Recap Korean Drama "Hospital Playlist" Season 1 Episode 4

Hospital Playlist returns this week with another episode following the adventures of our five doctors. Carrying on with its great depiction of medical cases, we also get more insight into the doctors’ personal lives. The show manages to stay grounded without ever feeling too dramatic and all the while, gives us some interesting stories along the way.

We begin episode 4 of Hospital Playlist with Ik-Jun talking to a patient who is complaining about the aftermath of his liver transplant and how he now feels. Ik-Jun reassures him that it’s just his age and that he’s healthy. He meets Gyeo-Wool in the hallway and makes sure she takes the lift with Jeong-Won as he knows she likes him. He then heads to check on his sister who is on the mend. She mentions that Jun-Wan has been coming to check on her many times and as he arrives, both siblings start arguing before her friend Dr Ahn Chi-Hong comes to visit her as he used to be in the military.

Later on, Dr Anh tends to an emergency patient with a bleed in the brain who will require surgery. However, he wants to be discharged as he’s foreign and can’t afford the operation. He seeks the help of Song-Hwa who manages to sort out funding for him, while in the canteen Young-Joon decides to explain what the five doctors are like to Jang and Dr Chu. He tells them they each lack something and after explaining that Song-Hwa is their emotional pillar, he mentions that Seok-Hyeong is not social, Ik-Jun is not modest and Jeong-Won doesn’t have any desire for material possessions.

Later on, Jun-Wan meets with Jeong-Won and tells him that congressman Sim Yeong-Su is going to have a liver transplant and has reserved four of the VIP rooms for him and the donor, his son Sim Yeong-Ho, who used to be friends with Ik-Jun. He also later finds out that Yeong-Ho is being forced to give up his liver and refuses to see anyone.

Seok-Hyeong and Jeong-Won have a meeting to discuss the next course of action for a pregnant woman whose baby has his intestines growing out of his body. As the meeting comes to an end, Seok-Hyeong finds out that congressman Sim is being admitted in hospital, which seems to upset him.

Ik-Jun later has lunch with his son who admits to him that he doesn’t miss his mother and tells him he’s his favourite person in the universe while Jeong-Woo visits his priest brother. He tells him that he is planning to reveal to his mother what he’s planning to do. It doesn’t go well though as his mother throws all of his things out of the house. We then cut to Song-Hwa performing a dance during mass, which surprises the twin doctors.

As a new day begins, Seok-Hyeong prepares to deliver a baby with no brain. He takes Min-Ah aside and tells her that once the baby is out, she is to cover his mouth as he doesn’t want him to cry. She relays this to her colleague, as she’s shocked by his behaviour. However, he explains that the mother has decided not to see the baby when he is born as it would be too traumatic so Seok-Hyeong asks for loud music to be played during labour to drown the baby cries.

Jeong-Won attends to a boy whose Father claims to have a broken arm. The doctors notice that he has severe chest pains though so they send him for an X-ray, even though the Father is reluctant. At the same time, Seok-Hyeong hears that the woman is in labour and has to rush to deliver the baby with no brain. After the baby is born, the mother cries as she feels sorry for her newborn. Seok-Hyeong reassures her as she has never given up on him.

During lunch, Song-Hwa, Jun-Wan and Ik-Jun discuss Seok-Hyeong. We find out that he lost his sister and his father had an affair with a younger woman. Not long after, his mother had a stroke but she is now doing better. We witness Seok-Hyeong being very caring and over protective with his mother after meeting with her in hospital. A flashback then begins of Seok-Hyeong finding out about his sister and father. When his mother found out her husband was cheating, she decided not to give him a divorce as she didn’t want him to be happy.

Back in hospital, Chi-Hong and Gyeo-Wool meet with Young-Joon to learn more about the doctors. He tells them about their band and what each of them specializes in, as we see a flashback of the band in 1999. Seok-Hyeong is a very talented piano player while Ik-Jun plays the guitar well too. We see a montage of them rehearsing before cutting back to the present as they play the same song again.

The next day, Jeong-Won is called to see a little boy who turns out to be the twin brother of the one he saw the day before. His Father admits that he fell asleep while driving and had a car accident. As they start looking into it, they find a lot of bruises which indicates that this may be caused by his father.

Ik-Jun visits the congressman before his operation. After leaving the room, he decides to call security as he finds it very strange that his wife never leaves his room or goes to see her son. He then goes inside the son’s room and sees him on the sofa, but also with another man in the room.

The episode ends with Ik-Seun running in her uniform and  surprised when Jun-Wan meets her to go and get food together.

This week’s episode has added some suspense and intrigue to the show. While Jeong-Won suspects his patient has been abused by their dad, Ik-Jun may have uncovered something darker. What is happening exactly with the congressman and his son? As we see his wife refusing to leave his room and his son not having any visitors, there is definitely more to this and we should hopefully find out soon in the coming weeks.

Hospital Playlist has so far managed to give some great characterisation for each of the doctors. This week concentrates on Seok-Hyeong as we see his dark past and how caring he is to his family, friends and patients. There is some light humour in the show too, which gives a good contrast with the more poignant and dramatic scenes. All this make this medical series worth watching every week and quite what will happen next, remains to be seen.