Dr Romantic – Season 3 Episode 9 Recap & Review

The Righteous Doctor Complex

Episode 9 of Dr Romantic Season 3 starts with Teacher Kim talking to Nurse Oh about the changing times and how doctors will soon have to treat patients coming from various natural and manmade calamities. The episode then moves to In-soo administering a paramedics camp at the fire department. Near the camp, there’s a building that is soon to go under redevelopment.

The building houses local takeout shops, a coaching class for high schoolers as well as a dance studio. From the get-go, the building appears to be cracking, indicating a collapse that none of the inhabitants anticipate. During the training though, In-soo tells the workers that it is not advisable to perform CPR on patients in a building crash.

Elsewhere, Eun-jae and Woo-jin head out on a date to meet Dr Cha informally. Eun-jae is tense so Woo-jin tries to cheer her up before they get to the restaurant. Whilst there though, the couple learns that Dr Cha was at the court for his hearing with In-soo over the death of the teen boy. Eun-jae’s mother is there too and she fills in for Dr Cha, claiming that she was there unwillingly.

Eun-jae cannot take her mother’s arrogance and decides to leave without having a meal. However, Woo-jin asks her to stay and charms Eun-jae’s mother. Before the court session, Min-guk tries to reason with Assemblywoman Ko, asking her to take back the lawsuit against the Trauma Centre, Dr Cha and In-soo over the death of his son. She claims that she wasn’t sure why there was a need for another hospital when Doldam Emergency Hospital is running just fine.

Assemblywoman Ko wanted to prove that the Trauma Centre was a waste of the province’s funds through the death of her son. Despite Min-guk’s persistent requests, she is unwilling to settle the case. Dr Cha decides to go to court in person and explain his side of the matter. He leaves the administration of the Trauma Centre up to Min-guk and Teacher Kim, while he is at the court for the hearing.

Over their meal, Seon-ung and Dong-hwa talk about the weird initiation ritual that Moon-jung practised when he introduced them both to skeletons in his cabin. Seon-ung wonders what Dong-hwa has planned for the future and the latter of the two claims that he wanted to be a Colorectal surgeon. Since he was not too keen on becoming a doctor himself and was doing it to appease his parents, Dong-hwa wants a job that does not risk a person’s life.

Dong-hwa tells Seon-ung that he wants a regular 9-5 job with no emergency patients and chaotic work life. He claims that he only came to Doldam because he was curious. Their lunch is interrupted by an emergency message that startles both Seon-ung and Dong-hwa.

In the restaurant’s bathroom, Eun-jae’s mother inquires about Woo-jin’s financial status. Eun-jae asks her mother to back off and stop meddling in her personal life. Just then Eun-jae, Woo-jin, and In-soo also get the same emergency message that startles them.

Ki-tae tells Teacher Kim about a nearby building that collapsed. The doctors and nurses all gather at Doldam where Teacher Kim explains that they will all be part of the DMAT (Disaster Medical Assistance Team). He issues a code orange and the staff begins discharging the less critical patients. Teacher Kim asks Nurse Nom to call Nurse Oh and In-soo at the Trauma Centre.

Nurse Nom tells him that In-soo was at the paramedic’s camp and was set to go to the courthouse after. Teacher Kim asks Woo-jin to join the DMAT Team 1 and In-soo to come to Doldam to prepare for the plethora of patients that will be brought in eventually. Eun-jae joins Woo-jin to the DMAT camp leaving her mother alone at the restaurant.

Eun-tak, Ki-tae and Dong-hwa leave the hospital as part of DMAT Team 1. On his way to the courthouse, Dr Cha ignores Teacher Kim’s call about the accident despite reading the text about the calamity. Woo-jin assesses the situation on the ground and is left in shock looking at the number of casualties. He panics when he tells Teacher Kim that the scene of the accident had a lot of students.

Teacher Kim asks Woo-jin to try and stay calm to save as many lives as he possibly could. Teacher Kim calls the Trauma Centre staff and decides to guide them in Dr Cha’s absence. Eun-jae finds a teen student who had no pulse whose friends insist on saving him. She recalls what Woo-jin had told her about such disaster situations and how they should save whoever they can best save by not administering CPR.

Eun-jae declares him dead and asks the other student to get himself checked but when the friend begs to save his friend, she gets perplexed. Meanwhile, Eun-tak, Ki-tae and Dong-hwa are stuck in traffic due to the accident. Eun-tak and Dong-hwa rush to the site on foot. Woo-jin learns that there had been 4 fatalities so far and that most of the students had made it out alive before the fall.

The student with Eun-jae starts collapsing so she takes Eun-tak’s help to check up on him. Eun-jae does preliminary treatment on the student and asks him to be sent to Doldam. Teacher Kim instructs Nurse Oh that the critical cases were to be sent to the Trauma Centre while emergency cases would be sent to Doldam. He asks Min-guk to help with the patients at the Trauma Centre while news reports that Assemblywoman Ko was around the area of the accident and was buried under the collapsed building.

