D-Day: Episode 4

by odilettante

Hye-sung only has one goal in mind: keep his patients alive. But it’s no easy route to Mirae Hospital, and not just because the roads are blocked. The emotional journey is also a struggle, as tensions run high and the desire to save everyone clashes against the realities of low supply versus high demand. Memories are stirred up as the present mimics the past, and we finally get a glimpse of why Woo-jin and Hye-sung seem to despise each other so much, and why, perhaps, they so strongly believe in their current (and completely opposite) ideologies about how to best serve their patients.

EPISODE 4 RECAP

When the dust clears after the hospital collapses, Hye-sung (still alive!) slowly crawls out of his fetal position, staring in shock at the utterly destroyed building in front of him. Staggering to his feet, he slowly approaches the rubble, studying the ruins in dismay. He finds one of the men’s slippers, and as he picks it up, he hears a gasping noise from within the debris.

Frantically he digs at the broken blocks of concrete, trying to save the trapped patient. No one gets left behind if he can help it, but the large heavy concrete slabs are too much for him to move by himself.

When the other men arrive from the dock, he orders them to help him move the slabs of concrete. But even with everyone helping, they aren’t able to free the trapped patient, and in fact, cause more rubble to topple. Hye-sung gets a wild look of determination in his eyes as he desperately begs the men to help him — he knows he heard someone there in the rubble.

They try to talk sense into him, but it isn’t until Ddol-mi rushes up, screaming at him to remember the patients he left down at the bottom of the hill — after barely saving their lives, is Hye-sung going to abandon them to try and save a man who’s most likely already dead? Didn’t he tell them to give up the minimal and worst cases? Even if it hurts, there’s nothing they can do.

Hye-sung slowly drops the slipper in his hand and, without a word, walks back to his still-living patients.

Meanwhile, back in Seoul, triage tents are being assembled in front of the ER while injured patients slowly form a long queue, waiting to be treated. The firefighters rush up hills and flights of stairs, carrying buckets of water since they aren’t able to use their trucks. Sweat pouring from their faces, they exhaustedly stagger from the back-breaking labor.

A worried woman stands outside of the building, begging the firefighters to save her baby. They break down the windows to get inside because the hallway is blocked, and after a moment or two, Woo-sung and Ki-woong come out holding the cutest little pup. Awww.

The frantic woman thanks them profusely, with grateful tears that her “baby” has been saved, while Captain Choi laughs in disbelief that they just saved a dog. Hey, now — pets are important members of a family! But it gives everyone a light-hearted moment to release some pent-up tension.

As the firefighters rest a bit, Captain Choi tries to figure out when the roads will be cleared of rubble so their trucks can get through. He’s told over the radio that the heavy equipment used to clear rubble is being sent to help clear the subways first, and then will be used on the roads.

He asks dispatch what they should do with the injured people they’ve found, wondering if they should bring them to Han River Mirae Hospital since that’s the closest hospital, but the dispatch operator tells him it collapsed so they should go somewhere else. Woo-sung overhears this last bit, and his face fills with worry as he digs out his phone, stopping short of actually calling his brother.

Hye-sung and his ragtag army of hospital refugees reach the river cruise ship, and as soon as everyone is on board, he and the twins’ father race to the bridge to figure out how to start the ship. Ha, it’s cute how they both give each other a “I have no idea what we’re doing” look, but Twins Papa twists the ignition key and… nothing happens. The engines rev, but they don’t start.

Despairing, he bows his head, but Hye-sung reaches over, telling him to try once more. And it starts! Yay! They have power! The ship slowly sails away from the dock. The refugees are on their way.

Except who knows how far they will get. Twins Papa isn’t a sailor, so he has no idea what the position on the fuel gage means — they could stop halfway there, for all he knows. But Hye-sung tells him that they’ll just go as far as they can.

