Doctor Cha (2023) Episode 11

Episode 11 of Doctor Cha begins with Jeong-suk and Dr Jeon off driving together. The cathartic laughter echoes through the air before Jeong-suk eventually heads back home. With the initial adrenaline having worn off, she starts to reflect back over what’s happened and slumps to the floor.

Meanwhile, Seung-hi struggles to talk to Eun-seo, who’s livid that I-rang is treating her like a homewrecker and generally acts like a defeatist brat through much of this episode. I-rang, deciding not to head home and after her big fight, heads off to the clinic to find Mi-hee. She helps patch her up but admits that she feels guilty and bad for Jeong-suk. Naturally, Mi-hee messages to tell her best friend what’s going on.

As for Jeon, she sits with Jeong-suk in her dorm and admits that she knows what she’s going through. When Jeon was in middle school, her father did the exact same thing [as In-ho], her mum suffered from depression as a result for years, so she knows firsthand how destructive this could have been. Jeon actually threatened her father not to divorce, promising to throw herself off the roof should that happen.

Jeon shrugs off Jeong-suk’s thanks for comforting her, claiming that these things happen a lot and telling Jeong-suk to rest up.

A distraught Jeong-suk heads into In-ho’s office that night instead and throws her bracelet and coffee machine on the floor. She’s not going anywhere and decides to carry on working like normal. For her, it’s the only thing she can do to keep her mind off the affair. But of course, with Seung-hi there too in the same department, things are bound to blow up sooner rather than later.

In the middle of a big department meeting, Jeong-suk calls Seung-hi out and straight into her office. Having had time to reflect on what’s happened she realizes all of this was a ruse from Seung-hi to have her quit the hospital. She demands In-ho be there too so she can talk, and even ousts his affair on the phone, demanding In-ho’s presence otherwise she’ll leak everything.

In-ho has been walking on eggshells for a while and now he’s finally about to face the music. Seung-hi confirms that Eun-seo is In-ho’s child and that the pair of them got closer together while working at the hospital. In-ho reassures his wife that they were going to break up… but Seung-hi has no intention of doing that.

Jeong-suk scoffs and demands Seung-hi leave the hospital and do so within a month. As for In-ho, she tells him to lay low and wait while she thinks what to do with her. Laying down the law like this, Jeong-suk leaves after this bombshell reveal, while Seung-hi sees this as an opportunity to get back with In-ho.

Unfortunately, this is only made worse by the fact that everybody always knows everything and she’s the last person to find out. “The kids didn’t want you to know!” In-ho blurts out, as Jeong-suk calls him a horrible bastard and demands that he atone for his sins with the kids for the rest of his time.

Roy happens to overhear all of this and decides to follow through with finding out about his parents by doing a DNA test. While this is going on, Jeong-suk tries to sever the ties between her and I-rang, admitting to her daughter that she knows about her father.

Jeon sits at lunch near Jung-min but tellingly, not next to him. After the big fight they had before, she tells him to meet up after work as she has something to say. As they sit together later on, she brings up Jeon’s affair and that Jeong-suk knows too. It’s a frosty encounter, one that eventually ends with him leaving and heading home, where an impromptu family meeting (minus Jeong-suk of course) takes place. In-ho admits he doesn’t want to get divorced.

Seung-hi heads over to Jeong-suk’s that night and gives her an ultimatum. She’ll quit the hospital… but only if Jeong-suk gets a divorce. Seung-hi feels in the wrong, unleashing her full wrath against Jeong-suk. She blames Jeong-suk for shamelessly snatching up In-ho because he did the same to her. When Seung-hi tries to weaponize Eun-seo’s unhappiness, Jeong-suk simply tells her this is a consequence of her actions and a price she’s had to pay for what’s taken place. And to be honest, it’s hard to argue with her!

That night, the fuse box crackles to life after a short circuit and unfortunately, a fire breaks out in the dorms. The alarms ring through the hallways in the hospital, as everyone charges out the building. Everyone except Jeong-suk, who’s still in her room.

With smoke choking the hallways, both In-ho and Roy try to head inside to pick her up. In fact, he scoops her up in his arms and carries her out, just as In-ho head into the area. In-Ho wants to carry her out but after the earlier fight with Seung-hi, she’s having none of it when she regains consciousness just outside the building. She tells him to let her go and shrugs him off.

With the dorms closed for three days, that puts Jeong-suk in a difficult position… until Roy sends out a message about opening up his place to stay. However, Jeong-suk is uncomfortable about going alone, so Jeon agrees to go with her.

While Jeon heads into her room, Jeong-suk and Roy talk. She thanks him for saving her from her dorm, and goes on to talk about his adoptive parents. When she leaves, Jeon jumps in and tells him this is his moment to move forward with dating Jeong-suk, nonchalantly discussing all the details about the affair and Eun-seo’s father.

Naturally, when In-ho finds out about Jeong-suk staying at his, it turns into another (for want of a better term) d*ck waving contest, as both fall out over hospital practices and end up glaring at one another.

Funnily enough, this situation mirrors that of Chief Yoon and Chief Lim. Long story short, they end up in a big fight and sport bruised faces. When they calm down and discuss their situation, it involves Yoon being unfaithful and wanting his beloved to forgive him. And his beloved just so happens to be Lim’s younger sister, explaining the disdain these two have had for one another, especially as Yoon betrayed her to marry into a rich family.

Now that Yoon has realized the error of his ways, he wants to get back with Bong-suk. Naturally, Lim is not happy given the earlier betrayal and feels like his sister is being taken for a ride. their situation amusingly runs parallel to that of Roy and In-ho, who turn it into another disagreement, with a lot of subtext regarding Jeong-suk.

In-ho and Roy Kim start fighting, and of course Jeong-suk is called in to try and break this up. It’s pure bedlam and who knows what will happen next!

The Episode Review

The societal differences between Korean and western culture really comes to the foreground in this episode, as it’s infuriating to see everyone believing the right course of action here is for In-ho and Jeong-suk to stay together. And that includes Jeong-suk’s best friend too, who tells her to endure it! It’s very clear though that they do need to break up and regardless of the potential societal backlash, it’s the right thing for everyone involved.

Seeing In-ho now afraid of his own daughter, hiding by the fridge when she stomps in, is a moment I didn’t know I needed in this but it really shows the character of In-ho and the depths of his weak persona. He puts on a front of being in control and high and mighty but really, he’s weak-minded and a complete coward.

The humour is obviously used sparingly here but the moments it is used predominantly revolve around In-ho, which is an odd stylistic choice. However, seeing Roy save Jeong-suk while In-ho is crawling around on the floor is one such moment that does work relatively well.

In fact, the best moment in this episode comes from Dr Jeon heading over to Roy’s house, giving both him and Jeong-suk some much-needed encouragement. It’s a satisfying moment and seeing her character’s level-headed responses certainly helps make her a lot more likable in this – especially with how many women are telling Cha to stay with her cheating husband.