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We continue to watch Jeong-suk learn and grow as she navigates different types of situations and issues at work. It’s not just her co-workers, bosses, and colleagues who she has to learn from and worry about but she also becomes busy with patients who she’s been assigned to. Work remains an uphill battle for Jeong-suk but she continues to fight and fight.

Doctor Cha: Episode 4 Recap

We begin the episode by resuming where we left off at the team dinner with our Surgery department doctors and residents. After being asked about her husband, Jeong-suk jokes that he died a pretty long time ago. It’s been so long since he’s passed away that she can’t even remember what it feels like to have been married. Afterwards, the group moves on to do some karaoke and they all have fun singing (except for In-ho himself of course). The night comes to an end and everyone prepares to bid farewell. Since In-ho warned Jeong-suk not to expect any help or acknowledgement from him, our resident decides to grab a ride with Roy on his motorcycle instead. The two head out together while In-ho and Jung-min watches from behind. Oh ho ho, someone is upset. The motorcycle ride home is bittersweet and Jeong-suk’s eyes fill up with tears. Jeong-suk can’t help but want to cry while listening to the slow song play in the background and looking up at the beautiful night sky. She and Roy eventually pull over so that she can catch her breath. Meanwhile, Jung-min has plans of his own as he ends up spending the night with none other than.. So-ra (oh boyyyy).

Roy and Jeong-suk have a chat during their brief break. It’s been a while since Jeong-suk’s been out and about having this much fun so she enjoys the various types of feelings and emotions throughout it all. At the same time, she feels as if there’s been this heavy weight on her chest that she can’t quite get rid of just yet. But even so, she’s thankful for Roy who was supportive and helpful towards her. But Roy doesn’t mind. He’s rather more curious about her marriage with In-ho in which Jeong-suk doesn’t worry too much about how he’s been treating her. She assumes his behavior towards her is something that’s inevitable; it’s become a loveless marriage after twenty long years. The two resume their bike ride back home. In-ho himself has trouble sleeping after the team dinner; he’s still upset over the comments that Jeong-suk made about him as well as how she rode with Roy on his motorcycle. When Jeong-suk arrives home, she comes back home to a dark and quiet house.

While at school, I-rang discovers a hand-written letter from her mother hidden in her backpack. It reads,

To my daughter,

You must be surprised to find this letter. I’m sure you’re having a hard time because I’m so busy nowadays. But if you think about it, you’ll have to experience this eventually since there will come a day when I won’t be around anymore. That is exactly why I’d like to live for myself just this once. But that won’t change the fact that I’ll always be your mom. Just like how I always root for you and your dreams, just this once, I hope you can do the same for me too. What I need the most right now is your encouragement and support. I love you, my daughter.

From, Mom

After reading the letter, I-rang places the item back inside of her backpack. Meanwhile, Jung-min and Jeong-suk share some breakfast together at the hospital before the other residents arrive. But Jung-min manages to only grab one bite of his mom’s gimbap before So-ra enters the room and eats the rest of the gimbap for herself. Jung-min lies that he bought the gimbap and he lets So-ra eat the rest of the snack. Poor Jung-min and Jeong-suk!

Life without Jeong-suk as a full-time housewife proves to be too much for Mother-in-law and she can’t stop nagging and complaining at the new housekeeper. The housekeeper gets fed up and she quits the job. Jeong-suk is notified by the housekeeper herself while at work so she accidentally makes a mistake about a prescription and gets scolded by So-ra afterwards. Jung-min overhears his mom getting reprimanded by So-ra and he talks to So-ra about her behavior. He suggests that maybe she be more patient with Jeong-suk but there’s no changing So-ra’s mind. She’s not patient enough. Jung-min visits his mom afterwards to cheer her up and to talk things through about So-ra. Jeong-suk makes it clear that she’s not the biggest fan of So-ra so she warns her son not to get too close to her, haha. It might be a tad bit too late for that, Jeong-suk.

