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Jeong-suk finally starts to reap some rewards and benefits for her genuine personality and good work ethic. Just when it seems like her current situation is bleak and giving up is the easier option, she learns firsthand that hard work does indeed pay off and that kindness does go a long way.

Doctor Cha: Episode 5 Recap

Jeong-suk passes out and falls onto the ground after getting electrocuted by the defibrillator while performing CPR on Chairman Oh. In-ho who was nearby catches sight of the scene and he carries Jeong-suk out of the room to get checked out. Thankfully, Jeong-suk recovers and she wakes up to find Jung-min and So-ra by her side. Jung-min updates her on how In-ho carried her to the emergency room and In-ho even calls Jung-min to keep checking in with his mom. Seung-hi who was also present during the situation grows upset just thinking about it and she removes In-ho’s bracelet from her wrist for the time being.

So-ra continues to grow suspicious of the relationship between Jung-min and Jeong-suk and she’s not quite sure how she feels about seeing them together. I-rang is busy preparing for art school admission while Jeong-suk encounters Seung-hi at work. She notices that Seung-hi is no longer wearing the same bracelet that In-ho claimed to have gotten her as a birthday gift so she assumes that she must have been imagining things. Roy is also informed by some colleagues about Jeong-suk’s situation at work and he grows concerned for his friend. He debates on whether to send her a text or not but he refrains himself from contacting her.

Jeong-suk pays Chairman Oh a visit after the incident and she learns that he’s agreed to have surgery with their hospital. He no longer plans on going to the U.S. for the surgery largely thanks to Jeong-suk who saved his life. He elaborates by describing the out-of-body experience he had while Jeong-suk was performing CPR on his physical body. He took that time to explore the hospital and he noticed just how hateful his own bodyguard as well as his son felt towards him. Once Chairman Oh returned inside of his body, he realized that he needed to live and that dying would only be a loss for him. Jeong-suk relates to Chairman Oh since she also almost lost her life and she’s relieved that he agreed to the surgery. She visits her next patient left – the elderly lady Jang Hae-nam – and passes on the good news about Chairman Oh. But Hae-nam’s reaction is drastically different; she’s thankful that she was diagnosed with cancer. She considers it as punishment for the murder she committed. After visiting her patients, the correction officer standing outside Hae-nam’s room requests for some medicine from Jeong-suk. While searching for the medicine, Jeong-suk bumps into Roy who purposely swung by the room to check in with Jeong-suk. He feels relieved to see her healthy and recovered. Aww, I like Roy so much.

When Jeong-suk returns home, I-rang approaches her for some help with her art school admissions. But Mom is exhausted and she knocks out while I-rang is talking. I-rang grows frustrated with Jeong-suk again and assumes that her mother doesn’t care about her. In-ho who was eavesdropping on their conversation addresses the issue with Jeong-suk later on that night. After gifting her with her birthday bracelet, he brings up the situation with I-rang as a chance to get Jeong-suk to change her mind on completing residency. Maybe Jeong-suk should delay residency to help I-rang get into what he assumes is medical school. Jeong-suk acknowledges that her relationship with I-rang and her support towards her kids have been impacted since she’s started work and she takes it into consideration. Speaking of kids, Jeong-suk mentions to In-ho how Seung-hi also has a daughter. In-ho feigns ignorance and pretends to be shocked at the information before leaving the room.

Hae-nam suffers a nightmare where her husband is physically abusing her and her young daughter after returning home angry and intoxicated. She wakes up exhausted and frightened from the dream. The next morning allows for celebration when Jeong-suk receives her first paycheck. Woo hoo! She calls Mom first thing upon receiving the notification and offers to buy Mom anything she wants. Even though Mom tells Jeong-suk to spend the money on herself, Jeong-suk is selfless and she uses her well-deserved paycheck to buy everyone in her family a gift (aww, this is why I love Jeong-suk so much!).

