Doctor X – Episode 4 (Review)

Reviews TV/Film

Doctor X – Gekai Daimon Michiko
Episode 4

Review by David Cirone

Ryoko Yonekura Doctor X

SUMMARY
Surgeon Hideki Kaji (Masanobu Katsumura) is profiled on television as a “Super Doctor.” In his interview, he claims that practicing medicine is his “priceless life’s work,” but in reality, he’s in love with the spotlight and the money from patient gratuities.

Kaji’s high school class mate Yotsuya is fast-moving stock trader who contacts Kaji for a quickie cancer surgery. Kaji believes a slower, more traditional approach is necessary, but Daimon contradicts him in the hospital’s pre-surgery conference. She claims to have a new hybrid surgical procedure that can give the patient exactly what he wants.

Yotsuya requests Daimon’s help to speed things along, worried that he’ll go bankrupt if he’s away from trading too long. Kaji’s ego is so bruised that he refuses to help Daimon with the surgery.

Daimon, whose catch-phrase is “I never fail,” fakes a problem during the surgery to force Kaji to participate. everybody knows what’s going on, but Kaji is happy to take the credit. Daimon refuses his thanks, claiming she merely wanted to see the “Super Doctor’s” technique in action.

WHAT’S MYSTERIOUS
So far, every episode has ended with a teaser about Daimon’s secret past as underground surgeon “Doctor X,” whose patients died after seemingly miraculous surgeries. Busujima confronts Daimon’s manager about it, so it looks like we’ll get some juicy details soon.

DOCTOR K
Ryoko Yonekura gives up the spotlight this episode to Katsamura’s greedy character. It felt imbalanced to go without Yonekura for so many long stretches, but Katsamura creates a lot of variety in his portrayal of Doctor Kaji.

LIFE LESSONS
Greed is bad… check. Doctors should care about patients more than money… check. The old system of medicine needs upgrading… check. After four episodes, we’ve gotten a lot of morality-tale value, but Daimon hasn’t changed much or really been challenged. Even Superman needs Kryptonite to stay interesting.