What It's About
Boo Yong-joo was once the most decorated surgeon in South Korea — until he walked away from a prestigious Seoul university hospital after one too many fights with administrators who valued politics over patients. Years later, he resurfaces under the name Kim Sa-bu ("Teacher Kim") at Doldam Hospital, a tiny, struggling rural facility in the mountains where the staff is exhausted, the equipment is ancient, and the patient load shouldn't be possible for the number of doctors available.
Each season, two ambitious young doctors from elite Seoul hospitals get sent down to Doldam — sometimes as punishment, sometimes by accident, sometimes because they're chasing something they haven't quite named yet. And each season, Teacher Kim does the same thing: pushes them into impossible surgical situations, lets them fail, lets them succeed, and rebuilds them from the ground up as the kind of doctors he wishes the Korean medical system trained more of.
It's a deceptively simple premise that the franchise has been able to recharge across three seasons (2016, 2020, 2023) without losing its core. Season 1 launched Yoo Yeon-seok and Seo Hyun-jin's young-doctor pair; Seasons 2 and 3 picked up with Ahn Hyo-seop and Lee Sung-kyung. Through all of them, Teacher Kim stays the same: gruff, brilliant, secretly tender, completely incapable of suffering hospital politicians gladly.
Why You Should Watch
Han Suk-kyu is the entire show
Han Suk-kyu is one of Korea's most respected film actors, and his decision to anchor a TV medical drama was treated as a major event when Season 1 aired. He doesn't slum it. Teacher Kim is a fully inhabited character — there are quiet half-second reactions in scenes that make the whole episode work. Korean acting students study his line readings.
The mentor-mentee structure is the genre's gold standard
Every great Korean medical drama is built around teaching, but Dr. Romantic makes it the literal subject. Each season is structured as "Teacher Kim breaks two arrogant young doctors and rebuilds them into people who can actually be trusted with patients." It's deeply satisfying because it's deeply true — most professionals can name the mentor who shaped them, and Dr. Romantic gives that relationship the dramatic weight it deserves.
The hospital politics are sharp
Beneath the surgery and the mentoring, Dr. Romantic is making a sustained critique of how Korean medicine has been organised: Seoul prestige hospitals hoarding resources, rural hospitals starving, administrators promoted for fundraising rather than patient outcomes. The show never gets preachy about it, but the politics are baked into every plot.
You can dip in anywhere
Unusually for a long franchise, each Dr. Romantic season is self-contained. Season 1 has a complete arc and ending; Seasons 2 and 3 introduce new young doctors as audience proxies who need Doldam Hospital explained to them. You can watch the seasons in order, or just watch Season 1, or jump to Season 3 — and the show works.
Main Cast
🎬 Watch the Trailer
A look at the Doldam Hospital atmosphere and Teacher Kim's first appearance on screen.
▶ Search Official Trailer on YouTubeWhere to Watch
Viki is the most reliable home for the full franchise worldwide — all three seasons with English (and many other) subtitles.
Kocowa also carries the show in regions where it operates, since the original broadcaster was SBS. Selected seasons appear on Netflix in some markets but availability rotates.
Watch It If You Liked…
- Behind the White Tower — The 2007 critical masterpiece that essentially created the template Dr. Romantic builds on. Slower, darker, more political. The genre's intellectual godfather.
- Good Doctor — Another mentor-shapes-younger-doctor classic, with a different emotional register. The original of the show ABC remade.
- Doctor John — If you want the same intellectual seriousness with a darker, more philosophical edge, this is the deeper cut.
Frequently Asked Questions
Watch them in release order: Season 1 (2016), Season 2 (2020), Season 3 (2023). Each season has new young doctors as the audience entry point, but the world of Doldam Hospital and Teacher Kim's evolution accumulate. You'll get the most out of the franchise watching all three in order.
Yes, absolutely. Season 1 has a fully complete dramatic arc and a satisfying ending — many viewers consider it the strongest of the three. If 52 episodes feels like a lot, start with Season 1 and decide from there whether you want more time with Teacher Kim.
Viki is the most reliable global option — all three seasons, subtitled. Kocowa carries the show in supported regions. Netflix occasionally licenses selected seasons in specific markets, but coverage rotates.
No — Boo Yong-joo / Teacher Kim is a fictional character created by writer Kang Eun-kyung. However, the show is informed by real conversations about Korean medical ethics and the country's hospital hierarchy, and Korean physicians have publicly identified with elements of the character. Teacher Kim is meant to be a composite ideal — the mentor the system doesn't reliably produce.
If Hospital Playlist is the K-drama medical genre's heart, Dr. Romantic is its backbone. Seven years, three seasons, one extraordinary central performance, and the modern template for what a great Korean medical drama should feel like. Start with Season 1 and see where Teacher Kim takes you.