Daily Dose of Sunshine (2023) KDrama Episode 7

Episode 7 of Daily Dose of Sunshine begins with Go-yun confessing his feelings to Da-eun. He wants to start dating her but before she can answer, Da-eun receives a call. This is the police, and they confirm the worst regarding Seo-wan’s condition.

Meanwhile, a guy called Jun-gi is rushed into hospital after attempting to commit suicide by slashing his throat with a chopstick. It turns out he was experiencing visions of something crawling around inside his neck. Desperate to get it out, Jun-gi took a chopstick to his throat and tried to pry it out. His sister thankfully saw him and called the paramedics in.

he’s brought in for treatment at the hospital, but this perceived schizophrenic episode means it’s a case for the psychiatric ward to handle after he’s cleared up and got treatment.

Meanwhile, Yu-chan throws himself into work when he believes he’s blown his chances with Da-eun. He knows Go-yun has made his move and is frustrated over it.

Elsewhere though, everyone in the ward is torn up over what’s happened with Seo-wan, especially when his parents show up and blame everyone there for discharging him. Dr Im is the main target here and during the big meeting after, he doesn’t say a word and continues with business as usual. This is showing to Dr Kong, who questions his behaviour and how he won’t even acknowledge what happened.

When Im leaves the room, Yeo-hwan speaks plainly to Cheol-woo and admits that it’s sad every single time. They all pretend it doesn’t affect them but in reality, it tears them up inside. Tellingly, Da-eun is not at work and although the other nurses message her to check up on her, Da-eun stays in bed and decides to forget about the world.

Everyone is torn up in their own way, with Go-yun drinking himself silly. When Yu-chan finds out what happened, he helps carry Go-yun to his room before admitting, while he’s passed out “I wish I could hate you,” while looking after him. The pair share food in the morning, where Yu-chan admits that he saw everything between him and Da-eun. However, Go-yun admits that they’re not dating right now.

The other nurses are worried about Da-eun’s mental wellbeing, but Soo-yeon believes she could just be throwing herself into work to try and distract herself from what’s happened. In Seo-wan’s room is the new patient, Jun-gi. Tending to him makes Da-eun remember what happened with Seo-wan when he was suffering with delusions.

As for Jun-gi, the extent of his issues go deep. He and his wife were happily married, expecting their first chid. However, the babe passed away and the pair ended up cremating him. Even worse, Jun-gi’s wife died after changing everything. She commit suicide, which ripped Jun-gi’s heart to shreds. They had everything but thanks to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, their life was ripped to shreds.

Dr Im decides to let Yeo-hwan take charge of an upcoming presentation surrounding PTSD. They’re going to use Jun-gi’s case for this one. Just before leaving, Yeo-hwan gets some food for all the nurses, a throwback to earlier in the season with the bet. Deul-re calls over that she’s glad for his kindness before he leaves. As for the latter, she’s still trying to handle all the debts that are piling up.

Seo-wan’s death is a tough pill to swallow, and Yeo-hwan gives a really touching speech during his presentation about his death and impact on the ward. This makes the title of the episode, The Left Behind, hit that much harder. This is especially true when it comes to Jin-gu, who is technically the one “left behind” in his family.

That night, Go-yun checks up on Da-eun and offers her some advice. She laughs it off, claiming he makes it sound similar to heartbreak. Ms Song waits outside the hospital with Mr Kim (Seo-wan’s father). After some time, he admits that Seo-wan must have taken some good memories with him and thanks Song for everything she did to try and help his son at the hospital. Just before he goes, Song suggests that he join a therapy group for suicide victims, where they meet once a week.

During the group therapy session at the ward, Jun-gi opens up along with the other victims, blaming himself. He couldn’t bring himself to see his wife’s body at the funeral, so Dr Im stands up and suggests they do a makeshift passing right here, so he can pretend his late wife is before him so he can say goodbye to her. It’s a really beautiful and touching farewell, and he promises to be there for her in the next life.

Meanwhile, Da-eun’s grief manifests itself through Dissociative amnesia. She doesn’t register his death and in fact, tells her father that he’s been discharged lately. She doesn’t see anything wrong, until everyone else turns and stares at her.

The Episode Review

Well that was a tough episode to sit through. Trying to get through this episode after the shocking end to episode 6 was certainly hard, with the topic of suicide handled and discussed. The gut-wrenching realization that Seo-wan is not with us anymore, coupled with the hammer blow of Jun-gi’s suicide attempt and the horrors he’s been through, were especially poignant and gut-wrenching. And in fact, all of this eventually culminates in Da-eun ending up with a big form of PTSD to block out what’s happened to Seo-wan.

The love triangle continues to simmer in the background, while the drama involving Yeo-hwan and Deul-re looks set to start racketing up in drama for the remainder of the season. 

While shorter than the other chapters, this one still packs one heck of a punch and the ending hints that things are about to turn toward Da-eun more now and how she’s handling things