Ddol-mi wanders the ship, checking on all the patients that have settled in for their impromptu cruise. When she spots cases of soda and other drinks, she gets a big smile her face and proceeds to hand them out to the patients, raising their spirits a little. She has a can of coffee to give to Hye-sung, too, and she finds him alone on the top deck. Nonchalantly she hands over the coffee, telling him it’s not because she thinks he deserves it or anything, oh no.

But when he doesn’t respond, she looks out to where he’s staring — a bridge has been completely destroyed halfway through and a bus hangs off the edge. Ddol-mi covers her mouth in horror and she instinctively leans agains Hye-sung, who holds her steady as the ship slowly cruises past.

From the safety of a helicopter, the president looks down at his destroyed city. They hover over a ruined National Assembly building, and the president wonders how this could have happened. They’ll need to create a committee to be in charge of the nation’s safety, and the president orders his team to get in touch with Ja-hyuk ASAP.

Back on the ship, Hye-sung’s devised another makeshift way to incubate the babies — by using boiled cans of coffee as hot packs. Ddol-mi’s impressed at his ingenuity and wonders if they can’t just sail all the way to safety in Incheon and by-pass Seoul altogether. But Hye-sung quietly tells her that they’ll soon have to get off (because they’re low on fuel).

Mirae Hospital is surrounded by crowds of desperate people being held at bay by police guards, and cranky Doctor Yoo Myung-hyun wonders why they’re so noisy and keeping him from his sleep. A man rushes out from one of the triage tents, begging the doctor for some help — his wife is going into labor.

Myung-hyun tells them to try another hospital because theirs doesn’t have an OB/GYN department, but the husband wonders why such an elite hospital with all its technology can’t do a simple procedure like give birth. When Myung-hyun once again refuses him, the man lashes out and punches him in the face. They have to be separated by the security guards — tensions are high, to say the least.

Due to the earthquake interfering with all the delicate high-powered equipment, the only reliable device at the moment is an ultrasound machine that Woo-jin uses check for internal bleeding on a patient. Intern Dae-gil hurries over to grab the man’s charts but only manages to knock off the neatly organized stack the nurse had set there.

Irritated, she reprimands him and kicks him out to go get more bedding for the patients. Grumbling that it’s always the interns who get stuck with the crappy jobs, he settles into the store room for a quick break when he’s surprised by So-yul.

She tells him it’s good to let out all his frustrations, and she’s there to get supplies as well, just like him, since there isn’t much call for a psychiatrist right now. Aw, it’s cute how she’s manages to distract him and perk up his spirits as they work together to bring the bedding.

Night has fallen, and slowly Hye-sung pushes his mother in the wheel chair as everyone makes their way along the path next to the river. The image of the man trapped under the rubble refuses to leave him, but Ddol-mi catches his attention as she helps him push his mother. She’s amazed at how different the Han River looks now — less like a place to relax and have fun, and more like how it was during the Korean War.

She’s surprised to discover that they’re making their way to Mirae Hospital, since she knows they don’t have incubators for the babies. But Hye-sung points out that because it’s state-of-the-art, the hospital will have a working power generator. If they can at least get there, they’ll somehow make it work.

Just then, Ji-na calls out, worried about the twins’ mother — her vitals aren’t looking good. Hye-sung orders more drips to help counteract the shock of hemorrhage from giving birth, but Sister holds out the empty IV bag, telling them they don’t have any more.

That’s Hye-sung’s breaking point, and he takes out his frustration on a nearby garbage can, kicking it until it’s crushed. “What do we have, then?” he yells. “What do you expect me to do?” He turns his face up to the heavens: “You left us with nothing! Do you want to see these people die in the streets?!”

He staggers over to where his mother sits comatose in her wheelchair and falls to his knees, resting his face on her shoulder. Sister kneels in front of him, gently reminding him that he once told her that he believed in her. She — and everyone else here — have been following him on this road because they trust him. With a small smile, she tells him to not be shaken — she still believes in him.

