Summary
Ha-neul and Jeong-woo seem to be almost over their issues in Episode 14, though it does spare time to examine grief in a meaningful way.
Doctor Slump is rapidly approaching the end of Season 1, and so it seems like a good time to ponder whether the characters will get the happy resolution they deserve. With a lot of the heavier plot turns out of the way now, Episode 14 is a much lighter installment, which suggests they might. However, this is a K-Drama, and it’s easy to imagine that another obstacle – perhaps in the form of Jeong-woo’s parents – is right around the corner.
That isn’t to say that this episode is totally breezy, since it does try to unpack the idea of grief and specifically the impact of Kyung-min’s death in Episode 13. But the hour is still full of love and joy and comedy and charm, as the whole season in large part has been.
As harsh as it seems to say it, Kyung-min’s death has had some positive repercussions, especially for Ha-neul. Out of hospital and recovering from her injuries, Kyung-min’s exposure has restored her reputation and she is welcome to return to her previous place of employment – and as a professor, no less.
For Jeong-woo things are a little more complicated. We saw the flashbacks in the previous episode of a once-genuine relationship between the two men, and here Jeong-woo finds out from an incarcerated accomplice of Kyung-min that he didn’t want to use Jeong-woo’s clinic when he found out whose it was. This, though, doesn’t atone for all the genuinely awful stuff Kyung-min got up, and Jeong-woo found himself in the firing line nonetheless.
Trip to Busan
Jeong-woo’s parents are due to arrive in Seoul the next weekend, but his mother is so callous about Kyung-min that he doesn’t want to meet her. To distract himself, he asks to tag along with Ha-neul’s much more positive family on a trip to Busan.
Not that the trip is all that positive for Jeong-woo, who suffers a series of slapsticky mishaps, much to the entertainment of everyone else. But when he finds out that the family trip is actually being made in honor of Ha-neul’s father, Jeong-woo feels like he’s imposing.
While Hong-ran and Dae-yeoung get closer, Jeong-woo gets a little more introspective and opens up to Ha-neul’s mother about how he isn’t over Kyung-min’s death since, for all his faults, Kyung-min was the only person who ever seemed to care about him – including his parents. Kyung-min showed up at Jeong-woo’s graduation, even while grappling with his father’s death. Since Ha-neul is feeling quite thoughtful herself given the nature of the trip, she’s able to offer some sage advice about how these feelings, this pain, is only temporary, and that in time Jeong-woo will be able to miss Kyung-min in a more sustainable, healthy way, as she now does her late husband.
Ha-neul Returns to Work
Ha-neul has to grapple with the idea of returning to her old hospital as a professor and finally being treated with some respect and dignity, especially since so many people were fired as a result of Kyung-min’s exposure. However, they deserved it for being complicit in what he was up to, and it’s about time that Ha-neul was able to get back to her natural element – in other words, working non-stop.
This does create an additional problem to solve, though. With Ha-neul now at work all the time, she has less time to spend with Jeong-woo. Luckily, through a settlement after being falsely accused, he has a plan to solve that.
Jeong-woo uses the company to prop up charitable reconstruction surgeries for the needy, which he conducts in Ha-neul’s hospital with Ha-neul’s help. They’re still working, which both of them like to do anyway, but they’re also together and working towards a shared goal and common purpose.
At the very end of the episode, Ha-neul expresses some reservations about Jeong-woo’s efforts to have them work together, at which point he pulls out a ring that the show pretended he didn’t purchase earlier.
What did you think of Doctor Slump Season 1 Episode 14? Let us know in the comments.
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