D-Day: Episode 5

by dramallama

Even in full emergency mode, priorities clash and tensions run high. There’s undoubtedly a hierarchy within the hospital, and we learn more about where everyone stands. Though purposefully strangers now, the past connections still seem to define the motivations of our doctors — passionate, cautious, or calculating. Supply is short and demand is high, and unless the pieces of our emergency response team start to come together harmoniously, it seems that there is little hope for survival.

 
EPISODE 5 RECAP

In the dark hospital, Woo-jin smiles at the sight Ddol-mi helping patients and approaches her. He’s friendlier now, and Ddol-mi gladly greets him when he recognizes her as his patient years ago. She suffered injuries from a car accident back when she was in high school, and he saved her life by performing an emergency surgery, even without an anesthesiologist. But Ddol-mi voices her suspicion that Woo-jin isn’t the same doctor she knew then.

He responds with a question, “Did you ever complain about your surgical scar being too long?” She says yes and tries to justify her answer, but Woo-jin makes his point. “This is expected from patients because this it’s their body. They’re inevitably selfish because they’re the ones in pain.”

Woo-jin shakes his head thinking about his foolishness — she was just lucky to survive. He warns her not to assume that all their patients will be as lucky as her. With that mindset, she could put more patients in danger. Ddol-mi presumes that if present-day Woo-jin were in that situation, she would have died. Does he regret saving her life by performing a crazy surgery? He sighs and says that he just doesn’t want to face that situation going forth.

Woo-jin checks on our ICU patient, Minister Suk, and finds Director Park watching him as well. He approaches the director and warns him about the overwhelming burden on the hospital. But Director Park knows that keeping the hospital open for a few days then giving up will show the public that they tried, and if anything goes wrong, Chief Kang will take responsibility.

He looks at Minister Suk and clarifies his twisted reasoning. “All lives are not equal. This person’s life is different — he’s important to us.” He tells Woo-jin to take good care of their special patient to redeem himself.

Chief Kang holds a quick meeting with the ER doctors to establish priorities before they’re called out by the nurses due to high demand. After the doctors rush out, Chief Kang picks up a framed picture on the floor and holds it close. Ji-na notices her silence and approaches her, asking where Dong-hwa is.

Bursting into tears, Chief Kang admits to losing her son. She could be searching for her son but decided to return to the hospital because Dong-hwa knows where to find her. She’s holding onto the hope that he’s in good care and will return. Ji-na pulls her close to comfort her.

The doctors disperse to triage patients, and Ddol-mi is called upon by a desperate mother to check on her son. The boy was hit by a car during the earthquake, and he whimpers in pain. Ddol-mi marks his forehead with red to signify urgent care and comforts his mother.

Intern Dae-gil and So-yul are asked to retrieve more bedding, to which Dae-gil complains that they’re always given the runt work. But So-yul keeps her optimism and even jokes about the nurses not taking her seriously.

In the underground subway tunnel, Mr. Kang continues to lead the mass of people when suddenly, the lights go off. People begin to panic, and the little girl falls. The kind stranger piggybacks her and notices the whistle around her neck. He directs her to blow the whistle louder and yells at the crowd to follow the sound.

In the rubble, Woo-sung returns with a bottles of water and no food. Captain Choi complains that they can’t save people without any energy. They’re given little information and meager resources, yet they’re expected to continue persevering in their job. Captain Choi lies down in protest but gets right back up when he’s called upon to help civilians escape the underground subway station.

Mr. Kang helps the last of the subway survivors and looks overjoyed to be reunited with his best friend, Captain Choi. He points out the kind stranger who carried the little girl and recommends him for the firefighter rescue team.

Suddenly the nearby building starts to shake, and the kind stranger sees his little girl unaware of the crumbling building behind her. He runs and pushes her away but doesn’t escape in time. He’s severely injured under the concrete, and Captain Choi runs to him, stuttering comforting words.

Dae-gil and So-yul deliver the blankets to the triage tents outside, and he screams in shock at the sight of a very bloody leg. Ddol-mi orders him to stop the bleeding, but his shaking hands can’t properly put on the gloves. So-yul aids him, and he’s finally able to do his job.

