Summary
Episode 4 demonstrates the hardships of balance between personal and professional in the medical field as Jun-wan has a lot to contend with.
This recap of the Netflix K-Drama series Hospital Playlist season 2, episode 4 contains major spoilers.
Read the recap of the previous episode.
Based on last week’s preview, we sensed that this would be a Jun-wan-centric chapter, and it duly delivers. He’s having a hard time, which makes for an emotionally striking approach of a hardworking professor who has barely got the time to dabble in personal issues. It’s a reminder that medical professionals sacrifice a lot, personally and romantically, for their job. Let’s recap episode 4.
Jun-wan is fretting about his girlfriend after she suffers from an injury
The episode opens with Jun-wan learning from Se-gyeong that Ik-sun is in the hospital after an accident. He wants to know as soon as she’s out. Se-gyeong tells him not to worry as her injury isn’t that bad, but Jun-wan struggles with the information. Ik-sun rings and says she’s fine, but he doesn’t buy it, saying she had bleeding in her brain, but she explains it’s a minor issue. Jun-wan cannot stop fretting, but she tells him to stop worrying. You can sense from his concerns that he feels there’s more than a minor medical problem, but a this of the chapter, Jun-wan cannot wrap his head around the situation.
Jun-wan delivers good news to Min-chan’s parents about the new heart
Ru-bin is out of surgery, so Jun-wan updates the parents and tells them not to worry about the recovery. He then diverts his attention to Min-chan’s parents with good news; he tells them that their child is getting used to their new heart. The parents head for lunch, and Min-chan’s mother notices Eun-ji’s mother looking lonely and sad.
It’s a difficult scenario for her. Her child has had a positive outcome, while the other mother’s child waits for a transplant. It must be difficult to navigate that social and health situation with a mother in a different scenario by circumstance.
Taking on Professor Cheon’s patients // Jae-hak talks about Jun-wan’s social media
During lunch, Jun-wan speaks to resident Jae-hak about how Professor Cheon is at a conference, and he’s taking three of his patients, including Lee Gyeong-mi, but he doesn’t think he can do much for her, despite how lonely she is in her condition. And then, Jae-hak shows Jun-wan his wife on social media, which irks him. Jae-hak tells the professor he has little to show on his social media and that he should share his life more with his girlfriend. He gives him advice so other people can discover him, but Jun-wan only wants his girlfriend to see his posts.
Eun-ji has motor function problems/time is running out
Jae-hak learns that Eun-ji has lost motor function down one side and rings Jun-wan. He tells him that the child needs a CT scan and asks him to update the mother.
After the scan, there’s no clue as to what has happened, but the motor function has returned. Jae-hak thinks Ik-jun should talk to the mother to reassure her. So he does and explains that their daughter had a micro-embolism. He says it could happen again, and that time is running out. The mother explains how every day feels like torture, and she’s exhausted. Ik-jun tells her not to give up, and they will find a heart transplant.
This felt like a promise from Jun-wan, and a risky one, which says a lot about his state of mind.
Song-hwa gives relationship advice to Seon-bin
Song-hwa asks Seon-bin if she’s made up with Seok-min yet, but it appears they haven’t. They’ve had a bit of a fight over career choices, and she hasn’t seen him for two weeks. She fears they will break up. Song-hwa tells her to take her time, and things will work out.
Relive the moment where Ik-jun nearly gives away Professor Ahn’s secret:
Ahn Jeong-won’s project and dream
Ahn Jeong-won wants to set up a patient guardian shelter for patients who live far away and tells Song-hwa and Ik-jun about it after agreeing on terms with the director. He says his ultimate dream is to build a children’s hospital. Professor Ahn is also getting a loan to help get a house.
Jun-wan opens up to Ik-jun, but not about Ik-sun
Ik-jun asks Jun-wan if he’s eaten, so he takes him for a coffee. He tells him to cut down on surgeries. Jun-wan explains he has recently had a lot on his mind, including Eun-ji’s wait for a heart transplant, which is causing problems. Jun-wan also raises that it is his father’s birthday, and he hasn’t been able to talk to him yet.
