JTBC’s new Korean drama series titled Doctor Cha (닥터 차정숙) stars Uhm Jung-hwa, Kim Byung-chul, Min Wook-hyuk, Myung Se-bin, Song Ji-ho, Jo A-ram, Baek Joo-hee, Park Jun-Keum, Kim Mi-kyung, Lee Seo-yoon, So A-rin, Park Chul-min, Kimg Byung-choon, Lim Hyoung-soo and Kim Yea-eun, alongside other cast members.
This Korean Drama series is directed by Kim Dae-Jin and written by Jung Yeo-Rang. Doctor Cha Episode 2 runs for 60 minutes. This show shows the protagonist making a lifestyle choice. After putting a pause on her medical resident career to become a homemaker, Cha Jeong-suk decides to start her training all over again when her husband, a chief surgeon at the university hospital, cheats on her.
Doctor Cha Episode 2 Recap
Last episode, we saw Jeong-suk waking up from her surgery feeling vindicated, and this time, she is ready to exact her revenge on the family. The morning after her surgery, the house is back to normal. She has to go back to doing the household chores while her labour is neglected in the house. But soon, she gets an idea and decides to leave for the department store. Not caring a single bit about the cost of whatever she was buying, she charged them all to her husband’s credit card.
He is in a conference when all the transaction messages start pouring in. Already on edge, In-ho calls her. Jeong-suk has made it clear that she will live her life on her terms and do as she pleases. Meanwhile, her husband is really grappling with what is making her act like this in the first place. Ruminating about her life and her regrets, she goes to her husband’s room and slaps him awake. She then notifies him that she has been feeling a lot of regrets and that having this transplant was like being slapped back to life.
After seeing enough of this, In-ho tells her that she doesn’t have to do the household chores and can shop for herself as much as she wants. So she takes his word for it. The next morning, there is no breakfast, people have to do things alone, and she goes on brunch with her mother. Jeong-suk has been living her life differently now and doesn’t want to regret anything. The next day, she goes wine tasting with her friend, explaining where and when her first son, Jung-min, was conceived.
The two also have a big conversation about how her life has changed. How it had gotten so bad that the only way she could feel free was almost dying. Her friend, Min-hee, notes that maybe the empty feeling might go away by getting another man. However, Jeong-suk is smart enough to know that men won’t solve her problems. But when the camera cuts to the doctor who operated on her, Roy Kim, we are reminded that maybe serendipity may put another man in her life, and she can choose whether to accept him.
Roy Kim has been staring at her picture, noting how this woman, who was never a doctor gave him the doctor feeling more than anyone else. Before leaving, Jeong-suk also tells Min-hee that she will ask her husband to give her a joint deed to their inherited home. Speaking to her husband obviously doesn’t end well because he is too chicken and hides behind his mother’s coat. It gets so bad that In-ho’s mother has to take her daughter-in-law out to a French restaurant so she can let her down gently.
Since this isn’t going too well, she thinks back to her conversation with Roy Kim when she saw him after meeting her husband and son in the hospital. He said that she could always go back to being a doctor and start her studies again. Even her mother told her that the only thing she loved more than playing was studying. A small peek in the textbook confirmed her optimism that she could still hack it in medicine. Telling her husband about her plan (he laughed it off), she began her training for the Residency examinations.
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She worked tirelessly for around 3-4 months to pass this examination. Borrowing books from the library, buying some practice books and studying in the library late at night. Her son was also preparing for the same exam, so when she found out about her results, she also asked him how he had done. Fortunately, both of them passed with flying colours. The next hurdle was the interviews. While she had all the academic validity, her advanced age and liver complications put her down.
Seung-hi and In-ho were both extremely happy that her application would be rejected at the hospital for these reasons. However, as the episode comes to an end, we see her standing opposite Seung-hi taking notes on the first day of her residency. Things have escalated too quickly for In-ho, and it is only about to get better.
Doctor Cha Episode 2 Review
Once again, the humour is immaculate in this episode. We start off by seeing her make the most outrageous decisions for the best reasons and her husband succumbing to her righteous anger. Moreover, the simmering anger and the support she received from her friend is such a good example of a female friendship. Additionally, even though there is a male protagonist who will be making his appearance soon, he is still only a supporting character to her protagonist status.
The pace is absolutely brilliant. It doesn’t feel like the story is moving too fast or too slow. There is enough room for the storyline to have its moments of digression and succinctness to continue the narrative. Her character arc is already a brilliant study in understanding the female experience, especially for women in their middle age. Even though she has been a housewife for so long, they haven’t reduced her to a trope where she pretends to be a bumbling idiot. So far, this show is going exactly how this writer predicted, which is props to them.
Doctor Cha Episode 2 is currently streaming on Netflix. Are you excited to see Jeong-suk’s journey in residency? Let us know in the comments below.