Doctor Slump – K-drama Episode 14 Recap & Review

Episode 14

Episode 14 of Doctor Slump begins with the news channels unravelling the mystery behind Jeong-woo’s medical accident.

The pharma company was involved in supplying the anticoagulant drug to the Macau gang in return for shares, thereby helping them to kill the heiress in Korea and her father before her as well. The pharma company has put the entire blame on Kyung-min as the case would be closed with his death without much damage. 

We return to Ha-neul getting discharged. Bada and Wol-seon discuss that the pharma company might have wanted Kyung-min dead to put the blame on him. Ha-neul tells them that she needs to be somewhere before going back home. 

Later, she visits her previous workplace and is offered the position of assistant professor. She feels the position to be heavy on her consciousness because the position appeared when the hospital uprooted the corrupt officials. She meets Hong-ran and relays this to her. 

Elsewhere, Jeong-woo visits the nurse involved in the medical accident and asks her about the paper that Kyung-min passed her. Apparently, Kyung-min told her to lower the dosage of the anticoagulant because he did not want a medical accident to take place at Jeong-woo’s clinic.

Jeong-woo feels conflicted after these findings. He checks with his mother who confesses that she knew about Kyung-min’s father’s death but is nonchalant about it. Jeong-woo’s parents are supposed to visit Seoul as well. 

Both Jeong-woo and Ha-neul are dealing with their pain quietly, conflicted about the turn of events and whether they were justified. 

At lunch, Jeong-woo and Ha-neul expresses their wish to travel to Busan with the rest of the Nam family. The next morning before leaving for Busan, Ha-neul overhears Jeong-woo and realises that he is trying to avoid his parents, who are coming to Seoul. 

The five leave for Busan in Ha-neul’s car. Wol-seon gets mischievous with her food in the car and Jeong-woo ends up getting drenched in rice wine. He changes into Bada’s Kendo uniform amidst sheer embarrassment. 

Elsewhere, Hong-ran and Dae-young spend time with Jin-woo at the sauna where Hong-ran vehemently refuses the idea that Da-young is her boyfriend when Jin-woo inquires. 

Reaching their destination, Jeong-woo decides to wait for the Nam family at a distance as he realises that they came here to pay their respects to Ha-neul’s late father.

The family then visit Ha-neul’s father’s favourite soju place. Wol-seon explains that although they miss him, they are still happy and not sad. Thus, every year, they visit Busan in Ha-neul’s father’s favourite month and do things that they enjoyed with him. 

Later, Jeong-woo confesses to Wol-seon that he is in immense pain from Kyung-min’s loss. He can neither forgive Kyung-min nor forget the fact that Kyung-min did genuinely care for him at times: like visiting his graduation ceremony when his parents did not. Wol-seon empathises with him and tells him to let time heal the wounds. 

Elsewhere, Ha-neul’s uncle Tae-seon confronts her about the professorship that he was made aware from Hong-ran’s text to Ha-neul. Ha-neul expresses her doubts and Tae-seon reminds her why she chose to become an anesthesiologist.

She wanted to help people feel less pain like the anesthesiologist did when her father got sick. As Ha-neul reminisce about it, she feels better about the new opportunity. 

Later, Ha-neul and Jeong-woo open up about each other’s dilemma and Jeong-woo motivates Ha-neul to take the new job. 

At the Dae-young’s clinic’s lunch meeting, Ha-neul’s colleagues wish her well for the professorship. Hong-ran arrives and is invited to join the meeting. Amidst the fun and teasing, Hong-ran gets annoyed at the colleagues hinting at Dae-young and another nurse’s probable romance.

On the way out, Dae-young confesses that he would like to be her boyfriend before the atmosphere crashes as the same nurse slips and ends up giving Dae-young a peck on the cheek, mortifying him in front of a shocked Hong-ran. 

Back at Jeong-woo’s room, Ha-neul and Jeong-woo discuss about the new possibilities and vow to keep seeing each other often. 

Soon Ha-neul becomes busy with her work that she now enjoys again. Jeong-woo misses Ha-neul but they keep being apart because of Ha-neul’s work. 

Jeong-woo receives a part of the compensation he paid for the medical accident and visits Ha-neul. He explains that he wanted to spend the money meaningfully with her and so, he organised a charity surgery in partnership with Ha-neul’s hospital. The episode ends with Ha-neul and Jeong-woo preparing for this surgery together. 

The Episode Review

This episode tied up the majority of loose knots. After the unravelling of Kyung-min’s story, he becomes more like a tragic character than just an antagonist which is a huge step up in the plot. This also provides the show the depth it exudes in the interactions of its characters. 

Wol-seon’s character is probably one of the most wholesome that we have come across and it’s always a treat to watch Jang Hye-jin play a role like this! 

However, the series now feel quite unnecessarily stretched. The plot is almost wrapped up, the character development was overshadowed by the medical accident plot and the next two episodes do feel a bit too much at this point. There is nothing left to drive the plot forward anymore and we feel that 16 episodes was too much for Doctor Slump. 

But since we have 2 more episodes, we cannot rush to consolidate our judgement and hence, we will see you in the next recap! Let us know your thoughts in the comments!