Pass the bovie and prepare three liters of warm saline stat, because our favorite idealist is back in the OR! Our heroes from Season 2 have returned, and they’re inches away from achieving their dream: a brand new trauma center for Doldam Hospital. But days before its official opening, a top-secret complication emerges. Faced with dying refugees from North Korea, what can our doctors do? Not break every regulation in the book? Ridiculous!
EPISODES 1-2
We open, unusually, miles from Doldam Hospital — and indeed, South Korean soil. The coast guard have picked up an unidentified vessel. Inside are four defectors from North Korea, survivors of a gunfight on board. A desperate woman, RI BOK-YOUNG (Yoo Yoo-jin) pleads with them to save her father, who’s caught four bullets to the chest. This calls for top-secret emergency treatment.
It’s dicey as heck: there’s no operating facilities aboard, and they can’t return to the mainland. Luckily, there’s a nearby hospital with a whole lot of heart, whose doctors eat impossible things for breakfast. A helicopter descends, and out stride some delightfully familiar figures. It’s DR. SEO WOO-JIN (Ahn Hyo-seop), looking every inch the unflappable surgeon. He’s flanked by NURSE ASSISTANT PARK EUN-TAK (Kim Min-jae) and DR. JUNG IN-SOO (Yoon Na-moo). The boys are back in town!
The gunshot victim is complicated. Possible damage to the inferior vena cava means Woo-jin is reluctant to operate alone. And so, we pan to another familiar face: DR. CHA EUN-JAE has been dispatched to interrupt the fishing vacation of their beloved mentor. That’s right — it’s TEACHER KIM (Han Seok-kyu)! He’s scarcely had time to whistle a cheerful tune before he’s yoinked back into his natural environment: surgical chaos. Together, he and Woo-jin prepare to perform another miracle on the operating table. Seconds in, the patient goes into cardiac arrest. And yet, to the utter awe of a nearby army medic, LEE SUN-WOONG (Lee Hong-nae), they stabilize him on nothing more than a scalpel and a prayer.
Meanwhile, Eun-jae has her own crisis to masterfully sail through. Gone is the wavering, nausea-ridden trainee of last season’s start. She’s a take-charge Type A who’s here to show Doldam’s newest fellow, the hapless JANG DONG-HWA (Lee Shin-young), what a doctor from Doldam can do! Bok-young has collapsed into massive hemoptysis, which basically means her lungs are flooded with blood. But after some complicated finagling with tubing — which, annoyingly, Dong-hwa is too inexperienced to appreciate — Eun-jae has her out of the woods.
Make no mistake: both patients need more treatment than they can get in the backroom of a ship. Unfortunately, the coast guard have orders from above. Peace talks between North and South Korea are in process. South Korea cannot take the diplomatic risk of bringing defectors to the mainland. But Teacher Kim has a tried-and-tested line for such moments: I’m a doctor, not a politician! Luckily, the captain is open to persuasion. Officially, the defectors must remain on this ship. Unofficially? Well. There might be a way.
And so, we return to the much-loved, ivy-encrusted halls of Doldam Hospital, where the lights on the entrance sign still sputter bravely! Here, NURSE OH MYUNG-SHIM (Jin Kyung), and DR. NAM DO-IL (Byun Woo-min) reckon they’ve found a solution. It’ll mean multiple health and safety violations. It’ll mean a probable nervous breakdown for MANAGER JANG GI-TAE (Im Won-hee). But, what else is new? And so, in the name of top secrecy — and romantic ideals — the North Korean patients are smuggled into Doldam Hospital’s new, unfinished Trauma Center.
But let’s take a moment to drop in on our OTP. Three years into their relationship, Eun-jae has decided to move in with Woo-jin — for, uh, practical purposes. It’ll help them focus on the important things! Like commuting less! And splitting chores! (She has a list. RIP Woo-jin — it sounds comprehensive.) Woo-jin, for his part, also has his mind on deeply important matters: namely, scooping Eun-jae into his arms, scheduling plenty of midday couch makeouts, and being shirtless at all times. These two have come a long way with one another — Eun-jae is bright and teasing; Woo-jin, warm and content.
