Doctor Cha (2023) Episode 12

Episode 12 of Doctor Cha begins with In-ho cursing at Roy, eventually leading to a big skirmish between the two. When In-ho tastes blood, he launches himself at his foe, eventually leading to a further brawl… that’s only stopped by Jeong-suk arriving and screaming at them. Up on the roof, Jeong-suk reprimands the pair for being so thoughtless and letting their emotions get the better of them.

When In-ho tries to belittle Roy, he brings up how unfaithful In-ho is and his illegitimate child too, eventually leading to him cursing once more, and throwing his back out after a misplaced punch. Speaking of feeling under the weather, Jung-min is not doing so well and struggles to do his rounds. Jeon tells him to stop being so obvious when he falls asleep at his desk just before he ends up entangled in a huge problem with his patient, Yoo Ji-seon. Jung-min agrees to discharge her from the hospital – which ends up being a shockingly costly mistake. Despite giving birth to her daughter, Ji-seon’s situation ultimately ends in disaster.

The situation between Eun-seo and I-rang continues to get uglier, with the former kicking over I-rang’s easel in class. When Seung-hi finds out, she confronts Jeong-suk again and tells her to hurry up and quit the hospital. She wants to take back “what was stolen from her”, showing just how petty she is. With neither budging from their current position, it compromises both their personal and professional lives.

Seung-hi heads back to see In-ho, running her mouth and trying to come up with a solution to the Jeong-suk situation. In-ho looks thoroughly fed up at the whole ordeal. That night, he tells Seung-hi he needs to set things right. He’s made his choice and decides to break up with her, abandoning Seung-hi and going back to Jeong-suk.

Seung-hi reminds him that this won’t be an easy decision but after hearing Chief Yoon, he’s decided to follow suit and spend the rest of his life trying to make it up to Jeong-suk. But will she actually choose to stay with him?

After the break-up, In-ho heads back home where Jeong-suk is waiting. Jung-min has been through quite an ordeal and isn’t answering his phone, while I-rang gets her mock test results back. It’s not good news. With both parents there, the teacher tells Jeong-suk that I-rang’s national rank has fallen by a lot this time around.

In-ho is livid, believing that she’s slacking off but Jeong-suk turns it around and points out that the turbulence at home is not going to be doing her any favours.

Jung-min retreats after diagnosing Yoo Ji-seon, leading to her death, and Jeon is the one to show up and try to find him. He is, unfortunately, at fault here as he should have done more tests but didn’t. In-ho decides to try and protect Jung-min but Seung-hi is the one in charge of the department so technically, she’s at fault. In-ho decides to take responsibility for this and discipline her.

Jeong-suk heads to the funeral and explains her situation, going on to reveal what happened regarding the liver failure and how painful this can be. While she’s indisposed, next heading off to give some words of wisdom to I-rang, Jeong-suk’s friend decides to move in on Roy, heading for a drink after running. She tries to broach his feelings for Jeong-suk but he simply stares off dreamily without revealing anything.

In-ho speaks to Jung-min when he returns, and tries to discipline him gently to save flying off the handle and upsetting Jeong-suk. He tells a story about three patients in a car crash, and it eventually finishes with him reminding Jung-min that a doctor determines whether a patient lives or dies.

However, In-ho points out that despite being in the wrong, he also has sides of him that are better than his. And with that, he faces the music and heads in to see Ji-seon. Jeon is there and promises to be by his side until he gets back to his feet.

The family are threatening to sue and the hospital need to do something to make it seem like they’re taking the situation seriously. Both Yoon and Lim naturally work to undermine the other, and that comes in the form of Seung-hi and In-ho gearing up for a big showdown between their respective departments. The pair disagree over who’s to blame for this, and as things get ugly, Roy heads off to visit the family and tries to explain what really happened.

That night, the family pay their respects to Jeong-suk’s father-in-law and after cooking up a nice meal, Ae-sim has had enough and proposes that they stop this soon and move forward with a simple meal. She doesn’t seem right to do all this, especially with Jeong-suk doing a lot of the cooking. She claims that she’s got a boyfriend to try and end the conversation, but all of this is a lie.

After dinner, Jeong-suk confronts In-ho and tells him that this is the last memorial service they’ll be doing. Jeong-suk tells him that she’s going to divorce him now, and that’s because she’s seen him parking in the disability space outside the hospital. He put her disability sticker on his car just so he could find a better parking space. And worse, used that benefit to drive around Seung-hi.

Jeong-suk points out how pathetic all of this is and believes that Jeong-suk is just as much to blame. In fact, she even reports him for parking in the wrong space and tells him that this is over. She wants to be liberated from this hell.

Just as Jeong-suk says the words, In-ho suddenly collapses and passes out. He’s bleeding from the nose and crashes down to the floor. Only, Jeong-suk realizes that he’s not pretending and there seems to be something genuinely wrong with him.

The Episode Review

Well I think the preview for next week’s episode answers our question over whether In-ho is actually okay or not. But then that’s probably obvious isn’t it? Either way, Doctor Cha delivers a simple but necessary chapter that finally sees Jeong-suk build up the courage to do what she needs to do, and break things off with In-ho. It’s been coming for a while but that disability sticker was the final straw for Jeong-suk. And good on her too.

I know that divorce is somewhat of a taboo topic in Asian culture but when it comes to Jeong-suk and what she needs, she deserves to be with someone who will treat her right and In-ho is just not that guy. And it’s funny that In-ho realizes how good Jeong-suk is right at the death, especially given how petty and self-centered Seung-hi actually is by comparison.

The situation involving Jung-min and I-rang, thrown right in the middle of this, are another reminder of how personal issues can trickle down to kids and cause them a lot of discomfort. I-rang and Eun-seo’s feud at school has caused I-rang’s grades to drop, while Jung-min makes a horrific mistake at work, simply because of In-ho and Jeong-suk’s bickering and issues.

Through all of this though, Jeong-suk looks ready to come out of this stronger on the other side, and hopefully in doing so she’ll finally find peace and happiness!