The patients start pulling into the Trauma Centre so the doctors get to work. Meanwhile, at the site of the accident, the firefighters find s student who was alive but buried deep under the debris. At the same time, the doctors try to pick the emergency patients apart from the non-emergency cases. Eun-jae is called back to the Trauma Centre because there is a shortage of surgeons. She is worried about leaving Woo-jin to handle the students all by himself considering his panic attack but goes to the hospital nevertheless.

Eun-tak asks for Woo-jin’s help with a critical patient but just as he begins to examine her, they lose the patient sending Woo-jin into another panic attack. He tries to compose himself and declares the patient dead. The paramedics tell Woo-jin that there are surviving students in the basement while the math teacher was there as well but trapped under the debris and unconscious. Out of the five students there, one is unconscious while another is asthmatic and does not have an inhaler on him.

Woo-jin decides to go inside the debris but the paramedics claim that the building could further collapse and there’s no way to take the medical gear inside. Woo-jin decides to take the risk and get in, with Eun-tak deciding to tag along too. Dong-hwa is shocked to see the two leave to go inside and is worried about being the only one left out.

The patients start entering the Trauma Centre as well as the emergency hospital where the doctors treat them one by one.

Despite the critical cases, all doctors work on the patients one after the other. Nurse Joo tells Teacher Kim that Woo-jin and Eun-tak are inside the debris leaving all the doctors at the Trauma Center worried. Teacher Kim calls both but is unable to get through to them. He then calls the paramedics and learns that he’s with the two medical staff.

Teacher Kim tries to scold Woo-jin but he is determined to save the three critical patients in order to keep them alive till they can be evacuated from the site. Eun-jae learns about Woo-jin’s predicament and is shattered but tries to keep her composure. She gets ready for her combined surgery where she worries about Woo-jin’s safety and looks back at the leisurely day they had planned to spend before the chaos broke out. She asks Nurse Joo to keep her posted about Woo-jin’s situation.

Meanwhile, Woo-jin administers the surgery on the teacher in the basement of the collapsed building. Min-guk and Eun-jae perform combined surgery at the Trauma Centre. Woo-jin manages to help the teacher come back to normal. Teacher Kim calls Dr Cha but the latter ignores the call during the hearing. Assemblywoman Ko suddenly wakes up around the debris.

The paramedics take the students out of the basement one by one. Ki-tae and Dong-hwa are worried about Eun-tak and Woo-jin. Just then, the paramedics get a call from Assemblywoman Ko, who tells them she’as alive and buried under the debris. She also reports the shop owner who is also badly injured.

The paramedics claim that they will rescue the adults after the students, but Assemblywoman Ko’s guards force them to prioritise the politician. The paramedics refuse to comply and the guards decide to seek help from the governor. In the basement, one of the students feels guilty because she’s responsible for the teacher’s condition.

Woo-jin promises to save the teacher and convinces the girl to be rescued first. The paramedics decide that breaking some of the concrete is the only possible way to get the teacher out. Just then, the building starts rumbling and suddenly collapses. Woo-jin puts himself in the middle of the teacher and the collapsing building. Dong-hwa panics about Woo-jin’s safety.

Just then, Nurse Joo informs Teacher Kim about the state of Woo-jin and Eun-tak. The rest of the team keep a brave face in front of Eun-jae who is performing surgery. However, the episode ends with Eun-tak waking up to see that a huge structure has fallen on Woo-jin, a metal rod had passed through his left palm.


The Episode Review

It seems like Woo-jin is the best scapegoat for this season all thanks to Ahn Hyo-seop’s popularity but putting his life in danger every second episode is not really a good way to generate views. I am sure he will come out alive again but there is obviously the issue with his hand being compromised. This episode has me and more fans really worried for Woo-jin and I hope his hand is not compromised because his entire life is at Doldam Hospital.

Teacher Kim knows this issue all too well, considering the condition of his own hand. It is Dr Cha who should be blamed in this situation because had he been at the Trauma Centre instead of sitting in the courthouse, Teacher Kim would have been on site with Woo-jin to ensure he was not making any rash decisions. It is clear that Woo-jin has taken this incident quite personally and wants to save as many people as he possibly can.

I hope that Assemblywoman Ko comes out alive from this accident but considering how the paramedics prioritized the students over her, it is possible that she takes this issue personally as well. This will further prove to her that doctors need to fulfil their duty in contrast to complying with people in power. I found it endearing how Dong-hwa was so concerned about Woo-jin. It seems like Woo-jin is to Dong-hwa what Teacher Kim is to Woo-jin.

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Expect a full-season review when the season concludes!

 

  • Episode Rating
    (4.5)
4.5

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