Sadly, our other official couple are in choppier emotional waters. Eun-tak peers sadly at his phone. Bringing a patient back from the brink of death is one thing. But texting his girlfriend “I miss you”? That’s much more fraught. And perhaps he has reason to dither. When we move to check on DR. YOON AH-REUM (So Joo-yeon), she’s sleeping sweetly on a plane. Marking her place in her textbook is a very recognizable hand: JESSIE (Skeleton). And covering her with a blanket as she naps on his shoulder is none other than DR. BAE MOON-JUNG (Shin Dong-wook).
Last season, Doldam Hospital gained a new, initially reluctant addition to their oddball crew: DIRECTOR PARK MIN-GUK (Kim Joo-hun). He too is flourishing. He’s no longer that wet paper towel of a man (I say this affectionately) armed with Baby’s First Guide to Nihilism and a hilariously one-sided vendetta against Teacher Kim. Instead, he and his Minion Friday, YANG HO-JOON (Go Sang-ho), are busy masterminding the creation of the new Trauma Center. This means expanding the staff — and word is, prestigious cardio surgeon, DR. CHA JIN-MAN (Lee Kyung-young) is looking for a job.
Come and see the Trauma Center, Director Park urges him. It’s empty; we can go today! And so, blithely unaware of the political minefield awaiting them, they head in. The first surprise is, of course, the fact that the Trauma Center appears to be up and running, sans permission. But there’s more. When Teacher Kim offers his hand, Dr. Cha pushes rudely past, walking instead towards Eun-jae. It’s been a while, he says. Dad, she replies.
Later, Eun-jae confides in Woo-jin over a cup of (milky) coffee. Her mother still hasn’t forgiven her for siding with Woo-jin when he exposed her brother’s surgical negligence. Still — no regrets. As for her father? He… uh, may or may not still be upset. (She’d brought him cake for his birthday. He demanded to know why she was in his office, then cut her off to prepare for surgery.) Now, however, Dr. Cha makes a point of lying in wait for Woo-jin. My daughter is precious to me, he declares. And our family had no issues with each other until you showed up. Just saying.
Dr. Cha’s relationship with Teacher Kim is no less turbulent: back in undergrad, they were fierce rivals. It was a case, Dr. Nam confidently diagnoses, of TVPG: Two Very Proud Geniuses. According to Dr. Cha, Teacher Kim’s nonsense hasn’t changed. According to Teacher Kim… well, bringing Director Park into the Doldam fold was one thing. He was moderately moral, and seriously crazy: the ideal fit! But Dr. Cha hasn’t a crazy bone in his body — and if he did, he’d opt for surgical removal. He’ll never be one of them. (Bah, never say never. I spy another classic Kim-induced redemption arc on the horizon…!)
Meanwhile, the status of our defectors looks bleak. North Korea have found out about the refugee ship. They’re demanding repatriation by midnight, or they’ll walk away from the peace talks. There’s 40 trillion won on the line, but Teacher Kim is scathing. A doctor does what a doctor does — politics be damned. Bok-young’s still bleeding badly; Eun-jae recommends a lung lobectomy. (She’s never performed one before, but as far as her mentor’s concerned, there’s a first time for everything.) It’s settled: today will bear witness to the Trauma Center’s first, semi-legal surgery. And although Director Park may curse the name of Kim, he can’t actually admit that he’s wrong. What he can do is invite Dr. Cha to witness the operation. Perhaps if words won’t work, Teacher Kim’s skill will sway him.
