Summary
Doctor Slump takes the surprising approach of tying up one of its core mysteries already, leaving space for the central relationship to flourish.
Every episode of Doctor Slump has been cute and charming thus far, but Episode 7 might be the cutest and most charming of the lot, and it benefits from a deeper focus on Jeong-woo. He has already been through the wringer in Season 1, and that doesn’t look to be changing any time soon, but the gradual erasure of his defense mechanisms and protective walls, exposing a young man in drastic need of love beneath, will only make viewers who have been charmed by him already more determined to see him eventually find some measure of happiness with Na-neul.
Jeong-woo’s issues stem back to his childhood. He was always an overachiever, but that meant always being alone, focusing on his work and his studies. His parents were there but never present, never supporting him, sympathizing with him, or encouraging him. He never really had a childhood.
This makes what’s going on in the present day even harder for him to deal with since all he has known is success without support, and now his success is in real jeopardy and support is what he desperately needs.
After the cliffhanger ending of Episode 6, Jeong-woo loses the man he was pursuing. Luckily, the figure behind Ha-neul turns out to have been her brother, and her discovery is a hidden camera which she and Jeong-woo take to the police. However, since it’s damaged, they can’t recover any of the footage it recorded.
Jeong-woo is still bleeding from being bottled, so Ha-neul takes him to the hospital. She cries, presumably for the both of them; that they seem to be in imminent danger unsettles her, but that Jeong-woo has been dealing with what is turning out to be an orchestrated conspiracy on his own is even harder for her to bear.
The Case is Closed
Surprisingly, Doctor Slump reveals both what happened to Jeong-woo’s patient and why his anaesthesiologist, Jin-seok, planted surveillance equipment around the clinic and in his home. The outcomes are unexpected on both counts.
As it turns out, the woman died because her uncle had her killed; she had inherited his brother’s (her father’s) casino business. So, simple greed. Jin-seok, meanwhile, bugged the clinic after a past controversy wherein he was wrongly blamed for administering the wrong medication. He did break into Jeong-woo’s house in the hopes he’d see the pen, but he never did as it fell to the floor. Ultimately, it is the evidence provided by Jin-seok that cracks the case.
Jeong-woo’s reputation being restored doesn’t exactly cheer him up, though, since throughout the case he has realized how few people he has in his life who truly care for him. That feeling of isolation he has carried since childhood was especially strong throughout all this, and it was only Ha-neul who stuck by him and helped him through it.
How does Doctor Slump Season 1, Episode 7 end?
Ha-neul’s family, who are worried about Jeong-woo’s state of mind following the outcome of the trial, have a rooftop barbecue and get him to join in. Everyone eats, drinks, and enjoys each other’s company, despite Ha-neul’s mother constantly scolding Jeong-woo for rejecting her daughter.
Ha-neul takes Jeong-woo out and, in his drunkenness, he keeps reiterating how much he likes her. At the end of the episode they finally hold hands, which may well represent the beginning of the next, more romantic phase of their relationship.
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