K-Drama Reaction: Hospital Playlist 2

Time surely flies fast in Yulje, quite literally.

Episode 5 Recap

Episode 5 opens with Lee Ik-jun mulling over his phone conversation with his sister Lee Ik-sun. Ik-sun finally confirmed that she dated Jun-wan (darn, I hate using past tense with their relationship status). In their conversation, Ik-sun also vaguely told Ik-jun that they broke up because of a common reason why most couples break up. She reiterated that Ik-jun should tell Jun-wan about her condition.

At the shared house of the two JWs, Jeong-won sees Jun-wan drinking a bottle of cold beer late in the night. Jeong-won tried to ask him what’s wrong but when he realized it was a problem he can’t help him with, he let him be after an affectionate tap on the shoulder. Once left alone again, Jun-wan tried to call Ik-sun but her phone just kept on ringing.

A new day comes in Yulje and Ik-jun is ready for his rounds with Jang Gyeo-ul and nurse Song Su-bin in tow. Gyeo-ul briefs Ik-jun with Choi Eun-suk’s condition. Arriving at the ward, Ik-jun notices something strange with the couple, especially with patient Choi’s husband.

At the second-floor café, two mothers talk about their son. Jeong Rosa listens as Jo Young-hye declares that her last wish is for Yang Seok-hyeong to get remarried. Rosa then advises Young-hye that her wish should be for herself and herself only and not to meddle in his life again. Rosa-eomoni reminded Young-hye-eomoni how Seok-hyeong’s ex-wife suffered because of her. Young-hye then recounted how they got “scammed” and insists that Yoon Shin-hye really did steal her diamond ring the day she and Seok-hyeong visited. Rosa dismisses her as being delusional. As if summoned by their topic, Shin-hye is there at the café too, ordering drinks for her and her father. After getting ignored by Shin-hye, Young-hye says Shin-hye’s diamond necklace looks like her diamond ring.

At the OB/GYN department’s nurse station, Min-ha approaches Seok-hyeong to relay a request from a patient’s husband. Seok-hyeong allows the husband to film the birth of their baby with a few conditions. After that, Min-ha reluctantly asks Seok-hyeong if she can buy him a coffee and ask him something. Nurse Han Seun-ju gets curious and prods Min-ha to ask it already. Sensing Min-ha’s reluctance, Seok-hyeong agrees to grab a coffee with Min-ha.

At the Operating Room, Professor Cheon Myeong-tae reprimands CS’ new chief resident. Do Jae-hak (I think he’s a fellow now?) explains that their colleague was on duty last night but Professor Cheon went on with his “back in the day” tirade. Professor Cheon mentions that he managed to stay focus on work after working 180 hours a week. Jae-hak mumbles that there are only 168 hours a week (lol, Jaehak! You’d get in trouble with this haha). Good thing, Professor Cheon didn’t heard Jae-hak.

In the next room, Jeong-won just finished his surgery. After leaving the operating room, a fellow (I think so) asks if Jeong-won ever gets angry. The nurse answers that he does but he scolds them using jondaemal (honorifics).

On the way to the café, Min-ha asks what kind of movie does he like. While waiting for his answer, Min-ha sees Gyeo-ul in the hallway and signals her not to disturb their moment (with Gyeo-ul hiding behind a plant ala typical K-drama female lead lol. Seok-hyeong was on his phone so he didn’t notice her). Remembering their rules on questions, Seok-hyeong tells Min-ha that she already used up her question voucher and then adds a new rule that Min-ha can only ask work-related questions (that’s unfair Prof. Bear!). Min-ha tries to compromise, saying she’ll make sure to ask questions that won’t “cross the line” but Seok-hyeong is adamant.

While talking about coffee cup sizes with Min-ha, Seok-hyeong meets Shin-hye in the hallway and asks about her father’s condition. Shin-hye notices Min-ha and Seok-hyeong introduces her as “my resident.” Min-ha, not minding the conversation between the ex-couple, feels giddy with Seok-hyeong’s choice of words. Seok-hyeong then ends the conversation and the two separate ways (this whole sequence felt like the ultimate closure of Shin-hye’s chapter in Seok-hyeong’s life).

