Doctor Cha: Episode 2

by Dramaddictally

The fun continues as our doctor-turned-housewife decides to do a reversal and get back to the activities she once loved — as well as find a few new ones along the way. Apart from the medical main course, we’re served some anti-husband hijinks, a helping of backtalk, and a side of assertiveness — all with way too much wine for someone with a new liver. But, hey, comedy over coherence is all part of the charm with this one.

Editor’s note: Weekly drama coverage will continue.
 
EPISODE 2

We’re covering Doctor Cha! Truthfully, I was dying to see what happened next, and the second episode features even more antics than the first.

When we left off, our lovely lead had just woken up from surgery to find her husband did not proceed with liver donation to save her life. Lucky for Jung-sook, she got her transplant anyhow because a no-so-lucky patient in the ICU was a match.

Now, she’s as good as new and back at home — with everyone in her house expecting her to get back to business as usual. That means cooking meals, running errands, remembering everything for everyone, and — most importantly — not complaining about it. Before long, Jung-sook realizes how lonely she feels in the midst of her “perfect” family. After her brush with death, it’s all started to look a little meaningless.

But inside that existential emptiness there’s also a core of rage. Jung-sook (rightly) is pissed at In-ho for backing out of the donation process. She goes from talking back to his mother, to charging up a credit card, to slapping him out of a dead sleep to release her anger. I’m not usually one to laugh at slapstick comedy but watching this woman-done-wrong go into her husband’s room and just smack him out of his sleep is one of the most hilarious things I’ve seen in a long time.

At first, we might think all this is cliched. A wife gets revenge by charging hefty sums of clothes, shoes, and bags to her husband’s credit card — haven’t we seen it before? But we find out that Jung-sook has never — in 20 years of marriage — bought herself anything new. She wears expensive hand-me-downs from her mother-in-law and scrimps on herself because it’s never felt quite right to her that the money she’d be spending isn’t hers. It’s not that In-ho told her to live that way, it’s just very clear that the housewife lifestyle doesn’t suit her disposition.

And later, we find out why she’s lived so ill-attuned to her personality. The backstory is that In-ho was dating Seung-hee (his current mistress) in college and planning to marry her. But while she was on a trip abroad, he had a one-time fling with Jung-sook, who got pregnant. Afterward, he broke it off with Seung-hee and married Jung-sook immediately. Jung-sook explains that she’s been such a diligent wife and mother because she felt grateful and indebted to In-ho.

Wow. So many surprises in this story. First, medical students don’t know how babies are made?! Second, I feel some sort of understanding for Seung-hee now, and maybe even In-ho. These two think they’re fated for each other and it seems that In-ho and Jung-sook were never really in love, he just felt like he had to take responsibility for her and the baby. Although, as Jung-sook’s friend points out, it seemed admirable at the time, but really, isn’t he kind of horrible for getting into that mess in the first place?

Third, the revelation lets us know that our heroine is not an angel either. She admits that both she and In-ho are to blame for what happened, which adds some gray to a story that seemed very black and white in Episode 1.

In addition, we find out that Jung-sook didn’t quit her medical residency right away when she had her first child. Evidently, there was an accident when he was young and she stopped being a doctor when he got hurt. So, it’s all a little more complicated than we were initially led to believe.

Anyway, in the present, Jung-sook is looking for a change and gets the idea to return to her studies when she bumps into Dr. Roy Kim. He hears how much she praises being a doctor and asks if she’s thought about returning to the field. She laughs it off at first, but then gives it some serious thought. Finally, she decides she’s going to do it.

Dr. Kim’s response to Jung-sook is at the opposite end of the spectrum to her husband’s. In-ho tells her she’s too old (it turns out she’s 46, by the way — a little younger than I had thought) and that she’s going to fail. Ugh. Was I just saying I had some understanding for this guy? Scratch that.

But Jung-sook takes this as a challenge. Oh, he thinks she’ll fail? Then she plans to apply for a residency at his hospital, in his department! *spits at the ground* Take that, In-ho.

After a three-month montage of study prep, Jung-sook passes her resident exam with an almost perfect score and ends up in the same round of interviews as her son, who’s also a medical resident. In a scene that’s too cute for words, he tells his mom she can’t just show up there to see him. She says she’s there for an interview too, and adds, “Fighting!” Lol. Nothing wrong with a little healthy competition.

At the interview, a group of disgruntled doctors tell Jung-sook she’s too old and too sick (transplant patients aren’t good candidates). We see her get rejected (making In-ho do a happy dance), but then suddenly she’s at the hospital with a group of residents — training under Seung-hee!

We’ll have to wait until the weekend to find out what’s up, but independent of how she landed that position, the last still tells me it’s going to be high fun watching In-ho in torture as his wife and mistress work together.

If Episode 1 seemed a little serious thematically, it’s clear from Episode 2 that the setup was to put us solidly on the side of our protagonist. We need to be able to get behind whatever shenanigans are about to unfold and — if In-ho’s actions weren’t so severe — it wouldn’t be so much fun to watch him wriggle. As it stands, let the squirming begin!

 
RELATED POSTS

• Hospital hijinks in Doctor Cha Jung-sook teasers
• News bites: April 6, 2023
• Heodang husband Kim Byung-chul in Doctor Cha Jung-sook
• Doctor Cha Jung-sook reboots her life in first teaser
• News bites: April 1, 2023
• News bites: March 29, 2023
• News bites: March 15, 2023
• News bites: November 10, 2022
• Uhm Jung-hwa
• Kim Byung-chul