User blog:General Khor/What My Heart Says About Open Heart

Hello and welcome to another review blog by General Khor. So you may have seen my comment that I have finally finished the most rigged series on Choices, and as promised, here's my Open Heart review blog! As I've mentioned in my mid year review blog, there's a lot to talk about for this series, which is why I decided to make a separate blog for it. Now I know what some of you are thinking, and yes, this series isn't all bad, in fact the good parts of this series outweigh the bad parts, so I'm not just writing this to bash the series. The reason I say this series is the most rigged series in Choices is that... well, we'll get to that later. Before we begin, I'll reveal my rating for this series, and that is...

EXCITING!

That's right, my second highest rating, which is the tier most series are included in. Now without further ado, let's get into it.

Overview
From what I've seen, no Choices series has divided the fanbase more than OH. Why? Sure, the writers want to make a story based on hit medical dramas, particularly Grey's Anatomy, and I guess the team behind this book must be huge Grey's Anatomy fans. Why do I say that? Well, this series has a recurring problem that has afflicted several Choices series, and it's called a forced love interest. However, compared to other forced LIs, this one blows the rest out of the water. It feels like we're meant to end up with him, and it's not just because he's our boss. What do I mean by this? Well, we'll get to that later. Plotwise, Book 1 is great, no doubt about it, and depending on what you value the most in this series, Book 2 can be either bad or fairly good, but I think Book 2 is the best book in the series, I'll explain the reasons later. As for Book 3... am I the only one who thinks Book 3 is at least average? I mean, I understand the reasons for the bad reviews for this book, but I think this book is just ok. Sure, there's less drama and too much Derek, but this book isn't as bad as some others, in my opinion.

The Plot
Now let's get into detail about each book one by one.

Book 1
So the series starts off with a "new doctor in town" scene, and I'll admit it, I told everyone to call the doctor before being reminded that I'm a doctor myself. Awkward, isn't it? That moment where we meet our boss (who also happens to be our idol) is priceless. We also learn that the number one intern is the niece of the hospital director, and she's kind of a jerk. The next few chapters basically involve us settling in and bonding with our roommates, which are undoubtedly sweet moments. The drama starts in Chapter 4, when we have to deliver a baby for one of our patients who later dies. Then in Chapter 7, we discover that Ethan's mentor is terminally ill and Ethan asks us to keep it a secret.

Our first few cases are pretty interesting, after all we have a guy with a genetic condition who gets mad at us, only to thank us later, a girl who desperately needs treatment despite being uninsured, and another guy who, in the words of the MC, stops yelling at us long enough to burp in our face. Well, that last one definitely made many players think Ethan's a jerk, but we later realise that as doctors, we'll have to deal with a few unpleasant patients, whether we want it or not. After we become the number one intern, some players are quick to suspect that Aurora was the one who sabotaged us, given that she was the leading intern before us, while others are quick to find out it was Landry, given that he behaves differently from the rest of the housemates, which makes it really obvious he's the culprit. Good thing he got his butt out of Edenbrook in the end, after all he tried to run us out of our career.

Then there's Harper, the hospital director, who some players suspect of rigging the competition just so she can get Aurora into the diagnostics team, but then we later find out that she actually wants to see us succeed as a doctor, and that she's only investigating us because we broke protocol. What is more, Harper is also the source of Aurora's insecurities, as people tend to think Aurora rode her aunt's coattails through med school and to the top spot in the competition. Speaking of breaking protocol, we still end up getting off the hook, although it was partly because Ethan and Naveen helped bail us out. Besides, we only did it to help the patient, and the family understood that, so no regrets. And speaking of Naveen, his case is the most interesting case in this book.

And so, with all that said, my rating for this book is...

EXCITING!

Yes, this book is great, but there's more excitement to come.

Book 2
If character development is what you value the most in this series, then yes, Book 1 is the best, as it has the most amount of socialising time. But if you look at the overall plot of this book, you'll find that this is actually the best book in the trilogy. Why? Well, for starters, how would you feel when you find out your intern happens to be the girl who you saw break a molester's hand? And to think that molester happens to be a senior doctor at Edenbrook, and later becomes Esme's patient. What is more, he doesn't actually know what he was suffering from, yet he thinks he does because he's a doctor. Come to think of it, he's a real PITA, a real Thorne in our side, so we can relate.

As for the others, there's Elijah and Sothy for one. It turns out that Elijah keeps picking up after Sothy, no wonder he isn't confident doing difficult procedures, so we have to step in and tell Elijah the right way to deal with Soth - I mean Dr Yoeun. Also, there's Sienna and Mitch. Who would have thought Mitch is actually pretty lazy? I'm sure many players choose to bully him and call him a loser after Sienna finds out in Chapter 13, but come on, this is a hospital, not a high school, it's no place for bullying.

