Ah, I had a slightly different take on this. Last week, some folks had questioned how easily Dr C was able to pass her written exams. I thought that possible, but I was sure she was going to fumble when she encountered live patients. Theory is a lot easier than practice. If she was brilliant at her first attempts, I'd have questioned the realism.

I do agree that it wasn't fun watching her struggle and push her son. But I did like that once she understood YouTube and got a bit of practice, she got cracking. I'm also hoping we see more of our capable heroine as the drama gets going. Fingers crossed.

Speaking of tropes, I'm used to the one where the mysterious bike rider takes of her helmet and shakes her long, lovely locks. It was fun to see the man doing that.

I hate the daughter. She is a brat who wants her mother to do everything for her, taking Jung-sook's sacrifice for granted. The mother-in-law is too fussy for her own good.

Like Dr. Kim, I too question how Jung-sook can continue in a marriage with a man who had no problem leaving her to die.

Even though her defence did not earn her a spot at Gusan, I loved it. I was moved. The interviewers were equally moved but I guess we're stuck in thier own heads to not accept her into her program. Jeong-suk should have applied to Yulje's Residency program and not Gusan.

When she said her husband's dead, I cheered like crazy. Have a taste of your own meds, man.
Apart from In-ho, his mom and Seung-hui, I do not like that second year Surgery resident. She's very suss. Did she take classes on forgetting her bedside manners during medical school? I'm waiting delightfully for when she slips and commits the silly mistakes she grinds Jung-min for. Or is it that she's insecure about training with a guy who's the son of her professor? Whatever stemmed her trashy douchebag behavior, I want her to be on the receiving end one day.

Anything for professor Roy Kim.
Thinking out loud, Kimberly seems weird to be attached to a guy's name. I felt the same shock when I learnt an actor's IRL name on a Canadian show - Transplant - is John Hannah. Well, that's that on the name.
Keep driving In-ho jealous. I'm solidly behind you.

And her apologies to Seung-hui for the In-ho situation back in the days was well done. It was very mature, the words I mean.

I actualy love these episodes and Jung-sook's fumbling because of its realism. As @Aych said, it would be unbelievable if she got it right from the start. A lot has changed in the medical field in 20 years. It will take time to assimilate.

As for her whining and lack of tact, I blame it on her lifestyle. She is used to it.
My mum still calls me, even though I am miles away, to fix silly things for her. It's a parent thing.

Personally, I feel Jung-sook is still doing things for the wrong reasons. What she wants is past glory. Yeah, she wrote the exam, passed, and got a job, but she did that to spite her husband and show she can also do the things they can. She is attaching her worth and sense of life to being a doctor, just like she did to being a homemaker.
I know not everyone takes up the profession for noble causes, but for now, her patients her not priority to her. And somehow, at the back of her mind, she isn't thinking long-term. She doesn't think she is needed in the field.
That is a shift I am waiting for. I hope it does happen soon and she sees she can be an addition to the medical field.
When this shift comes, then Jung-sook will see herself grow and be proactive.
She's good, but she needs to learn and to trust herself. And more importantly, be in the present.

The best part for me last weekend was her apologising to Seung-hee. Jung-sook realised she never did. And I liked the fact that both ladies recognised and accepted that they can't be friends. However, Jung-sook now has a right to be angry.
But please show, do not let her reconcile with her husband. She can be alone (without Roy😭) but please let her not stay with the husband. 10 years of infidelity is not redeemable, at all.

Overall, still enjoying it - some laugh out loud moments, especially "My husband's dead...". Some great comments from the Beanies here that helped me process some of the things that were irritating - thanks.

One other thing that grated for me. Jungsook has applied for family medicine. I'm assuming the reason for this is that she feels she has 20 years experience of working in a family and has a grasp of its dynamics. How she is so out of her depth when she has to simply try and talk to people to find out why they're refusing treatment doesn't make sense to me. Her need to be cajoled into trying to reason with them and then backing away at the first failure is annoying. The only thing I am left to assume is that she never engaged in things like this for her 20 years as a housewife - clearly her husband/neighbours/mother-in-law/kids all behaved impeccably and never gave her cause to try and find out why they were struggling with something (!) or she gave up with family conflict too (actually, seeing the attitude of her daughter, that may be true...) I want to like our FL, but, wow, she's wet behind the ears at the moment.