Still in Seoul, Chae Song-hwa leads a surgery with Heo Sun-bin by her side. Meanwhile, Gyeo-ul waits for the elevator with a big plastic bag of food on the floor. As the other passenger alights from the elevator, Jeong-won came into her view and she greets him with a wide smile on her face (Jeong-won always answers 응 these days, kyaaa~). Jeong-won holds her food pack for her and confirms if the whole pack isn’t for one meal only. Gyeo-ul says it’s for two meals (but still, it’s plenty for two meals alone!!!). The elevator stops on the next floor (3rd floor!) and Kim Jun-wan reluctantly joins the couple. He stands by the door, away from them which made Jeong-won and Gyeo-ul chuckle

In Song-hwa’s office, Ik-jun nags Song-hwa about her busy schedule, all the while playing on his phone. Song-hwa then informs him that she’ll be handling simple cases to Professor Jung. Ik-jun is glad to hear her news but annoyed that his phone battery died. While letting Ik-jun borrow her phone charger, Song-hwa reiterates that she’ll really be taking a rest because she needs to recharge herself. Ik-jun, the nutjob that he is, inserted the phone charger on Song-hwa’s ears while the other end on his nose (er, I wish I could have find the words to describe how funny and witty this is). Jun-wan and Jeong-won arrive, both not impress with Ik-jun’s joke.

As Seok-hyeong completed the crew, they finally starts their very important meeting about…snow crabs. Apparently, Song-hwa ordered a lot *enter a parody of iconic lines from Autumn In My Heart by Ik-jun and Jun-wan* and will send it to Seok-hyeong’s house for their band practice. Since she ordered too much (as in 10 huge snow crabs), Song-hwa then helps them decide where to give the extra snow crabs. Ik-jun to U-ju, Seok-hyeong to his mom, Jeong-won to Gyeo-ul, and Jun-wan…well he said he’ll take care of it.

Come weekend in Yangpyeong, Rosa and Director Ju Jong-su share a meal together (dishes that are meant for spring). While eating, Rosa is once again bothered by lack of care of Jong-su’s children to their father. A familiar conversation then ensued:

Rosa: What do you want to do?
Jong-su: Nothing. What about you?
Rosa: I can’t think of anything either.
Jong-su: My only happiness is eating a warm bowl of rice and soybean paste soup with you.

The two old friends are then joined by Rosa’s oldest child, who they previously described as old-looking but mature for his age and very dependable. Father Peter aka Ahn Dong-il (Sung Dong-il) presents a handful of daisies to her mother. Unamused, Rosa berates him for picking up the flowers she’d been trying to revive.

In Seok-hyeong’s house, the Lacking Five fill themselves with snow crabs. As their conversation turned to the band’s vocal position, Song-hwa tries to persuade her friends to let her sing. Targeting her kindest friend Jeong-won, Song-hwa enumerates her efforts to improve her vocals. When Seok-hyeong and Jeong-won seem close to giving in, Jun-wan calls a separate meeting to deliberate Song-hwa’s fate. Amidst the meeting, Ik-jun excuses himself to go to the restroom while crawling like a crab on the floor (I can’t with him!). Back to the issue, the final verdict is to allow Song-hwa to sing but there’s a catch. She can only sing on her birthday. The current date is March 2020 so Song-hwa is excited to sing on her birthday in April. Only to find out later that their term is a biennial event, meaning she will be able to sing on her birthday…next year. Song-hwa argues with them but Jun-wan can’t be persuaded. So Song-hwa asks for one more concession: they need to go to a noreabang. Everyone sings their heart out to I Like You except to unamused Jun-wan.

The next day, Jeong-won walks hand-in-hand with Gyeo-ul at their apartment complex’s car park. Inside the apartment, Jeong-won serves peeled snow crabs, seaweed soup, and a bowl of rice to Gyeo-ul. She then commented how convenient it is to eat already peeled snow crabs in which Jeong-won proudly says he peeled it for her after making breakfast for Jun-wan. He then poses that they should eat a lot of snow crabs while Song-hwa is still in Sokcho. Gyeo-ul then shares that Min-ha is actually from Sokcho but they can’t visit their bed and breakfast because they’re both busy. Jeong-won suggests they should go together after her board exam to see the ocean. Gyeo-ul isn’t as excited as Jeong-won and says a lot can happen in a year but Jeong-won assures her that time flies quickly and asks her to promise one thing, saying “Whether it’s something big or small tell me if anything ever happens to you. I won’t nag you or try to give you my two cents so just tell me. Okay?” Gyeo-ul agrees and asks Jeong-won to make a promise in return, “Just once a day, do something to express your affection.” Making true to his promise, Jeong-won pulls Gyeo-ul into a kiss (can I call this the snow crab kiss? haha).