Then there's the Edenbrook-Mass Kenmore rivalry, with the rivalry between Ethan and Tobias being in the spotlight. Not long after we first meet Tobias, he convinces Aurora to defect to Kenmore, then he and Aurora get into a competition with the MC and Ethan to treat a high profile patient. Next, after he steals one of our patients by convincing her to switch hospitals, we raid Kenmore to literally steal one of their patients (a high profile one at that), which kind of reminds me of the Heist on Hearst, although the hospital rivalry seen in this book isn't as overblown as the Berry-Hearst rivalry. Speaking of patients, the cases in this book are really interesting too: we have a guy whose illness caused him to hallucinate (In fact, he can't even remember his wife. Also, I wonder what happens if we name the MC Alex), an old painter who's forever blinded by her illness and a girl who has been in a coma for 13 years (and who was stolen by Mass Ken). Imagine falling into a coma while still at school and waking up to see people tapping on smartphones.

But what REALLY turns the drama up to an 11 is in the very middle of the book. So, the book starts with a flash forward showing a funeral, and what happens in the middle is what directly leads to the funeral. So, the patient we stole in the Kenmore Raid is a senator, and it turns out he was a terrible mayor in the past. His failures as a mayor caused three deaths, and we find out that his lead poisoning was caused by his aide, who happens to be the brother of one of the victims of his negligence. After we foil Travis' plot, he whips out a canister of who knows what and proceeds to spray the entire ward with the substance after the senator gets away. It turns out that substance is a powerful biological weapon, and that led to not one, but two deaths (technically three, since Travis also succumbed to his own toxin). What is more, the MC and one of the LIs are among those caught up in the attack, I mean other MCs in other books also have near-death experiences, but this one is really next level. Come to think of it, I kind of feel sorry for Travis, after all Ed was the one who started all this in the first place, besides he's also one to break promises, so it's hard to feel sorry for the latter. And of course, the scene where Tobias and other Mass Ken doctors pitch in to help work on a cure is really heartwarming.

Speaking of Mass Kenmore working together with Edenbrook, another subplot in this book is Edenbrook facing financial troubles. Even though we manage to impress the governor when she came to visit, the problem was the state budget was fixed before that happened. We spend the entire book worrying about the hospital's future, and what made things worse was the family of a patient suing the hospital for something Esme did by accident. Come to think of it, Levi's case reminds me of the Martinez case, which also involved the same pharma company, in fact I strongly believe the drugs manufactured by Panacea caused their deaths. After we take down Panacea, Declan Nash manages to ruin things even further, causing Mass Ken to bail on Edenbrook, and even though we hold a fundraising gala to try to save the hospital, it ends up being a sendoff party for the hospital instead.

And just when the hospital is about to close, our old patient Leland Bloom comes back, this time to beg us to save his wife, and after we find that there's no cure for either of their conditions, and that they can never touch each other again, Leland is heartbroken, and I kind of feel sorry for him. Then, he comes to us, telling us that he intends to acquire the hospital, and players are quick to think Edenbrook is saved, until they realise there's one more book to come.

And so, with all that said, my rating for this book is...

ELECTRIFYING!!!

Think about it, the drama, the suspense, the anticipation! This is exactly what a medical drama needs! I know what some of you are thinking, and yes, we see our friend group less in this book, but think about it, now that we're on the diagnostics team, it makes sense that we have more work time and less socialising time, but we still see our friend group fairly often, so I would say the amount of work time and socialising time in this book is somewhat balanced, after all doctors have to work too, right? So for all these reasons, this book really stands out as one of the best books in Choices. Still, I respect everyone's opinions, and I understand why many of you think Book 1 is the best and give this book bad reviews, but still, YMMV (your mileage may vary), right?

Book 3
When it comes to this book, well... what can I say? I think we can all agree that this book isn't as good as Book 2 or even Book 1. For starters, the first half of this book is sort of... let's just say, formulaic. First we solve a case, then we make out with Ethan, in the end Mr B makes us go "I have a bad feeling about this...". Ok, I know we didn't really make out with Ethan for 9 chapters, but the point is, so much focus is put on him and our work that it comes at the expense of our socialising time, especially time with other LIs. As far as I know, Ethan has a diamond scene in practically every chapter, but the others only have a few scenes here and there. From Chapter 10 onwards, we get to spend more time with our friend group, and there are more scenes with other LIs, but work still takes up a lot of screen time even then, and the focus is still mainly on who? "EEETHAAAAAN!!!" Yes, I can agree that it feels like a new crew took over for this book, and that new crew was probably fangirling over Ethan so much, they had to give him as much screen time as possible.

