K-Drama Reaction: Hospital Playlist 2

Parallels are once again apparent in the eighth episode of Hospital Playlist 2. Comes with it are reversals that make things more complicated for our beloved Yulje people. They’ll survive it for sure. But unscathed? I don’t think so.

Episode 8 Recap

The shared apartment of Kim Jun-wan and Ahn Jeong-won has been a set-up for forlorn beer nights in this season and episode 8 is no exception. The episode starts after the postponed marriage proposal of Jeong-won. He was drinking beer alone when Jun-wan came home and sits down with him with his own bottle of beer at hand. Both of them asking if one is alright and both answered, it’s nothing. Both are satisfied with the quiet company. Jun-wan left his pal to wash up.

With Jung Kyung-ho’s OST in the background, Jeong-won picks up his phone and tried calling (I assume) Gyeo-ul. But the phone just keeps ringing. In Yangpyeong, Rosa cries in frustration after listing down important things she should remember: door code and her children’s birthday (Jeong-won’s birthday is on August 20 as listed down in the paper as maknae’s saengil).

The next morning at the Lee Household, Ik-jun asks Ik-sun why there are so many eggs on their breakfast table. Learning what it was for, Ik-jun proceeds to remind Ik-sun to take care of herself better and the siblings squabble lightheartedly with Ik-sun insisting eggs are a great warfare weapon (lol, comic timing runs in their blood). After a while, Ik-jun repeated his warning to Ik-sun not to teach any weird stuff to U-ju anymore. Ik-sun swears she won’t but just then, U-ju shows off his newly learned egg gag show to his father. Ik-sun and U-ju escape while Ik-jun is left at the table in a sort of time freeze-frame (which he clarifies isn’t on pause via voice-over haha. Him breaking the fourth wall will always be funny for me). After seeing U-ju off school, the sibling prepare to go to their respective destination, with Ik-sun mentioning she always prefer taking the premium night bus when commuting (remember this detail okay?).

Jun-wan arrives at Yulje Medical Center with a phone call from the ER. Rushing off to the patient, he didn’t notice his dear Do Jae-hak waving at him. Jae-hak is with the Bong Salon Squad Yang Seok-min, Heo Sun-bin, and Chu Min-ha. While going down the escalator, Sun-bin notices Min-ha’s make-up. Our pretty gom shares that her make-up’s theme is spring warm-tone similar to the epitome of spring – actress Park Bo-young. But the rest of the squad didn’t get what she was saying and proceeded with their own interpretation: Seokmin mishearing her say Park Bo-gum instead and Jae-hak says spring warm tone is not her color tone and thinks it’s “Boom tone” (boom and bom spring in Korean sound alike). Min-ha doesn’t laugh for a while but after a phone call, all are alright again with our bubbly spring gom.

With GS resident Kim Geon at the side (why is he always with Jeong-won?? I’m not complaining tho), Jeong-won talks to the patient about their surgery scheduled next week. When he noticed that the mother has a lot of questions listed down, Jeong-won helped her answer it one-by-one, assuring her that it’s normal to have a lot of questions before a big surgical procedure.

Remember the patient from Mokpo in episode 3, the family is back at Yulje because Jang Jong-gil, who received a liver transplant, was having trouble with his heart. Mr. Jang’s son talked to Jun-wan and learned that his father has endocarditis and needs surgery once again. Mr. Jang’s son asked Jun-wan to help his father, mentioning Yulje has saved his father’s life twice now.

At the outpatient clinics, Ik-jun left for lunch after his last patient’s consultation. Seok-hyeong, meanwhile, schedules his patient for a Friday appointment before going to Song-hwa’s office for lunch. Jun-wan, too, immediately went to their meeting place after receiving a call. All of them except for Jeong-won.

On his way to lunch, Jeong-won finally received a call from Gyeo-ul. She fills him in with what happened in Gwangju. She said that her mom fell and hurt herself pretty badly, with a broken rib and other fractures (which suspiciously sounded like what happened to the abused child in season 1). Gyeo-ul has been looking after her mom with her younger brother. Jeong-won assures Gyeo-ul she shouldn’t worry about him. He asks if he can text her once a day but he’d stop if she finds it distracting. To which, Gyeo-ul answers “You can text me anytime. I like it because it helps me escape reality even for just a moment.” He ends the call by asking one more time if she’s okay. And she chirpily said she is (sounded too cheerful to be true in my opinion).