Back in Yangpyeong, Dong-il plants the daisies back on the planter but because of his talkativeness, he then again received a scolding from Rosa. While tending to her plants, Jong-su tells Rosa that his children are all chatty. Rosa agrees, recalling childhood anecdotes where all of them tell everything to her. Jong-su thinks they’re thoughtful and he’s jealous of her. Rosa asks if he was being serious while looking at Father Peter, who is happily playing with the garden hose.

The work week starts again and Gyeo-ul informs Ik-jun about Choi Eun-suk’s condition over the weekend. He then asks Gyeo-ul about the patient’s husband but the resident only wonders why he was suddenly curious about the husband. Nurse Song joins them and tells Ik-jun about Eun-suk’s insurance. Nurse Song informs Ik-jun about the request of Eun-suk’s husband to emphasize in their insurance claim that the patient’s condition is worsening. While Gyeo-ul was distracted by a phone call, Ik-jun firmly answers that they can’t do that. As Gyeo-ul leaves for surgery, Nurse Song and Ik-jun went to the HPB ward.

At the hospital’s ground floor, Song-hwa and Sun-bin came across a very happy Min-ha, holding a plushie toy (a PPL that I want to become an official merch). Min-ha shares the good news with them, saying she finally paid off her student loan and opened an installment savings account. After Min-ha left, Sun-bin asks her professor how she became close to Min-ha. Turns out, Song-hwa and Min-ha are members of “We Love Tteokbokki” club (hahaha, I wonder how can we join this club).

Back in the ward, Ik-jun sees the bruises in Eun-suk’s head and schedules her for a liver ultrasound at the outpatient clinic. Reluctant, the husband eventually agrees to the sudden ultrasound check-up.

In their shared office, Jeong-won arrives and finds Jun-wan reading about a young boy who donated his heart, the latter assuming he was Eun-ji’s donor. After reading the article, Jun-wan then confirms if Jeong-won can’t really join him for a drink that night. Jeong-won says he can’t but he can eat dinner with him instead. Suspicious with his friend’s sudden availability, Jun-wan inquires more and then concludes that Gyeo-ul is either on duty or is out on a procurement.

At the delivery room, Seok-hyeong permits a patient’s husband to film the delivery. A concerned-looking man enters the room, stepping back as he witnesses the childbirth. Seok-hyeong congratulates the couple. Ignoring Min-ha’s suggestion to film the baby, the husband went straight to her wife and lovingly hold her hand.

With Mozart in the background, Song-hwa arrives while Seok-hyeong takes a rest at his office. While Seok-hyeong eats his gimbap, he then remembers the beautiful moment he just witnessed at the delivery room, saying “Today I realized for the first time after my divorce that marriage isn’t always a bad thing.” As their conversation turns into Seok-hyeong’s past marriage, Song-hwa urges Seok-hyeong to retell what happened with his marriage with Shin-hye. Seok-hyeong tells Song-hwa his “efforts” to make their marriage work, including turning a blind eye to Shin-hye’s crime – stealing Seok-hyeong’s mom’s diamond ring. After hearing Seok-hyeong’s so-called attempts, Song-hwa pointed out that Seok-hyeong didn’t really put any effort and instead ran away from their problems. Seok-hyeong admitted that it was indeed his fault and wonders why he is such a coward. Song-hwa suggests a solution to Seok-hyeong’s problem, saying “You talk too much. You need to say more useless things. At work, only say what’s necessary. Outside of work, you don’t need to. Even if you think it’s useless, it may not be useless to the person hearing it. Don’t do it to everyone, though. Start with the people closest to you. The ones you see most often and feel most comfortable with.” As if getting summoned by Yulje’s gwishin, Min-ha calls Seok-hyeong to collect his contribution for a colleague’s birthday gift. Seok-hyeong then tries out Song-hwa’s advice and asks “useless” questions to Min-ha (small talks that bring hope to our gom x gom ship!).