The competition between In-ho and Roy intensifies and they go at it while discussing Chairman Oh’s surgery during a lecture. In-ho successfully performs the surgery on the man and Jeong-suk celebrates with her patient afterwards. She surprises him with a gift that she bought for him and Chairman Oh is touched by the unexpected kindness and present. Even though the gift isn’t a brand name, he’ll still keep it. Haha. While on the elevator at work, Seung-hi is joined by Jeong-suk so they stand in the same elevator awkwardly for a few seconds. When Jeong-suk exits, Seung-hi notices the bracelet on her wrist and she grows upset. While driving home, Seung-hi catches one of her residents, Chae-yoon, walking on the sidewalk so she offers to give Chae-yoon a ride. But the car ride home isn’t the most comfortable as Seung-hi grows upset when Chae-yoon brings up the dating rumors regarding Jeong-suk and In-ho. She warns Chae-yoon to never talk about the rumors again and notes that Jeong-suk and In-ho haven’t done anything together to warrant those rumors.

Seung-hi briefly meets with In-ho afterwards and takes her anger out on him. How can she wear the bracelet he got her when he also bought Jeong-suk the same exact one? But In-ho explains his side of the story and all he can do is apologize. Seung-hi then goes to pick up Eun-seo after her meeting with In-ho so Eun-seo bids farewell with I-rang. But Eun-seo is fed up with her mom and the two fight that night about In-ho. We learn that Eun-seo’s dad is In-ho but she doesn’t refer to him as her father because she has to keep her mom’s relationship with her dad a secret. So Eun-seo wants to know how much longer will she have to wait? How much longer will she have to hide her identity? Seung-hi asks for Eun-seo to wait just a little bit longer but even Eun-seo is aware that In-ho would never leave his family to be with them. All Seung-hi is is his mistress. Oof.

Seung-hi targets Jeong-suk again at work and assigns her a bunch of tasks and duties to do. But Jeong-suk never complains and she does them as she’s told. All the hard work and late nights end up catching up to Jeong-suk and her nose starts to bleed while she greets Roy at work. The two discuss Jeong-suk’s health afterwards and he reminds her that she must take care of her health. Her health comes first. Additionally, the rivalry between In-ho and Roy intensifies with every surgery and interaction. Meanwhile, So-ra addresses the dating rumors between In-ho and Jeong-suk with Jeong-suk herself. Are they dating or seeing each other? Jeong-suk nervously responds that there’s nothing going on between them but So-ra doesn’t seem all that convinced. While talking to Jung-min, So-ra can’t seem to understand why Jeong-suk is so popular with the men in the hospital. First In-ho, then Roy, and even Jung-min. Haha. Please leave Jung-min out of this T_T

Jeong-suk accompanies Hae-nam to get some tests and the correction officer who was assigned to watch Hae-nam is unable to go since she’s not feeling so well. So with that, Jeong-suk goes with Hae-nam to their destination but along the way, they receive a surprise visit from Seung-hi who once again assigns Jeong-suk with another unexpected task. Jeong-suk leaves Hae-nam alone for just a few seconds to have a talk with Seung-hi but Hae-nam gets distracted at the sight of a young girl and she escapes from her wheelchair. Since the handcuffs on her wrist was also loosened by the correction officer just a few minutes earlier, Hae-nam is able to walk away and out of the hospital. When Jeong-suk returns to the same location where she left Hae-nam, she’s horrified at the sight of the empty wheelchair.

Hae-nam walks to the bus station and asks a stranger for some money for a taxi. After getting into a taxi, she converses with the taxi driver on her destination. She wants to see her daughter one last time before she dies but she can’t remember the name of the specific location where she wants to go. The taxi driver turns Hae-nam in to the police station and news about Hae-nam’s discovery is relayed back to the hospital. Jeong-suk who was yelled at by Chief Yoon for her irresponsibility is tremendously relieved at the news. But things aren’t over just yet and she has a meeting with Chief Lim to discuss her work conditions. Because of the incident with Hae-nam, he suggests that Jeong-suk maybe give it some thought and consider quitting her position. But Jeong-suk finds it unfair that the incident led others to believe she’s incompetent just because of her age . She still is a first-year resident after all and is learning on the job.