Inside, Ik-jun waits for the others to arrive with a stack of tteokbokki at the table. Ik-jun notes that their food is like a portfolio: mild for mild boy Jeong-won; spicy for the food warriors; and beginner level spiciness for the muggles like Ik-jun and Seok-hyeong. Listening to Ik-jun, Jun-wan asks what a “muggle” is. Ron and Malfoy, I mean, Seok-hyeong and Ik-jun used it to make fun of Harry, er, I mean Jun-wan, who lives in the 21st century according to him. Ik-jun says Malfoy is the new deputy director with foy as the first name and Ma as the surname. Jun-wan didn’t buy it and turned to Seok-hyeong for an explanation. He told him that it is a singing group cue BTS’ Idol in the background. And since he still didn’t get it, Jun-wan was turned into another kind of muggle – the Kpop kind.

Jeong-won arrives and Ik-jun immediately asks for updates about Gyeo-ul. He explains he easily got the okay from the Chief to get some break because she hardly used her leave. With that, they mentioned Song-hwa, who also doesn’t go on a break. Ik-jun tells them she meets a lot of people when she’s not in surgery. Seok-hyeong added that Song-hwa is the corresponding author of all the thesis and research papers from NS.

It’s 30 minutes past 6, intern Jang Hong-do arrives with free ice creams for everyone at the OB/GYN floor. Min-ha, who is once again on a night shift, predicts/declares they will have one of the quietest shifts tonight. She then shares she has one superstition though: if you eat anything a junior bought, they will be flooded with patients. The rest of the OB/GYN staff looks at her with scared eyes because they are currenly eating something a junior bought. Like an ominous sign, they are indeed flooded with patients. (poor Chuchu! But the whole sequence was overly dramatic for no good reason other than being a comic relief haha).

Min-ha then attends to ER patient – the outpatient earlier that Seok-hyeong scheduled for Friday. Seok-hyeong arrives at the OR and leads the procedure with Min-ha assisting him. After the surgery, Min-ha thoughtlessly commented that it was a relief they didn’t resort to removing her uterus because that would be hard news to break to his husband. Her comment halts Seok-hyeong in his steps. Facing her, Seok-hyeong tells Min-ha that the husband knows that it is important for them to save the patient’s life more than anything else. While talking to the patient’s guardian, the husband tells them nothing is more important than his wife’s life. Min-ha apologizes for being “narrow-minded” but Seok-hyeong comforts her, saying it’s okay as long as she’ll learn from her mistakes.

In Yangpyeong that night, Ju Jong-su and Rosa are having dinner. Jong-su comforts her about the door code incident. Rosa opens up and says she is worried she has Alzheimer’s but she’s too scared to see a doctor. Jong-su tried to convince her to go to the hospital but Rosa asked for a few more days to make up her mind. He then suggests Rosa start the “thing” she devoted his youth for. Rosa declines because she’s too old for it. (I also just want to point out Jong-su took care of her during dinner and standing up, instead of Rosa, to get whatever they need in the kitchen).

In Seoul, Jun-wan and Song-hwa stare at the meat with gluttonous eyes. Seok-hyeong arrives and immediately picks the piece of meat the food warriors have been waiting to eat all night. After their dinner, they mentioned going to Mount Seorak for a 2-days-and-1-night vacation. Junwan then gave an idea to their athletic maknae who thinks climbing the Dinosaur Ridge – the steepest ridge in Seoraksan – is a good holiday getaway in May. All of them cursed him for that (lol). Before leaving the restaurant, Ik-jun notices Song-hwa eyeing the stone grill while Seok-hyeong grabs his four bags of food takeouts courtesy of stingy Jeong-won.

At the Lee household, Ik-sun was smiling as she converses with Captain Hong (which if I’m not mistaken is her friend who texts people in an aegyo way). Ik-jun (for some reason I can’t comprehend) checks her phone and sees something that turned his expression into a serious one.

Back in Yulje, Min-ha talks to a bear plushie, still frustrated with her mistake after their surgery – she’s fine one second and angry the next. Resident Yoon-hee reluctantly enters their night duty room and is surprised to see Min-ha alone when she actually heard three people talking outside. Min-ha dismisses her and was left alone with her frustration.

