MaryMeKpop

Now that everyone in the family is aware of In-ho’s actions and the outcomes of his decisions, they each decide how they want to proceed with the truth. While some might have a spot in their heart to forget, there are others who don’t want to forgive just yet.

Doctor Cha: Episode 14 Recap

Mother-in-law gets into an altercation with Professor Park’s wife in the lobby of the barbecue restaurant that Jeong-suk and the family are eating at. Jeong-suk and In-ho have to separate the two from fighting any further and the chaos intensifies even more when Professor Park’s wife accuses Mother-in-law of being a cheater like In-ho. This catches Mom’s attention and she reacts in shock to the news. Her son-in-law had an affair and a secret love child? And everyone else in the family knew and kept it a secret from Mom? Seung-hi and Eun-seo show up to the same exact restaurant right at that moment and they witness the chaos in the lobby. In-ho steps aside to request that the mother and daughter pair leave but they refuse. Why should they leave just because he asked? In-ho pleads for them to help him out for once but there’s nothing he can do. Mom wants to talk to him back at her house.

Eun-seo and Seung-hi leave and blow off some steam by eating at a street vendor instead. There, Eun-seo suggests that she and her mom leave to go back to the U.S. There, they can start over again. Back at Mom’s place, In-ho and Jeong-suk explain the truth to Mom. Mom connects the dots and she realizes that Seung-hi is the woman who In-ho is involved with and now it makes sense why Jeong-suk wanted to change her mom’s doctor. It also makes sense why Mother-in-law gifted Mom with a bunch of department store cosmetics. Mom isn’t so happy with either In-ho or Jeong-suk but she’s had enough. In-ho should spend the rest of his life begging for forgiveness from Jeong-suk and the news about the divorce? That’s up to them to decide and handle.

Mom wants to leave the hospital but she’s brought in for therapy treatment right away. Thankfully, Mom’s treatment goes well and she recovers in the hospital. Jeong-suk studies more about her mom’s rare condition and she even peeks at some of Seung-hi’s papers when she stops by Seung-hi’s office. Seung-hi too seems to be studying about her mom’s condition and diagnosis. In a meeting with the Family Medicine department, Seung-hi brings up Mom’s situation as a topic and they discuss her health. They’re a little confused at the moment with what Mom’s health condition is. After Mom’s treatment, she begins to pack her belongings to leave the hospital. Jeong-suk stops her mom and begs for her to stay to get treated. Gusan University Hospital is the best hospital there is and plus, she wants to be there with her mom during this difficult moment in their lives. Mom sympathizes with her daughter and they shed tears together.

Seung-hi receives an unexpected visit from I-rang while at work that night. I-rang apologies to Seung-hi for breaking Eun-seo’s arm and she also asks for Seung-hi to break up with In-ho. As punishment, I-rang will quit art school so that she and Eun-seo are on equal terms. After meeting with Seung-hi, I-rang visits her grandma in the hospital. Jung-min and Jeong-suk stop by shortly afterwards and the family all spend some time together. Afterwards, Jeong-suk takes Mom out for a night walk. Mom shares some words of wisdom to Jeong-suk and advises that Jeong-suk not view her life so miserably. Even if Mom was to die soon, she’d be happy with going as she feels like she’s lived a good life. Jeong-suk begins to cry after listening to her mom. When Jeong-suk and Mom return to the hospital, they receive a surprise party by I-rang and Jung-min. The two kids prepared their grandma a special celebration to celebrate her life and they even have some luxury gifts to give her. In-ho watches his family celebrate from outside in the hallway and there’s a part of him that wishes to be inside with his family. But all he can do is just watch from the window and try his best to smile. It’s safe to assume he was the one who bought the luxury gifts for his mother-in-law.

