I think if you treat Resident Playbook as a stand-alone, it’s actually gotten quite entertaining. In the typical medical drama fashion, rather than focusing on the cases, it’s easy to focus on the 4 residents we’ve started to care about. Sure, there are some cases we get invested in, but for the most part, the “drama” side of things comes from the character we know and adore, rather than the patients that keep changing every few minutes. I definitely enjoyed episodes 7 and 8 more than some of the previous episodes, especially because we’re seeing a stronger bond between the four first-years, and something might be brewing between Do-Won and Yi-Young, which I’m definitely here for. At first, I felt like they didn’t really seem like a good fit for each other, but the more I watch the show, the more I want to root for them. But, with that said, let me dive straight into everything that’s gone down in episodes 7 and 8.
Spoiler Alert
Why Is Nam-Kyung The Interns’ Favourite?
In episode 7 of Resident Playbook, we’re made to realize that a good amount of time has passed since the first-years joined, possibly nearing a year. Now, some new interns have come on board, and the professors want the best to come to their department. The two professors overhear one of the interns talking about how each of the first-years has their own signature, or “brand.” They realize that Nam-Kyung is the most liked of the lot, so the professor toots her horn a little bit to get her to recruit the intern Tak Gi-On, who seems to be a good fit for the OB-GYN department. Now, Gi-On has been yelled at by Yi-Young, who basically told him to get lost when he made a mistake, but Nam-Kyung is friendly and even apologizes on his behalf. But, ironically, people like the work Gi-On does, even if it means he’s making stars with tape on people’s bellies (to cover wounds) or accidentally telling an old lady she has cancer when her son begged the doctors not to tell her. The old lady appreciates the honesty and agrees to undergo surgery, knowing that the doctor didn’t let her look stupid going into the surgery room, not knowing she has cancer.
Much later in the episode, Nam-Kyung’s ex-boyfriend shows up at the hospital, and she thinks he’s there because he wants to make up again, but he’s there because his mom’s had a fall. After she finds out that his mom is doing okay, Nam-Kyung wonders if they’re going to get back together, but this time her ex-boyfriend tells her that they’re done for good, and the fact that she was able to threaten him with breaking up always made him feel terrible. Nam-Kyung tells him that he should call her when he needs a doctor, though, and she won’t force a friendship on him even though that’s the expectation, what with them having been together for 7 years. It’s definitely heartbreaking seeing her break down like that, but Gi-On finds her and giggles at the sight of her crying because he thinks it’s cute. I think. I don’t think there’s going to be anything romantic here, but who knows, maybe it can turn into something like that later.
In this episode, all the departments are too busy, and there isn’t even room for new babies in the pediatric care center. However, things become worse when a Russian patient shows up not knowing a single word of English or Korean, with her water broken. They have to do emergency surgery because the baby’s foot is already sticking out, but there are no professors available, and they’re understaffed because it’s supposed to be Do-Won’s vacation time. Unfortunately for him, but fortunately for Yi-Young, who has to handle the patient all by herself, Do-Won never makes it to his flight because he ends up falling asleep in the hospital. Lucky for Yi-Young, the entire team is also super helpful, knowing she’s a first-year and they need to help her as much as possible. They calm her nerves, and they tell her to stop crying, basically handling everything else for her. Just as she starts cutting the woman’s belly open, Do-Won comes to the rescue to do the emergency C-section. The surgery goes well, and Yi-Young ends up hugging one of the male doctors in the room named Ham Dong-Ho. This kind of ruffles Do-Won, who until then didn’t really think anything about Yi-Young’s little crush on him. At the end of the episode, Yi-Young asks Do-Won to buy her coffee, but he finds her with Dong-Ho under one umbrella.
Does Do-Won Want To Be With Yi-Young?
In Resident Playbook episode 8, Sa-Bi ends up losing consciousness and learns she has a cyst. The professor tells her she needs to get surgery, and all her friends help her get through it. It’s actually very cute to see how much they care. On the other hand, Jae-Il says he’s going to meet his first love for a meal, and it happens to be our favorite introvert doctor, Gye-Wool. Things don’t pan out as he’d imagined they would with her because we already know she’s got a boyfriend (Mr. Ahn Jeong-Won), so that’s the end of that story, but I’m only just realizing Sa-Bi is a lot like Gye-Wool, and I will not be shocked at all if we see Jae-Il and Sa-Bi coupling up by the end of the show.
Sa-Bi’s surgery goes well, and because she’s the person that she is, she can’t rest all day, so she starts to do some walking around to see patients. One of them is Nam-Kyung’s mum, who is also there because of cysts but needs to have her ovaries removed. Nam-Kyung doesn’t even know her mom’s at the hospital until they’re all at her bed. Instead of worrying about herself, Nam-Kyung’s mom worries if her daughter’s eaten enough or been sleeping well. Nam-Kyung sleeps in the room with her bed, and with Sa-Bi there, which makes her mom very happy. She’s happy that her daughter has doctor friends who like her too. After the surgery is over, Nam-Kyung’s mom asks her if she’s eaten food again, not just bread. This makes her emotional, but later, when her mom’s fit and ready to leave, she talks about how this was the first time they slept next to each other since elementary school. Nam-Kyung immediately starts to cry, making us realize she’s still a baby. I also think the breakup is partially to blame.
Meanwhile, Yi-Young looks after a patient named Yeon-Du, who has been at the hospital for 100 days. They even celebrate the 100th day of Yeon-Du’s hard work. Yi-Young learns a lot from the woman, who already has kids. She gives the other mothers advice on how to deal with the side effects of being pregnant. Not about medical treatment, but the kind of stuff you need to do to look after yourself as a soon-to-be mum. However, unfortunately, things don’t go very well for Yeon-Du herself, who realizes she’s lost her baby. This whole situation is terrible for everybody at the hospital, and Professor Seo struggles to figure out how to face the patient. Yi-Young takes up the responsibility to talk to her because she feels like she owes her that much. Yi-Young tells Yeon-Du about her own sister and how she cried a lot when she was in Yeon-Du’s situation, but she tells her that if she doesn’t eat, then she will feel like she doesn’t deserve to be a mom, and that’s not good for anybody. Guess Yi-Young’s matured a lot. Meanwhile, her sister and brother-in-law haven’t told anybody they’re trying for the IVF baby one more time; hopefully, this really will be the last time.
At the end of episode 8 of Resident Playbook, Yi-Young goes to meet Dong-Ho for dinner and is relieved to see the entire team from the difficult surgery day there. She’s so happy that she makes drinks for them all and eats a hearty meal. But when they’re heading home and it’s just Dong-Ho and Yi-Young, he straight up tells her that he knows who she has a crush on, because they have the best vantage point as people in the surgery room. He tells her that he can’t really tell her he hopes things work out because that would mean he’d have to give up, but that he really likes her. She tells him that she likes Do-Won a lot more than it looks like, and it looks like this chapter ends here. Yi-Young has to go back to the hospital to find her phone, and Do-Won has asked her to meet him after she finds the phone. This is just an excuse, of course, because he’s also started to feel attracted to her. At the end of the episode, she tells him that the whole team was there at dinner, and he’s visibly thrilled to know it. He becomes vulnerable in that moment and tells her that he might also feel some sort of way about her, but she walks away from him without realizing what he has to say. They’re sitting crammed at the bus stop when he looks at her sitting next to him, and we know his heart rate is high because of his watch. Looks like he’s not going to be able to hide his feelings any longer, so good for Yi-Young!
