By the title alone, it is pretty clear that Dr. Cutie (萌医甜妻) would be a cute rom-com to make the ladies’ heart flutter. I watched this after sitting through Legend Of Fuyao to give myself a break from a serious love story. So, this seems like a good choice to relax and laugh a little for a change although I’m not familiar with any of the cast. But with only 28 episodes in total, I’m more than wiling to give it a go. I binged on it over 3 days and the Dr. Cutie review below will spell out my verdict for this drama.
My Rating: 6/10
Episodes: 28
Type: Romance
Aired: January 2020
Images Credit: Tencent
The Cast Of Dr. Cutie
Sun Qian as Tian Qi/Shen Zhao Er
Tian Qi is an imperial doctor serving in the Ji Mansion. She takes on the identity of a man to become a doctor so that she can investigate the death of her parents. She is kind, cheerful, and witty. Her father is Dr. Shen who was also a very capable imperial physician.
Huang Jun Jie as Ji Heng/General Ji
Ji Heng is the lord of Ji Mansion and a powerful general as well as provincial governor who has the trust of the emperor. He is stern and stoic but upright and cares about the people. Although he doesn’t show interest in women, he pines for Zhao Er and regrets that he wasn’t able to save her when he was younger.
Zha Jie as Ji Zheng
Ji Zheng is Ji Heng’s younger half brother. He is more laid back and prefers to travel. Ji Zheng has just returned home from his wanderings and is helping Ji Heng with his duties. They have a close relationship with each other.
Hong Shan Shan as Kang Ning Er
Ning Er is Ji Heng’s cousin. She is in love with Ji Heng and wants to marry him.
Guo Zi Yu as Kang De
Kang De is Ning Er’s elder brother. He wants his sister to marry Ji Heng for his own selfish interest of obtaining control of Ji Mansion.
Yang Yi Tong as Wan Hong
Wan Hong is the owner of a brothel and the one who raised Tian Qi after the death of her parents. She is also knowledgeable in medicine and a friend of Tian Qi’s father.
Candy Zhang Tong as Madam Ji
Madam Ji is Ji Heng’s mother. She is a religious woman who carries much sins and regrets behind her calm demeanor.
Mou Feng Bin as Chen Wu Yong
Wu Yong is Madam Ji’s long-time assistant who helps her to investigate and get rid of people who pose a threat to her interest.
Zuo Teng Yun as Sheng An Huai
An Huai is Ji Heng’s personal assistant. He is always by his master’s side and is a loyal subordinate.
Dong Ke Fei as Ding Zhi
Ding Zhi is also a doctor and Tian Qi’s mentor. He serves in the Ji Mansion together with Tian Qi.
Wei Ai as Sun Cong Rui
Cong Rui is a corrupt official who is also Ji Heng’s enemy. He has a son, Sun Fan, who is spoiled and likes to bully the weak.
Liu Zhe Hui as Zheng Shao Feng
Shao Feng is Ji Zheng’s good friend. He comes from a rich family and seems carefree with a preference to play and indulge in his hobbies.
Synopsis
Tian Qi pretends to be a man and pays her way to get into Ji Mansion to serve as a personal doctor to Ji Heng’s fiancee. However, the fiancee died due to poisoning. In order to investigate her death, Ji Heng keeps Tian Qi by his side to be used as a bait to lure the murderer out into the open. This results in the 2 of them slowly developing feelings for each other. However, the issue gets complicated because Tian Qi is a man in everybody’s eyes, including Ji Heng’s.
Furthermore, Tian Qi also has her own mission to accomplish and that is to investigate her parents’ death which she believes is related to someone in the Ji Mansion. She knows that Sun Cong Rui betrayed her father by framing him for murder. But she also wants to uncover the actual killer and the mastermind behind the whole plot. So, Tian Qi is determined to remain in the mansion to serve Ji Heng despite the risks.
What will happen to Ji Heng and Tian Qi then? Will he discover her actual identity? Who is her parents’ real killer?
Dr. Cutie Ending (Spoilers Alert!)
Dr. Cutie has a happy ending as expected for a romantic comedy. They end up getting married and spend the first night together with the help of some erotic books that Tian Qi bought earlier to dispel the suspicion that she is a woman. The last scene shows Tian Qi telling Ji Heng that she is pregnant. So, it is a sweet ending that should please viewers.
What Happened To Ji Zheng?
Ji Zheng is naturally disappointed that Tian Qi chooses Ji Heng over him. But he accepts her decision and wants her to be happy. In the last episode, Ji Zheng informs Tian Qi that he would be leaving the city to travel again. He does appear during her wedding to Ji Heng but is seen on a rooftop observing from afar that gives off a sense of being bittersweet.
Who Killed Tian Qi’s Parents?
While Sun Cong Rui had a hand in betraying and framing Tian Qi’s father for murder, it all started with the poisoning of Ji Heng’s father. Madam Ji poisoned her husband because he wanted to appoint Ji Zheng as his heir. Athough Ji Heng was capable and saved his father from a battle with some enemies, the latter was afraid his own son would outshine and replace him as the general. Hence, Ji Heng and his mother were sidelined and treated badly.
