Good Doctor ep 13: Dramatic Recap-it

This episode was a difficult one to watch.  My heart just broke for Shi On.  Reliving flashes of childhood trauma upon being reunited with his abusive father.  Being rejected by the woman he loves.  Losing his special abilities that made it possible for him to be the surgeon that he so desperately yearns to be.  You could say that it's not a good day to be Shi On.  It's probably pretty good to be Joo Won though, knowing that you rock this acting thing so well that middle-aged women across the globe are shedding tears for your character as their hearts shatter on his behalf.  {Psst...let's just not tell him that with some of us *cough cough me* that's not nearly as impressive of an accomplishment as it should be.  My odd sentimentality shouldn't matter here - the point is the same - he's frickin' awesome!}

Let's recap the episode in a bit more detail though now, shall we?  Here we go!

Dongsaeng's Drama Doctoring of ep 13

1.  Dongsaeng's Dark Side Apparently Surfaces

I was so upset while watching the beginning of this episode where Shi On and father are face-to-face.  Daddy Dearest is...let's just say that he's not a nice fella.  I am trying to maintain my composure here and not launch into a stream of obscenities that seem to just come naturally whenever he launches into one of his ugly tirades.  Instead I'll just share with you my text to Unnie while I was watching it.  I'm the blue bubbles.

A little "accident" down the stairs isn't too much to ask for, is it?  That's okay.  Looks like Daddy Dearest isn't long for this world anyway - turns out he has terminal cancer.  And no, I didn't just do a little jig in my mind as I wrote that.  What kind of monster do you take me for?  Sheesh guys.  My point is that this guy is a world-class something-or-other and his reappearance has shaken poor Shi On to his very core.  He's a mess.  His abilities are gone.  He is so traumatized by the memories of his past that revolve around this piece of scum that he can't do his doctor thing.  He's shaking.  He's shutting down.  He's really having a tough time.  Daddy Dearest isn't any better after all these years.  He sees Shi On's mom and flips out because he has spent all these years looking for her and their son since she ran away so that he could kill her with his own hands.  Stand up guy, isn't he?  I'm proud of her for being strong enough to run.  Now I want to see her strong enough to maybe "accidentally" smother him with a pillow in his sleep.  Instead, she goes home with him in an effort to at least get him to leave Shi On alone.  We'll come back to that part later I'm sure.  For now I should move on as I've covered pretty much the entire episode in just point number 1 here.

2.  Skele Eventually Does Show Up

Oh, Dr Skeleton Face, you funny guy you.  He shows up in the office where all the surgical residents are and proposes a fun team building idea - a dinner party.  Only everyone rejects him with different excuses.  He's left deflated and alone.  Later on, as he is sitting at a street tent getting drunk all by himself, Shi On comes upon him.  Guess when you're desperate enough for company, you'll take anything that comes along your way, even a pseudo-enemy.  Enemy isn't the right word.  Simply put, Skele hasn't been so nice and welcoming to Shi On and has treated him poorly up until now, but, a drinking partner is a drinking partner and so the elder invites the younger to join him.  He's all ready completely drunk and starts spouting off about how he got his position as Chief only because of his brother-in-law.  I could be mistaken here, but it looks like ol' Skele is feeling a bit embarrassed by his past behavior, cowardice and arrogance.  There is a moment that I loved.  He's whining about how no one respects him when Shi On pipes up and says that he respects him.  Skele replies with a "what good is respect from someone like you" before pausing and rethinking what he just said.  You can see him suddenly develop a soul.  It's a beautiful thing.  He instantly feels bad for his unkind words and pours Shi On a drink in apology.  Their little party ends with Shi On carrying off the tanked Chief and trying to put him in a cab to go home.  When he asks him where he lives, Skele's response is Dubai - he wants to go to Dubai.  I love drunk people.  I really do.  At least the funny drunks.  Not the fishpoo angry drunks like Shi On's horrible father.  Anyway, obviously unable to get an address out of the wasted Chief, Shi On takes him back to his place where the hungover Skele awakens the next morning dazed and confused.  They have a little triangle kimbap and banana milk for breakfast in the oddest budding bromance I've ever witnessed.

