[ad_1]
Doctor Slump: Episodes 1-2
by lovepark
Two high school rivals meet again years after they have fallen out of touch, but unlike their bright-eyed past selves, they have become drained and disenchanted. As they experience the worse slump of their lives, this unexpected reunion sparks something within them, hinting at a cute romance on the horizon with a lot of bickering along the way.
EPISODES 1-2
Three minutes. That’s all it takes for our leads’ worlds to come crashing down, but before we see them at their lowest, the show rewinds to 2009: the period of their youth, hope, and dreams. We begin in Busan where NAM HA-NEUL (Park Shin-hye) is the top student in her school — nay, the entire nation — and for good reason. She times every minute of her day to maximize her studying and sticks to her schedule even in the middle of a family feud. Who cares if her aunts are pulling hair in the background, these math problems won’t solve themselves!
We don’t stay in Busan for long, however, since Ha-neul convinces her widowed mom to move the family to Seoul, and the story begins in earnest as our female lead runs into her future rival and love interest: YEO JUNG-WOO (Park Hyung-shik). Like Ha-neul, Jung-woo also aced the mock exam, and while he might not seem as competitive as her, he isn’t above racing her to class in the morning to see who gets in more study time. Heh.
After this brief introduction, the show returns to the present, and we learn that only Jung-woo got into the top medical school in the nation. Life has been a series of wins for our handsome plastic surgeon who now runs a successful YouTube channel, mask pack business, and several clinics.
Right at the height of his career, a mysterious patient visits him for surgery, and in the blink of an eye, his life crumbles. The operation goes wrong and the patient dies on his table from excessive blood loss. Then, in the ensuing court case, the prosecution finds damning evidence pointing towards medical negligence. Jung-woo is left with an enormous debt, and everything — his friends, status, reputation — is left in tatters.
While Jung-woo faces the biggest defeat of his life, the world has not necessarily been kind to Ha-neul, either. A mistake during her exams cost her a spot at her dream school, but despite this setback, she still attended medical school and became an anesthesiologist. Unfortunately, being a doctor is not as glamorous as she hoped since she spends her days working grueling hours with little to no recognition. In fact, she gets berated by her superior for a rejected thesis and is forced to take undesirable emergency operations.
All this overwork and lack of proper meals eventually catch up to her, and Ha-neul faints in the middle of a crosswalk. As a truck comes barreling towards her, she thinks to herself that it would be better to die. In the last second, the truck swerves, and no one is hurt — at least, physically. The accident leaves Ha-neul with an emotional scar, and when she seeks treatment for it, the doctor tells her that she is experiencing depression and burnout. Her response: “I don’t have time for depression!”
Instead of her prescribed medication, Ha-neul chooses a pack of beers to heal her heart and trudges up to her house’s rooftop to drink in peace. She finds the place occupied, though, and comes face to face with her old rival. Both Ha-neul and Jung-woo scream as they realize that they just became neighbors, and we go back to their high school days in order to understand their current exasperation.
Since two suns can’t exist in the sky, either Ha-neul or Jung-woo must be the top student at their school, and their classmates take bets on who will place first. When midterms roll around, Ha-neul dethrones the old king, and Jung-woo nearly faints in class when he sees his score.
This incident awakens his dormant competitiveness, and Jung-woo makes it his goal to beat Ha-neul in everything. If she eats a packet of instant coffee, then he’ll chug down two! Of course, to everyone else who hears their story, it sounds like a classic enemies-to-lovers tale, but Ha-neul and Jung-woo are adamant about keeping their relationship firmly in nemesis territory.
While Jung-woo frets over his housing predicament, Ha-neul has bigger worries on her mind. She tries to confide in her best friend LEE HONG-RAN (Gong Sung-ha) about her recent diagnosis, but the latter assumes she is speaking casually rather than medically. Thus, when Jung-woo confronts Ha-neul about their situation, she tells him to do whatever he wants and yawns at his long-winded sob story.
Finding a place to rent turns out to be surprisingly difficult for Jung-woo since the world thinks he killed a patient. Despite all the negative press, a cheerleader of sorts appears quietly in his corner in the form of plastic surgeon BIN DAE-YOUNG (Yoon Park). While Dae-young wastes no time bad-mouthing Jung-woo every chance he gets, this oddball doctor believes in Jung-woo’s innocence and refuses to encroach on his turf while he is away. His actions may be admirable, but his nursing staff wishes he would invest more in his empty clinic than worry about a competitor.
As for the mystery surrounding the case, Jung-woo’s investigation leads him to the anesthesiologist who was present during the operation, but he has nothing concrete to suggest foul play. After seeking advice from his senior, Jung-woo runs into Ha-neul at the hospital, and his old ways kick in. Trailing behind her, he mocks her for being a hotshot doctor, and their conversation dissolves into a petty argument about who did better in high school.
This little tiff brightens Ha-neul’s mood for a moment, but then, she finds herself standing in front of her superior again with papers flung into her face. Rubbing salt into the wound, her superior orders her to assist him in a VVIP’s surgery, and Ha-neul basically saves his incompetent butt in the OR.
During her next session, Ha-neul tells her doctor that she feels chest pains, and he explains that depression can manifest itself physically as well as emotionally. He prescribes her immediate rest, and Ha-neul grows quiet as she grasps the severity of her condition.
While Ha-neul debates over what to do, life forces her to make a swift decision when her scummy superior throws her under the bus for his mistake. She realizes that her job isn’t worth the cost of her deteriorating body and fights back. He tries to make her submit by using violence, but Ha-neul kicks him in the shin, causing him to kneel instead. She tosses her badge on the table, and news of her resignation spreads like wildfire.