Jeong-suk’s mom visits Mi-hee’s clinic for some botox shots but she’s not the only one there. Mother-in-law happens to walk past the room where Mi-hee and Mom are located and she approaches them to confront Mom. So much for talking about natural beauty, eh? But Mom lies that Jung-min offered to pay for her botox shots so she couldn’t turn him down. Haha. After Mother-in-law exits the room, Mom asks Mi-hee about the spot that she discovered on her back. Mi-hee strongly recommends that Mom goes to the hospital to get a biopsy done just to be safe. While leaving the building, Mom catches Mother-in-law getting into a car with another man. Is she perhaps dating someone?

During lunch time, Roy and Jeong-suk make plans to have some lunch together and to share the gimbap that she made for him. Hehe. Roy is quite the popular guy and he catches the attention of those nearby, including Seung-hi and In-ho. They both grow upset upon seeing the doctor and resident eating together. Oh ho ho. Go Roy and Jeong-suk!

Jeong-suk is still a first-year resident after all so she’s not as familiar and comfortable with doing everything just yet. But thankfully she has her son who also works at the same hospital and she calls him for help every time she encounters a situation she’s uncertain about. The phone calls become a bit too much for Jung-min to the point where he begins to neglect his own work and he talks about it with his mom. She can’t just keep distracting him and calling him for help every time. There’s online videos and tutorials to show her how to do these things. Jeong-suk becomes offended and reminds Jung-min that she gave birth to him and raised him his entire life. With that, she marches away but the mother and son pair quickly make up. Jung-min sends his mom a video tutorial to help her with her work which she ends up watching. It’s a whole new world for Jeong-suk.

Jeong-suk is assigned another patient at work. This time, it’s an elderly lady diagnosed with cancer. But she’s also committed a crime by murdering her husband and poisoning him. It’s important that she receives treatment and undergoes chemotherapy as soon as possible but there’s a problem: the patient herself refuses to accept the treatment. So it’s ultimately up to Jeong-suk to take care of the patient and to get her to change her mind. Upon her first attempt, Jeong-suk isn’t so successful as the patient refuses to listen to her. After interacting with the first patient, Jeong-suk’s other patient causes commotion and chaos in his VIP ward room. Upon arriving at the scene, Chairman Oh is upset and baffled at the news of his new surgery that he wasn’t expecting. He’s in denial about the surgery and he demands that he speak to the director of their unit. In the end, Chairman Oh breaks down into tears and cries his heart out. The only thing that Jeong-suk can do is apologize.

Jeong-suk finds herself in another difficult situation at work. She’s desperate to find someone to insert a chest tube into a patient but no one is available and other residents aren’t as experienced with the task. So she has no choice but to call and ask In-ho for help. But of course, he’s a stubborn man who sticks to his words and he refuses to help. So Jeong-suk resorts to So-ra who’s already clocked out of work but So-ra is a little bit better than In-ho and she agrees to help. It’ll just take her a while to get to the hospital. Jeong-suk waits for 45 minutes but the patient’s condition worsens and she begins to panic even more. So she makes another phone call to In-ho and actually gets him to come around this time. She threatens that he is to either help her in this situation or else she’ll reveal their relationship to everyone.

When he arrives, In-ho isn’t all that helpful as it’s been ten years since he’s inserted a chest tube so he doesn’t quite remember how it’s done. Thankfully, So-ra arrives just in time to complete the operation. She’s a bit surprised to see In-ho in the room as well but she doesn’t think too much about it. The patient’s life is saved but suspicion regarding In-ho and Jeong-suk’s relationship intensifies.

Jeong-suk does another round of visits for the elderly grandma and Chairman Oh. The grandma finally speaks her first words to Jeong-suk and she gives our first-year resident her answer. She wishes to just be left alone so Jeong-suk should devote her energy and time to other patients who actually wish to stay alive. Meanwhile, Chairman Oh is still in denial about getting surgery and he refuses to listen to Jeong-suk’s persuasion. After meeting with her patients, Jeong-suk expresses the difficulties and challenges she’s been facing. But Roy is confident that she’ll somehow find a way to connect with her patients emotionally. That’s what she’s good at.

