Review of Daily Dose of Sunshine / 정신병동에도 아침이 와요

I remember when this show first came out, I added it onto my Netflix watch list because I saw Park Bo-young was in it, and then I never touched it again. I stopped being in a Korean drama mood towards the end of 2023, and was kind of in a slump until I packed my bags and headed for Malaysia.

I don’t know, but being in Asia again reawakened my love for culture and learning about Asian countries and languages. So I got back into it. In February, I was really bored, so then I went onto my watch list to see what kind of movie or show I could watch next without going insane.

And that was how I randomly ended up picking Daily Dose of Sunshine. I knew nothing about the show besides the little synopsis that Netflix provides for you, and that was compelling enough to get me to watch it.

Man, I was so pleasantly surprised by this show, although there are some major triggering elements if you’re sensitive to depictions of suicide and depression.

Let’s get into the review.

Da-eun, a nurse, is transferred to the psychiatric ward, and struggles with her own mental health.

In the first episode of Daily Dose of Sunshine, Da-eun, our main character, is transferred into the psych ward of the hospital. As one could imagine, this is not going to be an easy job, and Da-eun learns quickly that dealing with struggling patients could sometimes turn violent.

With the help of her coworkers in the psychiatric ward, who teach her how to go through daily life in such a job, as well as how to hide jjajangmyeon for lunch from their boss, Da-eun seems pretty well to move through her time there. She’s already spent three years in Internal Medicine, and has proven to be a competent nurse.

Love is also coming her way when proctologist Go-yun seems to have an eye for her. The two grow closer, but as we see throughout the series, life can change in the blink of an eye.

After something major happens to one of Da-eun’s patients, she begins to blame herself and sinks into a deep depression.

While a good chunk of the first half of the series was focused on helping those suffering from various mental illnesses, giving them stories and humanizing them, we see how the same can happen to our protagonist.

Throughout the second half of the series, we learn with Da-eun how to grieve and overcome. Suddenly, when the roles are reversed, we can learn so much more about other people’s suffering and what can help them at the end of the day.

An award has to be given to this male lead, though. Even though Da-eun is down in the dumps, he tries his best to help her, and in one dramatic act, he helps her get the treatment she needs in the end. I admired how he actually cared, and was able to be professional when needed.

The show also directly addresses the stigma behind mental health in Korea, which is also much needed in today’s world. I was not expecting how the second half of the show went the way it did, but I’m seriously glad the writers chose to go down this path.

Overall Thoughts

I’m seriously glad I continued watching this show. I have a confession: I almost stopped watching after the first episode, which I know is not a good thing when you’re trying to invest in a show.

Seriously, though, this show got me emotional. As someone who also struggled with depression for such a long time, I could see how Park Bo-young’s character was going down a deep spiral. I understood it, and it impacted me emotionally seeing some of the scenes scattered throughout the narrative.

Go watch this one if you haven’t already—I think it’s such a gem in the Korean drama world, and it’s only twelve episodes.

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