Doctor Cha (2023) Episode 6

Episode 6 of Doctor Cha begins with Jeong-suk celebrated across the hospital following Chairman Oh’s big speech. In-ho tries in vain to talk Jeong-suk out of staying at the hospital, while he’s also getting an earful from Seung-hi.

At the same time, the prisoner, Jang Hae-nam, is back but she’s refusing treatment. She’s feeling sorry for herself and doesn’t think she’s fit to be a mum. Jeong-suk cares for her and wipes the tears from her eyes. Hae-nam bemoans that no one was there to help her daughter, whom she hasn’t seen for a good while. This draws parallels to her own woes regarding I-rang.

Jeong-suk decides to try and find the woman’s daughter, Han Yeong-long, believing that it could be a way of unlocking her heart. Well, Baek Mi-hee offers to help but on condition that she similarly introduce her to Roy Park, whom she immediately take a a fancy to.

Jeong-suk finds Yeong-long but she’s in no mood to see her mum, but mostly because she’s wracked with guilt over the past. Flashbacks show that it was Yeong-long, not her mother, who poisoned the food that killed her father. Jeong-suk tries to reassure her, offering a helping hand and trying to convince her to see the light.

The two mother-in-laws head off to get their botox injections, trading banter out in the waiting room. At the same time, Eun-seo and Seung-hi attend their grandfather’s funeral but the family are cold toward the pair, calling Eun-seo illegitimate. The teenager stands up for herself though, pointing out that she’s Seung-hi’s daughter and that counts for a lot.

As for Kwak Ae-Sim, she heads off to get a loan but she finds out the house is under Jeong-suk’s name so that’s not going to be possible without her present. The thing is, the house has always been under her name but Ae-sim has remained silent about this all that time and thought she could hoodwink the cashier.

Back at the hospital, Jeong-suk is seen before a whole committee where they debate what to do about her. They decide to reduce her wage for 3 months but In-ho has other ideas. He doesn’t think this should be handled so lightly and wants a tougher punishment. Roy sticks up for Jeong-suk and points out the favourable Chairman Oh situation, which swings the balance of power Jeong-suk’s way.

Back at the hospital, Yeong-long does show up and she has a tender moment with her mother. However, that’s not the only patient we have here. There’s a particularly difficult situation involving a pregnant patient whose father is not happy about the situation she’s in. In fact, he wants Jeong-suk to try and convince the girl that the babe should be put up for adoption.

At the hospital, things get fiery between Seung-hi and Jeong-suk. The former criticizes her for giving out advice and believes that she’s overstepping the mark. However, Jeong-suk notices that she’s wearing the bracelet from before and contemplates what this means.

As for Seung-hi, she heads off and visits In-ho, apologizing for shouting at him before and spending the evening together. In fact, when they do spend time alone, In-ho decides he just wants to chill. He’s been taking medication to avoid balding and he’s been having, um, side effects. In opther words, the plumbing isn’t working as it used to! Seung-hi laughs incredulously and calls him cute, deciding they should just be girl pals instead.

However, at the hospital Dr Jeon notices In-ho and Seung-hi leaving together. Roy Park also happens to be outside and he sees them leave, all happy and touchy-feely together. This isn’t the first time either and now Roy suspects the absolute worst. In fact, he acts coldly toward In-ho at the hospital, furious that he could be cheating on Jeong-suk.

He can’t stay quiet either, and he confronts In-ho about what he’s been up to. Roy does not want to just stand by and leave this, but In-ho tries to call his bluff and tells Roy to mind his own business. In-ho keeps a poker face until he heads into his office, where he loses his temper and struggles to keep it together.

In-ho takes his anger out on his wife, telling Jeong-suk she’s to stay away from surgery and from rounds until she can get all his questions right. In fact, half her patients are lost in favour of In-ho deciding to screw her over, partly for not quitting and also for Roy Park confronting her. Jeong-suk eventually confronts him that night and tries to change his ways, telling him to let her walk this path… but he does not, unfortunately.

Jeong-suk is down in the dumps but Roy Park arrives to cheer her up. He offers some encouraging words of wisdom and even offers her to become his friend. In order to solidify that bond, he suggests that she should run a marathon with her. He has a crew that runs at weekends and he wants her to join. And of course, Mi-hee tags along too given she has the hots for him.

They’re doing a 9km run to start with, which is certainly no mean feat. After the run, Mi-hee decides they should go for dinner but given how forward she is, Roy politely declines. He also realizes that Roy Park actually has the hots for Jeong-suk too!

At the University Hospital, Jeong-suk is invited to dinner by Roy Park, just the two of them. Only… this is all a dream, and Jeong-suk wakes up flustered and embarrassed. However, she gets back on with her job, where she looks over the abdominal CRT scan for Choi Gyeong-su, their latest patient.

After the biopsy that’s been done, Jeong-suk checks the scans and it seems to indicate there’s been a tiny decrease in size. Perhaps its more an abscess than cancer?

Jeong-suk brings these concerns to In-ho but he shrugs it off and laughs incredulously. Well, if Jeong-suk is right then he has to allow her to work again. And if she’s wrong? Well, Jeong-suk will quit then. This immediately gets In-ho into gear and he decides to look into this personally himself. And it’s an abscess! Jeong-suk is in business and she’s back at the hospital.

While In-ho gets his shoulder patched up, I-rang’s teacher rings through given she can’t get in touch with Jeong-suk. She’s confident that I-rang will make it into the art college and pass the first round. In-ho doesn’t want to hear this, given he thought she was applying for medical school and heads home. He rifles through I-rang’s stuff, pouring a whole bunch of stuff in the main atrium and confronting his daughter about it when she returns home.

A drunk patient collapses and is kept in thanks to Jeong-suk’s observation, which Dr Jeon commends and congratulates her for. However, on the way out the hospital, Jeong-suk comes crashing back down to earth when she learns that Eun-seo is actually Seung-hi’s daughter and that she’s friends with I-rang.

When Jeong-suk does finally get home, she thinks back over everything that’s happened and seemingly realizes her husband has been having an affair. As she rushes away, Roy Park is there to stop her from falling. He has something serious to tell her and it can’t wait any longer.

The Episode Review

Doctor Cha continues to deliver great drama, and this time we get far more emphasis on the darker elements to this series that have been simmering away in the background. In-ho is stuck in a hole and he’s about to find out he can’t dig his way free this time. Jeong-suk is closing in on the truth and it seems like she knows that In-ho and Seung-hi are together.

However, it would seem that Roy Park’s big announcement is probably going to be related to his feelings for her, and how he’s romantically interested, rather than the affair. This is just what Jeong-suk needs to move past In-ho though, who very clearly does not care about her.

There’s less humour this time around though, but there’s still a couple of funny moments. The dream sequence and the use of musical cutaways, are particular highlights. It makes sense that these moments of levity are kept quite reserved though, given the themes being tackled.

I’d imagine that will probably continue at least for a few more episodes yet, and the trigger point is going to be the break-up. Once that happens, we can move back into more comedic waters.