Season 1, Episode 2
Date of release: January 24, 2025 (Netflix)
Written by: Choi Tae-kang
Directed by: Lee Do-yoon
“Try being a little more compassionate.”
“Gonna be difficult, since I'm known for being an asshole.”
I still can't get over the fact that idiots run this hospital – people who only worked toward their doctoral degree because it brings them a bunch of money, instead of wanting to do the job. They figured they could get the M.D. after their name (or whatever the Korean equivalent of the title is) and then publish a bunch of papers and be rich; the fact that they have to save lives doesn't seem to compute. And this can't really be a general Korean consensus of medicine, right? This is just a show that decided this is going to be the premise because it sounds funnier, right? To make sure that Dr. Baek looks as superheroic as possible, walking around in his scrubs and white coat after returning from an impromptu shift as a flight paramedic.
This episode is essentially an hour-long attempt by Dr. Baek to get another member on his trauma team, since he can't be doing the job all on his own with silly fools from other departments who can't even do a tracheostomy. Baek's work to fill his team with people he can trust is actually a neat story, and I'm sure that winning over Yang Jae-won won't be the only time Baek has had to work on his people skills to fill his team, as I can't imagine that Jae-won will be the only new addition to the team. Baek is trying to build up a whole trauma center, and those need a sizable staff of doctors, nurses, and administrators who can work 24/7, 365 days a year. Besides this show looking like a superhero comic book adaptation at times, a story about building a trauma center and turning this hospital from a joke into the most trusted medical institute in the nation could be an intriguing, long-running story arc.
I wouldn't mind seeing more flashbacks from Baek's time as an action hero field medic in war zones – it's a premise I was already in for when, in 2011, the Canadian medical TV drama COMBAT HOSPITAL premiered (and I'm still pissed that it was canceled after only half a season). It would take the audience away from the slightly comedic setting of the hospital and transport them into a more serious and dramatic world of chaos and death. Not to mention that Baek's backstory could flesh him out as a character and make him look like something more than a one-dimensional superhero who knows how to handle a scalpel. But I'm not even sure if Korean TV dramas are normally written like that – I guess I will have to wait and see.
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| The boss is contemplating – time for the nurse to step up with her opinions. |
