Our take
Like plenty of medical dramas, Daily Dose of Sunshine portrays the day-to-day dynamics of a hospital department, this time in the department of mental health in a country that has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. Based on the webtoon from a former nurse, the series might have some laughs from the department’s dynamics, but never at the expense of their patients. In fact, the show takes great care in depicting mental illness, taking care to visualize the patient’s episodes, as well as the way Da-eun tries to fit into her new department. It’s sweet and earnest, but not too cloying, and as substantial as the mugwort rice cakes Da-eun brings for her co-workers.
The story
A kind-hearted nurse working in psychiatry goes above and beyond to be a ray of light for those under her care, despite the challenges coming her way.
In the third year of her nursing residency, Jung Da-eun transfers from internal medicine to the psychiatry department of the Myungshin University Hospital, causing curiosity over the newcomer from the department’s current staff.
As implied by the title, Daily Dose of Sunshine takes a fairly positive approach in depicting the mental illnesses in the show. It’s not too serious, with humorous bits like a bout of hemorrhoids affecting one of the doctors, and a patient worried about OCD because of his perpetual knuckle cracking. However, it does get factual when it needs to be. Terms that may be unfamiliar to people outside the field are sometimes explained through handy subtitles, or through Hwang Yeo-hwan, who served as Da-eun’s tutor. The series also tends to visualize their patients’ experiences, such as the smoky green hallucination of the show’s first patient, as well as the glass box enclosure of the show’s anxious second patient. It makes for an interesting approach to tackle mental illness, with a certain respect to their patients’ experiences.
Psych wards are usually depressing sites for horror films, but Daily Dose of Sunshine shows that there’s no need to fear the department– it’s just as human as we are.
The details
Who picked it
Isabella Endrinal is a curator at A Good Movie to Watch. She's now free from the corporate night shift. Previous articles have been published in outlets such as NANG Magazine. She's currently catching up on some classic films… if she isn't coping with the fact that the Haikyu anime will end soon.
