We are happy to announce that Doctor Cha remains as entertaining as ever. There was a particular breakup that we were rather desperate to see, and then there was some nasty behavior that felt a little undeserved. Overall, the lesson to learn was that the men of this series will do what they please, be it In Ho or Chief Yoon. They make commitments as per their convenience and then follow their hearts while breaking others when it suits them. Please don’t come at us with “not all men” or “What about the women who do it?” We can’t explain why it is not the same thing. Case in point: Seung Hi. Either way, here is a recap of Episode 11 of Doctor Cha.
Spoilers Alert
Does Jeong Suk Get The Support Of Her Children?
While Cha Jeong Suk might have burst out laughing when it started raining and she and Jeon So Ra were getting drenched due to the unhelpful sunroof, once she got back to her dorm, the tears returned. The next morning, as Jeong Suk gets back to work, she jumps into it head-on. The first thing she does is to talk to Seung Hi and In Ho. She lets them know that she knows everything and confirms that Eun Soo is In Ho’s daughter. She tells Seung Hi to shift to a different hospital and warns In Ho that she is deciding the future of their relationship. When Jeong Suk leaves, Seung Hi tells In Ho that she doesn’t want to break up with him and believes that there won’t be a need either since Jeong Suk might want to divorce him.
Later, when Jeong Suk confronts In Ho regarding how much their kids know and why they kept it all hidden from her, she breaks down when she discovers that her children were just trying to protect her. From thereon, Jeong Suk meets I Rang and Jung Min and tells them that she knows the entire thing. I Rang tells Jeong Suk to do what suits her best and that she will stand by her. As for Jung Min, he discovers that his mother knows about the affair through So Ra. Right before they break up, So Ra wants to tell him what she knows about his family. Jung Min knew about the affair, but once he found out that his mother knew about his father’s betrayal, there was no protecting her anymore. The children and In Ho’s mother asked him what he plans to do now that Jeong Suk knows, and the only thing In Ho can say is that he doesn’t want a divorce. It is really a day for revelations since Jeong Suk’s best friend also comes to know about the affair when I Rang tells her. Like a true best friend, she tells Jeong Suk that she will support her since only Jeong Suk can be the judge of what she can live with and what she cannot. In Episode 10, Jeong Suk’s primary dilemma was the fate of her children. It was also important to consider that she had been married for more than 20 years, dedicating the better part of her life to her relationship. Just deciding to get up and go is not easy for her. It is the same belligerence that is keeping Seung Hi tied to In Ho.
When Seung Hi discovers that Eun Soo won’t be able to apply to the schools she wants because of her broken wrist, she is heartbroken for her daughter. Eun Soo is in tears because it has become a matter of pride for her that she go to a university as prestigious as I Rang’s, if not more. Knowing that it probably won’t happen is something she is not able to digest. Looking at her daughter’s plight, Seung Hi’s sense of right and wrong goes right out the window, and she demands that Jeong Suk divorce In Ho. She believes that she is the same as Jeong Suk since the latter was the one who In Ho cheated with first. Knowing she cannot argue with Seung Hi, Jeong Suk just says that they are paying the price for their mistakes. That night, the dorm rooms catch fire, and Jeong Suk is rescued by Roy Kim. But In Ho, being the petty man that he is, demands to carry her out himself. It doesn’t help either way since Jeong Suk ends up staying at Roy Kim’s house with So Ra since he offers temporary accommodation for all those affected by the fire.
When In Ho discovers this, he is jealous and angry and is quite unprofessional with Roy Kim in a meeting. In Ho is not having a good day after all, and one of his patients’ relatives even spits on him when he refuses to give more painkillers to the patient. But that is not the worst part. He literally gets into a physical altercation with Roy Kim.
Why Does In Ho Fight With Roy Kim?
To date, we were not sure if Roy Kim actually liked Jeong Suk or if he was just a charming friend. But when So Ra points out to him that his feelings for Jeong Suk are obvious, he has no option but to acknowledge them for himself. This just proves that In Ho’s jealousy was not irrational. He had similarly gauged that Roy Kim liked his soon-to-be ex-wife.
The reason these two men come to blows is because they get involved in someone else’s fight. Two of their hospital heads, Chief Yoon and Chief Lim, have a longstanding enmity between them. Chief Yoon was engaged to Chief Lim’s sister but left her to marry into a rich family. Now, years later, he wants to get back together with her, and that is causing the two men to fight. When they start pulling at each other’s hair, Roy and In Ho are forced to intervene. Ironically, their situation is pretty similar. Chief Lim’s sister can be replaced by Jeong Suk, and Chief Yoon could easily be In Ho. Roy could be the new person that sister has started seeing. At the end of Episode 11 of Doctor Cha, Roy and In Ho end up taking sides with Chief Lim and Chief Yoon, and the fight gets personal, bringing them to blows. When Jeong Suk watches this, she is horrified and has no clue what to do now.
Final Thoughts
As entertaining as Doctor Cha has been, which is a lot, we wonder whether a major chunk of the series has been wasted by not showing Jeong Suk’s journey as an independent woman. Shouldn’t that have been the bulk of the story? The precap shows that Jeong Suk will announce her intention to separate from In Ho in Episode 12, and we can say that his protests and eventual giving up will take the better part of Episodes 13 and 14. When do we see Jeong Suk’s individual journey, then? The real struggle of a woman who has never led an independent life Throughout Doctor Cha’s new career, she was still the rich daughter-in-law of an affluent family. She came back to her job to reclaim her dignity. But when you don’t have your family’s money to fall back on, there is a lot more at stake. We never thought we would say this, but in this particular regard, at least, Anupamaa was far greater than Doctor Cha.