I like how these friends can always sense when something is wrong.
Seon-bin has a concern over a patient
And then episode 4 switches to Seon-bin, who learns a valuable lesson as a doctor after an altercation with a colleague over a patient.
Seon-bin has concerns over patient Won Jin-hwan. A navigation-guided biopsy has been performed, and they have detected ICH (a type of hemorrhage) around the biopsy site. She thinks they may have poked too far with a needle. A fellow colleague tells her that a tumor biopsy can cause bleeding and to monitor for the patient for now; however, you can tell she doesn’t buy it.
Seon-bin returns to the patient and asks them to lift their arms. She has a hunch. She thinks Won Jin-hwan has a bleed in the MCA distal branch due to a lower motor function. She keeps checking on the patient but then realizes his pupils have dilated even more. She’s stressed, and she wants urgent help from Professor Min. She prepares the intubation.
Song-hwa tells Seon-bin that she should have trusted her judgment
Professor Min tells the team that if anything bad happens to this patient, it’s on them. The surgery happens, and then Seon-bin doesn’t leave the patient’s side. Afterward, Seon-bin talks to Song-hwa about the patient. Song-hwa tells Seon-bin that she had every right to be angry at her colleague, but she should have fought him earlier and trusted her judgment, meaning it was her fault.
These were wise words from Song-hwa. Reputation is less important than a patient’s welfare in these scenarios.
Ik-sun has fallen for someone else and breaks the news to Jun-wan
It goes from bad to worse for Jun-wan in episode 4 as he receives heartbreaking news.
Jun-wan calls Ik-sun after she requested a private conversation. She reveals a bombshell — that she has fallen for someone else. She apologizes, and Jun-wan is broken by it. He asks if it is Se-gyeong, and the silence says it all. Jun-wan’s friends are worried about him, feeling he has lost weight and gets lonely very quickly. Ahn Jeong-won rings him, and Jun-wan doesn’t want to answer. He isn’t entertaining telling his friends about his personal problems.
A heart is available for Eun-ji
But with bad news comes good news in episode 4.
Jun-wan learns that there’s a potential donor for Eun-ji. Suddenly, he’s full of energy and life and wants to jump on the opportunity. He asks his colleagues to prepare for the surgery. He then speaks to Eun-ji’s mother to deliver the news. In this scene, there’s such emotional weight; Jun-wan finds light on a dark day and gives the light in Eun-ji’s mother’s darkness.
He gives the breakdown to the parents; due to the long dependency of the VAD, there are risks, but he tells them he will do his best to save Eun-ji.
The ending of Hospital Playlist season 2, episode 4
Ik-jun receives a call from his sister Ik-sun; she’s found out her liver somatic index is over 300, and the bile ducts are swollen. He tells her not to cry and come home because it is serious. But then his sister drops a telling statement and tells him to keep the news to himself if she returns home, including her parents and…Jun-wan. Ik-jun is in shock as he looks at Jun-wan, knowing what all this means. The question is — has Ik-sun really fallen for someone else, or is she trying to protect Jun-wan due to her medical condition? It isn’t easy to gauge at this stage.
Jae-hak learns that Lee Gyeong-mi has many visitors because Jun-wan has used his social media account to raise awareness of the patient’s condition. The patient doesn’t feel lonely anymore, and Jae-hak smiles — he still cannot figure the professor out.
Medical records
- Ahn Jeong-won reassures Ba-da’s parents before she goes into surgery.
- Ik-jun has a patient who travels far to go to the medical center. He decides to work around their schedule, so it isn’t an exhausting visit.
- Seon-bin asks Song-hwa if she likes to study, and she admits she enjoys the human brain. And that she enjoys treating patients and wonders if it is weird. Seon-bin laughs it off.
- Song-hwa and Ik-jun enjoy coffee and a walk together. They talk about the overbearing nature of mothers; Song-hwa feels her mother sends too much extra food.
- Seok-min apologizes to Seon-bin and admits he has been insecure. He gives her flowers and wants forgiveness and reconciliation.
What did you think of Hospital Playlist season 2, episode 4? Comment below.
