Quick Review #21: PICU Shouni shuuchuu chiryoushitsu (Autumn 2022)

Title: PICU Shouni shuuchuu chiryoushitsu PICU 小児集中治療室

Season: Autumn 2022

Broadcast by: FujiTV

Rating: 7 / 10

Recommended for: those who like medical dramas and are fine with them being slower-paced and focus more on the people i.e. the medical staff and patients rather than the illnesses

Liked:

- The first 30 minutes of Ep 9 where Takeshiro and Minami spent time in Tokyo to seek a second opinion about her illness and reveal their thoughts and love for each other. Those scenes were so heart-wrenching because the love and bond between mother and son were so strong and touching yet it wasn't over-the-board in going really dramatic about Minami's last days.

- This is the first time that I've watched Yoshizawa Ryo in a leading role and I was really impressed with the natural and progressive development of his character Takeshiro over the course of these three months. His acting was right on spot in showing the various emotional states of Takeshiro without it ever feeling like it was faked or forced.

- The scenery of Hokkaido which honestly felt like a visually-pleasing travelogue at times.

Disliked: 

- The pacing of this drama can be a bit uneven at times - some episodes had more developments or were more engaging to watch while some felt pretty draggy. If you are used to the medical dramas which show the doctors and nurses racing against time to save patients e.g. in an ER setting, this might not be your cup of tea.

- The part about how Takeshiro going around to request for more resources from other departments in the hospital for PICU - I thought that was kind of idealistic and too cliché. Considering that other departments were also shorthanded, it doesn't seem realistic for them to give in to Takeshiro's pleading as easily as how it was depicted.

- I felt that the discussion on the challenges posed by Hokkaido's vast land area on the medical resources for relatively remote or far-flung places were pretty superficial. It was as if there was much attention devoted to this theme in the first few episodes but it sort of slipped into the background and became forgotten as the focus shifted to the main characters. And it looks likely that this might become a long-running series since the topic is not something that can be resolved simply by having a designated medical plane stationed near the PICU or having more PICUs. As such, the "unfinished business" ending did result in a lower level of satisfaction felt by the time the drama ended.