Hong-ran runs to Ha-neul’s house after hearing the rumors, and she accidentally reveals her friend’s secret to her mom. Though Ha-neul tries to explain the situation without divulging details, Mom is too proud of her “doctor daughter” to understand why she would quit. Finally, Ha-neul blurts out that she has depression, but Mom refuses to believe her. She restates her denial which only isolates Ha-neul further, and she asks her mom if can’t even be sick. As Ha-neul rushes out of the house, Jung-woo watches her leave from the stairwell where he overheard their entire conversation.
Later that night, Jung-woo finds Ha-neul loitering outside the house and invites her out for some soju. She accepts his offer only if he will drink three bottles with her, but before they head off, he wraps his sweater around her shoulders. The proximity flusters both of them, but Jung-woo claims that he was merely embarrassed about her scrubs.
As the pair walk into a bar, they coincidentally end up at their high school reunion where a drunk classmate drags them to their table. If his pushiness wasn’t already a bad sign, he immediately starts gossiping about Jung-woo to his face, and our poor doctor learns, once again, that he never had anyone on his side from the beginning.
Walking home, Jung-woo asks why Ha-neul keeps following him, and she reminds him that they live in the same place. He asks if her offer to drink still stands, so they relocate to a quieter bar away from any familiar faces.
Since everything is a competition with these two, they start fighting about who can hold their liquor better, and their pity-party becomes a quarrel between drunks pretending to be sober. Ha-neul eventually lets him win since she pities him and tells him that unlike her, he is in a mess not of his own doing. Though she finds him childish, she knows he would never do anything bad and lie to cover it up. For the first time, Jung-woo hears someone wholeheartedly believe in his innocence and holds back his tears.
As Ha-neul teases him, Jung-woo offhandedly comments on how he might be depressed but immediately apologizes for it. He explains how he heard her talking to her mom earlier, and Ha-neul opens up to him. She was always the type to save the best for last, and she foolishly treated happiness the same way. She relates her illness to a panfacial fracture, and her use of a medical term ignites Jung-woo’s studious side. He derails their heartfelt conversation, but this silly detour cheers both of them up.
During their stroll home, Jung-woo reveals that he always wanted to flick her on the forehead, and Ha-neul returns the sentiment. They agree to one flick each, and Ha-neul goes first. She sends Jung-woo reeling back after her hit, but right as he attempts his turn, she receives a text from her mom.
After finding Ha-neul’s medication hidden in her room, Mom cried on her bed and realized her mistake. Texting her daughter, she told her that her health was more important than success and said that she loved her no matter what.
Ha-neul cries as she reads those words, and seeing her tears, Jung-woo can’t contain his waterworks, either. As the two of them weep, they throw themselves into each other’s arms, and though they might regret this hug tomorrow, right now they choose to forget some of their pain together.
A good rom-com hinges on its main pair, and in that regard, I think Doctor Slump is off to a strong start. Individually, Ha-neul and Jung-woo are charming leads, and I found both of their struggles deeply sympathetic. Ha-neul has spent her entire life striving for a specific goal only to discover that she neglected her health for an empty treasure chest. The feeling of disillusionment and the following loneliness was handled gracefully, and I’m glad the show is treating her illness matter-of-factly instead of as an anomaly or moral failing. As for Jung-woo, his situation may be less relatable, but the resulting emotions strike a similar chord. Like Ha-neul, he feels alone, and the people he trusted most have abandoned him. However, what makes Jung-woo endearing as a character is the fact that he genuinely cares for others which is why their betrayals hurt him so much.
While I enjoy both characters separately, I also think that their appeal is amplified when they’re together. There’s a comfortable rapport between Ha-neul and Jung-woo that stems from their childhood rivalry, and because of their history, an undercurrent of familiarity and safety permeates their interactions. Since both characters have hit a slump in their life, the ability to act childishly around another person is actually a blessing. With each other, Ha-neul and Jung-woo don’t have to mask their emotions, and they are transported to a simpler time when all their worries consisted of solving math problems and eating powdered coffee without choking. Their bond also works because both of them are accepting of the other’s struggle. They don’t judge nor belittle the other for “failing,” so they instinctively feel safe around each other because of this unspoken understanding and mutual compassion.
The two Parks are doing a wonderful job portraying their characters in every iteration (even their high school flashbacks are a treat), but a lot of the show’s draw should be credited to the directing as well. The editing is fast, the compositions are lovely, and the use of negative space to convey emotions is beautiful and haunting at times. I also like how the show doesn’t drag out conflict needlessly, and one of my favorite moments this week was the confrontation between Ha-neul and her mom.
My heart hurt for Ha-neul during that argument because the show made it painfully clear how hard it was for her to admit her condition. At first, she tried to downplay her situation — she just needs rest, she says — but when her mom pushes her to be honest, Ha-neul finally admits that she’s sick. The gut-wrenching part, though, is Mom’s initial reaction — denying the very thing Ha-neul worked so hard to share — yet the show doesn’t demonize her mom and instead adds nuance to her character, too. Mom’s denial came from a place of misguided love, and her refusal was less of a reflection of Ha-neul’s failing but her own. She didn’t want to believe her perfect daughter was silently struggling this entire time, so she lashed out.
The show could have left their argument at that, but they chose to deal with this issue immediately and have Mom confront the truth. We see her go from denial to acceptance, and with that, she expresses her true feelings to her daughter, giving Ha-neul the support she needed all along. It’s the way the show treats its side characters from the second leads to Ha-neul’s family that makes me think the story is in good hands, and maybe this healing rom-com will be healing after all.
RELATED POSTS
[ad_2]
Source link
