Honestly, there is nothing to look forward to in this series. It's completely obvious that the writers are more interested in filling a slot for prime-time television, rather than actually having any interested in telling any story whatsoever. The fact that they've made over 200, one hour episodes in less than two years, is proof how soulless and mechanically it's produced.
Story.
There is no cohesive story. It really is just "whatever the writers have decided to put the characters through this season". The official description only tells a shallow plot-hook for a plot that is already resolved without any impact, regarding a character that really isn't that relevant to the story anymore, which is typical for the series that air on this channel. A continuous problem is that plot points pop and disappear, and the story just moves on, because consequences aren't important, because the producers only care about baiting people to watch "for the moment" and there is nothing to get people to look back for any "memorable" moments. All major plots are thought up, solely to create short and tense shots for the "next time on..." segment during the end credits. The dialogue is also some of the worst I've ever heard. They all sound like they're reciting overdramatic 8th grade poetry, but forgot to put some taught into what they're saying. Every episode ends with a random character summing up how they feel at the end of the day, in that "deep as a puddle way". I guess that's what writers think, high art sounds like. Also god help us, every time there is a child character on screen, because they usually tend to be the worst. They never sound like children, but more like what 40 year old writers think children sound like. And not to be too harsh on them, but they usually pick the least interested kids to play the roles, which can be felt in their rushed or tired reading of the lines, no different than when a kid has to read a paper in front of the class.
Characters
These are not characters, they are archetypes. We have the grumpy veteran doctor, the grumpy young rival doctor, the grumpy elder nurse, the grumpy foreign expert doctor and his equally grumpy love interest. Notice a pattern? Everyone being constantly depressed creates this drab and boring atmosphere. The only lighter moments are when someone confesses his or her love for someone and then they have sex.(again, only for marketing purposes). No one does a believable job at portraying whatever personality there respective characters have. And I know for a fact, that some of these are good actors. Some characters exist solely for stirring up drama and attempting to move the plot forward, but it gets so monotonous that you might as well play a single episode on repeat and you would get the same gratification of watching an entire season.
Production
I would not be surprised if it turns out that each episode doesn't have a director so much as it has just camera operators trying to get their shift done. From an inside source I know that they have 3-4 units filming at the outstanding three sets this series has. Operating room, hospital corridor and that one apartment where apparently everyone lives at. Also they film all the intimate moments on the hospital rooftop. Quantity over quality is probably the studio slogan, as filling all the weekday nights for half the year is their top priority, evident that 3ach episode is roughly 40-50 minutes and each season is over 50 episodes. This leads to some very boring and straightforward blocking and cinematography. Shot, reverse shot and master for each conversation. And the occasional tracking shot for when a character has to walk down the corridor to get to the next room to have another serious conversation with the next character they have a problem with this week. They add slight movement.l, like minimal push-ins and slides to some scenes, so the audience doesn't actually fall asleep.
And post production isn't any better either, the editing is atrocious. There are severe rookie mistakes that stick out like a sore thumb. The way they handle insert shots and establishing shots, looks like they give the job to the intern because his uncle is an exec or something, which wouldn't surprise , considering the people working behind this. Which is jarring considering the static shot coverage that I already mentioned. In theory it should be the easiest job, editing these linear episodes, but they manage to screw this up as well. The color grading also looks intentionally bad. I will never understand shows that like to just delete all the vibrant colors and push in black, brown and a desaturated dark blue, resulting in a "edge lords first Instagram filter" look. You know the one I'm talking about.
Finally the music is the most forgettable and "background noise" style of music you can imagine. Low-pitched bass and occasional violin themes appear, just to fill in the quiet void, when the character are mercifully silent. They probably spend all their music budget on creating the 15 second opening theme and that's it. Things like recurring themes, motifs and character themes are probably an alien concept to them, since the soundtrack exist solely because they where taught that films should have music.
Conclusion
We live in a sort-of new golden era of television. An endless supply of shows and series are never more than a few clicks away, and in a world where much better shows exist, this one really shouldn't be a choice for a watch. I couldn't even recommend it for a ironic watch, since it is also miles form the "so bad it's good" zone, unless you like underacting, muted colors and the same three shots and plotlines over and over again. I understand that as a Bulgarian series, it isn't created to break any mold, since most bulgarian viewers don't really care what they watch, they just want to turn on the TV after coming home to work, and feel like they're watching dramatic storytelling. But that's what thos show has in it's favor. It wants to be a grand drama like the likes ER or Grey's anatomy, or even try to.mimic being an HBO series, but in reality it should embrace the fact that it is a soap opera. With plots involving amnesia, comas, secret twins, parental reveals and way too many love triangles. If you just want background noise and happen to stumble on this while turning on the TV, then that's perfectly fine. But if you want any semblance of a story or character driven experience, than turn around and pick anything else.