Providing the patient with emergency treatment, Myung-hyun considers the options for the severely injured leg. When he asks Ddol-mi about the possibility of amputation, Dae-gil overreacts and releases the bleeding leg from his grip, blood spraying everywhere. Ddol-mi yells at him and pushes him aside to properly do his job herself.

The rest of the team stroll the patient out of the room and calmly discuss the surgery options with Myung-hyun, who shakes his head at Dae-gil’s incompetence. Ddol-mi returns to the room and scolds Dae-gil with a harsh lesson on his place. She reminds him that he’s an intern while she’s a third year — he can’t expect to be treated like a real doctor if he doesn’t perform like one.

When she leaves, Dae-gil throws his gloves on the ground in rage. His big head gets in the way, and he storms into the locker room, complaining to his colleague about Ddol-mi disrespecting him. He mentions that he plans on taking over his father’s plastic surgery clinic and vows to show Ddol-mi his wrath. He’s done with this hospital, and he walks out in his normal street clothing.

As he walks through the destroyed barren streets, he notices a line of dead bodies, covered in white cloth with mourning family members. He walks a bit further and witnesses the extreme damage the earthquake has caused. It’s earthshattering, and you can see the shock register on his face.

Ddol-mi, Sister, and Ji-na take a well-deserved break from their duties, but they don’t have food. Hye-sung arrives with canned coffee drinks, and when Ddol-mi refuses to drink any more on an empty stomach, he takes hers and chugs it. They’re short break is interrupted by an emergency patient brought to them by the rescue team.

When our squad arrives on the scene, Woo-jin is already assessing the patient, the kind stranger. While he does so, Hye-sung communicates with the little girl. She reads his lips and responds to his questions by writing on his palm. She doesn’t have a mother, and her father is at home. Then she asks Hye-sung to save the kind oppa, and of course, Hye-sung promises to do so.

But Woo-jin decides to mark the patient’s forehead with black: Lack of blood circulation and risk of crush syndrome makes this patient untreatable. Captain Choi objects to this decision — they saved this man and brought him to the hospital for a reason — but Woo-jin argues that they don’t have the resources.

That doesn’t stop Hye-sung from protesting, as he changes the forehead marker from black to red. He ignores Woo-jin’s claim that this patient cannot be treated and gains consent from the patient for surgery. Captain Choi criticizes Woo-jin for refusing to treat patients, especially since he consoles all of his earthquake victims with the fact that the hospital will help them. Woo-jin tells Captain Choi to stay out of hospital business and do a better job on his end, since they brought the patient on a shopping cart, afterall. Oh man, low blow.

Ddol-mi stops this untimely argument and reminds the men that the patient can hear everything. He’s still conscious. Couldn’t they think about it from his side for once? The patient barely makes out his plea for survival, and that prompts Hye-sung and Ddol-mi to wheel him inside for surgery. The little crying little girl follows and watches her savior roll into surgery.

Outside, Captain Choi fumes about Woo-jin’s attack on the rescue team. He puts aside his anger when he’s approached by Chief Kang, who makes a personal request to him privately. She describes a 7-year-old boy in a green shift who got lost at the local mart, asking if he’s come across any child that fits her description. It’s hard to say, and he asks who this child is. It’s her son, who went missing in the chaos of the earthquake.

Captain Choi is stunned by Chief Kang’s decision to stay at the hospital despite her distress and promises to look for this child. He tries to comfort her, saying that everything is okay, but there’s only so much words can do.

Before the surgery, Hye-sung’s nerves and uncertainty cause his hands to shake. He wonders if he can really save this patient, and Ji-na tells him that he can back out now if necessary. He refuses to do so, saying that it’s worth a shot. Then his nerves stop now, Ji-na says. Their team is relying on him to lead the surgery, and his doubt surely won’t help. “Tell me right now that you’ll do well. If not, I’m not going into the surgery.” What a pep talk.

In Director Park’s office, Woo-jin reports that Hye-sung has taken a patient into surgery without proper regard for their resources. He looks to Chief Kang and asks if she really thinks Hye-sung’s extensive experience in the ER will help them. Before arguing any further, Director Park decides to make a stop in the surgery room.

