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This week’s episodes of “Resident Playbook” focused more on the personal, whether it was our very own residents, their family members, or their patients. Things in Do-won and Yi-young’s relationship also turned up a notch with Do-won taking things personal when he realized that he wasn’t the only person interested in Yi-young.

It felt as if Nam-kyung was the one in the spotlight in episodes 7 and 8. It was fun watching her train and teach intern Gi-on (in a much nicer and more approachable way) and then realize that he actually was doing much better than she expected. Then in episode 8, things got personal for her as her mother ended up getting hospitalized and had surgery done at the Yulje hospital. The running joke so far in the drama has been about her on-and-off relationship with her ex-boyfriend but this time we got to see another side of her story. It was heartwarming to see her spend time with her mom. The farewell scene in episode 8 between Nam-kyung and her mom especially stood out to me. Nam-kyung hoped that she wouldn’t see her mom at the hospital again because doing so meant that her mom was sick. On the other hand, her mom thought differently about her hospital visit. Since Nam-kyung was busy, she didn’t really get as many opportunities and chances to see her daughter so even though she was hospitalized and had surgery and there were some concerns over that, she got to finally spend some meaningful time with her daughter. The difference in their perspectives over Mom’s hospitalization was so interesting and fascinating to see. When her mom was at the hospital, Nam-kyung was always worried about her whether it was about her health or that she would talk too much and say something troublesome. Even though Mom was in the hospital because of her health, she remained positive and reassured because she was with her daughter. Nam-kyung nagged at her mom, scolded her, and showed her plenty of tough love, but it was obvious that she loved her mom. Sometimes, it’s embarrassing to be affectionate and loving so you show that appreciation for your parents in your own special ways (I’m looking at you too, Geum-myeong *wink wink*).

In episode 8, we saw things get personal for our other residents as well: Sa-bi ended up getting surgery so she experienced what it was like to be on the other side as a patient for once. Even though she was technically a patient, she was still hungry for work and kept on visiting her friends in the meeting room and stayed involved. This displayed Sa-bi’s desire and determination to be great at her job and to do well which is consistent with her character. It’s traits that we’ve seen from her plenty of times throughout the drama. Thankfully, her surgery ended well and nothing bad happened to her but I did wish the drama had expanded on her sub-plot a little bit more. If the drama actually used her surgery to convey the message and lesson that it’s okay to rest and it’s okay to not focus on work so much and that it’s okay to take breaks, I think I would have liked it a little bit more. The drama could have done something new and intentional with her surgery but instead, things kind of felt a bit futile in the end. I’m not really sure if any message or lesson came out of Sa-bi’s surgery? It was such a different experience for Sa-bi and our 3 other residents too so I wished the drama could have done something a little bit more with it. Instead of treating patients, they were taking care of their own friend who was now a patient. The drama could have done more with this part.

Another theme that the drama emphasized on was connected to Yi-young and her sharing her sister’s personal story to comfort one of her patients. In this situation, Doctor Seo wasn’t so sure how to console or comfort the patient and deliver the unfortunate news about her baby. However, Yi-young knew what she had to do to get to the patient and she managed to get the patient to eat and feed herself. Fortunately, Doctor Seo was there to listen to the conversation unfold. This once again spoke volumes about Yi-young’s maturity and growth. It was another example of how she connects and comforts her patients in her own way (like how we saw her do in episode 5 with the little girl who lost her mother). It was also an example of how every situation with every patient is different so the most fitting person for that patient and their situation will also be different. The sunbaes/seniors are the ones who are expected to have all the answers and know how to do everything but that’s not always the case. What Doctor Seo wasn’t sure how to do, Yi-young was able to do. Yi-young cared for the patient and showed that she had the skills and knowledge even as a first-year resident. It was similar to what we saw in episode 7 with intern Gi-on and Nam-kyung. Gi-on trained under Nam-kyung but he ended up doing much better than she expected. Even though he was only an intern, he learned quickly and did well (sometimes even better than Nam-kyung herself). The hoobaes/juniors in the hospital have their own strengths and skills as well and can utilize these strengths in different situations and with various patients.

Lastly, I can’t review episodes 7 and 8 without talking about Do-won and Yi-young. Things heated up between the two thanks to the addition of a new guy who sort of served as Do-won’s rival. I get that some people didn’t like the love triangle but I didn’t necessarily see it that way. The guy was merely used as a device to get Do-won to recognize his feelings for Yi-young and act out of fear and anxiety. Do-won had a reason to finally act now that there was this new guy in the picture. The other part about their relationship that I really liked was when Do-won returned to the operating room to help Yi-young with a surgery even though he was supposed to be on vacation. His appearance alone was so awesome and relieving but then when Do-won and Yi-young’s national anthem started playing, the scene got 10 times better. Also, I didn’t perceive this moment as a “male lead comes in to swoop and save female lead” moment that we see often in other dramas. Yi-young clearly was nervous and wasn’t ready yet (as smart and competent as she is, she still is only a first-year resident). Plus, we’re talking about someone’s life here and it was a good thing that Do-won stepped in to help her with the surgery.

All in all, I enjoyed episodes 5 and 6 a little bit more than I did with this week’s episodes but that’s not a bad thing. If anything, I liked that this week’s episodes were a bit different: things got more personal for our residents so we got to see new sides of them than before. This time, we saw them not only as residents but also as daughters, friends, colleagues, and love interests.