Seung-hi continues to work hard to study Mom’s condition and health. She even goes as far to contact a professor from the U.S. for further information and help. Mi-hee stops by the hospital to also visit Mom. Afterwards, she suggests that Jeong-suk move her mom to another hospital. There’s a professor who Mi-hee knows who can help take care of Mom at his hospital so Jeong-suk gives it a thought. But Seung-hi expresses her concerns about Mom’s health to Jeong-suk and she shares updates about Mom’s condition to Jeong-suk. It’s best if Mom stayed at their university hospital and not move to another one. Plus, Jeong-suk may be worried about her mom but Seung-hi is her mom’s doctor and she’s just as concerned too. Seung-hi also reminds Jeong-suk to take care of herself; she doesn’t look so good.

Thanks to Seung-hi’s leadership and hard work, Mom’s condition improves after some additional treatment. Mom is thankful to both Chief Lim and Seung-hi for their help and Jeong-suk also expresses her gratitude to Seung-hi. She thanks Seung-hi for treating her mom. But that still doesn’t mean that she’s forgiven Seung-hi. That’s when Seung-hi brings up the moment when I-rang visited her at her office and how I-rang was going to quit art school. After all the back and forth and honest conversations Seung-hi’s had with her daughter, she realizes that she and Jeong-suk had put their kids through too much. Their kids are the one who has suffered the most in all of this.

This conversation fuels Jeong-suk to complete her divorce application and she presents it to In-ho at work later on that day. She would rather divorce based on mutual agreement than have to take it to court but In-ho refuses to divorce Jeong-suk. Even if that means taking it to court and spending a fortune, he will do what he has to do to make sure the divorce doesn’t go through. Later on that night, In-ho stops by the street vendor that he and Seung-hi frequent together and sure enough, he spots Seung-hi sitting inside alone at a table. So he joins Seung-hi and he begins to rant and ramble to her about Jeong-suk’s divorce papers after drinking some alcohol. Jeong-suk is also doing some drinking of her own but with Mi-hee. She updates her best friend on the divorce papers as well. There’s too much going on at the moment to think about anyone else (cough cough Roy cough cough) and she’s certain that she won’t regret the divorce. There’s no knowing whether Seung-hi and In-ho will even be able to live a good life together once she divorces In-ho but even if they did, Jeong-suk knows that her relationship with In-ho is over.

Seung-hi attempts to get intoxicated In-ho home but he’s too out of it so she gives up. Jeong-suk also bids farewell to Mi-hee and the two share a warm hug before going back home. While Jeong-suk walks away, Mi-hee begins to feel lonely again. She assumes In-ho will go with Seung-hi and Jeong-suk will go with Roy. She’s reminded of her conversation with Roy the day that they went jogging without Jeong-suk there. She had asked him if he liked Jeong-suk in which he claimed that he didn’t. At least for the time being. He understood just how much she was going through and he wouldn’t want his feelings towards her to be a burden. So for now, he’ll hide his feelings and wait for her. Thinking about this just makes Mi-hee feel even lonelier. Aww, Mi-hee! 

Mother-in-law panics after being unable to get in contact with Professor Park. Did he steal her money and run away? A few seconds later, In-ho returns home after a night of too much drinking and he’s welcomed by his mom and a packet with divorce petition papers inside. In-ho confronts Jeong-suk about the divorce petition later on at work that day and he’s outraged at her actions. But Jeong-suk already had it prepared because she knew exactly how In-ho would react. She was ready for it. In-ho even goes as far as to claim that Jeong-suk is divorcing him because of.. Roy. Why would a young man like him be into Jeong-suk? Sheesh, In-ho just proved once again why Jeong-suk wanted to divorce him and she walks away disgusted. Lol.

Speaking of Roy, he receives news from the police station that they’ve found his biological family. So the first person he shares the good news with is Jeong-suk (EEEEK!) and he processes his conflicting thoughts with her. He’s still puzzled and hurt by why he was the one put up for adoption while his older siblings were raised by his parents. But he’s excited at the thought of finally reuniting with them. As excited as he is, he’s also really nervous and he asks Jeong-suk to accompany him on that fateful day.

