Doctor Slump (2024) K Drama Episode 6 with Park Shin Hye and Park Hyung Shik

Episode 6 of Doctor Slump begins with Ha-neul’s monologue and her effort to show the audience what depression feels like. Sometimes she doesn’t want to do anything and lie on the bed, sometimes she tries some sort of a change which seems futile. Sometimes nothing seems to go her way. She comes across a psychological concept of “Ambivalence” – the state of having contradictory feelings.

The next day after she goes to the rooftop and embraces Jeong-woo to comfort him, she decides to go for a run. At the same time, Jeong-woo receives a call about the hidden camera and is notified that the police cannot get the fingerprints. He meets Ha-neul on her morning run who confronts him about PTSD.

She further relayed that she didn’t even know and proceeded to impose her feelings on him. She takes him to get wine to help him sleep well, pure cotton sleepwear to help him feel comfortable, helps him wash his bedding, and proceeds to tell him that she has become interested in him and that she’s confused. They decide to discuss their feelings later. Basically, they like each other but since they’re both not in a good place mentally, they keep giving hints to each other anyway. 

Ha-neul proposes to Jeong-woo to visit the mental health clinic but Jeong-woo is not ready yet. Hong-ran visits Ha-neul and learns that she has been rejected by Jeong-woo oblivious to the developments in their relationship. She drags Ha-neul back home while glaring at Jeong-woo. At the same time, she receives a message from Dae-young agreeing to meet him for a date. 

Jeong-woo texts Ha-neul about playing Go-stop. She doesn’t pay any attention to it until she realises that it is her code for his PTSD symptoms and rushes upstairs. However, Jeong-woo just wanted to tease her and tell her that he’ll go to the clinic if she goes with him. Meanwhile, Hong-ran’s son wakes her up at 5 am due to hunger. We learn that he stays at his grandmother’s house while Hong-ran works and she promises to live with him together once he joins elementary school. 

Ha-neul and Jeong-woo visit the clinic together. While coming back home, Ha-neul makes a show of finding 500 won to cheer Jeong-woo while the neighbourhood residents judge her. They play old-school computer games with the money they have found while a bunch of kids wait for them to finish but in vain. Jeong-woo finally pulls Ha-neul away to let the kids play. They visit the karaoke and since Ha-neul is unfamiliar with any kind of music, she mishears “Ha-neul” in every song that Jeong-woo sings and misunderstands it as his confession. She’s later embarrassed as Jeong-woo clarifies the proper pronunciation of the lyrics. He thanks her for trying to cheer him up. 

While on their way, they meet a classmate from high school who was the third ranker. She’s interested in Jeong-woo and has all his court appearances memorised. She further tells the duo about how Jeong-woo was interested in her – giving her plenty of sausages when on lunch duty, giving her his entire eraser when she had forgotten to bring hers, protecting her from bullies and so on. Ha-neul is jealous beyond her wits. After the classmate leaves, expressing her intention to reconnect with Jeong-woo, Ha-neul confronts him and shoulder-butts him before leaving. 

Back home, Jeong-woo tries to remember what happened. He was so focused on making life hell for Ha-neul that he unconsciously was being considerate of the classmate, leading to the misunderstanding that he was interested in her. Meanwhile, from a series of events, Ha-neul realises that she is being ridiculous and goes to Jeong-woo with dumplings from her uncle’s restaurant as a peace offering. 

Meanwhile, Hong-ran and Dae-young meet at a cafe and Dae-young proceeds to talk about his Neo-tube channel. When Hong-ran finds it odd, he finally says that Hong-ran had subscribed to his channel which she strongly refutes. She remembers about accidently doing it while remembering the ridiculous Neo-tube channel that she had found. The date is ruined of course. As they leave, they argue about Jeong-woo with Dae-young taking his side and Hong-ran bashing him thinking that he was being sly with Ha-neul. At that moment, a dragonfly sits on Dae-young’s head and Hong-ran captures it with a plastic cup and requests him to go with her to get an insect trapper. 

Ha-neul and Jeong-woo have beer and dumplings. She confesses that it was her first time feeling jealous. She tells him that she feels ambivalent and isn’t sure about anything. Jeong-woo tells her that he likes her. The flustered Ha-neul listens as he tells her that she’s like a drug to him and he feels better since she’s with him. As they come back home from getting some more snacks, Kyung-min approaches them and Ha-neul coldly leaves them. 

Jeong-woo and Kyung-min discuss ongoing things and Jeong-woo reassures him that he knows what Kyung-min said to him is true. Kyung-min reiterates that he said it because he cares about Jeong-woo. Meanwhile, the police have found a recording with the burglar captured in it. As Jeong-woo is coming back home, he confronts an unknown figure following him and chases him only to get injured and lose consciousness. Meanwhile, Ha-jeong finds the hidden camera in Jeong-woo’s room and someone seems to be there but it’s not Jeong-woo. 

The Episode Review

This episode was an improvement from the previous one. Watching Shin-hye portraying Ha-neul conveying her feelings about how she feels is heartwarming and informative at the same time. The show reminds us that mental illnesses are a spectrum – they aren’t always visibly destructive but thieves of one’s perception of time, feelings and emotions, sometimes an unending alternate reality filled with suffering. It also highlights that mental illnesses can happen to anybody and that it shouldn’t be a taboo.