So with all that has happened to Jeong-suk, she begins to have doubts about whether she can actually keep up with both work and family. She doesn’t feel as confident and she begins to second guess herself. While going on a walk with Roy later on that night after work, she expresses these doubts and questions to Roy. Roy suggests that Jeong-suk quit if she’s not confident that she’ll succeed. It’s better to do it sooner than later.

While it seems like Jeong-suk is alone in this fight, there’s someone who’s on her side actively rooting for her. It’s none other than Chairman Oh and he dedicates some of his time to listen to her talk about her concerns and to provide her with comfort. He believes in her and is confident that she’ll go on to become a great doctor. Just like with anything else, he advises that she learn and improve and take things one step at a time. Chairman Oh expresses his confidence in Jeong-suk and just hearing these words of affirmation causes Jeong-suk to tear up. It feels nice to hear someone believe in her and give her such encouraging words after everything she’s gone through so far with work. Chairman Oh’s words reminds Jeong-suk of her own father which makes her even more emotional.

Afterwards, Jeong-suk visits In-ho in his office to have a chat. In-ho uses the excuse of the dating rumors floating around the hospital as a reason to discourage Jeong-suk from continuing her residency. But he doesn’t need to expand any further for Jeong-suk confesses that she’ll quit her residency. Her health and her relationship with I-rang has suffered as a result of work so she feels as if it’s best to quit. In-ho secretly celebrates the news and relays the message to Seung-hi as soon as he can. This is what they both wanted. Jeong-suk also shares the news with her mother later on that day when Mom visits Jeong-suk at work. Mom is understanding of Jeong-suk’s decision and respects whatever decision her daughter feels is best for herself. Aww, I love these two.

Jeong-suk visits Chief Lim’s office to also share her final decision with him but there’s something he wants to show her. So Chief Lim ends up bringing Jeong-suk to an auditorium where a small event is being held. Inside the room are doctors and residents alike watching Chairman Oh speak about the huge donation he’s made towards the hospital. He expresses his gratitude to In-ho and Roy for operating on him during his surgery but there’s also another person who he wants to thank. And it’s none other than our best first-year resident, Jeong-suk (WOO HOO!! THAT’S MY DOCTOR!!). Chairman Oh invites Jeong-suk onto the stage as he showers her with praise for her kindness and compassion. She treated him differently than many other people and she also helped save his life. He’ll never forget the way Jeong-suk treated him while he was at the hospital and it’s something he’ll remember for the rest of his life.

So with that, Chairman Oh announces to the audience that he won’t allow Jeong-suk to be dismissed or removed from the hospital. If she is, he’ll take back every penny of his donation. He also holds the hospital accountable and vows to check in occasionally to make sure that Jeong-suk succeeds. Chairman Oh is willing to do whatever it takes to help her and he announces his full support for her loud and clear in front of everyone. So everyone acknowledges Jeong-suk’s hard work and kind personality by giving her a round of applause. Of course, Seung-hi and In-ho aren’t happy about the surprise and they exit the event early. After snapping a few photos with Chairman Oh and In-ho on stage, Jeong-suk catches up with Roy a few seconds later and is asked by him if she still plans on quitting. But with the recent change of events, Jeong-suk has no plans to quit and she walks off the stage with a huge smile on her face. Jeong-suk stays winnin’.

My Thoughts:

Ahh, just when I thought the drama couldn’t get any better, it continues to surprise me and impress in new ways. I feel like I’ve been saying this but this episode was probably its best one yet for just how complete, wholesome, and hopeful it was. You felt like you were there with Jeong-suk as she experienced a roller coaster of emotions and feelings about work, life, her health, and her family. We knew she always had what it took to succeed and to prove everyone wrong and it’s been eye-opening to see her return to the workplace after a long 20-year hiatus. But to see her struggle the way she did in this episode to the point where she doubted herself and then end up victorious in the end? You love to see it!