In the surgery room, the patient signs a consent form, and Hye-sung tells him to focus on staying alive. The patient thanks him in advance, saying that he appreciates Hye-sung attempting to save his life and not letting him die on the streets. Even if he doesn’t wake up, he won’t resent Hye-sung.

Just as the surgery is about to start, Director Park intercepts and orders Hye-sung to stop the procedure. Hye-sung reports that they will perform surgery without excess blood. But there’s one thing. Although they’ve gotten the patient’s consent, they don’t have a guardian aka someone to ensure payment.

Hye-sung steps up to take the burden, but Director Park reminds him that he can’t do everything. He’s got to remember his mother, for example. Sounds like a threat to me.

Director Park wishes the patient the best of luck at another hospital, and just as he’s about to leave, Dae-gil walks into the surgery room to step up as the patient’s guardian. Dae-gil claims that the patient is his high school classmate, but there seems to be some bad blood between the two, seeing that the patient scowls Dae-gil’s name. Dae-gil uses his father’s practice as evidence of his ability to pay, and that convinces a reluctant Director Park.

After Director Park leaves the room, they begin by anesthetizing the patient. The time starts now.

In the ER, Chief Kang overhears the description of a 7-year-old boy, almost an exact match to her son. She runs overs to the boy, anxious to check his identity, but she’s quickly disappointed when it’s not her son. She seems to lose all the energy from her body.

Back to the surgery, Hye-sung reminds his team that they’re doing this without blood supply. They need to finish within an hour. He grabs the scalpel and closes his eyes, taking a deep breath. After a moment, he opens his eyes and begins the surgery.

16 hours after the earthquake. In the ER, the nurse notifies Chief Kang that Dae-gil stepped up as the guardian, so the surgery is continuing. Woo-jin and Myung-hyun overhear this, and they join the conversation looking upset. Myung-hyun tries to berate Dae-gil’s actions, but Chief Kang quickly shuts him down by ordering him to follow up with a patient. The nurse talks about how the surgery would have been delayed or impossible without Dae-gil, but Woo-jin cuts him off, reminding him that treatment accuracy is more important that swiftness.

Woo-jin tells Director Park that he should have stopped the surgery, but Director Park merely shrugs it off. After some thought, he realized that he has nothing to lose. Hye-sung doesn’t belong to their hospital, and the patient signed the consent form. Any backlash would be on Hye-sung, not them. He asks Woo-jin what he’s really worried about: Hye-sung or the hospital? Woo-jin responds obediently as the hospital, and Director Park reminds him not to forget his priorities.

The patient has been in surgery for 14 minutes, and Hye-sung updates his team on the patient’s condition. Thankfully, the pancreas hasn’t been injured, but the patient is undergoing metabolic acidosis. Time is everything.

Then the surgery doors slide open, and Woo-jin walks in. They look at him with surprise, and Hye-sung asks why he’s there. Woo-jin responds, “I want to see the extent of your recklessness.” Hye-sung doesn’t fuss about it and continues with the surgery.

In the ER, Chief Kang yells at Myung-hyun for his careless treatment of the little boy, whose creatinine levels are higher than normal. He justifies that he didn’t have a specialist to refer to and his levels seemed good enough. She admonishes him and gently comforts the boy.

Almost 40 minutes into the surgery, Hye-sung decides to pass up on finishing the segmental resection and close up. Woo-jin demands that he immediately stop the surgery and orders Hye-sung to let him take over. But Hye-sung refuses. This is his surgery, and he makes the calls. To this patient, time is of essence.

Ddol-mi cuts the last stitch, and Woo-jin steps back. Hye-sung ends the surgery and says that they’ll take this patient to the ICU. He takes off his gloves, and Woo-jin looks up at the clock, which reads just under an hour. Then Woo-jin realizes the procedure Hye-sung performed: damage control. Dae-gil and Ddol-mi marvel at Hye-sung’s skills, as they’ve only heard of this procedure from books.

Hye-sung turns to Woo-jin and explains his reasoning. “To you, a surgery’s purpose may be to extract the root of the cancer, but to me, all I need to do is save the patient.” It was his first time performing a damage control surgery, but it worked.