So what did I expect from this book? Well, I hoped we'd spend more time investigating Mr B and discussing strategies on how to deal with him. Sure, we did do some investigation in Chapter 4 and discuss strategy with Tobias (who got invited to work in Edenbrook by Mr B) in Chapter 6, but in Chapter 7, during the business dinner, we could have had more discussions with Elijah and the Mirani twins to find out how Mr B is treating them and how to take him down, instead of schmoozing with business partners with Ethan. Besides, where's the drama? The cases in this book are not as interesting as in the previous books, and when we're not working, we spend more time with Ethan than anyone else. The only real drama we see in this book is Ethan getting into a malpractice lawsuit in the last quarter, so we convince Naveen to own up to his mistake all those years ago, and in the end we settle the case out of court and defeat Mr B in a way. While that saved Ethan's career, it spelt the end of Naveen's. In the grand finale, we finally get to make our relationship official, Ethan succeeds Naveen as hospital director, and I think it's only fitting we follow in our mentor's footsteps and succeed him as Head of Diagnostics. For those who choose to leave Edenbrook (or rather, Ethanbrook), I respect your decision.

In short, my rating for this book is...

Meh

That's right, I'm kind enough to rate this book mediocre. I know some of you rated this book far worse. Oh well, at least they tried to come up with a decent grand finale.

The Characters
Now let's talk about the characters. We have serious Ethan, kind Bryce, courageous Rafael and competitive Jackie, as well as sweet Sienna, insecure Aurora, cheerful Kyra and fun loving Elijah. However, despite the diversity in personalities, what makes OH the most rigged series in the Choices franchise is the choice of LIs.

The Official LIs
So officially, the LI ratio is very much skewed in favour of those who prefer romancing guys, as we have Ethan, Bryce and Rafael, and only one girl - Jackie. Here's what I think of them:

Ethan: From the start, I knew he's going to be the main LI. After all, the title refers to him opening up his heart to us. But then again, never have I seen an LI as forced as him. Yes, the team behind the series are such huge Grey's Anatomy fans that they refuse to allow us to play as ourselves. The way they keep pushing us towards him makes OH look like a Grey's Anatomy rip-off, starring Casey Valentine as Meredith Grey, Ethan Ramsey as Derek Shepherd, etc etc. If this is all they're giving us, why let us choose our gender in the first place? Because of this, I have a nickname for this series: Valentine's Medicine (I guess). Besides, if they love him so much, why put Harper on the diagnostics team to make Ethan fans jealous? That's just a stupid move to me.

Bryce: He's kind and confident, so I think he makes a good choice for my female MC.

Rafael: While some admire him for being courageous, others criticise him for being reckless. Still, I prefer him and Bryce over Ethan, and I can't decide who to choose for my female MC.

Jackie: To be honest, she's not exactly the best choice for a female LI. Sienna, Aurora and Kyra are better options.

The Others
This series saw the most characters being put on the LI wishlists of many players, including:

Aurora: Yes, she was a jerk in Book 1, but we later find out she's actually insecure and sick of living in Aunt Harper's shadow. We see a lot of character development for her in Book 2, I mean she accepts the Mass Kenmore offer because she sees it as a chance to forge her own path, but then we discover Tobias only hired her because he knew she is Harper's niece, and that he's using her to get to Harper, just like everyone else. In Chapter 17, we can get her to talk things out with Harper and improve their relationship. Because of this, everyone was hoping she will be promoted to LI status in Book 3, in fact she could have been on the diagnostics team instead of Harper, after all she deserves to be on the team (I mean, wasn't she the leading intern before we took her spot? And also, isn't Harper supposed to be a surgeon?), too bad that never came to be.

Kyra: The writers looked like they wanted to make her an LI, but then they decided to shelve the idea and have her leave the hospital at the end of Book 2. The main reason for her popularity is her cheerful personality. What is more, who doesn't like the idea of romancing the patient whose life we saved? Besides, her character development throughout her screen time is really convincing: at first she isn't confident that her cancer can be overcome, then after a talk with us, she becomes optimistic. But then her cancer returns and causes her to lose confidence again, but we still manage to get her to hang on and finally cure her once and for all. Because of all this, she's hugely popular as an LI choice. The main reason the writers decided to drop her from the LI list is because of... you guessed it: "EEETHAAAAAN!!!" I mean, really, whoever's behind the series must be too busy fangirling over Ethan to try to even out the LI ratio.

Sienna: She's so cute and sweet, who doesn't want her to be an LI? Besides, who doesn't love a doctor who loves children?

Elijah: Hey, he's also one of our roommates, and also we get to kiss him, so why not make him an LI too?

Conclusion
"I have an ouchie... in here."

- Dr Doofenshmirtz, Phineas and Ferb

In a nutshell, my feelings for this series are mixed: the story is thrilling and worth rereading, but if there are 3 guys and only 1 girl for LI choices, why let us choose our gender in the first place? I know you're huge Grey's Anatomy fans, but you let that get in the way and made this series look like a Grey's Anatomy rip-off. Talk about rigging your own game, PB!

So what do you think of OH? Let me know in the comments. That's all for today, until then, this is General Khor. The end, and thank you for reading.