Please be advised that this review contains significant spoilers about the plot and characters of ‘Hyper Knife.’ If you have not yet watched the drama, we recommend viewing it first to avoid any spoilers.

A genius neurosurgeon has everything taken from her when her mentor and teacher bans her from the operating room and gets her medical license revoked.  Now, years later, she runs a small pharmacy by day and performs illegal surgeries for rich or desperate patients by night.

But when her path once again crosses with her former mentor, he makes a shocking request for her help.  And as the two begin a dangerous game of cat and mouse, they dance the fine line between revenge and admiration.

‘Hyper Knife’ comes to an intense conclusion that at least hints at an ending as happy as we can expect from these two evil geniuses. Se Ok meets with Dong Yeong, who tries to convince her not to do Deok Hui’s surgery for both of their sakes.  The pair fight and Se Ok ends up killing him.  Then she calls Deok Hui to help her take care of the fallout, which he does.  But it leads to a huge fight between Deok Hui and Se Ok. When they take care of everything, Deok Hui goes into hiding.  

Se Ok finds out that Deok Hui is much sicker than he had originally let on.  But no matter how hard she searches for him, she can’t find him. Mrs. Ra reaches out to Dr. Han who agrees to give Deok Hui palleative care, although he tries to urge him to let Se Ok operate immediately. After a time jump, where Deok Hui has continued to get weaker, he finally contacts Se Ok for the operation.  Se Ok goes in to meet with her patient before beginning the surgery and Deok Hui tries to shake her hand, but Se Ok tells him that won’t be necessary, since he won’t be dying today.  And the credits roll…

But we get two more important scenes.  First we see Mrs. Ra and Yeong Ju sitting outside with Se Ok’s dogs.  It seems she didn’t let them die after all. Although leaving the burnt collars was a dirty trick, but we forgive her! And lastly, in our only hint as to whether Se Ok was actually successful, we see Se Ok and her team in the operating room about to start.  Someone asks if she should call “him” but she just smiles and says “he’s here”.  Everyone turns as a pair of feet walk into the OR and the surgery begins.  From the back we see that Se Ok’s tattoo, which was once only half colored is now full.  

There seem to be two possible endings.  Either he died and her tatoo is now full because she has achieved her highest potential, as Deok Hui hoped.  And the “he” is another doctor; Dr. Kim perhaps.  But I chose to think that Dr. Choi is very much alive and Se Ok has reached her full potential because he is at her side, continuing to teach her, probably in secret.  

‘Hyper Knife’ is a medical thriller about two genius surgeons and the line between obsession and madness.  This is one of the most unhinged kdramas I have ever seen.  It is well paced and unpredictable, with a subtle dark humor that made me laugh inspite of its moral ambiguity.  Park Eun Bin is particularly good as the unbalanced psychopath.

But this drama will not be for everyone.  It is a dark and bloody psychological thriller. The lead characters are morally corrupt medical prodigies with a total disregard for the law.  Some felt that they were too extreme to feel believable. But if you are a fan of medical thrillers, this one will keep you on your toes until the final after-credit scenes.  I give ‘Hyper Knife’ a 9 out of 10.

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If this review has made you curious about where your other favorites stand, here is break down of the other reviews by rating.  Links to both spoiler-free and full reviews are available on each page. Feel free to explore all the wonderful dramas I have watched.