Hospital Playlist – K-Drama Episode 1 Recap & Review

Darth Vader

TVN’s latest drama, Hospital Playlist, just landed on Netflix today which follows the life of 5 doctors who have been friends since college. Like many pilot episodes, this first installment introduces us to each of the characters who are all very different and have interesting personalities, setting the scene quite well for what is to come.

We begin episode 1 of Hospital Playlist with Song-Hwa and Seok-Hyeong arriving in their house, which hasn’t been lived in for 4 years. After talking about their other friends, a technician comes to look at the electricity but unfortunately gets electrocuted. Song-Hwa then performs CPR while they wait for the ambulance.

The next day, Jeong-Won and Jun-Wan talk about Seok-Hyeong and their plans for the day. Jeong-Won heads to the hospital where he works as a pediatrician and later meets Jun-Wan who is a cardio surgeon as his plans with his girlfriend have fallen through. One of his patients is a little girl who needs emergency surgery but unfortunately the mother can’t afford it. He then sends one of his residents to find a solution.

Meanwhile, Song-Hwa reads online that Yulje’s Chairman Ahn Byeong-U is in a coma after a stroke and the article talks about who will take over the medical centre. We then cut to some of the senior doctors who discuss whether the chairman’s youngest son would be the right one to take over. We then see that it is because all of his other children have dedicated their lives to God.

The next day, Song-Hwa, who is a neurosurgeon, heads into work and starts seeing her patients, including an elderly woman who has been diagnosed with cancer. Her daughter bursts into tears while Jeong-Won has to deal with a difficult case involving a little girl close to death. We cut back to Song-Hwa who later recognises the old woman’s daughter in another part of the hospital; she finds out that she is there for her son who needs a liver transplant.

Later that day, multiple fatally wounded patients arrive in hospital after a car accident. This, in turn, means that a liver is now available for the son of the lady Song-Hwa spoke to previously. Unfortunately, professor Kwon has been injured too and is unable to perform the surgery. She then suggests using another doctor, Ik-Jun, who is also in the emergency room after accidentally getting a Darth Vader’s helmet stuck on his head.

During the night, we find out that the chairman passed away. As everyone arrives to pay their respects the next day, we see that his younger son is one of the five doctors, Jeong-Won. His friends are surprised as he never told them who his family was. He apologises for keeping it a secret as he couldn’t find the right time to tell them. Later on, Song-Hwa has some good news for the mother; her son’s operation was successful and her own mother has stage one cancer which will be treatable.

After talking with his mother about the cost of VIP wards, Jeong-Won meets with Mr Ju to sign the foundation over to him with one condition; get the profit from the VIP wards and use it however he wants. We then cut to his four friends looking at their new contracts to become exclusive medical staff for VIP wards. Jeong-Won offers to give them twice their salary but Seok-Hyeong will only accept if they form a band. Song-Hwa refuses and walks off. They then think that the only way to convince her is to make her the lead vocalist, despite her being tone deaf.

At home, the five doctors start their band but as expected, Song-Hwa cannot sing in-tune. We then cut to the time they were in college and the unusual way they met before returning back to the present where Jeong-Won finds out some good news about a patient.

Meanwhile, Jeong-Won’s mother brings a home cooked meal to Mr Ju as his wife is sick and staying in hospital. The next day, Jeong-Won rushes to the bedside of another patient, a little girl called Min-Yeong, who he is unfortunately unable to save as she is too sick. As he announces her death, the mother collapses crying.

She later comes to thank him for all the years he and the other doctors treated her daughter. Unable to control his emotions, he decides to speak to his priest brother and confesses that he is too emotional around his patients. He tells him he is thinking to quit so his brother tells him to wait a year as we cut back in time and see he has had the same break down years prior to this.

The episode ends with Jun-Wan ending things with his girlfriend. As he drives to a hotel for a conference, he comes face to face with Professor Jang in the lift with a girl.

Hospital Playlist starts its run time with a decent enough first episode, introducing us to the five doctors who share a strong friendship. Each have their own specialty and distinctive personalities which makes the drama quite intriguing already.

There were some tense moments mixed in with some happy and sad scenes already, as the doctors do their best to care for their patients. Mixing the medical cases with the doctors’ personal lives, Hospital Playlist has got the right formula and that should make this drama quite interesting to watch each week. With the actors having some good chemistry on screen and plenty more dramatic moments to come ahead, Hospital Playlist is gearing up to be a really interesting Korean drama to watch for the months ahead!