That same night in Yangpyeong, Ro-sa slips on the floor and hurts her head. Jong-su heard about it in the morning and immediately brought her to the hospital. Upon hearing the news, Jeong-won comes down running to Yulje ER. Song-hwa, too, immediately checks Ro-sa’s condition. She reveals that Ro-sa has hydrocephalus, which causes her forgetfulness recently and unsteady gait. Jeong-won confirms that he noticed all of the symptoms in past but didn’t think it is serious. He gets frustrated for not noticing it immediately.

Song-hwa relays the news to Ro-sa, who looks too relieved for someone who is diagnosed with an illness. She admits to Jeong-won that she thought the worst – Alzheimer’s and that a totally treatable illness is a better alternative than an incurable one. She vows to endure anything so that she can recover; assuring Jeong-won that surgery doesn’t scare her and that she’s fine.

At the outpatient consultation rooms, Song-hwa breaks the news to a family that their mother has a brain tumor while Jun-wan tells his patient he has an atrial septal defect. Both explain their respective patient’s conditions thoroughly. Both elderly patients had to go through surgery. The elderly woman doesn’t want to undergo surgery because she won’t live much longer anyway and her children argue on who should decide on her mother’s condition. Jun-wan’s patient, however, wants to go under surgery despite his children’s hesitation, saying even if he dies the next day, he still would want to undergo surgery. He adds that for once, he wants to live like everyone else.

Outside the outpatient clinic, the elderly woman’s children argue on whether or not their mother should get the surgery. The brain tumor patient overhears her children talking, hearing her son saying that it will not be strange if their mother passed away. Min-seo, the daughter, insists that their mother wants to do the surgery but says otherwise because she feels bad.

At the treatment room, Rosa – in a fetal position – undergoes the treatment for hydrocephalus with Song-hwa overseeing the procedure. After relaying the status of her mother to Jeong-won, Song-hwa calls her mom who is scheduled for an appointment at Yulje. She informs her mother that she can’t accompany her because she’s busy.

In the VIP room, Rosa looks lovingly to “a handsome doctor” who she thinks is a good son for looking after her. Jeong-won disagrees, apologizing for not being there for his mom. Rosa shares that her mood is better because she was so scared it could have been Alzheimer’s. And it was good enough for her to know that she has a treatable illness. She adds, “You know, even small things like a random phone call can totally change your life. No one knows what tomorrow holds. So, my sweet son, don’t worry so much about things like this, okay?”

Outside the OR, Song-hwa receives startling news from her professor. Her mother is diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. She tries to compose herself before calling her mother. Song-hwa assures her mom that it’s still in the initial stage and that she has a neurosurgeon daughter that can take care of her. She is successful in sounding okay until she heard her mom apologizing for making her worry when she’s busy with her work. She ends the call and cries alone in her dark office.

Just in time, Ik-jun arrives at Song-hwa’s office and she shares the news with him. Ik-jun offers to drive her home and Song-hwa agrees. Ik-jun, meanwhile, keeps his distance while looking at Song-hwa who is crying anxiously.

At HPB ward the next day, Professor Kwon’s patient Sun Du-ho was instructed with pre-surgery fasting by Nurse Song Su-bin. His family then inquires about Gyeo-ul. Nurse Song informs them that the fellow is still on leave and she’s not sure what surgery she will be assisting the next day. The family is left worrying if Gyeo-ul can make it to their patriarch’s surgery.

Insert a bank PPL about loans with Chu Min-ha, who mentions she would use the money to renovate her parent’s guest house in Mount Seorak. (Are we gonna see Lacking Five staying at Min-ha’s guesthouse at Mount Seorak?)

Meanwhile, Sun-bin opens her laptop to start the thesis consultation with Song-hwa but her professor apologetically dismisses her. Sun-bin walks out of the office just in time to see Ik-jun and Jun-wan arriving. She informs the two that Song-hwa wants to take it easy this week, even canceling their lab meetings. Ik-jun and Jun-wan decide to postpone their visit to Song-hwa’s office.