Eun-jae is antsy; this is a tricky surgery, and her old nerves are peeking through. Steadfast as ever, Teacher Kim assures her she’ll be fine. But there’s a wince-worthy hitch: Manager Jang has forgotten that electricians are coming to switch off the power! As they’re elbow-deep in lung matter, the machines flicker out. Teacher Kim’s response? Eh, could be worse! With the air of a man who’s sewn up organs under stranger circumstances, he orders his staff to use their phone torches. He and Eun-jae will operate by touch. And, with Dr. Cha watching nonplussed from the window, that’s precisely what they do. The lesion is clipped closed, and the patient scrapes through alive.
Meanwhile, a second complication unfolds. There are two other surviving defectors: a man (Kim Cheol-yun) and a boy, KIM KYUNG-SOO (Han Ji-an) — the latter of whom refuses to speak a word. On a trip to the bathroom, the man attacks his guard, making a bid for freedom. Hidden in one of the stalls is the feckless Dong-hwa! Yesterday he skipped out on surgery; today, he’s fled to play war games in the toilet. Alas, he’s about to experience more real-life conflict than he bargained for.
Woo-jin, hearing the kerfuffle, moves to investigate. He’s stopped short by Kyung-soo. Don’t go in there, he urges. That guy killed my father. Seconds later, the man emerges, holding Dong-hwa at knifepoint. Woo-jin, thinking fast, palms Dong-hwa’s discarded phone. As the lights shut off, he presses play on the war game, and the sounds of gunfire startle the man into releasing his hostage. Agents converge on the scene just in time, saving Woo-jin from being grappled and stabbed.
Crisis averted, a new day dawns at Doldam. Teacher Kim and Woo-jin regard two empty hospital beds. Was it really right, asks Woo-jin, to send those patients back? We did our best and that’s enough, replies Teacher Kim, with uncharacteristic fatalism. But there’s no fooling Nurse Oh. Send away patients? Over Teacher Kim’s dead body. Sure enough, alone in his office, Teacher Kim deletes a text: Since I granted you this favor, I no longer owe you. It’s from DEFENSE MINISTER RYU WOON-GIL (Kwon Hyuk-soo), seconds before he walks into the peace talks.
Later, Dr. Cha pushes past Woo-jin on his way out. Your daughter is precious to me too, Woo-jin declares to his retreating back. Just saying. Meanwhile, the staff at Doldam merrily greet the returning Ah-reum and Moon-jung. Three years don’t change much. As ever, Ah-reum can’t resist voicing the fatal words: awfully quiet for a Friday, isn’t it? Right on cue, the phones blare. Luckily, they’ve got a new member of staff to help stem the emergency deluge: Sun-woong, the star-struck army medic!
There’s one final sting. Director Park receives a call from Dr. Cha. He’s calling about the position. He’ll consider it — on one condition. Remove Teacher Kim from the Trauma Center.
So, what’s the prognosis? Doctor Romantic Teacher Kim has been plowing on for a staggering amount of time by K-drama standards, but its BP still looks healthy, and the monitor is making encouraging bleeps. Words cannot do justice to how much I love this show. Seeing each member of the ensemble cast was like embracing a series of old friends.
Part of the beauty of it is witnessing how some of our characters have grown up, and grown happier. Eun-jae is a force of nature: in Season 2, she vacillated between arrogant and anxious; now, she has a natural confidence that triumphs even when she’s struggling. Woo-jin has softened and become more mature — between his openness with Eun-jae and his kindness towards Kyung-soo, there isn’t a hint of his old frustration. Even Director Park has come into his own. No longer is he the nerdy villain, mocked by the other villains behind his back! He’s calm, competent, and mildly exasperated at all times!
But equally, the other joy of this show is how much things stay the same. Nurse Oh will always be noble and caring, with a will of steel. Manager Jang will always chew the scenery, mess up in endearing ways, and eventually come through for the team. The sign on Doldam Hospital will always sputter on and off. Flawed doctors will join the group and metamorphose into great doctors. Best of all, we can always, without doubt, depend on Teacher Kim to make the moral choice, to fight for everyone in need of help — and to never, ever abandon his patients. I love every bit of it!