Dr Romantic – Season 3 Episode 12 Recap & Review

The Courage to be Ordinary

Episode 12 of Dr Romantic Season 3 starts with Eun-jae thinking back on how she could not imagine her father doing something wrong as a child. She then remembers her past few weeks working with Dr Cha and wonders if she thinks differently of him now that she’s seeing him make mistakes as an adult. Meanwhile, Woo-jin thinks that Ha-joon was the person that used the paper bag to drop the pen in Dr Cha’s cabin.

Ha-joon persists that it was not him who did it. He adds that he had learned about the suicide of the resident doctor from Dr Cha’s previous hospital through his own research and slipped Min-guk’s name. Ha-joon asks Woo-jin to mind his business claiming that all this was happening for the benefit of the Trauma Centre.

At the same time, Min-guk talks to Teacher Kim about Assemblywoman Ko’s deal. He tells Teacher Kim that he did not wish to put the Trauma Centre on the line to protect Dr Cha.

Teacher Kim is opposed to the idea that Dr Cha had orchestrated all this but Min-guk argues that this was his last resort to save the Trauma Centre. Min-guk reminds Teacher Kim how none of Cha’s trusted doctors wanted to come to work with him at the Trauma Centre. He claims that Dr Cha has never shown his potential as a leader because he was not at the Centre when the building collapse incident took place and that he wasn’t sympathetic to Assemblywoman Ko, causing her to take the issue to the courts.

Teacher Kim claims that kicking Dr Cha out because of his incompetence would be okay but making a political deal out of it is wrong. Min-guk argues that it’s something similar to killing two birds with one stone. Teacher Kim claims that Assemblywoman Ko should not be trusted because she could have other reasons for making the deal.

Just then, we see Assemblywoman Ko talking to a colleague about how the Trauma Centre would soon have to shut down for not having a proper leader. She asks her colleague to use the budget for the Trauma Centre to build an Eco-City as per their plan.

That evening, A-reum is worried about the elderly lady being missing from the Emergency Room (ER). She tells the team that they needed to get in touch with her guardians soon because the woman had a swollen aneurysm in her chest which could burst anytime and they needed to operate it quickly.

Nurse Nom tells her that the woman’s daughter is in Seoul and can only reach the hospital by the afternoon the following day. Nurse Eun-tak is out looking for the woman but is unable to find her as she snoops through Kim’s office. Dong-hwa is about to go out of the hospital to look for the old woman and tells Woo-jin that someone had dropped his belongings at the hospital. He gets a call from Eun-jae’s mother and learns it was her.

Dong-hwa runs into Eun-jae and tells her about the elderly woman. Eun-jae asks him about Woo-jin’s whereabouts when Dong-hwa slips that Woo-jin’s belongings were sent back to the hospital, claiming that he was homeless. Eun-jae is shocked and rushes to Doldam Hospital to chat with Woo-jin. However, Woo-jin is out at a restaurant having a chat with Mrs Cha. During the meeting, Mrs Cha claims that he’s audacious to not seek Eun-jae’s parents’ approval before moving in with her.

Woo-jin reminds her that both he and Eun-jae are adults over the age of 30 and that they have deliberated the decision between themselves. Mrs Cha claims that Woo-jin made the decision because he grew up without parents and states that she does not approve of him because she is not fully sure about what kind of a match he would be for her daughter. She claims that Woo-jin’s parents’ death makes her uncertain if he would be able to make a family of his own.

Mrs Cha argues that she had always wanted Eun-jae to marry a man coming from a good family because according to her, people who grew up in loving homes were the only people capable of making loving homes in the future. She indirectly asks Woo-jin to end things with Eun-jae and leaves. Woo-jin ignores Eun-jae’s call but her mother calls her to tell her that she should forget that she had ever moved in with him. Eun-jae is pissed at her mother and asks Seon-ung to fill in for her.