Back at the VIP room 2, Jong-su is taking care of Rosa, saying he’s used to it because he has been doing it for years (probably for his late wife). Jeong-won arrives, reminding her mother to eat dinner because she’ll undergo surgery tomorrow. A knock on the door then interrupts their conversation. They assumed it was one of Jeong-won’s friends. BUT THEY’RE WRONG. IT’S JANG GYEO-UL. Her arrival stunned the three. Rosa smiles widely after learning that Gyeo-ul is there to visit her and not Jeong-won.

At the 10th floor hallway, while waiting for the elevator, Jeong-won says Gyeo-ul should have informed him she’s back. Gyeo-ul reveals that she wants to surprise him. He then asks about her mother. Without making eye contact, Gyeo-ul (who’s known for always telling the truth straight in the eye) informs Jeong-won that her mom would be staying with her in Seoul while she recovers from her injury. It was Gyeo-ul’s turn to ask why Jeong-won didn’t tell her about Rosa’s surgery. She had to find out through hospital gossip; everyone knows except her apparently. Jeong-won easily answers that he just didn’t want to add to her stress.

Inside the elevator, the two held-hand in “private” (uhm, they know elevators have security cameras right?). Jeong-won asks Gyeo-ul again if she’s really okay. She nods but she also had to reject his offer for dinner because she needs to rush home again.

On the seventh floor, Ik-jun with his “secret” package joins them inside the elevator. Ik-jun then asked why Gyeo-ul is already at the hospital; “berating” her that she should enjoy her off to the fullest. Seeing that they arrived at the second floor, Gyeo-ul got off the elevator because she needs to make a quick stop. Said quick stop is apparently at the HPB ward where patient Sun Du-ho is staying. Seeing that their lucky charm has arrived, Mr. Sun perks up. Gyeo-ul assures them that she’ll do her best to assist at the surgery.

Outside Song-hwa’s office, Ik-jun, the great and legendary HPB surgeon becomes the executive secretary of Song-hwa. Nah, kidding. Ik-jun is outside her office, screening everyone who needs to see Song-hwa to make sure she’ll get a full rest. He takes care of her invites, food supply, and assistance in grad school homework.

After making sure no one will disturb her anymore, Ik-jun went inside and brings his “secret” package to Song-hwa. It’s apparently the stone grill Song-hwa likes. For the first time in a while, Song-hwa smiles widely. Sun-bin and Seok-min watch the scene outside her office; saying Ik-jun is there already so they don’t have to worry about Song-hwa.

The next day, Jun-wan confronts Jeong-won for stealing his snacks. Jeong-won denies it. In a beat, the real snack thief arrives. The Changwon boys fight…again. After things settled down, the three share a meal together. Jun-wan mentions he would go home to Changwon on Tuesday for his mother’s birthday. Up to this day, his Changwon buddy Ik-jun still buys the ticket for him.

While passing by Yulje Funeral Parlour, Song-hwa sees the son of her brain tumor patient. The son tells her that his 50-year-old friend died suddenly. He ponders, “Life is so futile. Why do we live? How should we live our lives?”

At the VIP room 2, Rosa is ready to go home; Jong-su has packed and organized her belongings. Sitting beside her mother, Jeong-won tells his mom “I want you to be selfish. Stop worrying about your children. And don’t worry about falling ill when you’re older. Only think about yourself from now on. And if, later on even if you are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s don’t worry. Even if you don’t recognize us, we’ll recognize you every single day and tell you that you’re our mom, every single day. So live every day to the fullest.” Rosa then requests her son to buy her “that thing” because she wants to get back at it.

That weekend, Seok-hyeong was cleaning at the basement when he receives a text about Min-ha falling ill. He continues to vacuum for a while before running off to go to the hospital. Ik-jun informs rest of the band when they arrive. He assures Song-hwa and Jun-wan not to worry because they found a stand-in keyboardist; with Jeong-won commenting they had to pay the keyboardist an “expensive fee”

The said expensive stand-in keyboardist is none other than Jeong Rosa. She is apparently a pianist back in the day!!! Together, they played “Is it still beautiful” originally by Kim Yeon-woo.

Meanwhile, at the Emergency Center, resident Yoon-hee reprimands intern Hong-do for sending a message on their OB/GYN group chat; saying Min-ha has stomach cramps. Nurse Sunwoo Hui-soo asks if all of her professors came to check on her. No, they didn’t because it’s the weekend. Only one came.

