When I first watched the trailer to this Korean Drama series, I was intrigue! I mean a nurse who is gifted with the special ability to see what others can’t see, and her mission is to save others from being consumed by the “Jellies” that are apparently not ghosts, not spirits, but more like unresolved desires that will consume the persons who harbour them.
At this point, I am going to go off-tangent for a bit and talk about this whole concept of unresolved desires. Most Korean dramas like to dwell in this concept, to kind of explain how a spirit turns evil. A person who lives with an unresolved desire, and died before resolving this, his/ her soul will continue wonder around instead of ascending to the after-world to be judged. If, for some reason, the soul was still unable to let go of the unresolved desire, and move on, the soul will then transform into an evil spirit that will haunt the area or those who are still living/ alive. What is fascinating about this is that Malay cultures seem to also craft their horror stories around this; the story of Pontianak is a prime example, in which a mother who died before giving birth to a child will then come back as an evil spirit that will continue to haunt the living. The story of kum-kum, in which a person died before becoming beautiful again, and then continued to go around drinking the blood of virgins, also revolve around the whole context and idea of unresolved desire. In fact, it was also proven through many studies/ experiments, that, psychologically a person will feel very affected when his/ her desires are not achieved/ fulfilled, and that when this happens for a long/ extended period of time, he/ she will then tend to be more bitter, jaded and cynical. That bitterness, have the potential to affect not just that particular individual, but also anyone who spends considerable amount of time with him/ her. And that is why psychological journals will always warn you about toxic people; they don’t always start off being toxic; they are toxic because they have desires that have not been fulfilled for a long, long time.
Now, going back to the Nurse’s Files, I thought the way the story was crafted was very effective in capturing this—the toxicity of unresolved desires and how they can have adverse effects on the other individuals who may not even have any clues to why some people remain unhappy or have their desires not fulfilled. The whimsical treatment to the whole subject matter that is deemed serious, and requiring deep reflection by our society in today’s context was just mind-blowing, especially if one were to take a closer analysis on how the context of the drama plays on so many layers of understanding. Like if you don’t understand the deeper layers embedded within the drama that involves the discourse on how unresolved desires make our society so unhappy, you can just still be contented and happy to understand the context of the drama as being a person who is blessed with superhero abilities to save the world from “harmful jellies”.
In terms of casting, I just thought that the main characters are portrayed very convincingly; from the nurse who is featured to be the oddball and yet the one who will ultimately save the day, to her love interest who was limping around and become the centre of conflict, to the different villains that aim to make the world a living hell for everybody. f you are looking for good-looking casts in this drama series, you will be sorely disappointed, this is one of those that don’t fit into the mould, i.e. stereotypical k-drama series, filled with good-looking casts.
In terms of structure, there were a few things that seemed under-developed; such as the origins of the villains. Mind you, there are two main different group of villains and the good guys are like squashed in between—so this caused me to be confused for a while; as in who is who when it comes to the villains and their associations/ affinity. That said, I will still recommend you to watch this. And, unlike most k-dramas, this series are made up of six episodes only. So it won’t take much of your time.
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