As they wheel the patient out of the surgery room, Dae-gil and Ddol-mi marvel again at Hye-sung’s audacity and skill. Woo-jin asks what why Hye-sung would gamble a patient’s life, and he simply replies that a doctor’s job is to save lives. If they disregard patients because the injuries are too small or too severe, they ignore any chance of the patients surviving. As long as there’s a 1% chance of survival, Hye-sung says he’ll try to save the patient.

After Hye-sung leaves the room, Ji-na tells Woo-jin that this is Lee Hye-sung. Woo-jin asks if Hye-sung fears anything, and Ji-na reiterates that Hye-sung’s biggest fear is letting patients die. Shouldn’t that be all doctors’ biggest fear? But she notes that Woo-jin may have another fear.

She walks out, and Woo-jin’s eyesight gets a little fuzzy. He seems unstable for a moment and tells himself that they don’t know his biggest fear.

In the ICU, Hye-sung quizzes Ddol-mi and Dae-gil on the procedures for a damage control surgery. Dae-gil’s knowledge rolls off his tongue, but Ddol-mi hesitates. When Hye-sung asks her directly, she gives the excuse that internal treatment isn’t her specialty. And because Dae-gil is a child, he whispers that he’s not interested in internal treatment either.

Hye-sung gives them a brief explanation that damage control surgery is done as a precursor to a follow-up surgery, and he takes a break to find some sugar. Dae-gil whistles in victory and checks up on his friend. When Ddol-mi tries to approach him, he hands off the charts and goes off on his way. Oh, the petty rivalry.

Dae-gil finds Hye-sung in his office and asks him to save his friend, Min-chul. Hye-sung wonders why Dae-gil is acting out of character. For someone who dislikes Hye-sung, he’s being awfully polite and cooperative. Dae-gil explains that he’s indebted to his friend and knows that Hye-sung is the only one willing to save him. With that, Hye-sung agrees and throws him some treats.

Outside of the office, Dae-gil looks at the treats — red bean and canned coffee — and complains that these are his least favorite foods. He looks around for a trash can and decides to give them to Ddol-mi. Except, she takes them as gifts of admiration. She gives him a look, and he responds with a disgusted one. Ha, she thinks Dae-gil has a crush on her.

Dae-gil returns to his friend’s bedside and explains his guilt. His nurse friend already knows his story and reminds Dae-gil that he was young, but that doesn’t get rid of any debts. In their youth, Dae-gil had convinced Min-chul to steal the motorcycle. But Min-chul was the only one who paid his dues in court and in jail, since Dae-gil’s father had the money to buy him out of the crime.

Dae-gil let his father take over, since his acceptance to medical school also came out that day. His father had promised to compensate Min-chul and aid him with a lawyer, but that never happened. Dae-gil went onto medical school while Min-chul suffered all the consequences. This is how he got his doctor’s gown. Nurse friend tells Dae-gil to take good care of his friend in repayment, though Dae-gil knows that nothing can undo his criminal record and time in jail.

Woo-jin searches through the scattered books in his office and finds the one outlining damage control surgery. After reading through the section, he convinces himself that Hye-sung was putting on a show, performing this surgery without the proper resources. He throws the book on the ground in frustration.

A photo peeks out from the book’s pages, and Woo-jin picks it up. He stares longingly at the photo, and we get a flashback of that moment. So-yul, Chief Kang, Hye-sung, Ji-na, and Woo-jin drink together and joke around that Hye-sung and Woo-jin should date, since Hye-sung admires him so much. They throw up a cheers, and the picture shows them enjoying their drinks and the company.

Woo-jin thinks back to the moment, and tears well up in his eyes. Something about the memory triggers him, and a tear rolls down his face.

As Ji-na passes Director Park in the hallway, she turns her head away trying to avoid eye contact. He stops her and asks her to acknowledge him as a sign of respect for the hospital’s director. But she argues that she’s just an outsider, now that she’s resigned from her position.

So Director Park asks for the courtesy to acknowledge him as her father. Say whaaat? She says that she forgot she had a father like him. He warns her to stay away from Hye-sung if she’s trying to challenge him — he’s not wavering. She tells him that she’s not done with sticking by Hye-sung’s side and goes on her way.

