Season 1, Episode 5
Date of release: January 24, 2025 (Netflix)
Written by: Choi Tae-kang
Directed by: Lee Do-yoon
“Situations like today would've been impossible if I were alone. But fortunately, we came together.”
I was hoping for a gnarly mass-casualty incident in this show, so I could see how Korean medical television handles the action and pressure of the premise of multiple patients with grave injuries being unloaded in a single hospital, to be assessed and treated by overworked and underpaid doctors and nurses who just want to save lives. What I got was an episode that started as a potential medical action show, but it ended up similar to the ER episode in which a porch collapse created a couple dozen victims that were triaged by one of the main characters on site, only for the remainder of the episode to only focus on three patients for the doctors to treat (the season 11 finale “The Show Must Go On”). I thought I would be getting a little more with this episode – a storyline that involved every department getting in on the action of saving lives, but in the end, it's all just Dr. Baek being the hero and sharing the wealth of sudden superstardom.
But I liked how Dr. Baek even seemed a little rattled by what was happening at the accident site. Maybe there were a few too many victims for him to handle, or maybe he was suffering from some PTSD, in case the show wanted to get back into his past and deal with the time he was part of the Black Wings. The scenes at the accident site didn't make any attempt at turning the story into something more personal for Baek though. For him, being at the accident site was just one way to force the hospital into the media, to get attention from the press, so that he could pressure the chiefs of the hospital to increase the trauma center's budget. It's almost like the mass-casualty event was a plot device that helped Baek to get what he wanted. How convenient.
It was also an episode that established a close-knit team around Baek. He may be the superhero superstar of the show, but no superhero can save lives without the help of some equally talented and adrenaline-addicted sidekicks. Dr. Yang (how nice of Baek to not call him Anus any longer) still needs to figure out how to get excited about leading a surgery all on his own, and Gangster and Park Gyeong-won (the anesthesiologist) need to get more screentime for them to be considered part of the team, as they currently just feel like random additions to Baek and Yang, so that the show doesn't look like it only employs only two doctors who care enough to do their jobs.
What I still don't like is the stupidity and aggressiveness coming from the hospital board and other doctors. They are still bitching and moaning, and they are treating their workplace like a kindergarten – it's absolutely beneath them, and I would wish for the health minister to just pull the trigger, fire every single one of them, and fill the positions with physicians and other healthcare workers who are interested in doing their jobs, not how much money they make. At this point, the plot has grown annoying, and I would love for it to end. Good thing the show's season is only eight episodes long, so I only have to suffer through it for three more hours.
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| In this hospital, you also need to know how to talk to the press and media. |