Before leaving, she apologises to him on behalf of her father and claims that Dr Cha should not have treated him the way he did. As soon as Eun-jae leaves, Teacher Kim walks through the hospital and ignores Seon-ung. Teacher Kim goes to the Trauma Centre and has a chat with Dr Cha. He claims that it was wrong of Dr Cha to make a scene out of Seon-ung’s situation and claims that he should have empathised with Assemblywoman Ko just for once. Dr Cha states that he is tired of being walked over by patients who blame doctors even when they save lives.

Both Teacher Kim and Dr Cha argue about ethics and a doctor’s sense of duty. Teacher Kim eventually yells at Dr Cha and warns him. He asks Dr Cha to fight the challenge that will be presented towards him and stay at the Trauma Centre instead of handing in a resignation and running away. On his way back home, Dr Cha runs into Seon-ung who was entering the Trauma Centre to cover for Eun-jae.

Dr Cha ignores Seon-ung as well. Meanwhile, Eun-jae gets home and argues with her mother for meddling in her life and claiming authority over a home she had created with Woo-jin. Eun-jae asks her mother if she did not want to see her happy and Mrs Cha states that she was doing all this because she did not want Eun-jae to regret her decisions in the future.

Eun-jae argues that her mother was not happy and that Dr Cha was disrespected despite his position. She wants Mrs Cha to be supportive of her choices. Eun-jae asks her mother to leave her alone. On her way out, Eun-jae runs into Dr Cha who had heard the conversation. Just then, Do-il calls Woo-jin where Dr Cha was waiting for him. Dr Cha talks to Woo-jin about his aspirations and asks if he wanted to use his skills at a better hospital.

Woo-jin claims that he wanted to make Doldam the country’s best hospital instead. Dr Cha is taken back to his conversation with Teacher Kim which is eerily similar to what Woo-jin said. Dr Cha then opens up to Woo-jin, taking responsibility for what happened to the resident that died by suicide. He claims that he wanted to make him a responsible doctor but adds that the present generation likes an easy escape from their problems.

Woo-jin presents his idea about the situation and mentions how Teacher Kim has become his mentor because he never gives up on his doctors. Woo-jin claims that Teacher Kim is always there when they need him and is an authoritative figure for all his staff at Doldam. A montage shows Teacher Kim in action as he covers Dong-hwa up with a shawl but yells down drunk patients creating a scene at the hospital.

Teacher Kim then goes to the Trauma Centre and tells Seon-ung that he will be assisting him with CT surgery. Seon-ung is worried and rushes outside to tell Teacher Kim that he was afraid. Teacher Kim asks why Seon-ung did what he did at Dr Cha’s cabin. Seon-ung claims that he wanted to seek revenge on Dr Cha for how he discriminated against him due to his disability and how he treated his friend.

Teacher Kim tells Seon-ung that doing something may have punished Dr Cha but will eventually weigh down on his conscience in the future. He asks Seon-ung to be a better human than Dr Cha and improve his skills to prove to the old man that he was a capable doctor. Seon-ung uses the advice and prepares to operate on the patient as Teacher Kim chuckles at the clumsy new surgeon.

Meanwhile, the staff and doctors at Doldam Hospital are looking for the old woman. Eun-tak goes to the lake and Dong-hwa follows . Dong-hwa tells Eun-tak that he was never this concerned about A-reum, but the resident retorts that Eun-tak was very concerned about a missing patient but ended up indifferent towards A-reum.

Dong-hwa threatens to confess his feelings for A-reum which instigates the nurse. Eun-tak threatens to punch Dong-hwa which puts the resident back in his place. Dong-hwa asks if he needed help trying to win A-reum back. At the same time, Teacher Kim is on his way back to Doldam Hospital after surgery at the Trauma Centre.

Do-il tells Teacher Kim about the intense conversation between Woo-jin and Dr Cha at the restaurant. Back at the passageway between Doldam Hospital and the Trauma Centre, Teacher Kim finds the old woman. The woman chats with the doctor and states how she’s tired of living a lonely life. She claims that Teacher Kim looks like he’s tired too and comforts him.