Despite the late hour, the president has assembled his emergency national safety committee. He’s not impressed with the way the Ministers in charge of safety, health and welfare, and land management keep trying pass the bureaucratic buck to each other. That’s why he’s appointed someone else to be in charge of this committee — someone who he trusts will get results.

There are dissatisfied mumblings as Ja-hyuk enters. He’s newly elected and doesn’t have the seniority, but the president points out he’s more of an expert than anyone else here on earthquakes, so he’s the man in charge now.

As Hye-sung and his refugees arrive at the security line of Mirae Hospital, he’s stopped by Manager Park who tells him that the hospital is closed and he’ll have to wait with the others in the ER or take his patients elsewhere. Director Park is astonished that Hye-sung is there, and as he peers down from his office window, he says that they’ll only accept the man in the bed. Ah, yes, the VIP.

There’s a showdown in the hospital lobby as Hye-sung demands to know why the Director isn’t taking any more patients. Director Park says it’s because they don’t have space but they’ll accept that “one man” on the hospital bed. So, then, are the rest of the patients supposed to just die in the streets?

Just then, Chief Kang staggers in, bloody and exhausted. She insists that the hospital should stay open after an earthquake of such magnitude. The Director quickly orders Chief Kang to talk with him in private — and to move the VIP to the ICU. Ah, yes, priorities.

Cleaned up and in a fresh pair of scrubs, Chief Kang relays the severity of the earthquake. If they reject patients, they’ll only be bringing in even more negative publicity to the hospital (thanks to Hye-sung’s interview earlier).

Woo-jin worries about opening up to endless lawsuits since they won’t be able to help everyone, and the people they do help might not receive the best medical attention based on their low supplies and limited equipment. Director Park decides to take a middle path — they’ll quietly close down portions of the hospital in such a way that won’t alert the media.

He’s also figured out a way to avoid lawsuits by making everyone sign a waiver that will not hold Mirae Hospital responsible for any neglect. The kicker is that they can refuse to help anyone who refuses to sign — which means patients brought to the hospital unconscious won’t receive assistance by default.

Hye-sung finds a waiver left on his mother’s lap, and he and Ji-na share a “can you believe this?” glance as he reads it over. But he doesn’t need to sign it — Director Park informs Hye-sung that because he’s no longer a doctor at Mirae Hospital, they are not responsible for his actions, or the patients he brought with him. He orders everyone out.

The twins’ father rushes forward, desperately pleading for them to keep his wife and children. But an unfazed Director Park orders the guards to move them out. Hye-sung begins to push his mother’s wheelchair, ready to hit the road again, but then he stops. Steeling himself, he wheels her back around.

The fireman are busy searching through rubble, and Captain Choi barely saves Woo-sung’s life as a roof caves in. He yells at him, asking why Woo-sung is so distracted, and Woo-sung dazedly tells him that he thinks his mother is dead (since he assumes she was in the hospital when it collapsed).

Hye-sung is on his knees in the middle of the hospital lobby. Director Park walks down the stairs, and even though he seems annoyed, there’s a small aura of triumph when he sees Hye-sung. As everyone watches, Hye-sung explains how much his patients trusted him to follow him all the way here, begging for the chance to continue treating them at the hospital. He promises to never go against Director Park’s will again.

But Director Park points out that it’s not his will, it’s simply hospital policy. Ugh. Hye-sung, still kneeling, says that if they leave, there’s little hope that anyone will live.

Chief Kang intervenes, pointing out that they’re already understaffed and they could use Hye-sung’s expertise in the ER. She promises to take responsibility for Hye-sung, and then quietly reminds him that if they let a woman and her newborn babies die because they kicked them out of the hospital, that will be an even bigger blow to the hospital’s public image.

That’s logic Director Park understands, and he permits them to stay. He tells the twins’ father and Hye-sung to see him in private, where he explains that they don’t have the equipment to care for the newborns, and hands over a waiver for the father to sign, releasing them of any responsibility should something happen.

