Doctor Cha: Episodes 9-10
by Dramaddictally
A household breaks up, a mistress breaks down, and the revelation of a final secret might be enough to break our heroine’s whole life apart. Doctor Cha has upped the ante, proving itself to be a delightfully complex tangle — with a story that might seem a tad makjang, but also couldn’t get any truer to life.
EPISODES 9-10
Well, this drama has gone and shocked me. I was not prepared for how heartfelt it was going to be amidst all the humor. The story gets more intricate every week, refusing to let us be comfortable with seeing only one perspective, but the way the show leaves all the emotions unsorted this week is impressive.
We pick up where we left off, with Jung-sook walking into a restaurant to meet her family for her birthday dinner. While it looks like she’s got something on her mind (i.e., the fact that she’s just learned of her husband’s affair), she doesn’t say anything. Instead, she’s cavalier — until she smashes In-ho’s face into her birthday cake.
The crazier (but hilarious) part is that then she just laughs maniacally, saying it’s something she’s always wanted to do for fun. Everyone looks perplexed but goes along as if it’s a joke because they have no idea how else to respond. Although, later, Ae-shim complains, “I know times have changed but how can she do that in front of her mother-in-law?” Haha. Oh Ae-shim, I have a feeling it’s not the worst you’re going to see from her.
For us, it marks the first of a series of events where we see Jung-sook assert herself, in big ways and small, and begin to question what she actually wants. Throughout these episodes, she never confronts In-ho about the affair. But she does give herself some space to really consider her values and what actions she wants to take.
First, she moves out of the family house and into the resident dorms, using the long commute to the hospital as an excuse. When her mother-in-law protests, asking who will take care of the house, Jung-sook stands up for herself, telling Ae-shim she should find a housekeeper that meets her standards, or else lower her standards. (I found this so gratifying — and all the more because it wasn’t played for comedy.)
Once she’s got a little separation from her roles at home, we see her assertiveness take shape in other ways. For instance, when Dr. Kim reveals that he also knows about In-ho’s affair, he asks why she’s staying quiet about it. Jung-sook responds that she wants to keep the peace in her family because of her kids, and adds, “So don’t look at me like I’m a pathetic woman.” And I mean, as much as I want her to give the good-looking doc a chance, I agree: it’s her choice how she wants to handle it.
But even if she’s firm with Dr. Kim, a few things tell us she’s really still deciding the best course of action. We see her meet with a divorce lawyer (who tells her she needs evidence if she wants to win in court) and we also see a crushing conversation with her mother — which points out just how much things have changed from one generation to the next.
Her mom (whom I otherwise love) is of the mind that wives should stick with their husbands, no matter what, because they are the fathers of their children. Jung-sook is acting on this mindset for now as well, but her tears make me think that she’s torn. On one hand, there’s the “right” thing to do. And on the other, she’s still sorting out what she truly believes in (with Dr. Kim being the angel on her other shoulder).
To complicate things, while Jung-sook is trying to get some distance and focus on her residency, everyone at the hospital finds out that she’s really In-ho’s wife and Jung-min’s mom. The leadup to this is that, once Jung-sook leaves the house, In-ho takes a sudden, jealous interest in her. We all know Dr. Kim has the hots for Jung-sook — and pretty much everyone at the hospital knows it too — but now, In-ho wants to keep a watchful eye on them.
When a group of doctors goes to the countryside to volunteer their medical services, they end up spending the night there, and a few of them get a little too drunk. In-ho, one of the inebriated, yells, “Yeobo!” into a microphone and gestures for Jung-sook to join him and Dr. Kim singing. Jung-sook is sober, but realizes that what’s done is done and decides to just go with it.
One outcome of everyone knowing about their marriage is that their colleagues are suddenly overly accommodating, “allowing” In-ho and Jung-sook to sit together at events. But a more pertinent outcome is its effect on Seung-hee. When we left her last week, she was about to enter the restaurant where Jung-sook’s birthday party was underway. In the end, she decides to leave — because she’s had a disheartening epiphany while watching In-ho celebrate with his wife.
