Doctor Slump Episode 2 brings Jeong-woo and Ha-neul face to face for the first time in years. Together they navigate the uncertain and fearful future while trying to comfort the other. 닥터슬럼프 is created by Paek Sun-woo and Oh Hyeon-jong and episode two has a runtime of about 1 hour and 7 minutes
The cast of the series includes Park Hyung-sik as Yeo Jeong-woo, Park Shin-hye as Nam Ha-neul, Yoon Park as Bin Dae-yeong, Kong Seong-ha as Lee Hong-ran, Oh Dong-min as Min Kyung-min, Jang Hye-jin as Kong Wol-seon, Yoon Sang-hyun as Nam Ba-da, Hyun Bong-sik as Kong Tae-seon, Jong Ji-soon as Han Sang-chul, Park Won-ho as Kim Moo-geun, Kang Sang-jun as Son Chan-young and others.
The story of Doctor Slump follows two former school rivals, brilliant doctors, reuniting by chance and unexpectedly finding solace in each other while facing life’s worst slumps.
Doctor Slump Episode 2 Recap
In Doctor Slump episode 2, the intro scene shows Ha-neul returning to retrieve her medicines from the trashcan and Jeong-woo moving into the rooftop room. He receives a phone call from her mother who initially sounds worried about her son’s situation but it turns out that she just wants the whole thing to go away, so it doesn’t tarnish her husband’s image & chance to become a member of a board committee in America. How even his parents are mostly concerned about themselves, tears brim up in his eyes when Ha-neul happens to walk to the roof.
Both are quite surprised to see each other and Ha-neul thinks that he had come to meet her for something. Once they clarify their situation, it’s revealed that Jeong-woo’s friend/hyung, Kyung-min had referred him to the place. He is an acquaintance of Hong-ran (Ha-neul’s friend) and she told him about the vacant room, as she wanted to help her friend. As he complains to Kyung-min about living under one roof with his biggest rival, a flashback of their high school days comes through.
Initially, Jeong-woo wasn’t much bothered by studious Ha-neul. But when all his batchmates started comparing them and betting on who would place first in mid-terms, he started to feel anxious & competitive. Especially when he ranked second & Ha-neul took the first place, a fire started inside him to beat her in everything. Even though he has billions of debt after selling all his assets, he thinks of moving somewhere else, to avoid seeing Ha-neul in his despair state.
But his rent contract states that if he moves before the stipulated lease time, the deposit would be taken by the landlord, leaving him with nothing. Yet he tries to get an apartment nearby but they refuse to lease him due to his ongoing trial. Thus, he decides to stay there and convinces Ha-neul to not ask him to move out. Simultaenously, a mysterious man was seen lurking around his apartment, making him fear that someone contracted a killer for him. Jeong-woo also tries to search for information about his anesthesiologist, who refuses to give the statement to the police.
On the other hand, Ha-neul is yet again humiliated by her senior for not writing quality papers but is rushed to an emergency operation, when needed. In the operation theatre, the senior doctor isn’t able to properly inject the drip line without popping the blood vessels. Thus, Ha-neul has to step up and do everything for him. But when the patient complains about all the marks left due to the senior doctor’s failure, he blames it all on her and asks her to beg for forgiveness from them.
After being continuously humiliated and now being asked to take the blame for something she didn’t do, Ha-neul has had enough. She retaliates back for the first time and gives him his own medicine by spitting out the true facts & his incompetence. She kicks on his kneecap like he used to kick her & walks out resigning from her post. This becomes breaking news in the hospital & even starts gossiping about it. This impulsive move came after Ha-neul had been to the psychologist again, complaining of physical pain & tightness in the chest.
He informed her that it was the physical symptoms of her mental illness and that she needed rest to become better. Just like a person with a broken hand or leg needs rest, Ha-neul needs to break away from her routine to find some respite & regain health. This might have encouraged her to not take it anymore and do what’s best for her mind & body. Unfortunately, her mother thinks otherwise & gets upset when she hears Hong-ran asking Ha-neul about the reason for quitting.
Even when she explains how he was humiliated all the time despite studying hard & working hard like her mother had intended. Her mother denies her experiences & says that everyone has hardships in life. When she further tells her that she has depression, her mother refuses to believe. She rather tells her to not believe in this nonsense because her daughter can’t be depressed; she has raised her so well by making so many sacrifices. Seeing how her mother doesn’t understand her plight, she storms out of her home in her scrubs.
Accidentally, Jeong-woo hears their conversation while walking down the stairs and realises that even hardworking Han-neul is going through a dark phase. Later in the evening, when he sees her hesitantly going back home, he asks her out for a drink. Initially, she refuses but he insists on her behalf, knowing that she doesn’t want to go back yet. However, the restaurant they walk into turns out to be the same one where their high school reunion is being held.
They are forced to sit down and the classmates almost trash-talk about Jeong-woo, blaming him for killing his patient and lying about it. This enrages Jeong-woo and he walks out, not wanting to indulge in a fight. His friends who worked with him for his neo tube channel, try to calm him down but blames him again for their unemployment. Jeong-woo couldn’t sit back at false claims & tell them off that they were the ones mooching off him, while he turned a blind eye. And despite everything, he paid their debts off first, to put them in trouble.
Ha-neul hears everything and asks if he is still in the mood for a drink. He nods and they walk to another restaurant and try to remember their high school days when they fiercely competed against each other. Hearing how even his rival believed that he didn’t deliberately blotch the surgery, Jeong-woo feels comforted and tries to compliment Ha-neul for her brilliance as well. While at home, her family finds her depression & anxiety medicines and strikes her mother how much her daughter must be suffering.
She tries to apologise to Ha-neul by sending her a message relaying that she doesn’t want a successful daughter but a healthy one. No matter what she decides to do, she will love her no matter. Reading this message made Ha-neul tear up and she starts crying out loud in her drunken state. Watching her cry makes Jeong-woo feel emotional as well and they both start bawling while hugging each other.
Doctor Slump Episode 2 Review
While the first episode was quite impressive, the second episode seals the deal that it will be a worthy drama to wait for every week. While there’s no question about the leading actors’ impressive acting skills, what makes us hooked is the story and the way it’s delicately treated. There’s an equal balance between emotional and witty moments, without jeopardising the other. Impressive things in the episode have to be how the lead isn’t so gullible to let people step on them. I expected Ha-neul to do everything to keep her senior happy but it was surprising that she gave him back in his way.
Similarly, Jeong-woo’s character isn’t shown as some stuck-up who can’t see ahead of his own tragic life. Rather he is an empathetic person, looking out for others even when he is stuck in the mud. Here, Dae-young also needs a mention, since I expected him to be a jealous opportunist but looks like he will be Jeong-woo’s best ally in need. Also, as I mentioned about colour theory in the last episode – using colours to showcase emotions, in Doctor Slump Episode 2, little details can be found in written words.
For example ‘serendipity’ was written on Jeong-woo’s sweatshirt, which could mean that their coincidental/unexpected meetup can bring good luck. Then the name of the restaurant they went to was ‘Bravo my life’, where they revelled about the good old days & realised that their life wasn’t always doomed. Giving them some hope about their uncertain future.
Doctor Slump is available for streaming on Netflix. The new episode will be released on February 3, 2024, at 10:30 PM KST on JTBC or 8:30 PM IST/10:30 AM EST.
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