3.  Withholding Information

Hot Doc is not pleased when he finds out that Yoon Seo knew about Shi On's mother and didn't say anything to him.  How's he going to feel when he finds out that she's also hiding the fact that Shi On confessed to her?  He knows or at least suspects she's hiding something from him, but can't get it out of her.  She insists that there's nothing else.  I wonder what he's going to think when he discovers that she's withholding more from him?  Speaking of withholding information, Shi On's young love counselor has been trying to figure out who his crush is but he won't tell.  She finds out for herself upon seeing a picture of the rose on Yoon Seo's phone. 

4.  The Politics

I must apologize once again.  When it comes to this part of the whole story, I'm still not the best resource for information as I'm still not getting the full picture of what is going on.  I'll do my best to sum up what I think is going on though.  The foundation that provides funding for the hospital is falling apart.  Simply put, they are in financial crisis.  The VP guy is working for some mystery person in an effort to take over the hospital and eventually turn it into a for-profit children's hospital.  The Director and Hot Doc were given the opportunity to spearhead this new hospital but rejected the opportunity.  Director was angry and fired the VP.  VP didn't really seem to mind much because obviously he has someone backing him that he feels is more powerful anyway and the Director can kick him out all he wants, he'll just be coming right back once the Director is out.  Hot Doc's fiance has played a role in all of this but it looks like it wasn't done in correlation with the VP's plan - she has her own individual agenda.  She wants to run the place with Hot Doc along with Hot Doc - to be the power couple in charge from what I gather.  So she has used her power to destroy the funding of the foundation which, while not done with the VP's side, at least still played okay into his plans so he's happy and I think she's starting to see some of the errors of her ways. 

Again, this is just what I think is going on, I could be wrong here.  If you understand it better, than by all means feel free to correct me.  At this point this is what I have pieced together, but who the heck really knows what's going on.  Things get more dramatic when the puppetmaster behind the VP is revealed to the Director.  Dirty Barista guy from Coffee Prince and the Director obviously have some sort of history and it ain't pretty judging by the shock and wide-eyes the Director demonstrates upon seeing Dirty Barista guy.  I'm sure like everything else, there will be more to come on this at some later point.  Right now all we are to know is that there is some history there and it's not a happy one.

5.  Shi On and Yoon Seo's Status:  It's Complicated

Let's chat for a moment about the post-confession fallout.  Shi On is embarrassed.  He's nursing a broken heart all while facing the trauma of his past.  Yoon Seo is trying to be supportive and the friend that she's always been to him, but he's pulling away.  She tries to assure him that they're okay, that eventually his crush will fade and they can just be good friends in a brother/sister kind of relationship as they have been.  Shi On doesn't believe that this is possible.  She better wake up and start seeing him as a man soon instead of her little brother or I'm going to just cry.  I know, I know, you can't force someone to love someone that they aren't in to, even if you feel sorry for them.  I get it.  I certainly don't want her pity dating him.  I'm glad that she's being honest with him and treating him like an adult in this situation, even if it's causing them both pain.  She really does care for him and is truly good to him.  I know his confession came as a shock to her and she's handing it better than most women in that situation would.  I can't get upset with her.  I just hate to see Shi On rejected and hurting.  He needs love.  He needs acceptance.  He needs good people in his life to help him rebuild his broken psyche.  Thankfully I know he has that, I just also wish for him a romantic love in addition to the platonic love he's been receiving.

6.  I Love this Guy

I love him even though I can't remember his name.  The cutie patootie resident that likes the patient's sister.  You know, the guy that has been kind to Shi On since day one.  That guy.  He's awesome.  I adore him.  In the last episode he found out that his crush works a unsavory, undignified job as a hostess at a club.  I'm not exactly sure what all this entails in detail.  I don't think there's sex involved, from what I gather it's just drinking with and entertaining men for money, but still not the classiest job.  It's not one that Grandma would approve of let's just say.  She sees that she has no other options because her sister's hospital bills and upcoming transplant surgery is a crazy amount of money and she is the lone provider and is going to do what it takes to take care of her little sister.  In this episode he waits for her to get off work and pleads for her to quit, promising that he'll lend her the money and she can take as long as she needs to pay him back.  His heart is in the right place, bless it, but she doesn't take the offer well.  I know I haven't talked much about these two or their relationship, but I want to say that I have loved them all along and think that they are perfect for each other and I hope that they can work things out as time goes on.  He's awesome and she's awesome and the sooner she comes around to him, the happier I think they all will be.