On her way home, Seung-hee cries in the car and I found it really heartbreaking. She’s been holding onto a false hope for a long time and it’s like the fog is finally clearing. At home, she sleeps next to her daughter with silent tears in her eyes, and I think it’s the first time she’s realizing what she’s put Eun-seo through.
Later, Seung-hee is hospitalized with severe stomach cramps, which turn out to be stress related, but In-ho can’t be reached because he’s in the countryside volunteering. When Seung-hee recovers, she apologizes to Eun-seo and says she always wanted to create a complete family for her, which is why she held onto In-ho. Eun-seo, speaking truth as always, says, “It’s not that I needed a father. You needed a husband.” She tells her mother that she doesn’t want anything from In-ho and wonders when she’ll come to her senses.
All of this makes Seung-hee shift perspectives and when she learns that In-ho’s marriage to Jung-sook is public knowledge, it’s the final straw. She meets In-ho for dinner and asks if he plans to get a divorce. He answers in the negative by saying Jung-sook hasn’t done anything wrong, so he can’t ask her for a divorce. (What an egotist! Like he’s so great to hold onto.) Seung-hee responds by returning the bracelet he bought for her and saying they should take some time to think. But on her infamous Instagram, she makes it known she’s ending a relationship.
There’s a secondary negative effect of Jung-sook’s real identity coming out at the hospital and it’s that So-ra is really mad at Jung-min. It’s complicated because So-ra acts tough, but we see she’s feeling a little ashamed about mouthing off so much to her boyfriend’s mom. To save face, she decides not to back down on her treatment of Jung-sook. But Jung-min interprets this to mean that So-ra isn’t serious about him. Unable to admit she’s embarrassed, So-ra doubles down and says it’s not like they’re getting married.
This leads to a beautifully realistic argument where Jung-min says he wishes she would look around sometimes and be kind and compassionate to people who aren’t as competent as she is (and I love how he manages to compliment her in the middle of this). She retorts that he’s a poor judge of character because he should know she’s not like that. However, we’ve seen glimpses that she has a heart under all that armor.
And So-ra gets to show her heart when Jung-sook has an absolute bomb dropped on her. In one of my least favorite aspects of the story, Eun-seo and Yi-rang now hate each other and fight all the time. This week, Yi-rang pushes Eun-seo down, injuring her badly enough to need a cast on her arm.
When Seung-hee goes rushing off to see what happened, In-ho is with her. Jung-sook secretly follows them to the medical center and overhears Eun-seo call In-ho dad and say that Yi-rang is the one who did this to her. In an instant, Jung-sook has learned that In-ho has another child, and it’s pretty clear everyone else already knows about it. She then makes her way to a stairwell, where she can cry and hyperventilate in peace.
But this is not the end, my friends. Jung-sook peels herself up and goes back to the dorms, but just can’t make herself go inside. Instead, she sits on a bench, feeling like she can’t breathe. Just then, So-ra pulls up in her drop-top and says, “You look suffocated. Let’s go for a drive.”
The two women speed through the city with the top down, and Jung-sook feels like she can breathe again. Then it suddenly pours rain, but the roof gets stuck down, causing them to get soaked. They start to squabble, but the situation is so ridiculous that Jung-sook cracks up laughing in spite of everything. We end with So-ra and Jung-sook laughing and just letting it be, as they continue to drive around in the rain, top down, hands up.
That last scene was my favorite moment in my favorite set of episodes so far. I love So-ra and I’m rooting for Jung-sook, and I want these two to be friends so badly — they both can learn a lot from each other. The other beautiful thing about the last scene is that Jung-min asked So-ra to have some compassion and we get to see that she does — and she’s doing this because she likes him just as much as he likes her. These two are so entering my list of top side couples.
Overall, there was so much heartache in these episodes from all angles. Jung-sook and Seung-hee, and both of their daughters, are bearing the brunt of it. But Jung-min and So-ra had their heart-hurting moment too. And poor Dr. Kim is still sitting in the sidecar with is heart on his sleeve. The drama has always been quick with under-the-radar jabs, but these episodes were much more emotionally driven. I feel something building, but I don’t know where it’s headed — and I’ve never been so happy to be uncomfortably unsure.
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