In Busan, Gyeo-ul informs donation coordinator Ham Deok-ju that there’s a delay in the procurement and it seems like Gyeo-ul will not be able to catch the last train ride. She then arranges an ambulance for Gyeo-ul and the team. Fellow Jong Se-hyeok puts Gyeo-ul in charge of ensuring the ambulance driver won’t doze off. Gyeo-ul offers mint candies, dried squid, and coffee (two cups for her!) so that they can safely arrive in Seoul. While preparing for the surgery, Gyeo-ul receives a call from her mother. The timing of her call got Gyeo-ul worried and she asks if her mother had a fight with her dad. Her mother assures her that everything’s fine.

Morning arrives and comes with it is a noise complaint from a patient’s guardian. Gyeo-ul and Nurse Song hear the details and the guardian tells them that she thinks Eun-suk is being abused by her husband. Alarmed by the report, Gyeo-ul went to the ward herself, only to see nothing but a sleeping Eun-suk with the husband by her side.

Night comes in Yulje and so is Ik-jun at Jun-wan’s office. His brief visit ended after getting Jun-wan’s schedule. Jun-wan then receives a phone call from Jae-hak, informing him that Eun-ji’s mother wants to talk to him.

Back at the HPB ward, Gyeo-ul and Nurse Song are at the nurse’s station when Eun-suk’s husband arrives looking drunk. Both looked alarmed, Nurse Song runs off in panic while Gyeo-ul marches towards the ward.

Meanwhile, at the PICU, Eun-ji’s mother shares some baked goodies with all the nurses and thanked them for taking care of her daughter. Just outside, Eun-ji’s mother then asks Jun-wan a favor. She asks him to give the package to the donor’s family, revealing she read an article about the donor and piece together the details. Eun-ji’s mother shares how deeply grateful she is to the donor’s family and promises to make a donation under the donor’s name yearly to remember him.

[tw: domestic violence]

Outside ward 6018, the patient’s guardian finds Gyeo-ul standing outside and informs her that the couple is at it again with their argument. Gyeo-ul barges in and tries to stop the husband from hitting their patient. Eun-suk’s husband then pushes her to the floor. Fortunately, Nurse Song arrives with the security team and stops the husband from doing any more damage to Eun-suk and Gyeo-ul. Jeong-won, who is on her way to bring coffee to Gyeo-ul, has seen Nurse Song fetching the security team and follows them. Jeong-won arrives with Gyeo-ul injured on the floor. He helps her up as the man gets arrested by the security team.

At the ER, Doctor Bong Gwang-hyeon scolds Gyeo-ul for being reckless; like she is her 14th appa. Worried, he reminded her that she could have used the emergency bell or call the security guards. He could have gone on with his preaching but Jeong-won stops him already (but why does it seem like that Dr. Bong actually just verbalizes Jeong-won’s concerns?!). Jeong-won closes the curtain at the ER to give them some semblance of privacy. Sitting by her side, Gyeo-ul says that she couldn’t just afford to stand back and watch while seeing an incident like that. Jeong-won then tells her that Ik-jun has asked the security team to look over Eun-suk since Ik-jun already suspects that the patient’s husband is hitting her.

A flashback to his conversation with Ik-jun, he revealed that Eun-suk is at first reluctant to report her husband. Ik-jun assured the patient, she had nothing to apologize for because it’s not her fault, emphasizing she is the victim in the situation.

Back at the ER, Jeong-won reveals that Eun-suk has been moved to ICU for her safety, which Gyeo-ul realizes she should have thought of. Jeong-won says something similar from their snow crab conversation, “When something bad happens, you should tell others and ask for help.” Gyeo-ul takes note of it but Jeong-won seems bothered still. He prods Gyeo-ul and asks if there is something she should tell him about. When Gyeo-ul tells him he has nothing to worry about, Jeong-won carefully emphasized that Gyeo-ul can tell her if something bad happens or she’s stressed out about something. Gyeo-ul answers that aside from her parents worrying about their “dumb and incompetent” daughter, everything is fine about her (an answer similar to what Gyeo-ul’s mother told her during their phone call). Jeong-won gave him a warm hug after getting assurance that she’s fine.

