The broadcasting incident didn’t stop “Hospital Ship” from crossing the 10% mark in ratings and maintaining it for its 5th and 6th episode.
In the 5th and 6th episode we finally know why our lead was kicked out, so without further due lets do a quick recap of everything major that happened in both episodes before jumping into the review.
Episode 5
Going back to the 4th episode last cliff-hanger, Doctor Eun Jae cleanly cuts the hand of the worker without even offering any explanation, only later Doctor Kwak Hyun reveals that it was necessary for her to do with.
Turns out they need to cleanly cut the severed hand in order to properly reattach it at a later stage; if his organ begins to rotten they won’t be able to save his hand.
The ship captain Sung Woo tries to contact the coast guard and helicopters but to no avail, due to the storm they can’t reach them, the ship is stranded in the middle of the sea during a storm while its crew prays for a miracle. Everyone on the ship then tries to convince Doctor Eun Jae to operate on him, but since she is in charge of small simple operations, she firmly declines.
The other ship captain Won Gong confronts Doctor Eun Jae, at first he tries to convince her as well, she starts yelling and tells him that it could possibly endanger the patient if done badly.
He then retreats into his backup plan and says that she is only refusing to do the operation because she is embarrassed to call Doctor Kim (the one who offered her a job then fired her), his statement triggers her, she runs away.
While running away she runs into the patient again, who begs her to try her best, since he is the sole provider for his family. After giving some thought she decides to set her pride apart to save the patient.
She calls Doctor Kim, and asks him for help, he ‘as expected’ agrees to help her. The documentary crew sets up the camera and connects it online so that they can have a ‘stable’ proper chat with Doctor Kim who shall oversee the operation and direct her.
His son, the Korean medicine arrogant bastard Doctor Jae Gul also sees the operation and notices how happy his father is while directing her, he remembers a time he was stuck in the woods and his elder brother saved him. The father was waiting for them by the end of the forest and once he sees the elder brother he runs to him and pampers him with praise for how well he put his brother broken leg back into its place.
Instead of looking and checking up on his younger son, he goes back with the elder son not paying enough attention to the one who was hurt.
Back to our miracle doctor Eun Jae, she manages to save the patient (nothing wrong happens in the operation, shocking!!) without having any prior experience ever. People have tuned in to see the operation and she went viral for miraculously saving the patient. Her previous chief sees the operation and is shocked that she performed so well.
She goes back to the hospital, Doctor Kim decides to hire her again because she is too skilled to be discarded, she agrees happily to take on the ER.
Once she leaves the hospital she is greeted by a gigantic crowd of press who proceed to ask her about how she managed to save the patient and her previous work, somehow they easily find out she left one of the best 5 hospitals in Korea and decide to ask her about that.
She declines to answer, but then we cut back to the dorm where all the ship crew resides, the ship captain Won Gong tells them the story of how she got fired.
At first he tries to act as if he really didn’t want to reveal it (she asked him for this favour), but then decides to explain everything that took place back then. Turns out that on the day of her mother’s funeral she decided to go back to the hospital and work as if nothing has happened. She is greeted with a mother patient who relapses and goes into shock.
She barely manages to save her, and immediately rushes her to run some tests in order to find out what went wrong. Her previous chief has operated on the patient and after a test it becomes apparent that he screwed up.
The operation was supposed to be a simple one, the patient can even leave the hospital the next day.
She confronts her chief who was busy having fun on a Sunday, he is called to the hospital, she co-operates with him, but they lose the patient.
Episode 6
The chief who turns out to be a coward, tells her to bury it and cover it up, he insists the patient has died of complications, he tells her to forget what had happened so she can successfully fulfil her dream and take over his position.
She disagrees with him, he tells her to leave. After leaving she deliberates what she must do right now, but her heart and moral compass is giving red signs, she decides to go ahead and tell the patient’s mother what had really happened.
The truth gets out, and the hospital (somehow) agrees to fire her instead of the chief who screwed up, turns out Korean doctors don’t really like it when a doctor exposes them. (Doesn’t make any sense, but k!)
We go back to the scene of her answering reporters’ questions, she decides to keep her mouth shut about why she left her previous hospital before exiting the scene.
Everyone on deck finds out that it wasn’t because she screwed up but because she exposed her previous chief. The entire crew decides to hold a party to celebrate the successful operation and welcome Doctor Eun Jae officially.
The three main doctors sit down waiting for her to come back, they discuss whether she’ll leave or stay in the hospital, the bitter realistic Doctor Jae Gul tells them that she is only putting on a show to garner attention and go back to her previous position.
Doctor Kwak Hyun gets into an argument with him over his pessimistic views, Doctor Jae Gul tells them to ask her directly now that she’s here. Doctor Joon Young asks her and she confidently replied with “Yes!”
The little sick boy grandpa who appeared in the previous episode visits them and gifts them a huge fish, after deliberating how to eat it, Doctor Eun Jae offers to cut the fish and they feast.
