Da-eun (Park Bo-young) has been transferred from internal medicine to work as a nurse in the psychiatric department of the hospital — but none of her new colleagues are sure why. And, frankly, neither is she. But while the inexperienced Da-eun is prone to making mistakes, she possesses an unusual willingness to try to understand the world from her patients’ point of view — as bizarre and hallucinatory as their reality may seem. As its title suggests, the new Korean series Daily Dose of Sunshine takes an uplifting approach, following the trials and tribulations of Da-eun, her patients, and co-workers as they navigate acute mental illness with empathy and humor.
Based on the popular webtoon by former nurse Lee Ra-ha, the 12-episode healing drama is directed by Lee J.Q. (All of Us Are Dead) and written by Lee Nam-kyu (The Light in Your Eyes, Behind Your Touch). It reunites Park and Lee Jung-eun on-screen for the first time since Oh My Ghost. Daily Dose of Sunshine also brings Jang Dong-yoon and Yeon Woo-jin together again — they both appeared in the 2020 series Search.
Stream all 12 episodes of Season 1 right here.
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On Da-eun’s first day on the job as a nurse in the psychiatric department, she’s physically struck by a patient who’s having a manic episode, slips on the floor and gets her scrubs completely soiled, and is so exhausted by the time she finally gets back home, she can hardly stand up.
It’s an overwhelming environment at first: In her orientation, head nurse Song Hyo-sin (Lee) brusquely points out the lack of curtains on the windows and warns her against carrying scissors or wearing shoelaces, anything the patients might use to try to harm her or themselves. Psychiatric fellow Hwang Yeo-hwan (Chang) instructs Da-eun to hide the fact that they know each other from before. (He tutored her when she was in high school.) Then there’s the colleagues whose odd behavior rivals her patients’ — especially Dong Go-yun (Yeon), an obsessive proctology fellow whose character adds a bit of comic relief in the series. (His name is an intentionally funny wordplay: In Korean, Dong Go sounds similar to a word for a part of the human anatomy that just so happens to be in line with his area of medical specialization.) And is there a secret that her best friend Song Yu-chan (Jang), her main source of levity outside of the workplace, is keeping from her?
Things get tougher when Da-eun overhears her former boss confiding in her new supervisor that she doesn’t think Da-eun is “cut out to be a nurse,” the words cruelly sinking in, filling her with self-doubt. She’s learning the hard way: Here, even her smallest blunders can lead to drastic consequences.
“I’m not sure what I should be doing to help them get better,” Da-eun confesses. And surprisingly, stern nurse Song reveals a gentle bedside manner and imparts a nuanced understanding of mental illness: “It’s a sickness, not a sin,” she tells Da-eun in the trailer above. “It’s an unpredictable disorder that can strike anyone, anywhere, at any time.” One patient implores Da-eun to let her leave the hospital; another asks if she, too, can see “the dragon on the roof.” When Da-eun responds to him, he brightens. He’s been talking like this for years, he tells her. It’s the first time someone has listened.
Daily Dose of Sunshine is based on the webtoon of the same title by former nurse Lee Ra-ha. However, it has some notable distinctions: In the webtoon, all the characters except the protagonist were represented as anthropomorphic animals, while the series takes a different, but equally imaginative approach in the way it visualizes the patients’ experiences.
It’s fictional, but it’s inspired by true stories. Lee Ra-ha drew on her own real-life experiences as a nurse to create the original webtoon.
It’s set in the psychiatric ward of a hospital in South Korea.