It’s already April 2020 and Ik-jun drives Ik-sun to the hospital for her check-up. Despite promising he would just stay at his office, Ik-jun waits for her outside the clinic. At his office, Ik-jun reminds Ik-sun to handle her case carefully (they detected hepatocirrhosis at its early stages). Ik-jun then offers to drive Ik-sun home to Changwon. Outside the ER entrance, Ik-jun parks his car to look for the supplement he bought for their mother, only to realize he left it at his office. Alone in the car, Ik-sun plays a song with the Bluetooth speaker and didn’t notice someone arriving via taxi. As Jun-wan walks towards the Yulje’s ER entrance, he notices a familiar white car. Ik-sun watches as Jun-wan almost walks towards her only to walk away in the end.

With Mido and Falasol’s song in the bgm, Gyeo-ul informs Ik-jun that Eun-suk has decided to press charges against her husband and changed the insurance beneficiary to her mother. Ik-jun is relieved to hear the news. Eun-suk thanked them, saying, “I thought no one would help me even if I asked for help, but the social worker and all the doctors and nurses here kept checking in on me and continued to give me advice so I now know that I’m not alone” (the camera pans to Gyeo-ul as Eun-suk says this last bit).

On the other hand, Min-ha mulls over her recent phone conversation with Seok-hyeong outside his office. Mustering up the courage, Min-ha enters the room while Seok-hyeong watches New Journey to the West. Without any warning, Min-ha proposes a deal with Seok-hyeong. Min-ha says, “Can I ask you out, just five times? If it doesn’t make you uncomfortable, you’ll let me do it, right?” Finally getting his attention, Seok-hyeong paused his video and answers “I don’t think it’ll make me uncomfortable but my answer will still be no.” He sort of agrees to give Min-ha five attempts to ask him out. Again without any warning, Min-ha confesses her feelings to Seok-hyeong and asks him to see a movie with her on the weekend. He rejected her, saying she only now has four attempts left.

In Changwon, Ik-sun cuts her hair short and reported to her new station. Ik-jun frequently visits her there and shares one meal per season. The siblings share a meal and let the time pass by. One whole year after, it’s March 2021 and Ik-jun is having breakfast with U-ju (who is still dating Mo-ne!). U-ju’s heart-warming entry for this week: “I’m happy to see Mo-ne every day just like how I’m happy to see dad every day” *insert collective aww of Yuljems*. While preparing U-ju for school, Ik-jun got asked if it is also a new semester at the hospital. Ik-jun says there are new residents and interns and… an old friend is coming back.

In Yulje, Song-hwa watches the rain outside when Jeong-won arrives and gives a pot of daisy to her. Jun-wan also arrives and welcomes her back. The two JWs left her alone and it was Seok-hyeong’s turn to welcome her back. Lastly, Ik-jun arrives and invites her for a meal, suggesting to have their breakfast while watching the rain.

Maknae’s Verdict

I’m not a fan of time skip because I always think that it’s just a lazy way to continue a story. Unless of course, I was forewarned. Despite the confirmation that there would be a time skip during HosPlay’s press conference, I still didn’t expect that to happen in this episode. I was already used to the slower narration pace in the past few episodes that skipping a whole year (even if that’s 2020. Well, it’s really a skippable year anyway) felt like a surprise. I couldn’t judge it now though as (1) the transition from April 2020 to March 2021 was so smooth; and (2) the time skip happened in the last five minutes of the episode so I’m not sure what changed and whatnot. Nonetheless, this one is my favorite episode thus far.

The first reason is that they are finally exploring Gyeo-ul’s arc! When I said in my episode 2 recap that an internal conflict is more suitable to the developing relationship of Gyeo-ul and Jeong-won, I was actually thinking whether it would be more about Gyeo-ul because as I’ve said Jeong-won’s character has already gone full circle in season 1. I think their conversations in this episode will be a foreshadowing of some sort to a conflict later this season. I don’t expect this to go full angsty of course but ShinLee can do that well if they want to. And now that they laid out the seed for this possible conflict, I’m excited to watch how they’ll explore this even with the 1-year time skip. Healing of wounds that can’t be seen is harder to gauge and no one can even say whether a year is enough to mend a broken heart or soul. With Gyeo-ul, I think, she’s been harboring these wounds/insecurities for a bit longer than we thought. She hasn’t verbalized it in season 1 because she doesn’t have anyone talk to about it. Gyeo-ul’s vulnerabilities are becoming more apparent now that she has someone she can depend on. Let’s put it this way. When a child falls down and scrapes her knee, she oftentimes keeps it to herself if no one is around to care for her. But if she falls down in front of her parents or someone she can depend on, that child will definitely bawl in pain. With Jeong-won by her side, I think Gyeo-ul is now realizing she now has the permission to be vulnerable. And her depending more and more on Jeong-won doesn’t make her less of a strong woman. I suggest reading my piece on Strong Female Character but if you don’t want to, my point there is that we shouldn’t box female characters into a stereotypical alpha character or a Mary Sue. The label strong shouldn’t mean they aren’t allowed to feel insecurities about themselves nor ask the person they love (yes, a man or any gender) for help when they couldn’t handle things on their own.