During the dinner Doctor Kwak Hyun notices how quiet Doctor Eun Jae is, she is constantly pouring herself a drink and drinking without conversing with anyone. Once she leaves the dinner table after everyone passes out, Doctor Kwak Hyun follows her outside and starts asking her questions, she declines to answer any of them at first.
He ‘says’ he’ll ask her one final question, “Why didn’t you say anything about why you came to the hospital ship?”, he explains why Mr. Choo had to tell them the truth, it was because he thought it’d be better with the truth out, so she won’t feel discomfort while on the ship.
She confidently replies that she doesn’t really care about her secret being out in the public because she it is the truth (then why did you ask him not to tell anyone?), he proceeds to ask her another question, this time regarding why she kept it a secret and didn’t reveal it to the press when she was asked about why she left.
Being the confident person she is, she said that it was because she is confident enough that she can get back there, because of how skilful she is, she wants to restore her reputation the right way.
The next day, the ship is overly crowded with elderly patients who want to be examined by her, rumors fly that she saved thousands of patients following the viral video. Soon enough, they realize that she is a crude person, who is bluntly honest with elders, an elderly woman who reads people fortune walks in to her clinic.
Again, her attitude pisses off the elderly woman, she tells her to prescribe her medication that is good for her health in exchange she reads her fortune.
Suddenly the atmosphere becomes awkward, and the fortune teller starts spewing hurtful remarks about Doctor Eun Jae’s single life and brings up her dead mother.
Doctor Eun Jae tells her to mind her own business and after running a simple test she finds out that she is in serious need of hospitalization, the fortune teller refuses to give a blood sample because it can upset the spirits.
Doctor Eun Jae tells her that she might die if she doesn’t get the proper treatment and thus the fortune teller pulls her hair out and drags her around for being so rude.
My Review
First of all, there is ton of absurd things that happens in this episode, beginning with the obvious thing that you already probably know I am going to address.
Someone who has never experienced an operation where they re-attached a limb can’t simply operate and save someone with a doctor over a camera who isn’t even present on the scene.
I am no doctor but as Eun Jae said in the beginning, she can put the patient in danger. The absurdity of how skilled she is that she can save a patient who is suffering from something she has never previously dealt with blows my mind.
Besides, how can they so easily operate on someone while on a ship that is supposed to be lost in the sea in a storm? Not even once the ship made a sound or titled right or left while she operates.
This is why I feel like the writer tried to be a bit original by coming up with the ship thing instead of a regular hospital drama, but a lot of the logic disappears whenever the writer needs it to.
If the storm wasn’t that bad, she can operate easily then it shouldn’t be impossible for the coast guards to come….
To be honest with you, I didn’t hate episode, but I do have a couple of questions and remarks here and there.
The second thing that didn’t really make any sense to me was the reason why she was kicked out from her previous hospital while the chief who was the one who screwed up continues to be there.
According to the writer this hospital is one of the best in Korea, shouldn’t they be in trouble for allowing the chief to stay? How did they cover this up? And why on hell did they allow the chief to fire Eun Jae? What if Eun Jae turns out to be a bitter bitch and double crosses them and exposes them to the press? then what? Koreans really care about companies’ public image.
I can’t let go of the stupid reason behind why Eun Jae was fired, I can understand that the chief might have connections and had covered it up and offered the patient’s mother consolation money, but the reason why Eun Jae was kicked out is still stupid.
This entire drama is based on something so stupid, you can’t just fire a doctor let alone anyone (whatever they do for a living) just because they expose you, Eun Jae can actually sue the hospital..
Where are the employees’ rights at? Its sad that the premise for this drama is largely based on such a stupid illogical explanation.
Despite what I just said, I do like the characters progression. I think the writer does better trying to unveil each character’s past than create a solid medical plot.
I am interested in Doctor Jae Gul’s character, and I feel for him, I also partially understand why he’s so critical of people surrounding him. He is slightly a dick but its okay, I like that, I like that the second lead isn’t your average sweetheart.
I love Kang Min Hyuk mature acting, though I touched on that in the previous recap, I still see him as the youngest member of CNBLUE, I just am so proud of how far he’s come, this is why I am happy the drama is doing so well.
The last scene of this episode isn’t exactly appetizing, it’s a bit… I don’t know… lets say its not interesting enough…
But I believe there are some people watching who were happy when Eun Jae’s hair was being pulled, a lot of kdrama fans are having trouble liking her character. I do find her slightly annoying but I don’t hate her. I still do find it odd that she could easily be so mean to her mother while she is super caring and loving of her patients.
Forget the attitude, she tries to act tough and like she doesn’t care but deep inside I feel like she does, she is a bit rough around the edges… I take that back not a bit… a lot… she is rough around the edges but a good person is underneath.
I like how the writer wrote the characters more than I like the plot, I wish he/she could build a better plot for the medical part of the drama.
What did you guys think of the 5th and 6th episode? Did you like it?