Jung-min does some more research to figure out his options for enlistment. While updating So-ra on his plans, he admits that he wants some time to think. He’s not so sure what speciality he wants to go into and he only opted for the Surgery department because of his father. He assumes that So-ra won’t wait for him but So-ra is willing to. She just wants Jung-min to be explicit and clear on it. So Jung-min asks for So-ra to wait for him until after his military service is over and So-ra agrees. They give each other a warm hug afterwards.

Before being discharged, Mom visits Seung-hi in her office to bid farewell. She’s grateful for Seung-hi’s help in taking care of her and hands her a hand-written letter as a final gift. Once Mom leaves the office, Seung-hi takes the time to read the letter. Mom writes,

To Doctor Choi Seung-hi,

When I looked at you for a moment, I felt sympathy and affection for you like a daughter. Though I can no longer look at you with affection, I still feel that sympathy. The way I see the world has changed a bit after suffering from a serious illness. Before, my daily life seemed like nothing but now it feels so dear and precious. So I want to live whatever life I have left as a kinder person. It may be late but that’s what I’ve decided to do. I’m saying this to you as a fellow woman and mother. Do not abandon your chance to become a good person and mother. From now on, live an honorable life for yourself. That is when you’ll find real happiness.

After reading Mom’s letter, Seung-hi spends some time reflecting on her situation and she breaks down into tears. Maybe Mom’s honest but warm letter was what she needed. Meanwhile, Jeong-suk helps Mom return home after Mom is discharged from the hospital. The mother-daughter pair is just happy that Mom’s healthy and safe enough to go back home.

It’s the day that Roy had been waiting for. He and Jeong-suk wait at the police station together and it’s obvious Roy is extremely nervous. He thanks Jeong-suk for accompanying him before entering the room where his biological father and siblings are waiting for him. The meeting is awkward but Roy still holds onto some hope. However, any hope of rekindling a relationship with his biological family diminishes when he learns the real reason as to why they wanted to meet with him: their father has acute leukemia and they need someone who can do a bone marrow transplant. Roy is in disbelief that they wanted to meet with him solely for this reason and he leaves the room feeling dejected and disappointed. Not only is his biological mother gone but his living biological family members don’t care about him. It’s clear that the meeting did not go as well as Roy wanted so Jeong-suk does her best to cheer him up. They originally decide to take a taxi to go to work but Jeong-suk suggests that they jog instead. So the two stop by a store to buy some matching running shoes and off they jog to the hospital to grab some air and let off some steam. Aww, these two are the cutest.

The next day, Jeong-suk learns from Do-gyum and Chae-yoon that she’s been awarded Resident of the Month in the hospital. So Jeong-suk goes out to check for proof and sure enough, a photo of her is placed on the wall as ‘Best Medical Personnel of the Month.’ Jeong-suk is proud of herself and she even records a video to commemorate the wonderful news (we’re proud of you too Jeong-suk!). But the happiness only lasts for a few minutes for Jeong-suk. When she goes to use the restroom afterwards, she begins to cough and feel dizzy. The coughing continues and things escalate for Jeong-suk. She coughs out blood into some napkins and she reacts in shock at the horrible sight. Oh no.

My Thoughts:

It’s always one thing after another! Can we have some time to breathe for just a few seconds? Please? Maybe I need to go for a jog similar to the way that Jeong-suk and Roy did in this episode 🤣

With next week being finale week, it’s quite interesting what direction the drama has gone in and how it plans to wrap things up or what it wants its final chapter to look like. Unfortunately, the second half of the drama felt a little too busy for me and there were also some moments that felt filler-like and empty. They dragged out the whole let’s-keep-it-a-secret from Jeong-suk and then did something similar to Mom with these two latest episodes. Then there’s also the divorce that has felt like it’s been taking forever (even though it’s really only been two episodes). The drama took its time exploring these subplots and then introduced the final conflict: Jeong-suk’s health. It unfortunately caught up to her.