The Trauma Code – K-drama Episode 3 Recap & Review

Keep On Running

Episode 3 of The Trauma Code begins with Jae-won like a zombie, making his way to the bed so he can get some shut-eye after an exhausting and gruelling shift. It’s clear that he’s not used to this level of intensity, and as soon as his head hits the pillow, he falls asleep.

Unfortunately, there’s trouble in the Trauma Unit as they’re on the verge of losing some of their funding. With this hanging over everything, the few minutes of sleep the duo get is soon overshadowed by a multi car pile-up with patients being transported in. It doesn’t look good, especially as these injuries are pretty gnarly.

In one of the surgery rooms, Dr Hwang, the Anaesthesiologist who caused drama in episode 1, repeating his antics here. He belittles Jang-mi and doesn’t take surgery seriously, going way too slow for everybody’s liking. Kang-hyuk shows up though and tells Jang-mi to leave the fighting to him.

Meanwhile, Gyeong-won is questioned by the Director over Kang-hyuk’s character. He also then propositions him with becoming a spy on his behalf. That’s not what’s important here though, as the surgery goes ahead for the man with abdominal bleeding. Unfortunately, things don’t look good given he also has a ruptured liver that needs replacing.

Thankfully, Jang-mi ran into an organ donor coordinator in the hallway moments before who’s working with a brain-dead patient. The thing is, the man and woman currently in adjacent surgery rooms happen to be the father and daughter here to see the brain-dead patient. They got into a car accident while driving home from hospital.

It’s a pretty shocking revelation and with no Next of Kin here to give consent, Kang-hyuk makes a bold decision and decides to just go ahead with the transplants to save their lives.

Kang-hyuk intends to take full responsibility for this, but given it steps outside ethical guidelines, Jae-won is pretty dumbfounded. However, his mentor is quick to remind him that they need to do whatever they can to save these patients, even if it means crossing the line sometimes.

Speaking of crossing the line, it’s here we meet the other fiery surgeon that’s on Yu-rim’s side. This is Jun-su and he belittles Kang-hyuk for his poor work on the patient he’s currently dealing with. He has a history of lashing out at other people, having been in trouble with the board before for striking someone. Will he do the same with Kang-hyuk?

Anyway, with Jun-su here as well, the daughter needs a kidney transplant and they’re on a tight window too, needing to do this in about 30 minutes. They do it, despite Jun-su’s insistence that they can’t, and he does eat some humble pie while they eat. In fact, afterwards, Jae-won and Kang-hyuk head back to the brain-dead patient and properly honour his memory in a really nice touch.

You see Kang-hyuk takes pictures of all his patients, and the latest is the helicopter rescue from episode 2, who has completely healed up now. However, Kang-hyuk’s good mood is dampened when he finds out that there’s going to be budget cuts for the department. That’s less than ideal and it stems from the fact that there’s a “baseline” they need to keep within and they’ve gone way over it since Kang-hyuk arrived.

Even worse, Kang-hyuk misses out on a department meeting about the budgets, which he thought wasn’t compulsory, and as a result he’s reprimanded by the superiors. All of this stems from the funding but Kang-hyuk hits back in a meeting with the Hospital Director, telling him that the trauma funds have clearly been redirected and used for other purposes, given the lack of beds and general poor conditions he’s had to work with.

Kang-hyuk more than holds his own but right now, he doesn’t look close to cracking. Jae-won is more worried though, given he knows what the hospital is like, but Kang-hyun catches him off-guard by asking Jae-won and Jang-mi out to dinner that night, encouraging the pair to “look human”. Funnily enough, the guys show up all suited but Jang-mi rocks up with casual dress.

As they head out and eat Chinese together, Jae-won asks about Kang-hyuk’s tattoo. However, Kang-hyuk deflects and points out he’s been in multiple warzones but never been shot. He also had a pretty tough upbringing too, with a severe car accident hanging over him.

Furthermore, there’s a new nickname for Jae-won as well. Rather than Anus, he’s going to be called Slave One instead. He’s not sure which is worse to be honest.

Anyway, they’re interrupted by a new trauma case in the unit. It’s an emergency but unfortunately, the patient has flatlined by the time they arrive. Kang-hyuk blames himself and takes it personally, but when another patient is rushed in they immediately jump onto the next.

Despite being her day off, Jang-mi also arrives and jumps in too.


The Episode Review

In the entertainment world, there’s a bizarre amount of coincidences and parallels when you start looking closely enough. This time, it comes in the form of The Trauma Code which is starting to feel very similar in style and structure to The Pitt, which is currently airing on HBO.

The absolutely relentless feel of all these different patients showing up in the trauma ward is indicative of how hard these doctors have had to work and what an incredible job they do every day in saving lives.

Kang-hyuk’s past is still a mystery but we do learn a bit more about him in a series of well-worked scenes that do a good job of fleshing him out. Despite coming across as this flashy and arrogant guy, it’s clear that there’s more than meets the eye, as he’s actually very compassionate and cares about saving as many people as possible.

Ultimately, this show looks to be a solid watch and quite what sort of patients we’re going to get through the doors next remains to be seen.

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You can read our full season review for The Trauma Code here!

  • Episode Rating
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