They sit together for a while looking outside when the woman passes out. Teacher Kim rushes her to Doldam Hospital, and proceeds to ask A-reum to call the woman’s family asking them to come down to the hospital for emergency surgery. The woman wakes up and tells Teacher Kim that she did not want to trouble her kids.

She tells Teacher Kim that he should also finish everything that he has to do down here and follow her to where she is going. With this, the woman dies on the hospital bed causing Teacher Kim to break into tears. At the same time, Woo-jin drops Dr Cha at the house. Dr Cha tells Woo-jin that he should cherish Eun-jae, claiming that his cowardly daughter has probably moved in with Woo-jin after a lot of deliberation.

Woo-jin leaves to go back to the hospital with a sense of approval from Eun-jae’s father. The next morning, Eun-jae ends her shift and goes looking for Woo-jin at Doldam Hospital. Dong-hwa tells her that Woo-jin has gone back home so she rushes off and finds Woo-jin coming out of the shower. Woo-jin tells Eun-jae that Dr Cha has already left for the hospital.

Eun-jae rushes to the hospital but in the meantime, Dr Cha hands over his resignation to Min-guk. He warns Min-guk that one’s actions come with a price but the latter ignores the threat. Dr Cha leaves the hospital premises wondering what a good way to go down into retirement would look like. Eun-jae rushes to the hospital to find Dr Cha’s office emptied. She calls him and yells at him for not saying goodbye before leaving.

Eun-jae claims that she was always proud of her father no matter what the world said about him. She adds that she took on CT Surgery because of him. Dr Cha asks her to come to see him with Woo-jin. Teacher Kim is also upset that Dr Cha left without a word. Meanwhile, Min-guk waits to meet Assemblywoman Ko but she avoids him.

Min-guk chases after her asking her about the Trauma Centre budget. She claims that she would go by the books and have a thorough inspection of the Trauma Centre before the budget was approved. Min-guk mentions their deal but she claims that this was her way of trying to beat them with politics.

Everyone at the Trauma Centre seems to be waiting for someone to drop by. Just then, Min-guk returns to Doldam Hospital, worried about what would happen if they were to find Teacher Kim in his office. Teacher Kim mocks Min-guk for not thinking ahead about Assemblywoman Ko’s threat. He claims that he had already thought this out and that someone more intense than him is going to head the Trauma Centre.

Just then, Woo-jin runs into Kang Dong-ju who is back to Doldam after four long years. The episode ends as Teacher Kim welcomes his mentee back.


The Episode Review

This episode really went in a totally different direction than I had initially imagined. I thought Dr Cha was the most evil person on this show but then I saw Mrs Cha. I really hope Eun-jae cuts ties with her parents because if they are in her life, she will never be happy with Woo-jin.

Dr Cha really came through in the end with his approval of Eun-jae and Woo-jin. However, I feel like one moment does not justify all of his negative actions. What Min-guk did to kick Dr Cha made me empathise with him but overall, it feels like he deserved it.

Min-guk is definitely wrong for not appreciating how Dr Cha defended his doctor, In-soo, during Assemblywoman Ko’s lawsuit. He would really have been a good leader for the Trauma Centre if he has some empathy. Talking about how this generation takes the easy way out, Dr Cha also did take the easy way out with his resignation. It seems like he is no different than the young doctors he dislikes so much.

The ending to this episode was very much like the parable of the prodigal son. Teacher Kim is the father and Woo-jin is the son who always obeyed the rules while Kang Dong-ju is the son who left his father and finally returned. There is definitely room for tension between Dong-ju and Woo-jin but knowing the dynamics between Teacher Kim and Dong-ju from Season 1, I am sure everyone is elated to see him back in action at Doldam.

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Expect a full-season review when the season concludes!

 

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