Still groggy with the medicine, Min-ha calls on Nurse Hui-soo because she thinks she’s hallucinating; she’s seeing Seok-hyeong at her bedside. After confirming that it is indeed Seok-hyeong, Min-ha bursts out in tears; happy tears, I suppose. And the male gom doesn’t know how to comfort her but he stays anyway. (“If he likes you, he would come here.” – Chu Min-ha, 2020)

It’s Monday again in Yulje, Jun-wan delivers good news to the elderly patient with ASD. He says the patient can go home the next day (he says it with a straight face as if he’s telling something bad haha). The elderly man thanks Jun-wan profusely. The elderly patient then went to Mr. Jang, the Mokpo patient, and tells the “young man” that he can endure his heart surgery too. He says, “Don’t let your illness beat you down. Survive no matter what.”

At the NS ward, Song-hwa checks on the brain tumor patient. She’s now scheduled for surgery and her son is looking after her while her daughter is working. The son apparently realizes how to live his life now. And Song-hwa watches with a smile on ehr face.

In Changwon, meanwhile, Jun-wan calls Ik-jun to book him a premium night bus to Seoul because he missed his train schedule. Alone inside the bus, Jun-wan closes his eyes for a moment. A short-haired woman alights the same bus. Jun-wan turns around and checks if his intuition is right. He sees Ik-sun sitting a few seats away from him. Both of them were shocked at the “accidental” meeting.

Maknae’s Verdict

I don’t think it’s an accidental meeting at all. I think Ik-jun is at it again at his cupid antics. Or at least he wants Ik-sun and Jun-wan to have a proper closure. But whatever it is, I want both of these characters happy by the end of this season. You heard that Lee-writernim?

Half-kidding aside, that was one good ending sequence for another superb episode of Hospital Playlist. This series has played with my emotions again; bringing super hilarious scenes one moment then dropping the tear bombs the next. What made me cried the most in this episode is how the sick parents are assuring their children that they’re fine; that despite their illness they still want to live. They showed different kinds of parent-children dynamic. The patient’s story has once again been smoothly inserted to show contrasts to the main storyline. It’s also amazing how each patient’s story also connects with one another. With Jun-wan’s patient passing the baton to the Mokpo patient. I’m looking forward to another possible tearjerker scene with him, especially because he is Changwon boys’ patient.

Another patient story that I enjoyed watching is the brain tumor patient. The patient’s son (played by character actor Jung Seung-gil) had to go through an eye-opening experience to change the way he lives his life and focus on what really matters – his mom. Adult children are always busy living their life; building up their careers and prioritizing it as if it’s the most important thing in their life. Most adult children dismisses things when their parents call them because they’re busy, or sometimes even take them for granted because they are either always complaining about the same thing anyway or not even telling them anything at all. This is the case with Song-hwa and Jeong-won.

With Jeong-won, he knew that Rosa is becoming more and more forgetful these day but what he didn’t know is his mother’s worries. Rosa couldn’t share it with his maknae because she’s embarrassed and she doesn’t want him to worry. Fortunately for this mother and son, Rosa’s diagnosis is a better alternative from what she has been fearing. One of the moments where I had to pause – to breath and cry – in this episode is when Rosa comforted Jeong-won in the VIP room. It was supposed to be the other way around. But Rosa is a mother through and through. She’s the one who had to assure Jeong-won that she’s fine and they’ll get through this just fine. And they did. The surgery has been successful and the two even used the time to be more open with each other.

