The Hippocratic Crush; a very impressive TVB drama that caught my surprise and attention.

On Call 36小時, ‘The Hippocratic Crush’  is a 2012 medical drama from TVB that explores on a group of young interns working in the same hospital under the supervision of few seniors (mainly the two main characters portrayed by Kenneth Ma and Tavia Yeung). The other casts include Him Law, Ben Wong, Benjamin Yuen, Mandy Wong, Derek Kok, Raymond Cho and a line up of new actors and actresses.

So, from this drama alone, we were able to see performance from new people (the juniors) in TVB, which is a good start after the event of a huge group of experienced artistes leaving TVB not long ago. After watching all the twenty five episodes with the finale on yesterday, it is no doubt that ‘The Hippocratic Crush’ would be one of the best TVB series of the year. Too bad, it is not aired near November, the anniversary month of TVB which would brings more recognition and attention to this series. This drama would be easily forgotten by the time of awards presentation on December. However, I still support this drama for some awards. There are quite a number of strong reasons why me and most others like this series, particularly:

1. Extremely well written script with heartfelt dialogues, meaningful phrases and touching moments.

Eventhough there are no ‘golden words’ or any ‘memorable quotes’ can be found from this drama unlike in ‘Heart of Greed’ or ‘Moonlight Resonance’, but some of the dialogues are really touching and provided a lot of good lessons in life to the viewers. I do not only take this drama as an entertainment, but also learn some good principles or philosophies of life from this drama itself, which is very beneficial. There are quite a number of touching scenes from this drama that almost got tears falling from my eyes. Yes, those scenes are really sad, particularly on Helena Law’s death, Yat Hong’s death and the effects to Yat Kin, and Yat Kin’s confession and proposal to Zi Yu in front of all his colleagues.

2. Decent and realistic-looking performance from most of the casts, from the juniors to the seniors.

This especially can be seen from Kenneth Ma’s performance as Cheung Yat-kin in the drama. He seriously improved a lot after involvement in many series on these few years. His acting skill stunned me, particularly from the scenes of his brother’s death, scenes of him being pursued by Tavia whom he pursued later on the other hand, and definitely his crying scene. He seriously deserved an award at the end of this year, perhaps ‘Most Favourite Male Character’ or even the highest honour of grabbing the  ‘Best Actor’ award. Tavia Yeung did not bad too. Her facial expression is great. While for the junior casts, many are acceptable and this is a good start for them in the acting career. I can truly feels their emotions, expressions and gestures while they are doing their best for their respective characters.

3. Balanced and adequate amount of screen time for the vast number of characters including the supporting ones.

There are a lot of characters especially the group of new interns in this drama. At first, I worried that these people would not be given a good role. However, each of them, despite being a supporting characters, are given sufficient screen time to present their own issues and problems, which then their characters are particularly explored and developed too. The return of Helena Law for some episodes in the drama is well received too. The only weakness in this aspect is the less amount of screen time between Kenneth and Tavia after they started their relationship because it’s already the final episode when they started to do so. That is a bit of disappointment for the fans who love this pairing.

4. Extremely well chemistry between Tavia and Kenneth in the drama as a couple.

Forget about the rumours between Tavia and Him Law who also starred in this series. The limelight is on Tavia and Kenneth. Both of them are very compatible together, and I can see a very realistic and natural performance from both of them as a love couple. It would be good if it’s true in real life too. The way they looked at each other, the way they missed each other, the way they cared for each other; all that are pretty well done. A great love in a drama doesn’t need a kissing scene, and this pair proved it.

5. Simply good story, as well as an accompanying great theme song by Joey Yung.

A drama’s success mainly depends on the story itself, and for this one, the story is clearly good. Forget about ‘Healing Hands’. ‘The Hippocratic Crush’ has a much more interesting story to tell with a whole new approach on telling that; through the training of the young interns in the hospital and supervision and guidance from the seniors, unlike in ‘Healing Hands’ when all the main casts are certified doctors. There are also a number of surgery scenes and a bit of explanation on the medical stuff for an extra knowledge regarding the profession. The theme song by Joey Yung for this drama is a very beautiful song and that suits this drama very well. I like the song now, and it’s very meaningful.

——-Overall, out of 10 points, I rate ‘The Hippocratic Crush’ a total of 8.0, and that’s a very good rating from me. An ordinary medical drama that turned out to be a very interesting, moving and meaningful drama for us to enjoy and learn as well. The series ended yesterday with an open and happy ending which is a good simple conclusion to the characters that left me smiling in the end.