Recap Korean Drama "Poong, the Joseon Psychiatrist (2022)" Episode 1 and 2

The Kdrama starts by introducing the physician Yoo Se-yeop who is a genius acupuncturist and is given the title of Divine Needles by the King. However, things go awry when a controversy to kill the King is put into action and the blame is thrown on his head. His father too faces death when he finds proof of the King being poisoned.

Witnessing the killings, the crown prince who is now king finds a way to save his friend’s life by exiling him. The devastated genius then leaves the capital but is unable to practise acupuncture as he remembers the blood of the former king on his hands. He then tries to jump off a cliff but is saved by the passing Seo Eun-woo. She saves him and gives him words that stop him from ever trying to die.

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A year later, Se-yeop reaches a village where he meets Gye Ji-han who steps in when the former is unable to save a man who is choking. He then advises Se-yeop to visit his clinic so that he can fix his shivering hand but is declined. However, fate still takes Se-yeop to the clinic when he saves Eun-woo from her suicide attempt.

Se-yeop then tries to leave but is stopped by Ji-han who asks him to pay. Unable to make the payment, Ji-han makes him sign a contract that has him stay for ten days. However, the content of the contract soon changes when Se-poong is given a man who gets spells of dizziness and walks a tightrope to earn his living.

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Se-yeop tells Ji-han that he will leave once he treats the man, but things don’t go as expected because he does not administer acupuncture. The man feels better and tries to walk on the rope but falls. Se-poong reveals about not administering acupuncture and Ji-han calls him a dunce.

Looking at the man crying in front of him, he decides to fulfil the man’s wish of walking on the rope one last time by placing the rope and making him walk on it. Though it seemed stupid, the man does it and feels like he is walking on the rope that is high above the ground.

Ji-han later tells him that if he is unable to perform acupuncture then he should look into others ways of treating people. He adds that the man is unable to walk on the rope and Se-poong now has to stay there for 20 days and help him in treating the patients.

The two then walk to a local officer’s house to check on the lady of the house. After checking on the woman Se-yeop tries to leave but is pulled to a room by a maidservant who is shouting for help. There he sees a bleeding Eun-woo and is shocked.

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He rushes to go help her but again is unable to perform acupuncture, so he runs to bring Ji-han. Ji-han soon stops the bleeding and the lady of the house rushes to them and expresses thanks for saving her daughter-in-law. But Se-yeop notices that things aren’t as it seems.

The two go back home where the granny staying at the clinic starts calling Se-yeop Poong which makes everyone question. The duo soon arrive and Se-yeop finds himself thinking about Eun-woo. Elsewhere, Eun-woo is punished by her mother-in-law for causing a ruckus.

At the clinic, Se-yeop looks at the crowd of patients and arranges them in order of the problem that they are experiencing. This impresses Ji-han and his daughter even draws on the signs so that it is easier for the villagers to understand.

The night, the granny does through an episode as she runs around the village with a torch screaming that the barbarians are coming. Se-yeop and Ji-han run behind her and bring her back. She tells Se-yeop that she is experiencing pain in her chest because she feels sad.

The next day, Se-yeop continues to treat the patients who are wooed by his charming face when Eun-woo is hurriedly brought by her maid. He along with Ji-han begins to treat her when Eun-woo’s mother-in-law arrives and tries to take her away but fails when the two interrupt. Se-yeop doubts that she has been poisoned and goes to check on the medicine that she drank.

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The mother-in-law is furious and drinks the leftover medicine to prove that there is no poison. He feels ashamed but continues to think about this. Looking at the absentminded Se-yeop, Ji-han sends him behind the granny who is running towards a house where she leaves some flowers and raspberries.

Se-yeop finds out that this is the house of the granny’s son who has abandoned his mother. Later that night, Eun-woo tries to commit suicide but is stopped by Se-yeop who reveals that he is the man she saved a year back. He tells her the words she told him and takes her to the granny for the night.

Eun-woo opens up about her pain to the granny, revealing that her husband died the day after her wedding and the only time she ever saw him was in a casket. Her mother-in-law has been torturing her since then and telling her to commit suicide each day. This is heard by Se-yeop.

The next day, Ji-han tells Se-yeop to continue working at his clinic because no other clinic will take him in as he did. Later at breakfast, Se-yeop is able to find proof of the poisoning during a conversation. He rushes to Eun-woo’s in-law’s house and confronts her mother-in-law.

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He exposes that she replaced the onion leaves with a poisonous leave that looks the same which caused the poisoning. He also reveals that if Eun-woo commits suicide then her younger son will get a job in the government on account of her daughter-in-law’s virtuous nature. He tells her to let go of Eun-woo and forget that she ever had her in the family.

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Next, he goes to the granny’s son’s house and sets up a meeting between the two. Taking the granny and Eun-woo to a spot outside the village, the son tells the granny to stop sending any more things to him because she is already dead to him.

But as he is leaving, Eun-woo stops him and tells him to forget about what others around him think and embrace his mother. The granny goes to him and shows all the gifts that she had bought or made for him. The son feels ashamed and asks her for her forgiveness.

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However, she doesn’t go with him to his mansion and instead goes back to the clinic. On the way, Se-yeop tells Eun-woo that from today he will be called Se-poong, just like what the granny calls him.

Later that evening, he takes Eun-woo to the festival for women around the village and the two have a fun-filled evening with Se-poong hiding his identity the whole time. The two take turns on the swing and Se-poong tells her to be as happy as she has been this evening. As the two go back to the clinic, they encounter Jo Shin-woo who is Eun-woo’s adopted brother.

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Poong the Joseon Psychiatrist Episode 1 and 2 Review

The show has had a very interesting start and is off to an intriguing adventure that is ready to capture us with its exciting plot. With the post-traumatic stress disorder that our protagonist is facing, how will his career as a physician change? Will he ever be able to perform acupuncture again?

The questions are many and the road ahead is long, so let’s stick to this drama and hope for more wonderful episodes!