Hospital Playlist – K-Drama Episode 12 (The Finale) Recap & Review

One Leaves & Another Remains

After 12 enjoyable episodes, Hospital Playlist ends its first season with some satisfying conclusions for some of our doctors but sad ones for others. The finale does a good job showing us just how far all five doctors have come but also keeps things open for a much-anticipated second season.

The season 1 finale of Hospital Playlist starts with Jeong-Won calling his mum and asking her why she didn’t come to see him while at the hospital. He sees her in the car park but she is clearly avoiding him while Ik-Jun sits with Gyeo-Wool and tries to find out why she seems preoccupied. He guesses it must be because of Jeong-Won while Song-Hwa speaks to Chi-Yong about her upcoming departure. He reveals that he wants to transfer there to to be with her. She tells him it’s not a good decision for his career as he will not be able to be a resident.

Jun-Wan looks at the rings and calls Ik-Sun to tell her he is coming over while Seok-Hyeong tells his friend that his father left him everything in his will; he wanted him to quit his job and run the company. Jeong-Won receives a call from the emergency about a seven year old girl called Ji-Hyeon who has a chest blunt trauma. This prompts him to call Gyeol-Wool to tell her to get ready for surgery. After diagnosing the girl, Jeong-Won speaks to her parents and explains what will happen. As they get going, Jeong-Won tells Gyeol-Wool that if it all goes well, he will take her out for a nice meal.

Meanwhile, Ik-Jun speaks to a patient who needs a liver transplant and his wife is volunteering. He tells them that she won’t be able to donate part of her liver as they have to have been married and registered for a year. They didn’t register because both families were against their wedding and his mother stopped them as she worried about his girlfriend’s health if she donated her liver.

In the staff room, Seok-Min finally plucks up the courage to tell Sun-Bin that he likes her. She doesn’t say anything though so he leaves and tells her to have dinner separately while Jeong-Won speaks to Ji-Hyeon’s parents as he managed to stop the bleeding but explains that they will have to keep an eye on her in ICU for a few days.

Afterwards, Jeong-Won goes into Song-Hwa’s office to tell her she should concentrate on getting better in Sokcho and that he will take care of the “Daddy long legs” program. She tells him that she is happy to take it over as it made her really excited while Seok-Hyeong visits Ik-Jun in his office. The latter tells him that he thinks Min-Ah likes him. Seok-Hyeong reveals that she already told him but he had to respectfully turn her down as he doesn’t have the time to date at the moment. Seok-Hyeong explains that his situation is difficult and it might hurt her.

As he leaves the hospital very late, Jun-Wan calls Ik-Sun and gets a nice surprise when he sees her waiting. She crosses the road and runs to kiss him. The next day, he speaks to Ik-Jun in his office and asks if he is going to see his sister off when she is leaving in the afternoon. He replies that he is not sure if he will be able to as he has surgery. Jun-Wan suggests they meet after work as he needs to talk to him. Before leaving, he gets a call about a patient with a ruptured aorta. During surgery, Jun-Wan notices that the stent put there previously is badly infected. He replaces it but after many hours, he is still unable to stop the bleeding so they have to stop for now. He relays this to his family and explains that they will give him anticoagulants and keep an eye on him.

Meanwhile, Jeong-Won, who hasn’t left the little girl’s bedside, speaks to her family to let her know that she is doing very well and will he moved to the general ward. The family is extremely grateful to him as they know he hasn’t left in four days. He later heads in the staff room where Song-Hwa has been packing up her things. They talk about Ik-Jun’s departure who is leaving for his symposium in Spain on that same day.

After five hours, Jun-Wan’s patient is unfortunately still bleeding. He explains what the situation is to his parents and that surgery will not help. The parents then say their goodbyes to their son. After they leave, Jae-Hak has an idea for a different method which they head in surgery to attempt. Seok-Hyeong meanwhile has many patients to see who are getting impatient waiting. One of the pregnant women tells the doctor that she hasn’t felt the baby move in the last few days. After performing a scan, Seok-Hyeong sees that the baby has unfortunately passed away in the womb. The mother is absolutely devastated so Seok tries his best to reassure her and tells her to take her time.