That is also applicable to Lee Ik-sun. She’s one alpha character but now that she has shown a weakness, she’s being criticized for going out of character. I don’t condone hiding your problem to your partner (or any kind of noble idiocy) but it isn’t also right to say it’s not the way a strong woman should act. Remember that she also has issues on her own. The same goes with Jun-wan. He looks okay at the hospital but when he’s left alone that’s when he mulls over the things happening in his life. He also had a choice whether to share it with Jeong-won or not but he chose not to. Is he being criticized for that? No. People will just dismiss it as a typical trait for men. Anyway, I don’t really want to spark a gender war. What I’m pointing out for this Jun-wan x Ik-sun arc is that people, especially those who are labeled as ‘strong’, usually choose to hide their vulnerability because they think they can deal with it on their own. That’s why I’m happy to see both Jun-wan and Ik-sun have a strong support system. Ik-jun with Ik-sun and Jeong-won with Jun-wan. As for Seok-hyeong, Song-hwa was there for him in this episode.

Song-hwa is that kind of friend who says the right words at the right time. Her wisdom is someone I personally want to have once I reach 40. But I know she didn’t gain that wisdom in an instant. I hope we’ll be able to see more of young Song-hwa in the next episodes but for now, let’s focus on her conversation with Seok-hyeong. They were simple words. She doesn’t need metaphors or analogies just to get to her point. Her advice is something you can hear from your own friend. And I’m glad Seok-hyeong listened to her and immediately applied it, which we can now safely assume that Min-ha is someone he’s comfortable talking to (my gomgom heart is winning this week!). Can I also just say that Chu Min-ha is one strong female character. People would again probably disagree with this because she loves make-up and is a romantic through and through. BUT that’s another stereotype about SFCs that should definitely be addressed. Min-ha is one strong woman because (1) she’s one exemplary resident; (2) she doesn’t antagonize another woman just because it’s her crush’s ex; and (3) she has been rejected numerous times but she strives on if she sees there’s still some hope remaining.

Despite getting “surprised” by the time skip, I really love this episode. Comedic scenes are hilarious. Ik-jun is at his peak with his silly antics. There’s romance everywhere while there’s a heart-aching on one side. The patient’s stories were smoothly intertwined with the character’s stories. With this episode, I realized this is still the series that owns my Thursdays and every single day in between.

Afterthoughts

-I don’t want to be that person who keeps on repeating a reference BUT there’s this quote in Skam that I love and fits my beloved HosPlay women: “People need people”

-Actually, that quote actually fits Seok-hyeong more than Min-ha haha

-I actually made a whole Yulje 2020 calendar haha. I’ll just change it to 2021 and hopefully, I can share that by the next recap. And speaking of skipping 2020, I’m LOLing because we often joke about not counting 2020 as a whole year and that really happened in HosPlay universe.

-Every single HosPlay OST release is good!

-There’s a theory circulating online that Lee Il-hwa is Gyeo-ul’s mother. Please let this happen!

-Also, can Ryu Hye-young make a cameo too? Jebal

– The first thing that I realized as I watch the time skip sequence is that I don’t have to wait for season 3 to see Song-hwa sing because it’s going to be April 2021 soon and she can take the vocal position in Mido and Falasol! That alone can make me forgive Lee-writernim (although there’s nothing there to forgive really) for using a narrating device I don’t really prefer.

-Hello Thirdwheelers out there.

-Hello there too fellow Ahjummas who got the Autumn in My Heart reference as soon as the iconic bgm started playing. Can we get more Changwon boys parody collab?