Madam Ji wanted to ensure her own son would succeed her husband. Therefore, she poisoned him but Dr. Shen was capable enough to know it when he treated the general. Chen Wu Yong then advised Madam Ji that Dr. Shen must be gotten rid of and he then went one step further and killed the doctor and his wife. Madam Ji also forced Ji Zheng’s mother to drink poisoned wine to kill herself and then brought up Ji Zheng like her own son.
Who Is Ji Heng’s Real Enemy?
Throughout the drama, someone is trying to stir up trouble for Ji Heng because he wants revenge for the killing of his clan. This person is Shao Feng. When Ji Heng’s father was caught in a battle, Ji Heng went to save him and ended up killing their enemies. Shao Feng has been hiding and plotting a revenge ever since then. He uses his friendship with Ji Zheng to instigate the latter to oppose his brother. But Ji Zheng gets suspicious later on and quietly cooperated with Ji Heng to turn the tables on Shao Feng.
Dr. Cutie Review – The Acting Could Really Put You Off
Dr. Cutie has a reasonably good plot – a beautiful lady dressed as a male doctor to uncover the truth behind her parents’ killing. In between, you will get some laughs and comical moments. The female lead is cute and you would be wondering from episode to episode when her identity would be revealed to the male lead. So, you would chase for that moment which automatically leads you to continue watching. However, much patience is certainly needed as I will explain below.
The Acting
What could really put you off Dr. Cutie though is the acting of the male lead. To me, Sun Qian as Tian Qi far outshines Huang Jun Jie as Ji Heng. Tian Qi is fun to watch as the character portrayed is lively with loads of cuteness. She has a wide range of expressions that suit difference scenes very well whether they are more animated for the comical moments or sad for the melancholy flashbacks.
But Huang Jun Jie is a pain to watch for me. While I know Ji Heng is supposed to be an emotionless person, the constant scrunching of the eyebrows to show anger or frowns is stretching it a little too far. The acting is simply too stiff that I’m inclined to believe that they have got the wrong person for the role.
Patience Needed
A word of warning for Dr. Cutie is that it does take a bit of patience on your part to wait for Tian Qi’s real identity to be revealed and for her to be with Ji Heng. With 28 episodes in total, Ji Heng only finds out that she is a woman in episode 21 and 22. Before that, it is one long struggle for him as he battles his feelings for “him” that is getting stronger and stronger.
I think this might put some people off completely because it is hard to imagine that he could be so dumb that he can’t see who Tian Qi really is. Furthermore, I also kind of dislike the notion that he is actually jealous of his brother’s close relationship with Tian Qi but gets on the moral high horse of chiding them for behaving like a gay couple. Ji Heng’s constant nightmares and the same flashbacks can also get annoying after a while.
My Verdict
For Dr. Cutie, I could only give it a 6/10 rating. If you want to watch a costume rom-com, The Romance Of Hua Rong would be a safer bet for better acting overall and a not so common theme. If you want more romance, the Love By Hypnotic could give you the butterflies you are looking for. Overall, I just find it hard to root for the male lead in Dr. Cutie and hence, the romance simply falls short.
You might still find Dr. Cutie enjoyable though because the concept of cross-dressing is always exciting as we wait for the cover to be blown. This pull factor and Tian Qi’s cuteness overload do help to save this drama from mediocrity. So, if you choose to watch it, I would say do it for the cute factor rather than the actual romance.
I simply love this one. 10/10 for me, all of characters were played well. Thumbs up especially for the lead actor and actress, they are excellent.
I really enjoyed it! 9/10 for me.
I completely disagree. as the male lead, for me he is perfect. it is not easy to keep a straight face & be emotionless especially when you see how lively he is off screen 💁🏻♀️ and come on , hes à total babe lol. For me it’s the main actress , supposed to dr.cutie ; there’s nothing i found especially cute 🤷🏻♀️ the acting is good .
Not Cute ; grabbing her ears when shy.
Asking for rewards & taels every chance she gets.
Accepts bribes , i dont find that someone that lost everything & now her only life goal is to revenge , how did she become the Sin of Greed. Lol feels like her life goal is more to be rich . 🤦🏻♀️
the actor is amazing darling , he did the perfect expression at the perfect time, with the perfect dose hhhh as a general and rough person this drama is the best drama for me , I am searching something so close .
The general’s lady is also so good , but doctor cutie is perfect
I enjoyed it but thanks for you recommending the others
I completely disagree with you the make lead did an excellent job, I enjoyed the female lead too but sometimes the goofy things seemed a bit off for a girl looking for her parents murderer. The female lead was pretty and the male lead is a gorgeous man, who looked fantastic in period dress.
this dram is the best ever dram I eve ever seen , perfection in everything, the actor , the actress , all the cas are amazing, the plot is amazing …………………..really no comment top of the top of the top
I thought the reveal was lame. But I loved the comedy, the cute actress, and the hot main lead male. I also thought the naughty bits were funny and very well done.