The responsibility will rest squarely on Hye-sung’s shoulders, as Director Park gives him a contract that says Hye-sung is liable for anything that happens to his refugee patients and not Mirae Hospital. Glaring at him, Hye-sung signs the contract, and then leaves with Director Park’s Park reminder that he promised not to go against him.

He runs into Woo-jin, who points out that Hye-sung isn’t the type to get down on his knees like that. But Hye-sung says that he’s just trying to be the best doctor he can be — if it means getting down on his knees to save a patient’s life, then it’s only embarrassing for him. Why is Woo-jin so concerned — is it because he knows he was wrong?

Angrily, Woo-jin tells him that he, too, makes his decisions based on his patients. Before the bickering can get more intense, Chief Kang tells them to knock it off. There’s clearly some history here, and it doesn’t seem very pleasant.

Ji-na hurries after Hye-sung, asking if he isn’t worried about his mother. Oh yeah. He rushes into her room to sit down beside her.

A flashback shows us a little more what happened that snowy night when Hye-sung is wheeled into the ER along with his parents — looks like a car accident. Hye-sung begs Woo-jin — who he calls “hyung” — to do the surgery for his mother, since he is the only one he trusts. A worried Woo-jin promises to do everything in his power to save Hye-sung’s mother.

But when she’s still unconscious a month after the surgery, Woo-sung insists that it must be medical malpractice that made their mother like this, and that they need to take the hospital to court. After the hearing (which rules in the hospital’s favor), Hye-sung pulls Woo-jin aside. Hesitantly, Hye-sung asks his “hyung” Woo-jin to tell him — doctor-to-doctor — if anything happened during the surgery.

Woo-jin’s face is guarded as he says the answer he gave in the hearing is the truth, that nothing happened, and Hye-sung says he accepts his answer. But the look on his face betrays his doubt. Back in the present day, Hye-sung tells his comatose mother to stay put for awhile — he has some patients to care for.

In a meeting with the hospital chiefs (what few are available, that is), one of the chiefs points out that they don’t have enough supplies to last very long, thanks to the previous decision to downsize the emergency budget. Woo-jin still thinks the best procedure is to close down the hospital, but he puts Chief Kang on the spot — she’s the Chief of the ER so she should have countermeasures in place for a large disaster.

Her countermeasure, though, is to accept more patients. Woo-jin is astonished by this answer, since it means the hospital will become useless even sooner. Chief Kang points out they can blame their lack of supplies on governmental emergency support being late, therefore absolving them of blame. Instead, Mirae Hospital will be known as a hero in this time of crisis by taking in all the trauma patients.

The ever-wily Director Park likes the sound of that, but he demands to know if Chief Kang will take responsibility for whatever happens during this plan of hers. She says she will, on the condition that she’s given complete command of the hospital.

The proud parents are cuddling their newborns, and happily tell Hye-sung that even though they know it damaged his pride, they’re thankful for everything he’s done to take care of them. But Hye-sung needs the father to go out and look for more fuel for the ship.

He also sees Sister and Ddol-mi hanging outside the ER. They were just waiting to say “good-bye” — Sister is worried about her family and Ddol-mi isn’t familiar with this hospital, so she’d just be a hindrance. Of course Hye-sung thinks those are ridiculous excuses when they need all the man-power they can get, but before he can argue too much, Chief Kang’s voice sounds over the intercom.

She tells everyone that Mirae Hospital is going into a state of emergency. From this moment on, in order to conserve electricity for the patients on life-support, all power to the building will be shut off except for the ICU, operating rooms, and the ER. The only elevators that will work are the ones leading to the operating rooms. Any patient who is able to walk will be discharged immediately.

As Hye-sung — with his head-lamp — walks through the hallways, he stops to do a second-take when he sees Sister and Ddol-mi with a flashlight, helping to discharge patients. Aw, of course they wouldn’t leave.

