Parents and Children
Episode 8 of Hospital Playlist Season 2 starts with Jun-Wan finding Jeong-Won sitting alone and drinking. Jeong-Won seems upset but doesn’t tell his friend anything. We then cut to Rosa sitting in bed and bursting into tears as she realises she is forgetting more and more. In Yulje, the doctors start their daily routines. Jun-Wan heads to the ER where a former liver transplant has come in with a suspected endocarditis. Jun-Wan explains to his son that it could be due to the immunosuppressant medication but he will need surgery to correct it. Jeong-Won finally receives a call from Gyeo-Wool. She apologizes and explains that her mother has been in an accident and has a few fractures. Jeong-Won offers his help and support but Gyeo-Wool seems a little distant and promises that everything is good. During lunch, our five doctors meet and share some tteokbokki. As always, they share some good banter and make plans for their next dinner. They later meet for a barbecue and plan a trip to the mountains. During the night shift in OBGYN, Min-Ha has a superstition that if her juniors residents buy them food, they will get very busy. No sooner she said those words, the phone rings with a call from another hospital which wants to transfer an emergency patient: a woman with postpartum haemorrhage. Min-Ha accepts the patient and rushes to the ER when she arrives. She calls Seok-Hyeong for some advice and proceeds with a CT scan to get a better idea. Seok-Hyeong eventually arrives to perform the surgery. Thankfully, they are able to stop the bleeding and not perform a hysterectomy. Min-Ha tells Seok-Hyeong she is glad they didn’t remove her uterus as she wouldn’t have been able to face her husband. Seok-Hyeong replies that it wouldn’t have matter as her husband would have understood that her life was more important. Meanwhile, Rosa speaks to Mr Ju about her worries; she thinks she may have Alzheimer’s. She explains she even got lost walking back home the other day. Mr Ju suggests that she get tested but doesn’t want to go to Yulje or tell Jeong-Won yet. During the night, Rosa falls off her bed. She calls Mr Ju in the morning who takes her to the hospital. Jeong-Won rushes over to see his mum and after Song-Hwa does some tests, she takes him aside to show him the results of his mother’s CT scan. She suspects that she has hydrocephalus which would explain why she has been forgetful and why her legs gave out. She wants to admit her in to do some drainage and might put in a shunt. Jeong-Won is upset he didn’t notice but Song-Hwa puts his mind at ease. They relay this to Rosa who is actually relieved that it is not Alzheimer’s. She tells her son not to be upset or worry as she can endure anything. The doctors continue with their daily appointments: Jun-Wan has a patient who has a hole in his heart while Song-Hwa treats a woman with a metastasized brain tumour. She suggests surgery and radiotherapy but the woman is not sure due to her age. Her children are not sure either so Song-Hwa explains that without the surgery, she will probably only have 6 months to live but understands that surgery at her age is tricky. Weighing the pros and cons, she thinks an operation is the best option. On the other hand, Jun-Wan’s patient is determined to have surgery to correct his heart. The son and daughter of the brain tumour lady start to argue outside as they both have different opinion. The son doesn’t think she should have the surgery but the daughter wants to do everything they can for her. The son believes she is too old and already had to go through a lot during the treatment for her breast cancer. Unbeknownst to them, the mother is listening from behind the wall. Later in the day, Song-Hwa updates Jeong-Won about the treatment of his mother. Thankfully, after the drainage she is already doing a lot better. Song-Hwa then calls her mother and tells her she won’t be able to come with her to the appointment because she has a surgery to perform. Jeong-Won visits his mother and feels bad that he had no idea she had been so stressed. She explains that she was really worried as she didn’t want to forget her children. However, she is relived she doesn’t have Alzheimer and tells him that he needs to enjoy his life and not worry so much about things like this. Sadly, Song-Hwa gets a call from her mother’s doctor later on, who give s her some bad news: her mother has Parkinson’s disease. She calls her mother and tells her that she will be fine since there are good treatment for it nowadays. Her mother reassures that she is fine but Song-Hwa gets quite emotional. Ik-Jun finds Song-Hwa in the dark crying and after finding out what has happened, he offers to take her home. In the evening, Jeong-Won and Mr Ju visit Rosa in her VIP room. They are all very surprised when Gyeo-Wool comes to visit too. Rosa is pleased but Jeong-Won seems to be on the fence. The couple leave their room together and head into the lift. Jeong-Won holds Gyeo-Wool’s hand but has to stop when someone else comes in. She tells him that her mother is doing better but has to leave quickly to go home. The next day, Song-Hwa is still feeling really down and cancels her thesis meetings with the residents. Ik-Jun decides to stand outside her office to make sure no ones come in so that she can have some alone time. He eventually comes in with a gift: a stone barbecue that she really wanted to use while camping. This makes her very happy and cheers her up. Jeong-Won finishes his day by his mother’s side and the two share a sweet moment. He tells her to make sure she looks after herself, live life to its fullest and promises to always be there for her. Rosa then replies that she would like to get back into what she uses to do when she was younger. We then cut to the usual band practice where we see Rosa replacing Seok-Hyeong on the keyboard. She plays beautifully and they start rehearsing their new song with Mr Ju watching. Back in Yulje, Min-Ha has fainted due to her stomach cramps. Seok-Hyeong rushes over to see her. When she realises that he is there, she bursts out in happy tears. Jun-Wan visits his hole-in-the-heart patient just as he is being discharged. The patient is feeling much better and is grateful for the surgery. Song-Hwa also checks on her patient and is surprised to see her son taking care of her. He seems to have changed his mind about the surgery after losing his lifelong friend to a heart attack. The episode then ends with Jun-Wan taking the bus to see his parents. Suddenly though, Ik-Sun walks onto the same bus and the two face each other.
The Episode Review
Hospital Playlist delivers another strong episode this week. While it was one of the longest, it never felt overlong and tackled a very serious and emotional subject; the relationship between children and their parents along with how it affects them when they are faced with health problems. This subject was very much the center of the episode for our doctors as well as the newest patients. Poor Rosa was convinced she had Alzheimer’s and ended up terrified she was going to forget all about her children. Thankfully, it turned out to be a lot less serious and we got to see more tender moments between her and Jeong-Won. Poor Song-Hwa had to deal with a more serious diagnosis for her mother and she might start feeling guilty for not being around more. The ending was bittersweet for her when Ik-Jun made sure she was left alone and got her the barbecue she wanted. I am really rooting for these two to finally be more than friends. Gyeo-Wool also had to look after her mother and after being distant with Jeong-Won, it seems to have driven a wedge between the two. They are both pretty different now. While Jeong-Won wears his heart on his sleeve, Gyeo-Wool is more cold and distant at times. Hopefully, this was just a little bump in the road for them. The episode ends with quite the cliffhanger as it looks like Jun-Wan and Ik-Sun will finally have to face each other for the first time since the break-up. Will Ik-Sun end up revealing her disease to him? Could this be the way back for their reconciliation? Knowing Hospital Playlist, it may not happen during the next episode but it could be a step in the right direction.
