Doctor Cha (2023) Episode 14

Episode 14 of Doctor Cha begins with Seung-hi meeting Eun-seo and deciding to head out for food. Of course, this happens to be the exact same restaurant as In-ho, Jeong-suk and the others are attending. In fact, Jeong-suk even warns her husband before the dinner that should her mum find out the truth, she won’t hold back.

Fast forward to the moments we left off from and all hell breaks loose. Deok-rye is livid when she finds out everyone has kept the truth from her. She’s speechless and left alone with Jeong-suk while In-ho scrambles to take Seung-hi and Eun-seo out. It’s the perfect time to do so given Ae-sim faints and distracts everyone else.

Deok-rye calls In-ho in, demanding an explanation for how he’s ripped the family apart. She’s unnervingly calm and decides they should all go to her place to discuss this further. At the same time, Eun-seo decides they should go and blow off some steam and spend time just her and Seung-hi without In-ho around. In fact, Eun-seo even suggests they back to the US and start over again, just them.

Over at Deok-rye’s, she bemoans Jeong-suk for keeping all of this to herself and also realize that Seung-hi is the professor whom he’s cheating on her with. However, Deok-rye is going through a lot, especially with her health. It’s certainly touch and go, as Jeong-suk spends her nights poring through books and trying to find something to help her mum.

Fate doesn’t intervene though unfortunately, and she ends up heading into the office where she struggles to find an answer. In fact, Seung-hi and the other professors also struggle to find an answer to her pain.

I-rang shows up to see Seung-hi in her office and apologizes to her for causing an injury to Eun-seo’s arm. She’s already apologized to Eun-seo for missing out on art school and actually offers to sacrifice her own place there in order for Seung-hi to leave In-ho alone and not take him away from the family.

That night, Jeong-suk heads out with her mum and wheels her under the beautiful stars. Deok-rye gives some solid advice to her daughter, telling Jeong-suk that she shouldn’t live in misery. In fact, Deok-rye even points out that should she die, she won’t regret it because she’s had so many great moments in her life. And another comes that night when Jung-min, I-rang and Jeong-suk all throw an impromptu party for her, complete with a cake and presents.

Seung-hi goes out of her way to try and find a solution for Deok-rye’s illness. She even Skypes through to doctors in the US, asking for help. The guy on the other end of the line though encourages her to come back to the US soon.

She does eventually head back to Jeong-suk, explaining that she’s done a biopsy, and it seems to be giant cell arteritis. Her diagnosis is that Deok-rye is suffering from polymyalgia rheumatica. Seung-hi wants her to stay at the hospital, pointing out that she’s not just Jeong-suk’s mum but also her patient. She even tells Jeong-suk to look after herself too.

Up on the roof, Seung-hi speaks to Jeong-suk in confidence, pointing out that I-rang came to see her. She decided not to take her up the offer. In fact, Seung-hi decided to be the bigger person and allowed I-rang to do what she wants. She also points out that they’ve hurt their kids too much in the wake of this big battle between them.

Jeong-suk marches down to In-ho’s office and hands over the divorce papers. It’s fully signed and she tells him to get it filled out. The fact that their kids are in pain because of this is reason enough for her to go out of her way to try and stop this. However, In-ho decides to take this to court, refusing to sign the papers. He’s going to try and stop this going through, even if it means paying a fortune.

After meeting Seung-hi for drinks that night, In-ho ends up drinking way too much and stumbles outside, eventually collapsing in an embarrassing heap on the ground. Seung-hi scoffs at his behaviour and decides to leave him to it. As for Jeong-suk, she heads off to meet her friend, who reflects on how Jeong-suk has Roy to fall back on given things won’t work out with In-ho.

In the morning, In-ho wakes up and finds himself missing his shoes and asleep in someone’s garden. He eventually stumbles back home, where Ae-sim berates him for not calling. He shrugs it off as a late-night surgery but he soon awakens when he finds out there’s a divorce petition waiting for him. Given he wont sign the papers, Jeong-suk decides to play him at his own game and decided to give him a heads up before things get to the courtroom.

In-ho questions Jeong-suk and demands to know whether this is because of Roy. She scoffs at that and heads back downstairs where she runs into… yep, it’s Roy. He’s over the moon because he seems to have found his family. He receives a call confirming as much and it turns out he has siblings too. Jeong-suk deduces whether it could be due to financial reasons why they let Roy go. Either way, Roy is nervous and wants a friend to go with him when he meets them. And that friend happens to be Jeong-suk.

At the hospital, Jeon decides to finally be open with Jung-min and hugs him in front of the whole cafe. While this is going on, Jeong-suk is shocked to find her mum has gone. She’s been discharged from the hospital and she thanks Seung-hi for agreeing to this. She hands over an envelope for Seung-hi, which happens to hold a handwritten letter about how life is precious and that she actually looked at Seung-hi originally with sympathy and affection.

Deok-rye has decided to live life to the fullest and make the most of being kind. She implores Seung-hi to do the same thing and live an honorable life and find real happiness, regardless of what that looks like.

When Roy meets his father, it’s not quite the result he was hoping for. It turns out they only found him because his siblings learned about his background being a doctor. Their father has acute leukemia and they need someone to do a bone marrow treatment for him.

Roy is shocked that it all comes down to this and he leaves shocked. His mother has already passed away so he didn’t get to see her and he has barely any words for Jeong-suk. He turns and walks away in sadness.

To try and help him out, Jeong-suk suggests they buy some trainers and run back to the hospital together, which is just under 10km. They head along together, and eventually make it to the hospital. Whilst there, it turns out Jeong-suk has made the board for Resident of the Month! All her hard work is paying off.

However, she’s pushing herself to the limit and in the bathroom, she starts to spin out of control. She’s dizzy and spits up blood.

The Episode Review

Could this be a serious condition for Jeong-suk? Or just a symptom of her working way too hard and needing to slow down a bit? It seems to be the latter but we’ll have to wait and see. It would appear that this divorce is finally going to go through and good on Seung-hi for actually seeing sense and being the bigger person.

The whole “kill ’em with kindness” adage certainly shines through here too, as she gives Seung-hi that handwritten note and some crucial advice that should hopefully see her make the right decision.

While a little slower than previous episodes, it seems like we’re gearing up for a dramatic couple of chapters ahead. Whether Jeong-suk gets her happily ever after, remains to be seen!