I appreciated him also as he and Shi On talked one night at work about their struggles in love.  It warmed my heart when Cutie praised Shi On for being braver and cooler than him and confessing to the girl he likes.  He is so wonderfully supportive of Shi On and treats him like anybody else and I just completely and totally respect and love him for that.

7.  Out of Order

This is chronologically out of order, but then again, I don't think it's the only one.  I've actually been writing them out of order and got turned around somewhere.  I wanted to mention this encounter though before finishing up with our final point of this episode.  The Director and his history with Shi On and his family.  I don't know it all, but they go way back.  The Director not only saved Shi On from the abandoned mine accident that took the life of his brother, but helped him along the way before and after.  He taught him.  He spent time with him.  He knew what was going on at home.  He witnessed it for himself.  When Daddy Dearest reemerges from whatever dung hole he's been living in and comes back into the lives of Shi On and his mother, the Director steps in to try to help the situation.  He shows up at the home where Shi On's father is about to start beating his estranged wife again (happy reunion, huh?) and this sends Daddy Dearest into a new and frantic fury, accusing the Director of having an affair with his wife.  It ends with Daddy Dearest choking on his own blood (haha) {wait, did I say that out loud?  oops.  You know you were thinking it too though.  The guy is horrible.}  Later on, it's the Director that brings Shi On to the window of his father's hospital room to tell him that his father is dying and to encourage some sort of resolution between the two.

8.  Our DUHN DUHN DUHN Moment
...that of course we totally didn't see coming.  There is a school bus accident with no casualties, but with major injuries.  20 (later 21) of the 27 injured children on the bus get sent to this hospital as they are the only ones even remotely equipped to handle such a mass trauma on this scale.  Of course they really aren't as equipped as they would like to be.  Every surgeon in the building is brought in to help.  They get all 9 needed emergency surgeries set up and under way, stretching themselves to the very limits, when unlucky #10 shows up.  And wouldn't you know it, it is the patient from earlier - the daughter of the blind man.  Again, totally did not see that one coming. {Ms Snark, will you please simmer down?  No one wants to hear your snide remarks here}.  Shi On is sent to tend to her in the ER, realizes that she needs surgery immediately, and figures that, as he did it once before, Hot Doc can just operate on her and his current patient at the same time.  He gets the patient into the OR next door and rushes in to Hot Doc's surgery all ready in progress.  He may not be thrilled about it, but he agrees to do both surgeries.  The 10th patient is prepped and all ready to go when Hot Doc's current patient takes a turn for the worse, leaving him unable to leave.  What to do?  The new patient also goes into distress and has no time to wait.  Looks like Shi On's up to bat, ready or not.  This will either go one of two ways - he will succeed or he will have to face his biggest fear, that of losing a patient, head on.  Not that he already doesn't have a lot of trauma going on, but I have a sneaky suspicion that they may be leaning towards option #2 here.  I hope not because that would truly be tragic for our already battered hero, but don't be surprised if that's what happens.  He's going to have to face it at some point.  Just like he's having to face his past and his heartache.  Sometimes the pain just can't be avoided as much as we wish it could be.  It's part of growing up and Shi On wants so badly to grow and mature right now so that he can be a "real" man with the proper qualifications to love someone.  We may love him and want to shield him, but unfortunately, these are part of the maturation process and so if we truly care for him and want the best, we should let him grow and mature and stop treating him like a child we want to shelter.  You know, not that we actually have any say or participation in this matter, but hopefully you know what I mean.  *looks around nervously hoping that no one caught her being a little too into the story*

So many feels in this episode.  There really wasn't a lot of cute or funny.  It was pretty much all stressy and sad and awful.  You know, in a good drama kind of way.  Only three more episodes left until this one wraps up.  We're getting close to that finish line.  It's hard to believe.  Things should really get rocking and rolling from here on out.  This is the fun yet stressful part of any drama, isn't it?  The part where you get the most impatient to see what happens next.  Golly gosh geewillikers, I know I say this every time, but I sure do love these things, don't you?