Roy himself is on a mission of his own to find.. Himself. He visits the adoption center he grew up at to study the records and files detailing his adoption and childhood. Back at home, I-rang invites Eun-seo over to her house for some food. Along with Jeong-suk, the three chat about Eun-seo’s mom in which they learn that Eun-seo’s mom also specializes in family medicine. Jeong-suk’s excited and curious to learn more, but I-rang stops her before Eun-seo can expand any further. At one point in the conversation, In-ho’s name is brought up in which Jeong-suk answers that he’s playing indoor golf somewhere which Eun-seo notes is the hottest place for affairs. And sure enough, In-ho and Seung-hi are at an indoor golfing place to continue their affair. They almost get caught by some work colleagues but manage to escape and hide just in time. In-ho seems more relieved at not getting caught than Seung-hi who seems a bit tired of all the hiding.

While cleaning out the house, Jeong-suk comes across a receipt for a luxury brand bracelet that she found in one of In-ho’s jackets. She assumes he bought it for Mother-in-law but when asked about the bracelet, Mother-in-law has no clue as to what Jeong-suk is referring to. So Jeong-suk does some more research about the item and then asks In-ho about it later on that night when he returns home. He realizes that he’s been caught so he comes up with an excuse that he simply bought the bracelet for Jeong-suk as an early birthday gift. Her birthday isn’t until two months but he wanted to get her something early. Plus, the bracelet’s located in his office so he can’t give it to her at the moment. Regardless, Jeong-suk is so excited to hear about the gift that she prepares the bathtub for him to wind down and relax in. The two go on to have a conversation about Seung-in and In-ho lies once again to Jeong-suk. He pretends that he only has a professional relationship with Seung-hi and that he doesn’t know her all that well. Jeong-suk can’t help but reflect on how different she and Seung-hi are but In-ho notes that Jeong-suk doesn’t look too bad herself (In-ho complimenting Jeong-suk?? It’s a miracle!).

The next day, In-ho heads to the department store to buy another pair of the bracelet that Jeong-suk talked to him about the night before. Meanwhile, Jeong-suk visits Seung-hi in her office and she apologizes for her past actions and mistakes. She acknowledges that she hurt Seung-hi very deeply and won’t come up with any excuses for what she did to hurt Seung-hi. She was also afraid to ask for forgiveness back then because she looked up to Seung-hi and didn’t feel as if she was deserving of forgiveness. Though Seung-hi understands where Jeong-suk is coming from and voices signs of forgiveness, it’s obvious she despises how kind and sincere Jeong-suk is at the moment. She also sets boundaries with Jeong-suk, making it clear that she’s not interested in becoming friends.

After her meeting with Seung-hi, Jeong-suk heads to the ER where Chairman Oh is found unconscious after he had collapsed. So-ra and other healthcare workers attempt to bring Chairman Oh back to life. They perform CPR on him and also use the defibrillator but nothing seems to work. But Jeong-suk won’t give up and she continues to perform CPR on him in an attempt to save his life. While So-ra and Jeong-suk take turns performing CPR, Jeong-suk gets distracted by something else outside of the room. She catches sight of Seung-hi and In-ho bumping into each other in the hallway but there’s something else that stands out to Jeong-suk: Seung-hi has on the same exact bracelet that In-ho also bought her as a birthday gift. Jeong-suk is so shocked she literally gets shocked by the defibrillator and she falls onto the ground unconscious.

My Thoughts:

Wake up, Jeong-suk! Wake up! Sometimes, this drama cracks me up with how funny and unserious it can be. One moment, you’re cheering for Jeong-suk then the next you’re crying because she finally feels alive again after so long and so you’re so happy for her. Then the next, you’re laughing at the ridiculousness of her passing out because she got distracted by her husband and his mistress during an emergency situation. But this is one of the charming things about ‘Doctor Cha’ and why it remains such a good watch. The episode is packed with various scenes and moments that make you feel all types of emotions and feelings. I get frustrated at In-ho and Seung-hi but then I start smiling like an idiot seeing Roy and Jeong-suk spend time together. ‘Doctor Cha’ really does do it all and does such a wonderful job at getting you to react and feel things.