show end with a solid wrap-up without any “gotcha!” last-minute twists endings, or even worse, one of those added-on endings that had not much to do with the actual show!

Everyone was great in their roles, especially Miori Takimoto, Sae Okazaki and Tasuku Emoto as the circle of people who protect and nurture Byakuyako, but of course the center stage MUST belong to Minami Hamabe who played the innocent Byakuyako to an absolute “T”!!! Whenever I had a hard time believing someone could be so ignorant of things, all it took was a tilt of her head to say, “OKAY, I believe!!!” LOLOL

So many great scenes, in particular I cite episode 8 where Byakuyako and her seeming arch-enemy at the hospital Dr. Makabe finally go head to head. An intense episode with a LOT going on that had me crying my eyes out by the end!

Maybe my recent viewing of Radiation House softened me with the “scatterbrained genius” trope, but I REALLY loved Dr. White a Lot! It may be just the excitement talking, but right now I’m giving this one a solid 10/10!!!

PS: In an earlier post, I had bemoaned the fact that I saw the last episode broadcast at Carp Dori on their TVs , but having watched 'em all, I discovered  it was actually only the second to last episode!

Have to say, as soon as the image came onscreen while watching it at last, my mind immediately went "Hey! It's the image I saw at the Carp!" LOL!

Minami Hamabe in "Dr.White"

 
A Journalist named Masaki Karioka (Tasuke Emoto) on his morning jog comes across a dazed woman in white (Minami Hamabe) stumbling through the brush.

When she collapses and slips into unconsciousness, Masaki calls on his friend Maria Takamori (Miori Takimoto), a doctor in a struggling Hospital, to help bring the girl in for examination.

There is a bit of excitement as the mystery girl is carted in as a man suffering from abdominal pains is also being admitted. Though she is unconscious when she is wheeled in, her ears perk up upon hearing the Docs discussing the man’s symptoms, prompting her to leap up off the stretcher and give a succinct analysis of the man’s problems.

Masaki thinks that the girl must be babbling nonsense as she slips back into sleep, but when Takamori announces the exact same diagnosis, he does a double take. Did that mystery girl properly assess the patient’s malady in that mere minute she was up?

After all the excitement of the man in emergency, things quiet down enough for Takimori to look over the Mystery girl. When asked, she says her name is “Byakuya” but doesn’t seem to remember anything else. In fact, aside from her medical opinions which appear out of seeming nowhere, this woman has the mind of a child.

Aside from that, she seems healthy enough so they don’t know what to do with her. They can’t keep her at the hospital but she doesn’t know who she is. Masaki is reluctant to release her to the police and they decide for the time being to let her stay at his place.

Just then, the man from earlier is wheeled out and the docs are talking about his malady.
This doesn’t ring true for Byakuya, and when she touches the man’s pulse for a second, she curtly says the Docs have misdiagnosed the patient! The doctor in charge is furious at Byakuya’s accusation…but of course, when they reluctantly go back and double check, they find her diagnosis is correct!

Just who IS this mystery woman and where did she come from?

  I had mentioned early on that I only wanted to watch Dr. White if they focused on the amnesia because I was tired of Hospital dramas, and, indeed, as far as the Hospital goes, it’s more of what I’m entirely weary of,  arrogant blowhard doctors who belittle the underlings and corrupt hospital directors, etc. VERY tiresome.

Fortunately the mystery of Byakuya is interesting enough and Minami plays the genius-woman-with-mind-of-child quite well- very believable as the woman looking at the world through childlike eyes, though the skeptical side of me has to wonder how someone who doesn’t know what “Delicious” “Smiling” and “Strawberries” are can make or understand any kind of genius medical diagnoses, LOL!
Also really liked the parts where she is bonding with Masaki’s sister Haruna (Sae Okazaki), those scenes, though very cliched, i.e., shopping for clothes and the multiple-outfits in dressing room thing, was so cute to watch! Like I said, anything focusing on her character outside of the medical dramatics is enough for me…

PS: I remember back when Ayame Gouriki was just hitting her stride, there seemed to be a big backlash against her. Maybe she got too popular too fast? I don’t know, but I’ve been hearing some worrying rumors that the same thing is happening to Minami Hamabe, where people are saying that they’re sick of her, etc. How can this be? She’s only just started out, and is she really that popular? I dunno, I kind of felt like she was still a fan fave.