black pean thoughts
(Alternatively, I complain about a show I had fun following for ten weeks despite the laughable nonsense it produced.)
As someone who has watched the finale three times along with a couple of selective rewatching of other episodes, I thought I'd just discuss about it for a bit... But seriously, I do have /lots/ of thoughts. Many thoughts! (I probably might make another post because I'm sure I'll start out fine but then ramble on as I go......)
Goes without saying but I started it for Nino and stayed for Nino. He was brilliant as a complete anti-hero and I'm glad he stayed by his convictions of crafting him as such. Unlikable characters are my favourite. Characters that are hard to sympathise with, or empathise, are characters I enjoy very much. No doubt I did the same with Nino's Tokai. Though I gotta say? Tokai's easy to do both with. Tojo/Teika are filled with incompetent doctors, not one of them is root-worthy and their characterisation is sorely lacking. They don't act like doctors, some of them are like thugs and cheerleaders... Pretty useless having some of the characters, if you ask me. The only ones worth paying attention to are Tokai, the nurses and Kinoshita. Also, I guess, to some extent, that includes Saeki and maaaaaybe Sera.
I'm not quite sure what the writer intended for Black Pean to be about. Is it a revenge drama? Is it a drama where its protagonist roots out corruption in hospitals? Is it a medical drama that debates about the relationship between surgical craftsmanship and the use of technology to carry out surgeries? (I know it's an adaptation of the novel but I don't really know exactly what the latter's plot is.) See, the show tried to juggle all three aspects I just listed and it's already a huge problem. Just to start with, Takashina's introduced as the side that highly endorses technology and believes that using it will allow more lives to be saved and that doctors who are skilled in surgeries will eventually no longer be necessary. Which, fine, I guess? No, it obviously goes downhill. So he introduces devices like SNIPE, DARWIN, CAESAR..... The weekly case happens and a patient is operated on with either device in different episodes but whoops! He/other surgeons encounter problems during the operations and suddenly they're unable to do anything. They panic, the poor patient who's unconscious is lying there, dramatic music in the background ensues and in a minute or two, a saviour arrives. It's Tokai. Who can do anything. The first time it happened, which was the first episode, it was cool. I mean, why wouldn't it be? It's Nino barking orders and performing with supreme speed at saving the patient and it's a success. It's great. But then it gets old..... This literally happens in /every/ episode. For me, I'm half baffled and half entertained. I don't think I'll ever get tired of Tokai coming in to save the day, it's always a treat to watch. In the grand scheme of things, though, it's hilarious! How is it that, of the number of doctors present in the hospital, he's the only capable one? (Saeki included since he's heralded as the God of surgery lmao.
I sort of digressed but the point is, I'm not sure what the writer intended. The debate about surgical craftsmanship and using technology in surgeries never picked up any further because the writer had other subplots going on as well. There's the mystery about the black pean, which happens to be the drama's title but has lesser importance than stuff like SNIPE, DARWIN, CAESAR, lol. Personally, the significance behind it is lame. I think if show hadn't spent a lot of time with all the uninteresting politics and the meaningless discussion about the medical devices and instead focused on layering the mystery apart from just constantly showing the x-ray at the end of a couple of episodes, the reveal would not have felt cheap or lacking. I'm skipping ahead to the finale because I think a lot of it is the show's undoing, even though regardless of it, Black Pean's already laughable. The last thirty minutes or so is a huge slap to Tokai, the show's /lead/ character. I'm sure Tokai must've lapsed into darkness and hatred when he found out what happened to his father and then made it his mission to avenge him. The way he interacts with everyone, the mini backstory we even got in the finale.. Both demonstrate that Tokai definitely lost some parts of himself. But hey, I'm sure he could stand to lose more, right? We got a 2 or 3 minutes worth of quick explanation from Saeki about what actually happened (his version of events, by the way, but you know, "this is the truth".) and Tokai actually misunderstood the medical malpractice that his father dealt with. Everything he's worked for, everything he's believed in? It was all a misunderstanding. It was all for nothing. It's stupid. This? Could've worked if the show's angle all along had been about revenge. It was barely it. It focused so much on unnecessary politics that had no development on its characters or the show, you could say it was just... filler. Plus the reveal painted Saeki as some tragic hero while shitting on Tokai. I feel like I got whiplash just watching it. The entire time, which I'll acknowledge, the writing does play around with Saeki as a character, whether he's entirely good or not, different sides were shown and you're left guessing what exactly is his deal. I call bullshit though. There were a number of instances where Saeki only looked out for himself and even the explanation that came from him sounded like excuses he came up with at the last second. It's really funny when you think about it. Tokai's dad couldn't even be bothered to let his son know what happened. How many years did he spend accumulating all that anger and hurt? But guess what, it was all for naught! And even if Saeki justifies the act of inserting the pean as a means of saving the patient, he should've still been held accountable?
AND on a whole, everything does not add up. What exactly is the writer trying to say? What's the message? Saeki tells Tokai not all doctors are perfect, save the patients, just save them, etc. But it's all contradictory (and why are the sudden philosophy when the entire time the doctors in the show could barely give a care about their patients but about their reputation as doctors)? He literally told Tokai that there are times where there are more important things than saving a life. SO? It's BULLSHIT. I don't know how the cast was okay with accepting the script for the finale. I'm still waiting to know if this was what Nino pushed for. Surely it can't be......... If it's strictly related to the ending of the finale then I guess, maybe. I do feel conflicted about it though. I'm not sure that Tokai could continue being a doctor or even if he could, he'd definitely need to do some soul-searching lmao. I don't know if the writer quite gets that... Everything he's worked for turned out to be useless.... He'd be completely shaken. How would he move forward from then? Gah, I'm upset. I don't think I'd care much if Tokai hadn't been the one to lose so much but he did. He lost so much. The writing completely shitted on him. Ugh.
Nino was superb though. I wish he had been given waaaay much better material to work with. Still, Tokai Seishiro was memorable. Truly.