Director Park calls out to her, and she responds without looking back. If he’s asking for courtesy, he should ask about her mother, even though they’ve lived apart for 20 years. She turns the corner and thinks back to a tense moment with her father.

In the flashback, we see Ji-na and Director Park storming into his office, arguing about Hye-sung’s mother. She threatens to sue and give her testimony, but her father questions how useful her testimony will be. If they move Hye-sung’s mother to another hospital as a result of the trial, will Hye-sung be able to pay the hospital bills? Covering up this case is beneficial for both Hye-sung and the hospital, he claims.

Ji-na glares at him as tears start to fall. She thought he had changed, but she’s been proven wrong. Before she leaves his office, he calls her by her name and says that a fixed broken chair will still be wobbly. He uses that as a metaphor for their broken family.

Director Park lingers in the hallway before getting on his way. He passes Woo-jin but doesn’t acknowledge him. As Woo-jin continues on, he sees Ji-na sitting alone, crying. He approaches her and asks what’s wrong. He shows genuine concern, but Ji-na refuses to let him comfort her.

He reminds her that she’s the one who left, and his feelings for her haven’t changed. He wouldn’t have committed to her if he was going to change his mind so easily. Woo-jin pulls her into an embrace, and Ji-na almost hugs him back.

24 hours after the earthquake. At the disaster committee meeting, Ja-hyuk demands clearance of the streets for proper dissemination of resources. But his assertive requests are met with murmur and doubt. He acknowledges the committee’s suspicion and discomfort with a young politician making demands, but he asks them to cooperate now and criticize him later. They don’t have time. This is the golden time.

Looking around the room, Ja-hyuk gives them their timeline, “For a disaster, the golden time is 72 hours.”

 
COMMENTS

While our episodes seem to be repetitive in the sense that it’s always Hye-sung saving the day, I don’t get tired of his idealistic and daring practice in the sea of politically-minded practitioners. I find it extremely cathartic that he rebels openly to his superiors because he so strongly believes in the ethics of medical practice. It’s as simple as he always puts it: A doctor should save lives. The baddies calculate the pros and cons for the hospital; Hye-sung calculates the risks and benefits for the patient. They’re at two extremes, and in the dire situation of a disaster, I find Hye-sung’s courage extremely admirable.

That being said, I don’t believe that the Woo-jin has it all wrong. He wants the best for the patient, as we saw in the surgery room when he demanded that he take over the surgery. But he holds a different standard in treating patients. Hye-sung accurately pointed out the discrepancies in their rationales. Neither is wrong, but Hye-sung’s reasoning just works better in emergency care.

The short flashback was enough to evoke some sympathy for Woo-jin, who was a different doctor in the past. Hye-sung clearly looked up to him, and I think part of his passion was directly influenced by Woo-jin. He even inspired Ddol-mi, a high school patient at the time, to pursue her medicine and become a doctor. That makes Woo-jin’s current preference for a more cautious and hospital-centric practice more intriguing and complex. His relationship with Ji-na also reflects a lot on his transformation. Knowing Ji-na, we know she values the way Hye-sung prioritizes lives. Her disrespect for her father and Woo-jin has to stem for their disregard for human lives, and I wonder what’s holding Woo-jin back from following his instincts and being the doctor he used to be.

We didn’t get a chance to see too much of our other disaster team departments, but I found Captain Choi’s role to be an important indicator of the disaster relief efforts. He’s the middle man in our disaster. He delivers patients to the hospital, and his efforts are directly associated with the government’s ability to provide resources. Without cleared roads, he’s unable to provide swift transportation for hospital services. He relies on the hospitals to provide treatment, and people rely on his team not to necessarily save lives, but to rescue lives from the destruction.

Captain Choi’s connecting role was particularly apparent when Chief Kang requested that he look into her son’s whereabouts. It’s moments like these where you realize that they’re mutually reliant on each other. It’s not so much about the single role each person fills; rather, it’s about how willing each individual is to fulfill a call of duty. Mr. Kang is a great example of this, and I hope we continue to see his dedication to the rescue efforts. Who cares if he’s a homeless poet with a ukulele? He’s doing the most where he can. That’s something our big-headed hospital goons can learn from.

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