Just as I was wondering how this show could progress with six more episodes when seemingly all the conflicts have already been resolved, a new bombshell gets dropped. Doctor Slump is, for the most part, a truly dopamine-inducing piece of entertainment that, if you’re a fan of all things cute, will leave you grinning from ear to ear. I suppose in the sea of thrillers and dark comedies and all of the shows that are meant to be taken too seriously, this comes as the perfect break to simply enjoy the little things. Nah, don’t get me wrong, this is a K-drama, so the drama does ensue; however, it’s also simply entertaining in the most innocent sense of the term. It’s not near perfect, but to me, with these actors, who I feel like I’ve grown up with at this point, and this premise, I feel seen and appreciated for all my oddities (yes, this is after I said not to take it too seriously…oop) Anyway, before I get emotional over yet another Korean drama and cry my eyes out like Park Shin-Hye in everything she stars in, let’s quickly recap the overly colorful 11th episode of Doctor Slump.
Spoiler Alert
How Are Ha-Neul and Jeong-Woo Doing?
Doctor Slump Episode 11 is like a chocolate lava cake. Until episode 10, we were enjoying the cake on the outside, but now all the gooey richness of Ha-Neul and Jeong-Woo’s relationship is on offer. Be warned; their blossoming love may leave you with cavities or at least a sharp pain in your jaw. After hyping each other up as the best-looking people they know, Ha-Neul and Jeong-Woo get home on a high note. Ha-Neul’s joyous expression leaves the family shocked, so much so that her brother even decides to diagnose her with bipolar disorder (sigh, I want to smack this boy in the face). It seems Ha-Neul and Jeong-Woo can’t get enough of each other, so Ha-Neul decides to sneak up to his house for a late-night snack. After spending time getting to know each other’s little quirks, Ha-Neul’s tired of stuffing her face. Jeong-Woo and Ha-Neul get cozy in bed, hoping for 30 minutes of rest while cuddling, but as is the norm in Dramaland, they fall asleep, and suddenly the night’s passed.
Ha-Neul’s mother decides to go to the roof to check on her cabbages when she notices that Jeong-Woo’s returned home after quite some time. She notices his window is open, and while shutting it, she notices a woman in Jeong-Woo’s bed. He’s cuddling with Ha-Neul at this point and notices her mother, immediately going into a panic mood. Ha-Neul wakes up and decides for the moment that it’s best to keep their relationship a secret from her family, or they might take too much interest in the details. On the previous night, Jeong-Woo was excited that Ha-Neul was going to tell her mother because it would mean that she was actually happy to be with him. Ironically, this leads Ha-Neul’s mom to think that Jeong-Woo’s already moved on, leading her to act comically petty towards him (ah, we love a good Ajumma meltdown).
Do Ha-Neul and Jeong-Woo Tell People at Work About Their Relationship?
Since Ha-Neul and Jeong-Woo are colleagues, they decide it’s best to hide their personal relationship from the workplace. Anyway, Ha-Neul is only working there temporarily, so this would just make things unnecessarily awkward. However, this leads Jeong-Woo to tell the female colleagues that he’s single and then further make some silly mistakes with Ha-Neul, like telling her that forehead fillers would do her some good (yikes), leading to their first lover’s quarrel (how adorable).
What Happens on Ha-Neul’s Mother’s Birthday?
We already know that Asian moms are Sherlock Holmes in disguise, so just by a glance at the trash in Jeong-Woo’s house, Ha-Neul’s mother is able to guess that it was, in fact, Ha-Neul who was in the bed (that memory, though). At this point, Ha-Neul’s mother has just gotten off the phone with her annoying sister-in-law, who, instead of wishing her a happy birthday, annoys her about how Ha-Neul is living a terrible life. So, instead of being furious about her 30-something-year-old daughter spending the night at a man’s house, she’s actually thrilled by the prospects. Especially since she absolutely adores said man. She even invites him to a family lunch. At lunch, all the secrets are laid on the table, and Ha-Neul even admits to working in the clinic to help Jeong-Woo. A present for her mother on this special day, because it means her daughter is finally feeling better and is able to go back to doing something she truly enjoys.
What is Kyung-Min up to?
After a good day, Jeong-Woo asks Ha-Neul why she’s never been curious about his parents. She tells him that she did see his mother once during school. At that time, Jeong-Woo’s mother had told the teacher off for bothering her when her son “merely” fainted in class. This left Ha-Neul pitying Jeong-Woo, and so she had a sort of understanding of the kind of parents he had. Jeong-Woo tells Ha-Neul that he’s envious of her family because the one thing he finds unattainable in his life is the love of his parents. Both his parents are cardiologists, and he chose to do plastic surgery—a terrible misfortune for them, I suppose. Ha-Neul has no reaction other than to comfort him. It seems that the only person whom Jeong-Woo could really speak to before her was Kyung-Min, so now she feels guilty for coming in the middle of their friendship. However, to her surprise, Jeong-Woo tells her that he had a hunch about Kyung-Min even before he found out about her incident.
In the meantime, we learn that Kyung-Min has been made the director of a remote hospital. The same professor who ill-treated Ha-Neul is visiting him to celebrate his new title and tells him how the hospital he works in needs new pharmaceutical suppliers. Kyung-Min tells the professor that he would love to take on this job. I wonder what strange ideas are brewing in the man’s head now.
At the end of Doctor Slump episode 11, it seems to be the calm before a storm. Everything is going well for Ha-Neul and Jeong-Woo, but how long will this happiness last when Kyung-Min is still around? Jeong-Woo tells Ha-Neul that there was a time when Kyung-Min spiked his drink on the day he got into medical school. It was so bad that he had to be taken to the emergency room. Jeong-Woo has a memory of seeing Kung-Min put something in his drink; however, he isn’t sure if it really happened. Jeong-Woo had been suffering from insomnia, so when Ambien was found in his system, it could easily be swept under the rug. Still, it makes no sense why Kyung-Min would do such a thing. Was it a kind of warning? Or was he simply trying to experiment with drugs? After that, Kyung-Min went back to being like a brother to Jeong-Woo, but I suppose, since Jeong-Woo didn’t really ever have any other friends, this was the only way he could make himself feel better and ignore the hunch. The anesthesiologist from Jeong-Woo’s clinic comes to visit Kyung-Min in his office and reminds him that he must keep his promise. Kyung-Min is hiding a lot of things. The things greedy people do for power and money, I suppose. We’ll find out soon enough what he’s really up to in Doctor Slump.