I hate In-Ho
I loved it when Jung-Sook says “he didn’t tell me you were working here”. I wonder if she knows.
I especially enjoyed In-Ho’s shock at seeing her in the hospital
When Seung-Hee freaked out and yelled at In-Ho. I seriously wanted to slap her. Hard.
BTW, I hate In-Ho.
Another person I wanted to slap hard - the daughter. How entitled do you have to be to treat your mom like that?
I felt so much joy at In-Ho’s jealousy of the ML and the ML’s open enjoyment of In-Ho’s discomfort . Which btw, it’s ok for you to sleep with your first love, but she can’t look at someone else? Especially such eye candy.
I don’t understand why the senior resident needs to be quite so mean to her juniors

Did I say how much I hated In-Ho?

I quite liked these two episodes. Episode three was a riot. As I said earlier the show puts in the serious moments just right and somehow the actors and writing make the humor work for me.

I had no issue with how the FL is written. In fact I find this realistic. Her wanting to do something doesn’t make her naturally good at it. She is struggling. And I like that she asks for help. Becos this is not a profession where you take chances. If you don’t know you ask. And the third year resident never chides her when she asks for help. As long as she takes help and learns I am fine with it. Now that she knows how to go about it I am pretty sure she will figure out.
Also her strengths like compassion, empathy and life experiences are the ones she needs to lean into which will give her an edge over other residents. She just needs time.

Also, I don’t think the show is backpedaling. She didn’t pursue her career to leave her marriage or because she wanted to end the marriage. Her wanting to live her life differently and her marriage are two different things. It’s still her family. Now that the affair is out in the open she might start to see this differently.
I completely understand when she said ‘it’s easy to get married but very hard to leave a marriage’.
I don’t care if the show keeps them married or divorced or she remains single or goes with dr.Kim as long as she makes these decisions deliberately. My guess is she will end up single once her daughter goes to college.
Also I want to see her now husband start respecting her and start doing some chores at work before anything happens.

I did find Dr.Kim cross the line when he asked her those questions (I didn’t think they were close enough to ask such questions) but they make for great conversations. I hope they remain good friends for now and no feelings are thrown in.

Looking forward to this drama the most. What a surprise this turned out to be.

I am also a SAHM who's preparing to get back into the workforce, and I thought the fish-out-of-water scenario felt accurate. Since you don't use your knowledge on a regular basis, you would feel uneasy and uncomfortable maneuvering around an environment you don't have immediate experience in. I could see making knee-jerk reactions out of anxiety (desperately calling her son) simply because she is unaware of resources available to her. Even tho her son may be on the same level, his education and training is fresh in his mind (plus he doesn't have to contend with the issue of negative outside forces). I also think that when she was at home, she really didn't need to convince anyone to change their mind bc she was bending to their will (her actions were passive rather than active, which is how she handled everything in her life, including things that pertained to her.) We aren't seeing other 1Ys in action at this point, so the only thing we're going on is her and her behavior.

Couple of thoughts on some other characters:

KBC, still killing it with the comedy. My favorite moment was the lighter during the karaoke with that deadpan expression. So good. I like seeing him become more conflicted and seeing his wife in a better light. But I also don’t want it to go anywhere other than to increase the stakes.

Dr Kim: Yes, too forward, too bold. Maybe they think Americans are like that? But loving it. Someone needs to be blunt with Dr C (and I totally respect her response as @mayhemf said.). Not loving the adoption subplot. Feels tired. (And my worst fear makjangy fears about his parentage are cropping up.)

Son: Aww, I get it. He’s already struggling. And it’s tough to have your mom, also struggling, at the workplace. But after their outburst, I think they achieved some kind of understanding.

Daughter: Yup, she’s spoiled. But change is hard. All she’s ever known is that she’s the center of her mother’s universe. It might be bumpy but with that letter, I hope she'll start changing. (Tho complications coming with that friend!)