I hope the same will happen with Gyeo-ul and Jeong-won. I’m not worried about their ending. I consistently said every week that they are too strong of a pair to break up. What I’m excited and anxious about is the journey towards that presumed ending. Gyeo-ul is still reluctant to say in detail what really happened in Gwangju. It’s also didn’t help that Jeong-won failed to tell her about his mother’s surgery. I know that he has a valid reason but if he wanted to show Gyeo-ul that it’s okay to share burdens with each other, then he should have shown it through action. Gyeo-ul is probably mustering up her courage to open up to Jeong-won but it’s disappointing on her part that she had to hear about his troubles from other people. BUT now going back to Gyeo-ul, it’s pretty obvious she’s trying to look cheerful (or am I just being overly sensitive with my beloved character??). There’s a lot of theories going around online but whatever she is going through, the point is she needs to say it to Jeong-won at some point. I’m patient with her but I think Jeong-won is already getting frustrated. He’s perceptive but he’s not a mind reader. He wouldn’t know exactly what’s going on without Gyeo-ul telling him about it and trusting him to understand. She has been taking away his chance to take care of her – they’re in a relationship, after all. And I doubt Jeong-won is there just for mere hugs and kisses. Gyeo-ul has yet to realize that Jeong-won isn’t just some kind of an escape. He’s part of her reality too, not some prince-like being who sweeps her off her feet in a fairytale. BOTH OF THEM needs to talk and really listen to each other. Nonetheless, I think the elevator ride is the perfect imagery of how their journey will become. They’ll go through with it together, hand in hand.

With Song-hwa, on the other hand, she didn’t have an inkling at all that her mom is sick. I, too, didn’t expect that. I thought the purpose of Song-hwa talking about her mom in the past episodes is just to show how comfortable she is with Ik-jun. I failed to realize that it was already a foreshadowing to this challenge in Song-hwa’s character arc. I actually wished before that Song-hwa shows her weak side but I wasn’t ready to see her in tears, helpless and anxious. I was glad that when she broke down, Ik-jun was there for her even if it’s just as a friend. Song-hwa has been taking care of herself really well but at this moment, she clearly needs someone to lean on. It was clear with the way she immediately takes up Ik-jun’s offer to drive her home. Song-hwa is probably regretting the way she didn’t appreciate her mom’s phone call and efforts in the past. Just like her patient’s son, I think this is one eye-opening experience for her. It’s time once again to reevaluate how she had been living her life. Because clearly, after the cancer scare last year, she’s been a busybody again. She tires herself too much. And Ik-jun constantly reminds her to slow down a bit.

Another person in Yulje who has been running around non-stop is Chu Min-ha. Thanks to Hong-do – nah, I’m kidding. It’s just a superstition. It’s just that Min-ha has been unlucky with her night shifts. I can’t blame her if she feels relieved she didn’t have to tell a patient’s guardian a bad news. But her blunder has frustrated her to the point that she looks mad talking to a bear plushie haha. But all’s well that end’s well for our hardworking Min-ha. Seok-hyeong rushing to the hospital and staying by her side at the ER is definitely a win for her. Seok-hyeong still has hesitations but he’s getting there. I guess, their story wouldn’t be as frustrating as Min-ha’s blunder or the other story arcs in this series.

Yes, I’m talking about Jun-wan and Ik-sun. I have given up last week; ready to see them permanently separating. But it only took one scene to make me hope again for JunSun. I saw how happy they are last season so I couldn’t really let go of them completely. Out of the five, Jun-wan has always been aware of his loneliness – his need for a constant companion be it a housemate or a date is clear evidence of that. With Ik-sun, I think the loneliness somehow faded away. But when Ik-sun left him, the loneliness doubled and I don’t think Jun-wan has fully recovered from it yet. That’s why I was already happy that he’s socializing again last week. Same with Ik-sun. She looks like she has moved on from the heartbreak. But with just one incident, the two looks like they are back to square one. It’s frustrating and exciting at the same time. I trust ShinLee that they know what they are doing with this arc. And with the whole series in general. They have already proved everything has been planned from the start. That’s why I can’t wait to see for everything they prepared for us this season. Can tomorrow be Thursday again?

Afterthoughts

-I would just like take this moment to commend all actors in Hospital Playlist for portraying their roles so brilliantly. Their eyes convey loads of emotions that needed no words or overly theatrical moments.

-Apparently, it’s still March in Yulje haha!!! Let me rearrange my presumed timeline. But I think it was April 2021 already when Rosa was brought to the hospital.

-I need a close-up of Jeong-won and Rosa’s hug after their practice.

-This scene looks similar to those happy moments in the delivery room.

-Can Jung Hae-in make a cameo as Ik-sun’s colleague?

K-Drama Reaction: Hospital Playlist 2 | Episode 8

Episode 8 Recap

Maknae’s Verdict

Published by maknaeahjumma

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Episode 8 Recap

Maknae’s Verdict

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