The Conference
Episode 3 of Ghost Doctor picks up right where we left off, with Young-Min possessing Seung-Tak’s body and racing to the ICU. When he gets there, everything seems to be okay. In fact, there are hints that Young-Min is actually breathing on his own. While the doctors disagree over the best action to take, Seung-Tak eventually joins the others as they head up to give the genius doctor an MRI. Once there, Seung-Tak (still possessed by ghost Young-Min) grabs Doctor Ahn and holds him up against the wall. He points out the heparin scandal, admitting to administering the wrong dosage. He also knows Han Seung-Wan, the Vice President, is the one behind this, and decides to come clean at the conference the next day. It doesn’t take long for Seung-Tak’s friend, Krystal, to smack Seung-Tak’s shoulder while he’s at the computer several minutes late. In doing so though, it somehow smacks Young-Min out of his body, incredulous over her strength. When Seung-Tak scarpers away, Krystal notices that Young-Min’s account is logged in and reflects on the chills she got from slapping Seung-Tak’s shoulder early on. So naturally, she thinks he may be possessed. While this is going on, Tess faces Young-Min once more, talking about the ghost rules he adopts. He warns Young-Min not to get involved in anyone else’s lives, especially as he intends to oust Seung-Tak and may actually possess him at the conference to do so. Tess’s role here is always to help, which he’s quick to point out to Young-Min, as we see him dropping off drinks and giving a gentle bit of encouragement to the different patients by possessing them. The big conference finally goes ahead, with the legal team present too. Seung-Tak takes his seat, and listens as Young-Min’s accident and him leaving the hospital take the spotlight. Ghost Young-Min is there too, listening in, as Ahn claims he asked for 1000mg of heparin to be administered. Seung-Tak is the one who apparently administered it, and as one of the lawyers starts recording, Seung-Tak stands up and admits he was told to administer Heparin but he didn’t actually do it. He also claims he never touched Chairman Jang – which is backed up with an alibi too. All Seung-Tak did was check the charts and recommend they not increase the dosage of Heparin. It seems Young-Min got it wrong, and as he thinks over what this means, he remains unusually quiet. In the ICU, three ghosts soon show up to confront Young-Min. As fate would have it, these are actually the comatose patients he wanted to transfer originally. They know all about his cold demeanor but as Young-Min tries to run away, they continue to follow him around the hospital. Meanwhile, Seung-Tak checks the CCTV and sees himself acting erratically in the hallway. So naturally Seung-Tak decides to call in sick. His father appears looking for him though, causing the kid to hurriedly hide under the bed. Back at the hospital, Doctor Ahn is nervous and questions the Vice President’s idea of taking Young-Min off life support. Seung-Won is well aware of what that entails but has Ahn right where he wants him, After all, it’s Ahn who was responsible for administering the higher dosage of Heparim, not Seung-Tak, which we see in a very revealing flashback. One of the suspicious parties that senses something afoul is Jang Se-Jin, who realizes something is fishy about the whole situation. She comments how both Jang and Cha’s injuries are irregular and there could be more going on here than they’re being led to believe. Unfortunately this falls on deaf ears, given the party in question she’s talking to is Seung-Tak, who shrugs it off and claims he’s on sick leave. When Se-Jin leaves the hospital, Young-Min watches her go longingly. Seung-Tak passes by, trying to keep his head down. This gives Young-Min an ida, and after taking his body again, he drives away from the hospital. Unfortunately the possessed Seung-Tak bumps into someone in the street who has a nasty rash on her cheek. While she lies unconscious on the floor, Young-Min is thrown out her body. However, Seung-Tak seems to be aware of his ghostly connection with Young-Min and asks “whoever is there” to possess him again so they can save this woman. As he reaches his hand out, the episode comes to a close on another agonizing cliffhanger.
The Episode Review
Alas, the plot thickens. Ghost Doctor’ third episode continues to deliver hearty laughs but also interweaving that around intriguing medical drama too. There’s a wonderfully balanced tone to this entire series and it’s helped by solid acting from both Rain and Kim Beom. The intriguing storyline involving the Vice President scheming behind Jang’s back is still not fully explored though, but we do get a few more crucial details here that start to flesh out exactly what’s happening. Tess and the gang of ghosts at the hospital are a nice way of forcing Young-Min to face his own moral choices and you can already see his character start to change. He’s self-aware of how much time has passed outside and begins to reflect on how rash he’s been, failing to listen to those around him and stuck in his own arrogance. Is Seung-Tak Aware that this ghost is Young-Min? There have been hints through these episodes that this is the case; little glimpses that he could be hiding the truth. We’ll have to wait for these follow-up chapters to know for sure though. Ghost Doctor has been a solid watch so far and it’s shaping up to be a real tour de force on the TV calendar for 2022. Let’s hope this momentum continues through the episodes ahead!