Mum: I see tears, and Dr C finding validation in restarting her career after being able to help her mum. Or so I hope.

I enjoyed episodes 1 and 2 more than I expected so I had higher expectations for episodes 3 and 4, and I'm glad to say I wasn't disappointed.

I wouldn't mind if In-ho and Dr. Cha got back together in the end, but if that happens to be the final outcome, it better happen only because he somehow managed to redeem himself and conclusively shows us that he deserves to win her back.

I'm so happy Dr. Kim is there to make In-ho realize how much he's taken his wife for granted all these years. Nothing quite like seeing other people want what you have to make you cling to it/them more tightly.

The entire montage where Dr. Cha kept calling her son was great because it's such a natural thing for her to lean on the one person who would have trouble saying no to her. Props to Jung-min for finally pushing back and putting her on the path to better self-sufficiency. (Teach a gal to fish!)

Also, I had a huge belly laugh at the scene in the cafeteria when Dr. Kim catches the tray. It's such an over-the-top "heroic" act that it feels like the show is taking the time to give itself a wink and a nod.

Curious to see where the side plot of Dr. Kim searching for his roots will take us. Surely there is more to come there, considering the air time that plotline got?

I did not have a problem with the fact that Jung-sook did not know how to do the procedures and needed help. As many have already commented, it would have been unrealistic if she were competent when she's been away so long. What I had a problem with was her attitude. When Jung-min complained about her constant calls, her default reaction of "I'm your mom" grated on my nerves. She crosses too many lines at work. I know it's done partly for laughs, and because old habits are hard to break. I'm trying to be empathetic, especially as I cheer anyone who pursues their forgotten dreams, and in midlife, no less. That takes courage. But if this is really what she wants, and she wants to do it well, then to quote Kenny Rogers, "If you're gonna play the game, boy (girl), you gotta learn to play it right."

It's like the recapper is watching a completely different show from the rest of us.

Also, two plot points, and one very important to the forwarding of the story was ignored.

The mother's dinner together was one.

And the fact that Sueng hee's daughter not only knows who her mother is having an affair with, but also befriended the daughter of the person her mother is having an affair with. That is pretty big.

I think my favorite part was at the staff dinner, when she was being asked about her husband, was Dr. Kim was trying to keep it together, especially when she said he was dead. I hope having him in her corner will help her grow. i like their relationship and i don't mind if they stay friends or become a couple.

I didn't get the impression that she likes or is happy with her husband at all. She was thrilled about the necklace because it's the one shining moment in their awful relationship. Notice how when Roy brought up divorce, she didn't say she didn't want to, she said that she was scared to.

Oh I love it so far! Reminds me of my nursing school days. This is my new crack!

What worries me is that the actor who plays the husband gets second billing... makes me think he is the end game even though I vigorously object!!

I found that the problem I have with this show is that because it’s supposed to be comedic, I’m not sure if I should take anything seriously, everything seriously, or nothing seriously like at all.

For example, the last scene when she got electrified because of her own absent mindedness, I debated whether I should be upset because of this stupidity, or whether I should have a LOL moment.

I thought Dr. Kim after having seen an view of her life asked the question we were all thinking 'when are you gonna get a divorce? '. He sees her as a colleague. The husband was ready to leave her to die. I think she wants to leave but has financial considerations and kids.

Aw I love ouri Dr. Cha! She's been away from the field for over 20 years, it's only natural that she has yet to regain her touch. I'm just here for her to thrive, flirt and stick it to her gaesaekki husband! Ok, and to prove to herself and kids that she can achive anything if she puts her mind to it- and anyone can. Her kids are actually pretty great and oftentimes behave better than the adults around them cough-grandma and dad-cough. The youngest is just being a teenager, and Jong-min doesn't mind his mum being around and is pretty supportive. I secretly hope they keep the slapstick comedy. I laughed for ten minutes straight during the team diner. Courtesy to Uhm Jung-hwa and the other veteran actors. Thanks for the recap!

Twenty Again meets Emergency Couple