At the same time, Ik-Jun and the transplant coordinator try finding a patient to give a liver. He then thinks of Lee Chang-Hak who is the same blood type but they have to be quick to make sure the liver remains viable. After the transplant, Ik-Jun finds the mother and child of Chang-Hak to tell them the surgery was a success. He remembers them from their first appointment as the wife was pressured by the family to give her liver. Ik-Jun then uses sign language to tell the child that his father is going to be okay.

After tending to a patient with a brain haemorrhage who is not going to survive, Song-Hwa speaks to Chi-Yong and Yan-Bok as it reminds her of a similar patient with the same name whom she looked after for days but unfortunately passed away. When she mentions the name Baek Seon-Jeong, Yan Bok bursts into tears as she realizes Song-Hwa was the doctor who took great care of her mother and made her want to become one too. Song-Hwa comforts her, telling her she has grown up to be a wonderful woman and that her mother would be proud of her.

Chi-Yong later comes face to face with a former patient, Kim Hyeon-Su. He wanted to thank him as he is now able to go back to work as a policeman. After giving him a pen as a gift, he leaves and tells him he will see him on his next appointment.

After a long night performing surgery on his patient, Jun-Wan takes a break to eat with Ik-Jun. Suddenly, he realises that he missed Ik-Sun’s departures and sees multiple texts from her which upsets him. He then heads outside with Jae-Hak to clear his head. The latter speaks to him about sometimes feeling overwhelmed at the hospital with all the decisions he has to make. Jun-Wan tells him to speak to him when he does and he will do his best to help. Jun-Wan then asks for some dating advice as he wonders if he should send his girlfriend a ring for Christmas. Jae-Hak replies that if they both love each other, he should just do it.

After Ik-Jun says goodbye to his son before leaving for Spain, he decides to visit Song-Hwa in her new flat in Sokcho. She is surprised to see him there as she knows he has to leave that same day. He explains that he has a friend that he has started to like. Before leaving, he tells her that she can give him an answer when he is back while Chi-Yong settles in to his new place as well. He reads a letter from Song-Hwa wishing him luck on being a new chief resident.

It is now Christmas eve and the five friends are having dinner together. Seok-Hyeong tells them that he has decided not to take over his father’s company as his time is precious and only wants to do things he is passionate about – like the band. They then start their rehearsal as always, singing happily.

Jeong-Won heads to the hospital to look after his patient and is happily surprised to be visited by Ji-Hyeon who has made a full recovery. Jun-Wan checks his heart patient’s scar and discharges him. Ik-Jun has the same news for Chang-Hak while Seok-Hyeong tells one of his patients that she doesn’t have to worry about premature birth for her baby anymore.

On Christmas day, Jun-Wan is sad to see that his package he sent Ik-Sun has been returned. Gyeo-Wool decides to reveal her feeling to Jeong-Won once and for all and asks him to stay in hospital. Looking emotional, he kisses her. We then cut to the day Song-Hwa spoke to Jeong-Won when she realised that he had made the decision to stay. She told him he made the right decision but he asked her not to tell anyone yet as he wants to tell someone else first.

The episode ends with Seok-Hyeong on his way out, receiving a text from Min-Ah asking him to come meet her for dinner. After some deliberation, he politely declines the offer before receiving a call from Yoon Sin-Hye.

The finale of Hospital Playlist has definitely delivered some very emotional moments. Each doctor faced some difficult medical cases but all dealt with them with a lot of care and skill. It has been great watching them over the weeks as they all have very different methods while sharing the same passion and dedication for their patients.

The happiest conclusion of this first season is Jeong-Won finally deciding to stay in hospital as he realizes just how much he loves his job and of course he gives Gyeo-Wool her happy ending as well. This was really nice to see while unfortunately poor Jun-Wan faces rejection from Ik-Sun but I am sure we will see more of this on the next season. Ik-Jun and Song-Hwa’s possible relationship remains unknown too after he finally came forward with his feelings while Seok-Hyeong almost took the plunge with Min-Ah.

Overall, Hospital Playlist’s last episode is a fitted ending for a very enjoyable and easy to watch medical drama. Fans of the series (myself included) will be eagerly waiting for the second season next year and if it’s anything like this first season we should be in for a real treat.

Published: 29 May 2020 at 2:50 pm  on TheReviewGeek.com