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Welcome to my Healer – Unspoiled Review.  In 1992, 5 friends fearless reported the news in a time of extreme governmental censorship.  These friends are Moon Shik, Healer’s villain, Young Jae, Jung Hoo’s teacher, Ji Il Joo, Jung Hoo’s father, Choi Myung Hee, Young Shin’s mother, and Oh Gil Han, Young Shin’s father.  Decades later a loner who has spent his life working as a special night courier meets a quirky, charming journalist.  Working together under a famous journalist, the group works to uncover the corruption that exists in the top tier of Seoul’s political system.  Along the way, they discover that the current case links back to an older crime from 1992 that links them all in a shared past.

Park Min Young as Chae Young Shin

Chae Young Shin is a sunny, quirky young reporter.  She has been secretly chasing the true identity of the mysterious night courier, Healer.  When he contacts her to set up an interview, it seems like her career may be moving in the right direction.  Coupled with the fact that her journalistic idol takes over as boss at Someday News and she gets her own assistant, Park Bong Soo, to train, things are really looking up for her.  So, she is thrilled when her new boss recruits her and Bong Soo to investigate a story involving the corruption of a mayoral candidate.  But the investigation turns up much more than just political corruption, and the ties to her own past are shocking.

Young Shin is cheerful and bright with just a touch of awkwardness that makes her likeable.  These days, Park Min Young seems to get cast as the smooth professional, so it is especially nice to see her in this kind of role.  But under her cheerfulness, Young Shin suffers from memories she can’t quite see, but that sometimes make themselves known through a bit of PTSD.  This vulnerability makes us root for her even more.  It also made it all the more satifying when she would gather up her courage and join in the fight despite her fears.  Some of my favorite moments were when Jung Hoo would calmly tell Young Shin to close her eyes.  Her total trust in him was refreshing and sweet.  

Kim Mi Kyung as Jo Min Ja (Ajumma)

Kim Mi Kyung is one of the highlights of this drama as Ajumma.  She is the hacker who helps Healer conduct his business.  A former cyber-crimes detective, she left her job because she felt like true justice was not being served.  Though she and Healer have never met face to face, she lives in his ear 24/7 through a mic and knows everything about him.  She is his manager, advisor, and friend.  Her personality can appear a bit abrasive but under all that bravado lies a heart of gold.

♥ Supporting Cast

Healer has an outstanding supporting cast.  Besides the actors and actresses I mentioned above, there are some wonderfual characters.  My favorite were Young Shin’s father and his side kick, who run the cafe together.  They are comedic yet heartfelt, and I looked forward to their scenes.  I also enjoyed the goon squad known as Double S Security, for adding just enough ineptitude to their menacing job to keep things interesting.  And one last shout out to the ever-creepy Secretary Oh and his weird little covered mouth giggle.  For such a small role, he definitely left his mark!

♥Timeless

It’s true that Healer is only 5 years old, but kdrama and technology have both come a long way in those 5 years.  Which is why I was surprised that Healer never felt dated.  For a drama that relies so heavily on gadgets and technology, it would be easy for it to get left behind in terms of it’s relateablility, but instead I found the story, characters, and their gadgets to all be engrossing enought to gloss over the telephone booths and flip phones without much impact on the overall story.  

Ki Young Jae’s Death

Oh Kwang Rok is a great actor and I loved his abrasive yet caring character of Ki Young Jae.  I was disappointed that they killed him off, but even if they felt the need to kill him to keep the story going, I wish they would have waited a little longer.  He brought such a lively energy to the scenes he was in and I would have liked to see more of the interaction between he and Jung Hoo.  It’s always sad to see great characters get killed off during a series, but I felt like they could have achieved the same plot development without killing him off right away.  Actually, I would have been happier if they had done something to Jung Hoo’s mother, who we don’t know much about anyway.  But that is just my preference.

Moon Ho’s Creepy Factor

Now, maybe this one is just me, but in the beginning, I found Moon Ho’s character to be a little weird.  It was just the way they made it seem like he had a crush on his sister-in-law and her daughter at the same time.  His motives felt weird and it was unclear what he was actually trying to do.  Over time, they seemed to move away from this story, especially as he found out about Young Shin and Jung Hoo’s relationship, but at first I wasn’t sure I understood him.  

If there is a weak spot in Healer for me, it is the fact that, after 219 packed full episodes, the ending seemed pretty rushed.  While a few of the main storylines wrapped up happily, there was much left unsaid.  Moon Ho finally feels like he can go on and live his own life now that the truth has been revealed. Shown flirting with Producer Min Jae, it seems like he finally has room for a little romance in his life.  Min Ja has started working with Healer’s errand girl, Dae Yong as the new Healer.  It may take some time to iron out the system at first, but I see great things in this team’s future.  And now that Healer is “dead”, Young Shin and Jung Hoo are together working as fellow journalists and living a normal life.  What we didn’t get to see was the arrest and punishment of all the bad guys, which would have been satisfying.  Did Moon Shik actually go crazy, the way it looked in his drunken memory scene?  And after waiting so long for her daughter, Young Shin and her mother only had time for a couple rushed scenes together.  I would have liked to have seen a relationship that looked a little more normal and settled.  I know that we can’t have everything tied in a nice neat knot, but these 2 stories were focal to the whole drama, so a bit more closure would have been nice.  Other than that, I am happy that it is a happily ever after kind of ending.