However, the patients aren’t exactly cooperative, and they refuse to leave. A particularly irate guardian of a patient on a respirator is angry enough to push a weary Chief Kang against the wall, and Hye-sung passionately points out that these measures are in place to save the patients who can’t move. They’re not giving up on the patients — it’s so they can save as many people as they can.

Woo-jin and Hye-sung continue their multi-layered bickering as Hye-sung points out that since he’s a guardian himself, he knows exactly the words that a guardian needs to hear. But Woo-jin knows how easily the guardians of patients can turn against you. Do we want history to repeat itself? Once again, Chief Kang is the one to break them up, and Woo-jin practically sneers as he tells her he’s looking forward to seeing how well her emergency measures work.

Watching all the discharged patients and their families slowly leave the hospital, she tearfully says a final goodbye over the intercom, apologizing for the inconvenience and reminding them the hospital isn’t simply kicking them out. Instead, they’re just doing the best they can due to the earthquake. The hospital has to return to normal so they can treat everyone again, and she hopes they’ll see each other again soon. She respectfully bows to the hundreds of patients filing out the doors.

COMMENTS

I wasn’t exactly sure what I was getting into with this show, since I’m not generally a fan of medical dramas, but I’m delighted to discover that I’m really enjoying it so far. Perhaps it’s because I’m a sucker for an ensemble cast (and despite the fact that Kim Young-kwang gets top billing, it’s most definitely an ensemble) and I’m even more of a sucker for when we get a cast with interesting and dynamic female characters who do more than just try to win over the leading man. Which is to say I absolutely adore Ddol-mi and Ji-na and Sister and Chief Kang and So-yul and our stubborn female firefighter (to whom I apologize because I didn’t catch her name, but she’s awesome and I hope we see more of her).

As for the medical aspect of it, while that perhaps interested me the least originally, I really enjoy watching the “human” side of the first responders. In a big disaster, you just assume someone will be there to help — doctors and firefighters and police. You don’t necessarily stop to consider that these people may also be worried about their families or be going on little-to-no sleep for days. You just know that you need help, and these are the people who are supposed to help you. Can I really blame Sister for her desire to abandon her patients to make sure her family is safe? But I do admire her for sticking around, even though she doesn’t have as much confidence in her abilities — or even really seemed to care about her job, originally.

I also love seeing Ddol-mi challenge herself (and just be adorable, because Jung So-min is adorable. And so tiny! I love any time the camera likes to have fun with the extreme height difference between her and Kim Young-kwang). She’s the character I assumed from the get-go that would encounter the most growth, but that’s before I realized how many characters we’d get to focus on in the meantime. While I’d love to see more of Ddol-mi, I also want to see more Sister, and Chief Kang (her final words made me tear up, especially knowing how she must be feeling now that her son is missing), and all the firefighters, and, heck, I want to know what happened to our favorite homeless suicidal musician Mr. Kang, who is probably still stuck in the subway.

I think what I love most is that, even though there is a big tragedy and people are struggling through, the show still gives us those beats of human warmth and humor — which is something that’s not only necessary to relieve tension narratively, but also in the real world. The firefighters saving the little dog after hours of slaving away saving other people might have seemed ridiculous, but it was adorable to realize that such a small act meant the world to that woman. The discover of the soda and coffee in the storage room of the cruise ship was a tiny moment, but it encouraged not only Ddol-mi, but the patients she served (and the coffee had a practical use, too!). These little beats of humor aren’t just to give us a little chuckle, but to remind us that despite the big tragedy around us, there are moments worth savoring and enjoying.

That’s not say I don’t expect things to get much, much worse. We’re only four episodes in so far, and there’s still a lot of work to do to get the city back to rights. As Hye-sung surely knows by now, just when you think you’re safe, something will come along and rip it away from you, be it a smug bureaucrat, a sinkhole, or a building collapsing. But thankfully he has a great team alongside him who believes in him, and (whether they realize it or not yet) believes in his goal to save as many people as they can.

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