Poong the Joseon Psychiatrist 2: Episodes 1-2 (First Impressions)

by Unit

After the abrupt end to its first season, we are back in Joseon with our psychiatrist and his clinic family. Moving from the suburbs to Hanyang brings us in proximity to the palace (and we all know what Joseon palaces are like). But our psychiatrist is not one to run away from a challenge, even if we’d like nothing better than for the family to flee to the safety of the countryside. I mean, why get involved? But then that’s why they are the main players and we’re mere spectators.

Editor’s note: Coverage will continue with weecaps.
 
EPISODES 1-2 FIRST IMPRESSIONS

We start off with a reintroduction to our titular character, Poong the psychiatrist, who now practices in Hanyang in the company of his faithful servant Man-bok. The Gyesu clinic has also moved to Hanyang with our beloved found family still intact: there’s Granny who remains as eccentric as ever, Jang-goon the computer brain, Nam-hee the chef, Ib-bun the artist and of course, the leader of the pack, Ji-han the money lover.

There’s just one familiar face missing: Eun-woo the acupuncturist, and that’s because she has moved to an island after her father received his transfer orders as we saw in the last few minutes of the first season.

Since the council of wickedness headed by the second state councilor was already dissolved in the first season, I wasn’t expecting a rehash of all the palace politics — or at least, politics based on the same players. But apparently, what is dead never actually dies in Joseon because the late second state councilor sparks off a new brand of mischief. It starts with hallucinations of the councilor’s ghost as seen by palace maids and the king himself, and graduates into an epidemic — which even spreads outside the palace — after the maids come down with strange symptoms.

The king orders Poong and Ji-han to join the medical office in treating the maids, and this joint investigation ends up bruising the ego of the medical officers who are too incompetent to give a proper diagnosis, and too proud to admit that team Gyesu’s diagnosis of poisoning is correct. I could care less about the curious case of the second state councilor’s ghost, but the case serves to introduce two brand new characters: palace physician JEON KANG-IL (Kang Young-seok) and the princess LEE SEO-YI (Woo Da-bi) who is also a victim of the ghost.

Kang-il appears to be skilled-ish at his job, but I cannot respect a physician who sides with the medical office and refuses to admit to their misdiagnosis. Pride over patients? That’s not very Hippocratic of him. As for Seo-yi, she’s the typical bratty princess who refuses to get married and stresses her brother (the king) out. Together, our new characters are primed to round out the love square the drama has planned for this season. But this plan is dead on arrival because the characters aren’t even appealing.

If you want to make a proper love square, at least make the guys on the opposing team somewhat likeable. Shin-woo (the other end of the love triangle in Season 1) was an interesting character despite being morally gray for the most part. But Kang-il and Seo-yi just feel stereotypical. With only 10 episodes planned for this season, I wonder why we need them as love rivals or even as additional characters. And to further drive home the tropes, Seo-yi happens to have a “we met in the past” connection to Poong. But on a lighter note, she’s not the only one in nostalgia-land, as her head court lady also seems to have a similar connection to Ji-han. Heh.

Speaking of the love square, Eun-woo visits Hanyang in the middle of the chaos, has a reunion and an almost-kiss with Poong (which is interrupted by Man-bok, aish!), gets acquainted with Kang-il after learning he’s also a widower, and attracts the ire of Seo-yi due to her closeness with Poong. Eun-woo has her hands full, but she still manages to be a key player in solving the ghost case — which leads back to the king’s eunuch. Aha! I knew he was sus. “I would have gotten away with it if not for you meddling kids,” he says, in the Joseon equivalent, as he’s literally unmasked as the mastermind.

The suspicious eunuch’s reason for all the havoc he wrecked within and outside the palace is to prove that the second state councilor still has people loyal to him. Such a lame excuse. But as he’s dragged away, he screams that it’s not over yet, and that’s quite unsettling. I’m left to wonder if this is just the yapping of an unrepentant fellow, or there’s actual truth to his statement — in which case, more palace drama. Tsk.

To reward the Gyesu family for solving the case, they are arrested by the designs of the medical office who threaten to resign if Poong and the rest of the clinic aren’t banished from Hanyang. If doing the most was a people, it would be these guys. But the plan works because Poong has no desire to remain in Hanyang either. Since the king’s health is improving and he no longer requires full-time medical attention from Poong, he obliges both sides by sending the Gyesu team back to Sorak village.

The king officially appoints the Gyesu clinic as a regional medical office, but this doesn’t go down well with the egotistical medics in the palace and they reiterate their threat to resign. But because no group has the monopoly of issuing threats, they soon return to their shells after the king threatens to accept their resignation. I need more Joseon kings to stand up to, and even teach their echo chamber of foolishness a lesson — starting from those ministers who love to beg for death, viz., “Please kill us, Your Majesty.” Seriously, some heads need to start rolling! Heh.

We wrap things up with our clinic family’s triumphant return to Sorak village, and this is all the more exciting considering Eun-woo’s father grants her permission to return to the clinic as well. But they barely get the chance to marinate in the familiar territory of the Gyesu clinic, because guess who also comes down to Sorak? It’s Seo-yi, and she’s not at all pleased that Poong turned down her marriage proposal. Sigh. A girl who isn’t graceful in the face of polite rejection. Why doesn’t this surprise me?

As far as first impressions go, there’s not much of a difference between the happenings in the first season and what seems to be in store for us this season. It’s the same unnecessary drama sprinkled with the comedy bits provided by the clinic family — who remain the best part of the show. Together, they give off such great energy and their family dynamics can provide a lot of stories for the show to play around with — so much that it doesn’t need the extra drama to keep itself going.

I could watch a ton of episodes with Ji-han, Poong, and Eun-woo solving medical cases, and the rest of the family just being their riotous selves on the side. Man-bok hiding his identity as the Palpan-dong Castor Bean and fighting the Sogyeok-dong Burning Firewood (seriously, what are these names? LMAO!) to get Ib-bun’s money back, was a personal highlight for me this week. And I loved to see Ib-bun lean into her artistic side for things other than drawing medical illustrations for the clinic. Get this girl her own fashion line already!

Of course, the biggest draw for me here continues to be Kim Min-jae, and the cuteness of Poong and Eun-woo’s relationship. The duo make a solid team as professionals and as a couple, and their “not all up in your face” romance works well with the tone of the show. That being said, it won’t hurt this drama to stick with what works (pure clinic family shenanigans), and relegate to the background what doesn’t (love squares and palace politicking).

 
RELATED POSTS

• Premiere Watch: Poong the Joseon Psychiatrist 2
• Poong the Joseon Psychiatrist teases Season 2 coming this January
• Poong the Joseon Psychiatrist: Episodes 11-12 (Final)
• Premiere Watch: Poong the Joseon Psychiatrist, Wild Boar Hunting
• Poong the Joseon Psychiatrist is now accepting patients in new promos
• Finding healing with Kim Min-jae in tvN’s Joseon Psychiatrist Yoo Se-poong
• Joseon Psychiatrist Yoo Se-poong is open for business in new promos