Doctor Slump (닥터슬럼프) is the latest medical romantic K-drama released on Netflix on January 27, 2024. It is created by Paek Sun-woo and Oh Hyeon-jong and will be taking the weekend slot taken by Welcome to Samdal-ri previously on JTBC. The first episode has a runtime of about 1 hour and 2 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 1 Recap
The opening scene shows Nam Ha-neul (Park Shin-hye) walking out of the hospital in pain. From her perspective, it feels as if the world has slowed down and she can recall every single thing happening around her. As she tries to cross the road, the pain takes over her body and she drops down on her knees while the traffic resumes. Before anyone or she could help herself, a truck was seen approaching at speed. Before we could know what happens to her, the scene cuts to an operation theatre where a patient is profusely bleeding and loses the battle eventually.
The show then takes us back in time to Busan 2009 when Ha-neul’s family is celebrating her top score in a test. She is an exemplary student who can study all the time, even amidst a fight. That’s all she cares about – to study hard and get accepted to the top medical university. At the same time, her relatives from her father’s side are always fighting for a share in the factory that he left behind. Thus, she advised her mother to sell it and move to Seoul, so she could enrol in the best university as well.
Simultaenously, in Seoul, Yeo Jeong-woo (Park Hyung-sik) topped the same mock test and is being celebrated in his school. Coincidentally, Ha-neul also transfers there but is irked by his presence. They both want to outdo each other and think that there can’t be two toppers in the same school. Keeping each other in check with their competitive rivalry, their teen years look hopeful and comparatively happy than their present self.
Both of them aimed to get accepted to Hanguk National University, however, only Jeong-woo made it there and became a famous plastic surgeon. Due to his accidental popularity on social media, he found much fame by creating his own channel and becoming known to the public. So much so, that he gets awarded by the minister for his contribution. Here we get to meet Bin Dae-young (Yoon Park), a jealous college senior who warns him to be humble or he will get bad karma.
Meanwhile, when talking about their high school reunion in some time, Jeong-woo mentions that Ha-neul actually messed up her SATs and wasn’t able to go to the top university, as she had hoped. Instead, she enrolled in another college and became an anesthesiologist. Yet life wasn’t as comfortable for her. She has to work overtime and gets power-tripped by her senior doctor. It is revealed that after continuously working day & night, ignoring her abdominal pain, she was actually on her way to meet her college friend Hong-ran.
But the pain gets the best of her & she falls down in the middle of the road. The oncoming truck was able to step on the brake, right on time and missing her by a hair. After a close encounter with death, Ha-neul passes out completely and is taken to the hospital by her friend. It turned out to be gallbladder pain and had to be removed with surgery. Even though it wasn’t much life-threatening, this incident left a deep impact on her.
On the other hand, Jeong-woo is visited by a rich and high-profile client from Macao. It’s like any other day in his life, performing eyelid and jaw reduction surgery. But something goes horribly wrong, making her bleed profusely. Despite putting all efforts into trying to control the bleeding, the patient loses her life on the table. The incident becomes breaking news due to his popularity and the patient being a Casino Heiress from Macao. Even though he truthfully cooperated with the investigation, the situation went out of his hands when the CCTV footage of the surgery was accidentally corrupted.
He is sued by the partner of the heiress and has to appear in court to defend his case. There, the prosecutor accuses him of injecting the patient with an anticoagulant (blood-thinning drug) which led to her uncontrollable bleeding. No matter how much he denies using the drug, a vile of the drug is presented by the prosecutor – claiming to have been retrieved from his clinic’s trash and with his fingerprints on it. This evidence makes things more complicated and his tainted image cost him billions in penalties from advertisers etc. The debt even turns his friends against him, questioning if he deliberately killed his patient.
After recovering from gallbladder surgery, Ha-neul resumed her daily life and was still treated badly by her senior, who took all the credit for the papers she wrote. On top of that, she seems to have developed a trauma of crossing the road, since her fall. She consults a psychologist after much consideration and gets diagnosed with depression when she reveals that the moment the truck was approaching, she didn’t fear for her life but rather wanted to die. She never had such thoughts before no matter how bad her situation was, then why at that moment?
The doctor tells her that she must be burnt out from her work and all the stress, anxiety, and frustrations that she had dismissed to the back of her mind, is now taking a toll on her. Ha-neul refuses to believe that she is actually depressed because she hardly even has time to breathe and has to make money for her family. She decides to drown her thoughts with alcohol and rushes home but hearing her mother bickering with her unemployed brother, isn’t something she wants to deal with.
As she sneakily steps to the rooftop, she sees a lot of stuff kept there. Amid the hanging clothes, a silhouette of a man can be seen and as she approaches him – he turns out to be weeping Jeong-woo. Both seem truly surprised to see each other after all these years and in the back of their mind, they recall what they meant to each other. Jeong-woo refers to her as the girl he liked, when she remembers how much she wanted to grab him by the collar.
Doctor Slump Episode 1 Review
Looking at the trailer of Doctor Slump, many would have expected the first episode to feature mostly their high school days, which would be comedic in nature. However, the show had a sombre vibe than comedy as they addressed the biggest tragedies in their lives. Since they have fallen to the bottom, we can expect it will be uphill mostly. The pace of the story was quite quick and gave us an overview of the character’s lives. What was striking about the drama was the use of colours to hint at the emotions of the characters.
Most noticeable would be when the casino heiress Chang Bing makes an entry in the bright red dress, hinting at the danger she is about to bring. Secondly, when Jeong-woo appears in court, he is in an all-black outfit- showing his sorrow/fear/dark time in his life. As for Ha-neul, she wears neutral colours like beige but carries a black bag, which could be interpreted as her character seems a normal functioning person but she has this dark corner inside, latching onto her. When she meets the psychologist, he is seen in a blue outfit which usually signifies stability or wisdom, a soothing colour.
If you look closely at the scene, there’s like a green canvas behind Ha-neul that fills the frame. And in colour theory green signifies new beginnings, growth, and renewal and it stands true in her case since might be the first step in her personal growth. Even when she meets Jeong-woo, he has a black and green outfit on. Which in my personal opinion could visually mean that he is in a dark place but meeting Ha-neul will be a new start for him. So far, Doctor Slump looks promising and healing in nature, although some parts felt ridiculous like nobody helping Ha-neul on the road.
Rating: 3.5/5
Doctor Slump is available for streaming on Netflix.
Also Read: All Doctor Slump Reviews Here!
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